>Numbers like this are ridiculous. The claim of capitalism responsibility
>for >WWI and II deaths is problematic, as any decent historian ought
>affirm; one >grew from the assassination of a visiting imperialist
>dignitary,
It had been growing for a long time before then (as any decent historian would actually affirm);
>in a region with over 800 years (at the time) documentable religious war.
Hang on! How does that explain the participation of the French, Germans, Russians and Yanks, just for starters? The name of that region with over 800 years of documentable war is Europe (not just the Sarajevo bit, but all of it - always wars - and, after the fourteenth century, ever bigger wars). Oh, and Europe is the birthplace of capitalism - whose history rather seems to match this escalation.
>As some of us directly remember, the other was started by a nationalist
>>socialist state dissatisfied with the outcome of the earlier war. You
>could >say that WWII was attributable to the imperialists who suborned
>Germany to >their greed for purposes of exploitation at the conclusion of
>WWI, but Taylor >argues articulately in Origins of the Second World War
>that Hitler's actions >went far beyond the reasonable escalation of
>hostilities with neighboring >states. His Final So!lution was truly a
>plan of genocide for those he considered sub-human.
Nazism was capitalist in conception and substance. Dig up the unionists of the time and ask 'em! And compare their fortunes with those of IG Farben, Krupps and Volkswagen (Ford, IBM, and a host of transnational banks included - but that's perhaps too long a story for an e-mail).
>As for Mike Davis, he also wrote "Burning Our Illusions Tonight,"
>"Magical >Urbanism," "Prisoners of the American Dream," "99 Surefire Ways
>to Stay >Unemployed." I'm impressed, I wonder at his popularity with the
>lunatic >fringe.
Yeah, but what exactly do you find wrong with Davis?
>I'd take with a grain of salt, any claims of Davis being convincing re
>famines,
Yeah, but why?
>this other work with weather patterns leaves much to be desired,
Yeah, but what?
Cheers, Rob.