V-Gram 33

December 13, 1996

Diff'rent strokes

Germany is at it again: This time their formal apology is being issued to the Czechs. True, the world had never seen anything like the 12 years of Nazi inhumanity. By the same token, the world has never seen anything like the efforts of Germany (West!) to make amends. At last, formerly East Germans are also learning about the Third Reich, and living with the past is really big with the young and not so young alike.

By contrast, the Soviet - excuse me: the Russian foreign minister showed up at Tuesday's Nato conference to throw his weight about as the expansion of Nato came under discussion. And Russian officials - some originally appointed by Stalin and currently serving - will haughtily dismiss any notion that Russia ought to accept responsibility for acts committed by the Soviet Union, or of apologizing for them, ever.

The Germans occupied Prague, and the Russians occupied Prague. The Germans overran Poland, the Russians overran Poland. The Germans killed untold millions, the Russians killed untold millions. We organized the Nuremberg Trials for the one, and we are engaged in joint space exploration with the other. WHY???