German writer Guenter Grass barred from entering Israel

[amerinese]

Stalin ran ethnic cleansing campaigns against many ethnic groups before, during, and after the war. The only real difference I see is his approach had a more practical convenience to it, thus it looked less like ideological racism. It was like "Hey Ukranians are getting uppity, let's sell this year's harvest and starve a few million of them" or "We caught some Chechens working with Nazis, they're a regional pain in the ass anyway, let's shoot a few thousand and pack the rest into a train headed for Kazakhstan"... that type of thing.

[OldPretan]

You' re completely right on that, however youre going on tangent, the point in this thread is Gunter Grass.

And regarding GG I say I understand that Israel State wants to declare him non gratus, they have the right and it is justified.

You cant really blame on them.

We can't really talk on detail a lot about what happened inside the the ex soviet union block because of the very famous "Iron wall".

All states have the right to exclude any non-citizen from entry for whatever reason, that's what states are for primarily - protection from outsiders. Why this hooha because Israel won't let a bunch of useful idiots in to demonstrate against them?
BTW, I can't visit my sister in the land of the free because of past marijuana misdeeds.

Do you know it as "Iron wall"? Churchill's speech coined the phrase "Iron Curtain"
http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.

[Arminfrench]

Does Grass even actually care I wonder?

The point is not whether he cares or not, the point is that Israle has the right to to bar him from entering israel and has the right to tell him to shut the fuck up whet it comes to the State of Israel matters.

[Gungnir]

The point is not whether he cares or not, the point is that Israle has the right to to bar him from entering israel and has the right to tell him to shut the fuck up whet it comes to the State of Israel matters.

And he has the right to not listen when they tell him that. Israel is not above criticism.

[Arminfrench]

And he has the right to not listen when they tell him that. Israel is not above criticism.

Yes but in this case Israel has a good reason to show them really upset and condemn him.

You can't blame me for being skeptical here. Hell, if it was an average German civilian giving (fair) criticism of Israel, I wouldn't have even bat an eyelash. It just looks really suspicious coming from this dude.

---------- Post added 2012-04-17 at 19:18 ----------

All states have the right to exclude any non-citizen from entry for whatever reason, that's what states are for primarily - protection from outsiders. Why this hooha because Israel won't let a bunch of useful idiots in to demonstrate against them?
BTW, I can't visit my sister in the land of the free because of past marijuana misdeeds.

Do you know it as "Iron wall"? Churchill's speech coined the phrase "Iron Curtain"
http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html

Yes it is Iron curtain, it is actually the exact term....

[Kwestos]

Very shortsighted of them, IMAO, there were lots of Poles many of whom would have fought savagely against the Bolsheviks.

Yes, Poles were the ones who they trusted the least, even though they could have found a platform against Bolsheviks indeed. For instance, Wars Uprising of '44 was largely politically decision, aimed against Red Army, even if it was against Nazi occupation, but Germans were in the deadlock already and were loosing anyway, but still, taking revenge on Warsaw and squashing the uprising was very good news for Stalin.

---------- Post added 2012-04-18 at 02:32 ----------

Stalin ran ethnic cleansing campaigns against many ethnic groups before, during, and after the war. The only real difference I see is his approach had a more practical convenience to it, thus it looked less like ideological racism. It was like "Hey Ukranians are getting uppity, let's sell this year's harvest and starve a few million of them" or "We caught some Chechens working with Nazis, they're a regional pain in the ass anyway, let's shoot a few thousand and pack the rest into a train headed for Kazakhstan"... that type of thing.

Katyn massacre was ethnic cleansing too, the only key was- Polish elites (among them a few Polish Jews too). They were imprisoned, defendless and murdered just like that.