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Politics : World Affairs Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3329)	1/16/2004 3:51:41 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Re: 1944 is NOT 1943, Gustave... 1943 was indeed a pivotal year, wasn't it? Judge by yourself: July 25 [1943]- Mussolini meets with King Victor Emmanuelle. The King expresses to Mussolini that Italy no longer wants war and that he is the most hated man in Italy. Caught off guard, Mussolini responds with an offer of resignation which is accepted by the King. The King then offers Mussolini an armed escort which he accepts. Mussolini did not know that this was actually an arrest. Pietro Badoglio is soon proclaimed the new Prime Minister. After news of Mussolini's arrest, many fellow Fascist leaders flee Rome. Italians and Germans alike remain silent as the new Badoglio government proclaims that the war will continue. Even with this proclamation, many Italians begin to cheer the ousting of Mussolini. Hundreds of people are ordered shot as Badoglio's government attempts to gain order. SPAIN and PORTUGAL Badoglio soon begins to try and find a way out of the war without Germany knowing. He begins secretive talks with the Allies in the Vatican. General Guiseppe Castellano secretly meets with Allies in Spain and Portugal. The new Italian government offers to assist in the war against Germany, but need Allied reinforcements in Rome before the declaration of war against Germany is delivered. The Allies feel uncomfortable with this offer, because the nature of war calls for a unconditional surrender of the enemy before any real negotiations could be accomplished. To show Italy's good faith, Castellano offers the Allies the German troop placements in Italy along with strengths and weaknesses of key areas. [...] comandosupremo.com As you can see, the tide of events was turning against the Nazi regime... and the Soviets still had their Red Orchestra spy-network: Long recognized as one of the most successful (and ruthless) spy networks in history, the Red Orchestra was a group of Soviet cells that operated throughout Germany and occupied Europe until late 1943. The Germans knew of its existence as early as 1941. Yet, it was only after two years of dogged detective work, lucky breaks, interrogation, and betrayals that they were able to silence the Red Orchestra for good. By that time the damage had been done and the Third Reich was facing extinction. Now, The Red Orchestra offers readers a unique opportunity to learn the complete story of Russia's hidden war against Nazi Germany. Vividly recreating a shadowy world of intrigue and espionage in war-torn Europe, The Red Orchestra introduces all the major players and describes spectacular feats of espionage performed right under the Germans' noses. *From Kirkus Reviews* Perhaps the fullest account yet to have appeared of the extraordinary network of Soviet spies in the Second World War known as Die Rote Kapelle--the Red Orchestra. Tarrant, a military advisor and naval historian, clarifies a good deal of the confusion that has existed about the three sectors in which the Orchestra operated: the network in France, Belgium, and Holland; the Berlin network; and the most remarkable of all, the group that operated out of Switzerland, the so-called Lucy Ring, whose sources included Lieut. General Fritz Theile, second- in-command of the German High Command's communications branch, and Baron Colonel Rudolf von Gersdorff, who was eventually to become Chief of Intelligence in one of the army groups on the Eastern front. The first two networks reported extraordinarily sensitive information from key areas of the German bureaucracy, but nothing compared to the work of the Lucy Ring, which gave Stalin the very date of the German attack on Russia, its objectives, and its strength. For reasons that still puzzle historians, Stalin refused to believe this information, but the Russians did not make this mistake a second time. The information that came from the headquarters of the German High Command enabled the Russians to surround the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and to predict precisely the direction and strength of the German attack in the great tank battle of Kursk. Lucy's sources, writes Tarrant, ``were to cost the Germans the war on the Eastern Front.'' Most of the German officers were executed for their involvement in the 1944 Bomb Plot against Hitler, and the Swiss closed down the Lucy Ring, but by that time the fate of the Nazis was sealed. Using mostly secondary sources, but economically and vividly, Tarrant traces the rise and achievements of one of the most successful spy rings in history and the grim fate (imprisonment, torture, and execution) of some of its operatives. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. amazon.com

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3329)	1/16/2004 7:37:36 AM
From: ChinuSFO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3959

Poll: Kerry Opens a Lead in Tight Iowa Race Fri January 16, 2004 07:02 AM ET By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender John Kerry opened a five-point lead on three tightly bunched rivals in Iowa three days before the state's caucuses, according to a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released on Friday. In the latest three-day tracking poll, Kerry gained two percentage points to 24 percent, with Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt each dropping two points to 19 percent and John Edwards holding steady at 17 percent. All four contenders were within the poll's margin of error of 4.5 percent, setting up a tight dash to the finish in Monday's caucuses, the first Democratic nominating contest. "Any one of the four can win this one," pollster John Zogby said. With Iowa voters taking a final look at candidates and trying to make a choice, 13 percent of likely caucus-goers are still undecided. The rolling poll of 503 likely caucus-goers was taken Tuesday through Thursday and will continue each day until Monday's caucuses. Dean and Gephardt have battled back and forth for months for the top spot in polls in Iowa, but the late charges by Edwards and Kerry have scrambled the Democratic picture. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, leads among Democrats, young and old voters, men and women, liberals and moderates, and those who say they are "definitely" voting in Monday's caucuses, Zogby said. "The issue will be, as it always is, turnout," Zogby said. "Gephardt has arguably the best team on the ground." The polling was conducted as the leading candidates for the right to challenge President Bush in November exchanged an escalating series of attacks over their positions on the war in Iraq, trade, Medicare and Social Security. Dean, the former Vermont governor, still holds a shrinking lead over retired Gen. Wesley Clark in polls in New Hampshire, which has a Jan. 27 primary one week after Iowa. Gephardt, the congressman from neighboring Missouri who won Iowa during his first presidential bid in 1988, needs to win to remain viable in the race. For Edwards, who struggled late last year to get his campaign off the ground but has surged this month by refraining from attacking his opponents, even a third-place finish would be a tremendous boost. Clark and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich were at 3 percent, with Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman at 1 percent and former civil rights activist Al Sharpton at less than 1 percent. Clark and Lieberman are not competing in Iowa. Polling in Iowa is complicated by the unique nature of the caucus system, which requires participants to leave their homes on a typically bitter cold night and gather with neighbors before publicly declaring their support for a candidate. reuters.com.