• Cowbee [he/they]
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    12 days ago

    The State Department aligned “leftists” appear to be mad. I wonder if they’re genuinely aware of NATO leaders like Adolf Heusinger, who fought for the Nazis, but simply think that’s acceptable for a millitary alliance of genocidal imperialists as long as they maintain Western Hegemony (that they benefit from, of course), or if they genuinely have no idea. Neither option is good.

    • SmoothOperator@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      I mean, not every member of the German forces in WWII was a bad guy. Lenin himself argued for solidarity among soldiers on both sides to fight the capitalist class instead of eachother.

      Your link doesn’t seem to describe him as a Nazi ideologue as much as just a German military leader. While I am highly critical of the imperialist ambitions of the West, the fact that Heusinger became a NATO leader does not really make a convincing argument for anything.

      • Cowbee [he/they]
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        12 days ago

        Lenin argued in the context of WWI, not WWII. Nazism is an existential threat towards Communism, whereas WWI was more purely an Imperialist War.

        Secondly, Heusinger was a Nazi general. You don’t become a high ranking millitary officer like that without steadfast support for the Nazi cause. This wasn’t someone drafted off the street, but someone ideologically convicted and working for the express purpose of Nazi domination, eradication of Communism and the Jewish peoples, as well as Slavs.

        I really cannot believe you are trying to carry water for a Nazi general.

        • SmoothOperator@lemmy.world
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          12 days ago

          Not trying to carry any water, just trying to bolster our arguments.

          • All soldiers in all wars should realize that they have more in common with the enemy soldier than with their capitalist overlords. Surely you agree, even counting Nazi Germany.
          • I had no idea that he was that convinced a nazi. The link you shared talks about him being purged by Hitler and being a witness in the Nuremberg trials. Or did I misread it?
          • Cowbee [he/they]
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            12 days ago

            You should understand that soldiers choosing to fight for Nazi Germany are not the same as soldiers choosing to fight against Nazi Germany. Nazis are Nazis.

            Secondly, again, Heusinger was a Nazi general. His actions in the post-WWII era out of self-preservation do not aquit him of fighting for the Nazis in a far more committed position than a simple footsoldier drafted from the street.

  • tgm@lemmy.world
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    12 days ago

    I need a little context. NATO is not great, but I don’t think it as bad as Nazi Germany.

    • Cowbee [he/they]
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      12 days ago

      NATO has been led by many Nazis who fought for Nazi Germany in WWII, such as Adolf Heusinger. The connections with Nazi Germany are clear, because the West was always more friendly with the Nazis pre-WWII and post-WWII than they were with, say, the Soviets. It was the Western Powers’ greatest hope that they would destroy each other. For more information on this, I suggest reading Blackshirts and Reds. US bombers, for instance, were told to ignore US factories in Nazi Germany.

      Moreover, the image makes reference to Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, arguably Lenin’s most valuable contribution to Leftist analysis. In this analysis, in order to fight the Tendency for the Rate of Profit to Fall through competition, Capitalists must raise absolute profits, and they must do so by expanding internationally and super-exploiting the Global South. NATO represents a millitary alliance of the most guilty of this practice, to help maintain this brutal system of extraction from the Global South. Michal Parenti’s 1986 Speech, often titled “Yellow Parenti,” has an excellent overview of said process.

      Let me know if you have any questions!

  • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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    12 days ago

    Evil imperialist NATO only accepts countries that request to join and only with unanimous agreement from all member states.

    I’ve seen bad propaganda before but this is really something.

    • NecroticEuphoria
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      12 days ago

      You seem to be under the impression that empire and imperialism means annexation.

      That is not the case. The exploitation and oppression abroad is a huge factor. The US alone, for example, are imperialist with or without NATO, as they influence, oppress, exploit and even kill people all over the world for the sake of profits. They never annex these countries though.

      NATO is relevant, because it is an extension of US imperialism and a big alliance of other imperialist countries, spreading this exploitation and oppression with the help of fascists even.