Lessons from 1938

 

 

Putin and Ahmadinejad: Friends against a common enemy? (www.kremlin.ru)

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

-Irving Berlin, introduction to “God Bless America”

 

Composer Irving Berlin penned those words as an introduction to the patriotic song “God Bless America” in 1938.  In that year, Americans surely felt the need for God’s blessings.

 

As Berlin noted, war clouds

were gathering across both oceans that lapped at America’s shores.  Beyond the Atlantic, Adolf Hitler has assumed power in Nazi Germany and began to rebuild the German military in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.  That year Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland as other European leaders followed a policy of appeasement.  Kristallnacht, a night of coordinated attacks and pogroms against German Jews also took place in 1938.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Why 2011 looks a lot like 1938 – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/why-2011-looks-a-lot-like-1938#ixzz1RwConRLI

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Part 2:  Lessons from 1938

 

Russia beams propaganda to US hotel rooms

RT.com logo (Fair Use)

Before the breakup of the Soviet Union, Pravda was synonymous with laughable propaganda and cover-ups. The Communist Party newspaper was akin to “Baghdad Bob,” the Iraqi Information Minister who denied that Saddam’s regime was collapsing even as American tanks rolled through the streets of Baghdad. Soviet-era Russian journalism is perhaps best exemplified by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in which the Soviet regime delayed the announcement of the accident for two days while radiation spread around the world.

Today, rather than being confined to Eastern European tabloids, Russian propaganda is beamed directly into American homes via the cable news channel, RT. RT was previously known as Russia Today and was started in 2005. The channel broadcasts in English, Arabic, Spanish, and, of course, Russian. RT is available around the world in over 100 countries, including the United States. RT America has bureaus in Washington, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Russia beams propaganda to US hotel rooms – Atlanta Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/russia-beams-propaganda-to-us-hotel-rooms#ixzz1McxObEzf