I am on episode 4. This is an excellent narrative. Although hardly an eye opener to anybody not brainwashed by American propaganda machine.
Stone's premise is that by sabotaging Henry Wallace's VP ticket America left the progressive trajectory and turned itself into a British empire substitute with its citizenry subjugated to the wills of the military industrial complex (MIC). This rings quite true, especially given the warning that Eisenhower himself made in his farewell address, which is ironic since MIC flourished during his presidency.
So far I noticed only one incorrect fact - USSR never captured Finland.
Now, I would like to address some of the issues others brought up.
Statement that Stalin's atrocities were not mentioned - not true. All the important bits are mentioned :
These are well known facts, all are mentioned.
As for the general theme of the narrative, this is exactly how Soviets perceived the US (and UK) during WWII and after the war.
Soviet point of view is : UK and US were stalling opening second front in Europe for as long as possible to the point that it became irrelevant. By all means it looked like the second front was opened with the purpose of not allowing the USSR to march all over the Europe, that is to contain "red invasion". Granted the war would have lasted longer, but for USSR it did not make much difference anyways given already staggering amount of war losses (5 more or 5 less lost millions did not matter anymore).
To those who say that American actions in Africa diverted German attention from Eastern front - less than 20% of German casualties came on African front. Even if Rommel was in charge in the battle of Kursk it would not have changed the outcome.
Dropping of the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was done not to get Japan to surrender (which they did not immediately after bombings anyway) but to show Stalin who is the boss now. A grave mistake by narrow minded hawks in Washington. This is when they created the Cold War. Of course MIC needed this like fish needs water. Warmongering would just get the contracts coming.
To those idiots that write about leaflets being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki prior to bombing. Here is the article on leaflets:
https: //en.wikipedia.org/ wiki / Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Leaflets
Particularly:
"In preparation for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, U.S. military leaders decided against a demonstration bomb, and against a special leaflet warning, in both cases because of the uncertainty of a successful detonation, and the wish to maximize psychological shock."
Even with leaflets dropped elsewhere. Like it absolves of the war crimes somehow. Reminds me of this lawyer speak idiocy like "this cup contains hot liquid" on coffee cups in McDonald's. So it is theirs Japanese own fault they got fried, we told them to leave.
So the fact is that US was the first and the only country so far that has used Nuclear weapons in the war. Not the evil Soviets. The bombs were dropped on the cities that had little military value. Even if justification was to cause Japan to surrender, frying 200K civilians to achieve this goal is a textbook act of terrorism.
Stone's premise is that by sabotaging Henry Wallace's VP ticket America left the progressive trajectory and turned itself into a British empire substitute with its citizenry subjugated to the wills of the military industrial complex (MIC). This rings quite true, especially given the warning that Eisenhower himself made in his farewell address, which is ironic since MIC flourished during his presidency.
So far I noticed only one incorrect fact - USSR never captured Finland.
Now, I would like to address some of the issues others brought up.
Statement that Stalin's atrocities were not mentioned - not true. All the important bits are mentioned :
- Katyn massacre is mentioned. - Decimation of officer elite of the Red Army prior to the war is mentioned. - Gulag is mentioned. - Firing squad behind front lines that would execute anybody retreating. - Allowing Germans to drown Warsaw uprising in blood by stalling the attack on the city. - Mass rape of German women is mentioned. - Invasions into Hungary and Czechoslovakia were mentioned mentioned.
These are well known facts, all are mentioned.
As for the general theme of the narrative, this is exactly how Soviets perceived the US (and UK) during WWII and after the war.
Soviet point of view is : UK and US were stalling opening second front in Europe for as long as possible to the point that it became irrelevant. By all means it looked like the second front was opened with the purpose of not allowing the USSR to march all over the Europe, that is to contain "red invasion". Granted the war would have lasted longer, but for USSR it did not make much difference anyways given already staggering amount of war losses (5 more or 5 less lost millions did not matter anymore).
To those who say that American actions in Africa diverted German attention from Eastern front - less than 20% of German casualties came on African front. Even if Rommel was in charge in the battle of Kursk it would not have changed the outcome.
Dropping of the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was done not to get Japan to surrender (which they did not immediately after bombings anyway) but to show Stalin who is the boss now. A grave mistake by narrow minded hawks in Washington. This is when they created the Cold War. Of course MIC needed this like fish needs water. Warmongering would just get the contracts coming.
To those idiots that write about leaflets being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki prior to bombing. Here is the article on leaflets:
https: //en.wikipedia.org/ wiki / Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Leaflets
Particularly:
"In preparation for dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, U.S. military leaders decided against a demonstration bomb, and against a special leaflet warning, in both cases because of the uncertainty of a successful detonation, and the wish to maximize psychological shock."
Even with leaflets dropped elsewhere. Like it absolves of the war crimes somehow. Reminds me of this lawyer speak idiocy like "this cup contains hot liquid" on coffee cups in McDonald's. So it is theirs Japanese own fault they got fried, we told them to leave.
So the fact is that US was the first and the only country so far that has used Nuclear weapons in the war. Not the evil Soviets. The bombs were dropped on the cities that had little military value. Even if justification was to cause Japan to surrender, frying 200K civilians to achieve this goal is a textbook act of terrorism.