70-40

Today is the anniversary of two events that show that the "international community's" attitude to tyranny hasn't changed over the last seventy years.

70 years ago Germany attacked Poland triggering a world war that would take the lives of 50 million people and change the cause of world history. The legacy of this war (end of empire, cold war) is still around. The war only came about as a result of the "international community's" appeasement of Fascist tyranny. They allowed the Fascists to do as they please (Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia) as long as they didn't affect their "interests". Only when the Fascists threatened their interests did they react but by then the only way stop them was war. Never forget that the Allies didn't go to war to rescue the Poles, nor the Jews. They only went to war because the Fascists' imperial ambitions threatened the Allies' empires.

40 years ago Mad Dog Gaddafi staged a coup in Libya, heralding decades of tyranny for the Libyan people. For many years Libya was a pariah state, accused of supporting international terrorism. After 9/11, realising the winds of change, Gadaffi renounced terrorism. He immediately became the darling of the "international community". World leaders, with multinationals in tow, soon descended on Libya, eager to exploit Libya's natural wealth. Hundreds of billions have been invested in Libya. Gaddafi, his family and acolytes have amassed unimaginable wealth. But ordinary Libyans live in poverty. And Libya remains a murderous police state. Any opposition to Gadaffi is brutally repressed. Torture and murder are a way of life for Gaddafi's secret police. But the "international community" doesn't care about that, as long as it can get at Libya's oil and gas.