The Cold War's "Prague Spring"

Discussions on other historical eras.
Post Reply
South
Member
Posts: 3590
Joined: 06 Sep 2007, 10:01
Location: USA

The Cold War's "Prague Spring"

#1

Post by South » 15 Aug 2018, 07:54

https://www.rferl.org/a/crushing-of-pra ... 20107.html


Good morning all,

Above about the 1968 "Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia" consisting of pictures and captions.

Note the reference to "socialism with a human face".

Note picture caption "most famous street battle ... Radio headquarters..."


~ Bob
eastern Virginia, USA

User avatar
Robert Rojas
In memoriam
Posts: 2658
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 05:29
Location: Pleasant Hill, California - U.S.A.
Contact:

RE: The Cold War's "Prague Spring".

#2

Post by Robert Rojas » 14 Oct 2018, 23:50

Greetings to both brother South and the community as a whole. Howdy Bob! Well sir, in respect to your introductory posting of Tuesday - August 14, 2018 - 9:54pm, old yours truly was rather surprised that Amos Chapple omitted the involvement of the German Democratic Republic in the "fraternal" military operation that lead to the "liberation" of Czechoslovakia in the Summer of year 1968. It has been my understanding that the participating units of the National Peoples Army were also some of the first combat formations to be immediately withdrawn from Bohemia and Moravia shortly after the completion of this Warsaw Pact police action. Apparently, lingering memories of Germany's prior visit to Czechoslovakia were still relatively fresh in the minds of the Bohemian Proletariat and the RED PRUSSIANS were understandably subjected to a greater degree of scorn and contempt than their Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish and Soviet comrades-in-arms. As far as I know, the invasion of Czechoslovakia in year 1968 was the FIRST and LAST offensive operation ever mounted by regular units of the National Peoples Army of the German Democratic Republic. Needless to say, ALL of the rank and file troops of the Warsaw Pact states were more than bewildered and confused when a healthy degree of Czechs and Slovaks they encountered were more likely to hurl all matter of projectiles and Molotov cocktails at them as opposed to warmly greeting them with open arms as fraternal "liberators". After all, they were all there to save the Czechs and the Slovaks from the DARK FORCES OF REACTION. I often wonder how this was all rationalized away when these chastened grunts subsequently returned to Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and, of course, the Soviet Union itself. As the old and battered adage goes, THE PARTY IS ALWAYS RIGHT - THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION THAT IS! On a peripheral matter, I was also mildly surprised that Amos Chapple did not mention the textbook COUP-DE-MAIN that disguised Spetsnaz commandos executed to neutralize the City of Prague's International Airport at the outset of the Warsaw Pact "liberation". They arrived on a commercial Aeroflot flight and promptly seized the control tower. The air landings began shortly thereafter. After all was said and done, Alexander Dubcek's Socialism with a Human Face reverted back to Leonid Brezhnev's Socialism with a Granite Face. While all of this was transpiring, on our side of the world, the Chicago Police Department was amply engaged in its own crackdown in Grant Park across Michigan Avenue from the Conrad Hilton Hotel during the 1968 Democrat Convention. Incidentally, the physical appearance between General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Mayor Richard James Daley Senior are rather striking. Well, that is my initial two Yankee cents worth on this nostalgic excursion down memory lane - for now anyway. As always, I would like to bid you an especially copacetic day over in your corner of the Old Dominion that is the Commonwealth of Virginia.

By the way, I hope you did not have go for a swim on your latest C.E.R.T. deployment. Virginia appeared very intense on the boob tube!

Best Regards,
Uncle Bob :idea: :|
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" - Robert E. Lee


User avatar
wm
Member
Posts: 8753
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 21:11
Location: Poland

Re: The Cold War's "Prague Spring"

#3

Post by wm » 15 Oct 2018, 20:48

Regarding the grunts and the armies, it was as the American president said: They would lie, lie, lie, and then again they would do worse than that. They would do whatever was necessary.
So it was mostly stories of Western infiltrators with backpacks full of money and weapons, spies and traitors deceiving the innocent masses, enemy propaganda, the CIA, the NATO ready to invade at any moment.

User avatar
Robert Rojas
In memoriam
Posts: 2658
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 05:29
Location: Pleasant Hill, California - U.S.A.
Contact:

RE: The Cold War's "Prague Spring".

#4

Post by Robert Rojas » 16 Oct 2018, 06:08

Greetings to both citizen 'wm' and the community as a whole. Howdy 'wm"! Well sir, in respect to your posting of Monday - October 15, 2018 - 10:48am, old yours truly would be exceedingly grateful if you could jog your memory about the actual identity of the American President that purportedly uttered "They would lie, lie, lie, and then again they would do worse than that. They would do whatever was necessary." Now, I am NOT contending that the topical construct of this utterance is necessarily incorrect. I would simply like to review the actual word-by-word syntax in which this quote was technically adapted. During my years of both formal and informal study, I have no personal recollection of ever coming across a quote that is anything remotely like the one that you have provided. Incidentally, having a less than truthful Chief Executive ensconced at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not exactly an unprecedented phenomena in the ever colorful history of the United States of America. Remember, they're all paragons of virtue - UNTIL THEY'RE CAUGHT! Oh, and by the way, old Uncle Bob had to broadly smile when I reviewed your succinct rendition about WESTERN INFILTRATORS. For a moment, until you mentioned N.A.T.O. anyway, I thought you might be referring to the estranged relationship between the United States of America and Cuba. Well, that's my latest two cents, pfennigs or kopecks worth on this nostalgic excursion down memory lane - for now anyway. As always, I would like to bid you an especially copacetic day over in your corner of the ever enduring land of Poland.

Best Regards,
Uncle Bob :idea: :|
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" - Robert E. Lee

User avatar
wm
Member
Posts: 8753
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 21:11
Location: Poland

Re: The Cold War's "Prague Spring"

#5

Post by wm » 16 Oct 2018, 22:32

Well, I suppose I should have left the original future tense it would easier to google the sentence.
It was said by the "honestly, she should be locked up" president.

User avatar
Robert Rojas
In memoriam
Posts: 2658
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 05:29
Location: Pleasant Hill, California - U.S.A.
Contact:

RE: The Cold War's "Prague Spring" - (Well Sort Of But Not Really).

#6

Post by Robert Rojas » 20 Oct 2018, 02:03

Greetings to both citizen 'wm' and the community as a whole. Howdy 'wm'! Well sir, in reference to your posting of Tuesday - October 16, 2018 - 12:32pm, old yours truly would like to convey my thanks for your subtle clarification regarding the identity of the Chief Executive in question. Even though this is so blatantly off topic, I would heartily concur with the impassioned sentiments of the Forty Fifth President regarding the former Senator from the State of New York and the former Secretary of State under the administration of the Forty Fourth President. Some would argue, her blatantly duplicitous behavior notwithstanding, that incarceration is a fate that would be far too good for her. If I had my druthers, the ambassadorship to the nation of Libya would be a fitting honor that I would bestow upon her. As a condition to her ambassadorship, she would have to procure her own security detail exclusively drawn from the indigenous population. SLEEP WELL MADAM AMBASSADOR! Allah certainly does work in mysterious ways! Well, that is my latest two Yankee cents worth on this tangential diversion into jurisprudence - for now anyway. As always, I would like to bid you an especially copacetic day over in your corner of the ever enduring land of Poland.

Best Regards,
Uncle Bob :idea: :|
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it" - Robert E. Lee

Post Reply

Return to “Other eras”