Source post #5

An article gives an analysis on the conclusion by Russian officials on the Katyn plane crash of last year. It appears they are squarely putting the blame on "Polish officials for the crash, and also suggesting that Polish political pressure may have provoked the pilot to make the landing attempt." The hope that a sort of camaraderie may emerge between these two countries now appears to be a fallacy. However, other articles will need to be addressed and read to truly be able to predict how events may unfold between Poland and Russia.

Buruma Evaluation

Personally, I truly enjoyed Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma. I felt it was incredibly informative, comparable to that of educational texts, minus the drawled out chapters that often put readers to sleep. His balance between anecdotes and analysis of modern and past events is admirable, keeping a cohesive pattern throughout.

In class, we were getting at what his stance was on what the Dutch policy should be, or if he ever states what he believes. Speaking for myself, I reckon he was hinting at how the Dutch need to shake off the terrors and spirits of WWII, not bring these malicious and guilty feelings to modern day affairs. The fact of the matter is that muslim immigrants need to be taken for what they are at face value. We can't keep on trying to make up for the abominations of the past by breaking our backs bending over to not come across as tyrants. The Netherlands still feel they carry red on their hands, and thus constantly feel guilty for sporadically having a backbone and saying "no" to certain requests by religious minorities. Because of this, the Dutch are now seeing the consequences of their ways of thinking by constantly relating things back to the Holocaust, and these results are not brightly shining beacons of light. They now have to deal with the fact that in the future, muslims may be the majority in the Netherlands, and their quaint, colorful neighborhoods will soon become "dish cities" with people "slaughtering goats on balconies." If the Dutch truly are appalled at a chance of this becoming their reality, surely politicians need to get their act together and defend their home and culture.

Source post #4

Katyn Wood Murders by Mackiewicz is a historical reference I am using. It's one of the six books I checked out of the UWM Golda Meir library, and has proved to be reliable as a historical recount of the events leading up to, during, and after the Katyn massacres. The fact that it's not dry reading keeps me immersed - it does a fantastic job of keeping the suspense as if it was a fiction novel. It also plays with the reader's heartstrings, putting one into the shoes of people who had lost contact with family members abruptly in the month of April. I'm positive I will be finishing this book, along with another first-hand account of the horrific ordeal.