Mikhail Kalashnikov Dies

[SmokinLoon]

The Nazi Party was also RIGHT wing where as Russia was LEFT wing . Nazi Party encouraged Private enterprise and wealth while central government provided for those that had no work or money .  It did not see itself as the provider for all or equalizer . That is the complete opposite to left wing socialism and communism . The Nazis and Communists are at oposite  ends of the political spectrum .

You had better read up on the definitions of left/right, and see how it applies to fascist Germany and communist Soviet Union.  Seriously.  As far as being on the opposite ends of the spectrum????  Try again.  They are both left of center with the Soviets being more so.  

You drank the kool-aid like too many other people. 

[Rich46yo]

The Nazi Party was also RIGHT wing where as Russia was LEFT wing . Nazi Party encouraged Private enterprise and wealth while central government provided for those that had no work or money .  It did not see itself as the provider for all or equalizer . That is the complete opposite to left wing socialism and communism . The Nazis and Communists are at oposite  ends of the political spectrum .

The economic model of the Nazi party was perhaps the most screwed up model of all time. It didnt really "encourage pvt enterprise ; More like it encouraged pvt enterprise that was onboard with its values. Most of all big business which Hitler courted from the get go, as he did small business and small farmers. The only ones who really made out however were the big arms/military supply businesses and those entrepreneurs who made fortunes on the persecution of other races and peoples. In the movie Schindlers List when Schindler told his wife he had succeeded after so many failures due to "war" he was spot on. There were many like him, tho few as moral.

Small business, like big business, despised communism and the promised nationalization of all industry and production. Thus they backed the Nazis. But the Nazi economic model was a hodge podge that didnt make much sense. They fixed most prices and actually adopted many left wing economic practices. Like forced eviction from land if the common purpose demanded it.  Certain businesses and store were communalized under their 20 point program, they did away with unearned income, they even instituted a "four year plane" which sure sounds a lot like Communism's plans.

As for the worker? He lost all rights. He lost his right to strike and even to change jobs without an employers OK. His wages were fixed and he had no say in how many hours he worked. Economics bored Hitler, as one can tell by his involvement in setting policy.

I suppose such a mess of rules and regulations could only work with such an industrious people like the Germans. Most of whom thought having a full lunch pail was better then having none at all.

[Masherbrum]

You had better read up on the definitions of left/right, and see how it applies to fascist Germany and communist Soviet Union.  Seriously.  As far as being on the opposite ends of the spectrum????  Try again.  They are both left of center with the Soviets being more so.  

You drank the kool-aid like too many other people. 

Agree.

[GScholz]

China today is very much a Fascist society rather than Maoist/Leninist/Stalinist. The merging of state and corporation.

[mthrockmor]

China today is very much a Fascist society rather than Maoist/Leninist/Stalinist. The merging of state and corporation.

Increasingly Fascism is the model. Politicians love power and love buying influence. Corporations hate competition and love buying political influence. China made their big shift to a Fascist system after they watched the Soviet/Communist socialist model collapse and the panic of Tiananmen Square.

The increasing coziness between the United States Congres and Wall Street is not a good thing. If you've ever been to Washington DC and viewed through the eyes of a lobbyist (something I've seen etc for 20 years now) the city is litered with corporate offices holding lobbyists.

My have times changed!

PS A good friend of mine, a State Senator, was invited to speak at an international education event. About two thousand students from a dozen countries got together to network, exchange ideas, talk about the future etc. He decribes doing a joint presentation to a few hundred students from China. One of the other presenters showed video and images from Tiananmen Square, to include that old man with grocery bags standing in front of the column of T-55s. The Chinese students were completely shocked. They had never seen pictures of Tiananmen Square or known anything of it. It is spooky to know such information can be withheld from citizens. Thank G** for the internet though it leaves me wondering what I don't know; and what I think I know, which is without sufficient information.

[Kenne]

Thank G** for the internet though it leaves me wondering what I don't know; and what I think I know, which is without sufficient information.

Moon landings were faked.


 

[bj229r]

A paraphrase from Hackworth's auto bio ("About Face") I remembered this tidbit from reading the book years ago

Col. Hackworth tells a story in Vietnam about how his men were digging fox holes on a jungle ravine and came across a NVA corpse with an AK-47 that had been buried by a B-52 bombing strike years earlier. According to Hackworth he said “men let me show you a real infantry rifle” and he took the dirty mud covered AK-47 from the hole and took his finger and cleaned mud from the end of the barrel and then fired a couple of burst into the air. A rusty AK-47 that had been encased in jungle mud was a more reliable weapon than the M16′s our soldiers carry.

M4/16 never do that

[SmokinLoon]

A paraphrase from Hackworth's auto bio ("About Face") I remembered this tidbit from reading the book years ago

 M4/16 never do that

 

Ah yes... the old AK47 vs M16 debate.  That debate/discussion is always a great purse fight too.

There are so many things circulating amongst the kool-aid drinkers that is complete BS about both of those weapon platforms that I get dizzy from correcting it all.  Literally... comparing the AKx vs the M16x is like comparing an apple to an orange.  They both have their merits and they both have their downfalls.  Until you've learned them both inside and out, trained with them both, and used them both in applicable situations it is difficult to understand the in's and out's of either and it certainly isn't conducive to shooting one's mouth off in a "better than" argument.  GMAN will be along shortly to chime in on this party as well.        

[mechanic]

as a completely ignorant Brit, all I know is that the M16 is my personal choice for best looking gun of all time.

[bj229r]

as a completely ignorant Brit, all I know is that the M16 is my personal choice for best looking gun of all time.

pffft...HERE is the sexiest looking weapon of all time! (looks just like mine, save a few scratches)

[mechanic]

love the looks of the M1 and the clip ejection ping too. But still prefer either of these in sheer sexiness

[mthrockmor]

Really enjoyed the M-16A2 though the M-14 is an overall beast! For the mountains of Afghanistan, M-14, Iraq M-4.

boo

[Motherland]

Hitler squashed the left wing of the NSDAP, aligned himself with and was put in power by a coalition of German conservative parties, outlawed the KPD and put socialists, liberals and communists in concentration camps, and sent death squads around the Soviet Union exterminating KPSS members with the ferocity they did the Jews, all just to trick us into thinking that Nazism is a "right wing" ideology.

The wars and civil wars that ripped across Europe in the early-middle part of the century between socialists/communists/anarchists and nationalists/fascists were all just brilliant charades to make us all think that these ideologies were not diametrically opposed.

They had foresight, you have to give them that.

Not being ideologically capitalist doesn't make you left wing, it just makes you not ideologically capitalist. Capitalism is one way of thinking out of dozens, at least.
The NSDAP wasn't even completely hostile toward capitalism, working closely with American industrialists up until the breakdown of relations with the US going into the 40s...

There's nothing wrong with pointing out the failures of both Nazi Germany and the USSR as well as any feudal monarchy or whatever, drawing parallels and what, but let's not pretend that any society that isn't strictly Laissez-Faire is 'left wing'

[mthrockmor]

m

[B3YT]

Hitler squashed the left wing of the NSDAP, aligned himself with and was put in power by a coalition of German conservative parties, outlawed the KPD and put socialists, liberals and communists in concentration camps, and sent death squads around the Soviet Union exterminating KPSS members with the ferocity they did the Jews, all just to trick us into thinking that Nazism is a "right wing" ideology.

The wars and civil wars that ripped across Europe in the early-middle part of the century between socialists/communists/anarchists and nationalists/fascists were all just brilliant charades to make us all think that these ideologies were not diametrically opposed.

They had foresight, you have to give them that.

Not being ideologically capitalist doesn't make you left wing, it just makes you not ideologically capitalist. Capitalism is one way of thinking out of dozens, at least.
The NSDAP wasn't even completely hostile toward capitalism, working closely with American industrialists up until the breakdown of relations with the US going into the 40s...

There's nothing wrong with pointing out the failures of both Nazi Germany and the USSR as well as any feudal monarchy or whatever, drawing parallels and what, but let's not pretend that any society that isn't strictly Laissez-Faire is 'left wing'

Indeed . Henry ford received many honours from Adolf Hitler during the 1930's , IBM was given free reign to apply for many contracts in German in the 1930's (even using IBM equipment for logging information about jews and other "dissidents" ) .  While there was the idea that everything should be done for the fartherland  small companies where given contracts  and not sucked into a state owned company . While some doctrines could be seen as Centre left internally   , the external policies were very conservative and right wing .  It was a Jackal and Hyde  political system that big US firms got very close to and enjoyed it's benefits .

In the Spanish Civil war , which side do you think Hitler and Germany sided with ? The Socialists ? Nope it was the ultra right wing Franco  army .  While Socialists were dispatching men from around Europe to fight Franco (international Brigades)  , Germany was trying out it's latest 109 fighters , JU87's and JU88's , I think even He111 got in on the action . These were sent to fight for the Fascist Franco army against the Socialists .