[net.politics] Misinterpretation of my remarks about Russia

lew (12/10/82)

Bruce Parker has twice given a misinterpretation of some earlier
remarks I made. Most recently, he stated:

"... Mr. Mammel was suggesting that we have no business with those
Barbarous Russians ... "

The closest I came to this was my statement that:

"It is chilling to realize that the current Soviet regime is the direct
descendant of this [Stalin's] rule, and is in fact essentially of the
same nature now as then. The case is no different than it would be if
we had come to some sort of truce with Hitler, and continued to deal with
his successors."

I can only guess that Bruce's interpretation is based on my comparison
of Soviet Communism with German Nazism. I suppose he takes it for
granted that dealing with successors to Hitler would be out of the
question. Hence his inference that I was suggesting that we likewise
have nothing to do with the Soviets. This is rather ironic in view
of Bruce's remarks about good and bad barbarians.

In fact, I didn't mean to make any such suggestion, I was just trying
to give an honest appraisal of the nature of the Soviet regime.
I didn't mean to question the obvious necessity of dealing with them
peacefully.

Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew