
Was Anne Frank’s family betrayed? After 72 years, historians have a new theory - endswapper
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/17/was-anne-franks-family-betrayed-after-72-years-historians-have-a-new-theory/
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dankohn1
I recommend visiting the Anne Frank house if you have a couple hours free in
Amsterdam. It is powerful and moving.

And don't miss the linked article [0] about Bana, the 7 year old in Aleppo
that I and everyone in the West have failed.

[0]
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-a-7-year-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-a-7-year-
old-aleppo-girl-on-twitter-became-our-eras-anne-
frank/2016/12/06/b474af5c-bb09-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html)

~~~
mona_simpson
I suspect this article is going to get some heated discussion pretty quickly.

I don't believe you have failed anyone and I hope you'll allow me to explain
why I think so.

In the West (and developed countries), we expect our local authorities to deal
with problems we see on a day to day basis. And they do. When you see a car
accident, you call 911 and an ambulance and fire crew arrive, cut trapped
people out and take them to hospital where doctors and nurses work to treat
their injuries. Meantime, police turn up, close the road, help clear things
up, set diversions and get traffic flowing, then clear everything up and
everything goes back to normal.

Naturally, used to all this potency of our 'leaders', we see another horrible
situation (e.g. Syria) and, based on our experience, we naturally expect our
leaders to step in and fix that horrible situation too.

But they cannot.

To do so, _you_ need to _want_ your country to act like a colonial power and
send in troops - some of whom will be killed - in order to suppress and defeat
the evils we are so upset about.

We know from history that a colonial power, suppressing a local authority,
must be prepared to be brutal (even more so than those being suppressed) in
order to succeed.

But no-one wants to be a colonial power (ok, it's frowned upon in reasonably
liberal democracies at least).

And any recent attempts (Vietnam on) have ended in miserable failure and
basically made things worse.

Even if you are advocating for some World Police to move in and take over,
there isn't even agreement on who that would be. Russians see that as their
role, Americans see it as their role.

Neither country would accept the other doing it exclusively nor would they
really be able to work together to do it as they both have different standards
of what is acceptable and what is not.

So, unless there is an answer to all that, neither you nor anyone else outside
the theater has a personal responsibility.

That does not stop you feeling legitimately upset or anguished about the
situation. That's something completely different. But don't confuse the two
issues.

~~~
devoply
Interest in regime change caused the crisis in Syria. Let's not kid ourselves.
Our leaders are responsible for that mess. And they have no clue as to how to
fix it. The whole thing was social engineering plot to get rid of Assad in the
mist of Arab Spring. And that caused a civil war. Oops. Arabs have been at the
mercy of American ambitions which are jaded by Saudi ambitions to mold the
whole region into an area sympathetic to their interests. And they have been
playing one monster against another at the cost of Arabs for decades.
Meanwhile taking no responsibility for any of it, and blaming it on the
monsters that they constantly help mold and manipulate. Yes the monsters were
there to begin with, but their meddling creates chaos in the power structure
that causes constant catastrophe.

~~~
mhurron
So the solution is to meddle more and this time 'the west' will shit unicorns
and rainbows right?

That's why many people don't want their government to meddle in it and why
it's not 'everyone in the west's' failing. Of course, these people didn't want
to meddle in the first place.

~~~
devoply
I agree with that. But if you don't want to meddle then you have to quit
supplying the region and pull out... Which is not going to happen. Obama sold
the Saudis 150 billion dollars in ammo. You think that's going to stop. UK
same thing. Germany same thing. The meddling starts with business... but it
does not end there.

As Tupac said, " Give 'em guns, step back, and watch 'em kill each other."...

