Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
The Turkish government continues to take action against soldiers and institutions after this month's failed coup attempt.
Amid a state of emergency, 45 newspapers, 16 television stations and three news agencies have been closed, state-run news agency Anadolu said Wednesday.
Anadolu said nearly 1,700 soldiers -- including 87 generals -- have been fired.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week said actions were being taken to remove the "threat" raised during the attempt. Officials have fired or suspended tens of thousands as the government intensifies its vast purge.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/27/world/turkey-failed-coup-media-soldiers/index.html
(Score: 4, Informative) by butthurt on Friday July 29 2016, @02:32AM
You're exaggerating slightly, but there was a non-aggression pact between Germany and the USSR, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. I wouldn't say they were quite allies, but they did divide up much of Europe between them.
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact [history.com]
picture of Stalin shaking hands with Ribbentrop:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337%2C_Moskau%2C_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg [wikimedia.org]
cartoon of Ribbentrop kissing Stalin's hand, while Molotov looks on and claps:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mucha_8_Wrzesien_1939_Warszawa.jpg [wikimedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @03:40AM
(Score: 1) by butthurt on Friday July 29 2016, @04:33AM
That did put rather a damper on the pact, didn't it? Then the USSR joined the Allies and that brings us to today.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Unixnut on Friday July 29 2016, @09:42AM
And Italy switched sides when it became obvious the Nazis were losing the war.
Although from what I read of History. Stalin knew when they made the pact that Germany would invade eventually.
What it did do though, was give some time and breathing room for the USSR to rebuild its army after Stalin purged most of the military brass (actually very similar to what Erdogan is currently doing). It was a calculated sacrifice in order to get ready for the actual war. Had the USSR not signed the pact, the Nazis would have declared war much sooner, before the USSR was capable of defending itself. Germany would probably have had much more success on the eastern front, which could have given them far more resources to prosecute the war on other fronts, and maybe turn the tide of WWII in their favour.
Can't say it was nice, especially to the small countries in the middle, but realpolitik rarely is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @11:49AM
Maybe, but I do not think USSR was capable of losing a conventional war at that time. The country is more epic than Afghanistan in its capacity to swallow invaders. Maybe extra 10 million Ruskies would have perished, but I doubt Stalin cared.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 29 2016, @09:50PM
Stalin supposedly said that each dead Russian is one less German bullet.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 29 2016, @02:00PM
Gotta throw my two cents in here. Without her number one ally, Russia probably would have lost to Germans. And, no, I'm not talking about the US, UK, or any other nation. Russia's primary ally was Old Man Winter. The damned fool Germans didn't understand what they were getting into, touring Russia in the winter. Russia put up a hell of a fight, but without winter to aid them, I don't think it would have been enough.
Otherwise, I agree with you.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 29 2016, @04:53PM
And Italy wasn't much of a factor in the war, anyways... Hitler used to basically cry over how bad Italy's armed forces were. They were cannon fodder, baby-sitting holes in between his defences, leaving his army to do the hard work.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 29 2016, @04:56PM
Yeah, Putin and several others over there are probably eyeing Turkey for dinner.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---