[TalnSG]

Sometimes I wonder where foreigners get the idea they know so much about what people are taught in other countries. If you were not educated there you have no basis for comment on it. Now more to the point raised initially.

An author who calls to attention the British tendency to focus on those commemorations and ask for reflection is one worth reading. I don't entirely agree with all the assertions, but for the most part the thrust of the article seems valid.

I really have only one serious discomfort with it. Referring to Stalin's actions as "rescue" of anyone is poor and misleading phrasing. Stalin did nothing but further his own megalomanicial aims. It may be viewed as a recue by those few who survived him, but since most were executed one wayor another after Stalin stopped his rival that really was not a rescue. He did not "rescue" Poland (which Churchill lied to in person as he agreed to abandon them!). He stole it from its native people and slaughtered it for his own ego - just as he did everywhere he could.

And for the record, when it comes to Americans and what they are taught about the Warsaw Pact and its negotiations is NOT what the non-American here stated. Out history classes are more even handed than some assume. What the student later chooses to retain may be another matter.