<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.3017.1000" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Brad deLong wrote</DIV> <DIV> <DIV> >> when the chips were down, the British and French governments *declared* *war* on Nazi Germany in early September 1939. They didn't have to do so. And they were the only governments to declare war on Hitler, rather than wait out as much of WWII as possible in the hope that Hitler would not attack them. << This is like when the British government, having done everything possible to foster the spread of mad cow disease, by sponsoring the criminal corps. who sold the minced-sheepbrain cowfood, refusing to acknowledge a problem even when people are dying like flies etc, were suddenly obliged to be the first govt in Europe to acknowledge that, well, yes, actually old chap, there is a BIT of a prob. Thus Chamberlain, having done everything he possibly could to encourage Hitler to attack Poland, was forced to admit sheepishly, like a fourth-former caught with his finger in someone else's tuckbox, that he never meant it and he's terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused. So Chamberlain declared his phoney "war" (drole de guerre) on Germany and spent the next year or so doing nothing against Hitler and everything feasible to get Hitler to expedite his attack on Russia. It just ain't like you say it was, Brad, and here is the definitive account of why: <A href="http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base/Stalin_WW2.htm">http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base/Stalin_WW2.htm</A></DIV></DIV> Mark Jones <A href="http://www.egroups.com/group/CrashList" target=_blank>http://www.egroups.com/group/CrashList</A> <BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">  </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>