@2×4 et al Re: Katyn,
I posted sometime in thelast week or so that the problem with Germany after WW-I was they got away with nursing the stabbed in the back theory because they were never occupied beyond the Rhine crossings. All they had to do was sign Article 131 of the Treaty accepting war guilt and the victors joined them in quickly repudiating that. In 1946 there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who had lost and why, so the defeated could be thoroughly reformed. It is my hope that 2010 for Russia resembles 1946 more than it does 1919 for Germany. Iraq also would have been better off if we had flooded the country with troops and really rebuilt it.

@Bob Murphy, Correct about the oil fields.

@fedya, You made the point better than I did.