RISE OF ADOLF HITLER TO POWER
Hitler’s rise to power traces to 1919, when he joined the German Workers’ Party that became the Nazi Party. With his oratorical skills and use of propaganda, he soon became its leader. Hitler gained popularity nationwide by exploiting unrest during the Great Depression, and in 1932 he placed second in the presidential race. Hitler’s various maneuvers resulted in the winner, Paul von Hindenburg, appointing him chancellor in January 1933.
REICHSTAG FIRE PROMPOTED HITLER’S RISE TO ABSOLUTE POWER.
The Reichstag fire provided an excuse for a decree overriding all guarantees of freedom. Then on March 23 the Enabling Act was passed, giving full powers to Hitler. When Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934, the chancellorship and the presidency were merged, and Hitler secured his position as Führer (“leader”).
SIGNING OF SOVIET UNION AND GERMAN NON-AGGRESSION PACT.
IN 1939 nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was concluded only a few days before the beginning of World War Two and which divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. German-Soviet Nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union that was concluded only a few days before the beginning of World War Two and which divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
REFUSAL OF FRANCE AND BRITAIN TO SIGN NON-AGGRESSION PACT WITH SOVIET UNION AGAINST NAZI GERMANY
The Soviet Union had been unable to reach a collective security agreement with Britain and France against Nazi Germany, most notably at the time of the Munich Conference in September 1938. By early 1939 the Soviets faced the prospect of resisting German military expansion in eastern Europe virtually alone, and so they began searching about for a change of policy. On May 3, 1939, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin fired Foreign Minister Maksim Litvinov, who was Jewish and an advocate of collective security, and replaced him with Molotov, who soon began negotiations with the Nazi foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Soviets also kept negotiating with Britain and France, but in the end Stalin chose to reach an agreement with Germany. By doing so he hoped to keep the Soviet Union at peace with Germany and to gain time to build up the Soviet military establishment, which had been badly weakened by the purge of the Red Army officer corps in 1937.
THE WESTERN DEMOCRCIES REFUSAL TO OPPOSE HITLER AND SUPPORT STALIN RESULTED IN NON-AGRESSON PACT BEWTEEN GERMANY AND SOVIET UNION
The Western democracies’ hesitance in opposing Adolf Hitler, along with Stalin’s own inexplicable personal preference for the Nazis, also played a part in Stalin’s final choice. For his part, Hitler wanted a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union so that his armies could invade Poland virtually unopposed by a major power, after which Germany could deal with the forces of France and Britain in the west without having to simultaneously fight the Soviet Union on a second front in the east. The end result of the German-Soviet negotiations was the Nonaggression Pact, which was dated August 23 and was signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov in the presence of Stalin, in Moscow. The terms of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact were briefly as follows: the two countries agreed not to attack each other, either independently or in conjunction with other powers; not to support any third power that might attack the other party to the pact; to remain in consultation with each other upon questions touching their common interests; not to join any group of powers directly or indirectly threatening one of the two parties; to solve all differences between the two by negotiation or arbitration. The pact was to last for 10 years, with automatic extension for another 5 years unless either party gave notice to terminate it 1 year before its expiration.
SECRET PROTOCOL IN THE NONAGGRESSION PACT DIVIDED EUROPE INTO SOVIET AND GERMAN SPHERE OF ONFLUENCE
To this public pact of nonaggression was appended a secret protocol, also reached on August 23, 1939, which divided the whole of eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Poland east of the line formed by the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers would fall under the Soviet sphere of influence. The protocol also assigned Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland to the Soviet sphere of influence and, further, broached the subject of the separation of Bessarabia from Romania. A secret supplementary protocol of 1939 clarified the Lithuanian borders. The Polish-German border was also determined, and was assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence. In a third secret protocol of 1941 between by Count Friedrich Werner von Schulenberg and Molotov clarified that Germany renounced its claims to portions of Lithuania in return for Soviet payment of a sum agreed upon by the two countries. The public German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact caused consternation in the capitals of Britain and France. After Germany invaded Poland from the west on September 1, 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east on September 17, meeting the advancing Germans. The partition of Poland was effected on at which time the dividing line between German and Soviet territory was changed in Germany’s favor which is the current Polish-Soviet frontier.
The Soviets soon afterward sought to consolidate their sphere of influence as a defensive barrier to renewed German aggression in the east. The Nonaggression Pact became a dead letter in 1941 when Nazi Germany, after having invaded much of western and central Europe, attacked the Soviet Union without warning. The Soviet Union’s borders with Poland and Romania that were established after World War II roughly follow those established by the Nonaggression Pact in 1939–41. Until 1989 the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols because they were considered evidence of its involuntary annexation of the Baltic states. Soviet leaders were initially unwilling to restore prewar boundaries, but the transformations occurring within the Soviet Union in the early 1990s made it virtually impossible for Soviet leaders to combat declarations of independence from the Baltic states in 1991.
The Soviet Union had been unable to reach a collective-security agreement with Britain and France against Nazi Germany, most notably at the time of the Munich Conference in September 1938. By early 1939 the Soviets faced the prospect of resisting German military expansion in eastern Europe virtually alone, and so they began searching about for a change of policy. On May 3, 1939, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin fired Foreign Minister , who was Jewish and an advocate of collective security, and replaced him with Molotov, who soon began negotiations with the Nazi foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop.. The Soviets also kept negotiating with Britain and France, but in the end Stalin chose to reach an agreement with Germany. By doing so he hoped to keep the Soviet Union at peace with Germany and to gain time to build up the Soviet military establishment, which had been badly weakened by the purge of the officer corps in 1937.
WHY STALIN FINALLY CHOSE NON-AGGRESSION PACT WITH GERMANY
The Western democracies’ hesitance in opposing Adolf along with Stalin’s own inexplicable personal preference for the Nazis, also played a part in Stalin’s final choice. For his part, Hitler wanted a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union so that his armies could invade Poland virtually unopposed by a major power, after which Germany could deal with the forces of France and Britain in the west without having to simultaneously fight the Soviet Union on a second front in the east. The end result of the German-Soviet negotiations was the Nonaggression Pact, which was dated August 23 and was signed by Ribbentrop and Molotov in the presence of Stalin, in Moscow.
The terms of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact were briefly as follows: the two countries agreed not to attack each other, either independently or in conjunction with other powers; not to support any third power that might attack the other party to the pact; to remain in consultation with each other upon questions touching their common interests; not to join any group of powers directly or indirectly threatening one of the two parties; to solve all differences between the two by negotiation or arbitration. The pact was to last for 10 years, with automatic extension for another 5 years unless either party gave notice to terminate it 1 year before its expiration. To this public pact of nonaggression was appended a secret protocol, also reached on August 23, 1939, which divided the whole of eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
Poland east of the line formed by the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers would fall under the Soviet sphere of influence. The protocol also assigned some other countries to fall into the Soviet sphere of influence. A secret supplementary protocol clarified the Lithuanian borders. The Polish-German border was also determined. In a third secret protocol of 1941 signified German renunciation of its claims to portions of Lithuania. The public German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact caused consternation in the capitals of Britain and France. After Germany invaded Poland from the west on September 1, 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east on September 17, meeting the advancing Germans. The partition of Poland was effected at which time the dividing line between German and Soviet territory was changed in Germany’s favor. The Soviets soon afterward sought to consolidate their sphere of influence as a defensive barrier to renewed German aggression in the east.
DEATH OF NON-AGGRESSION PACT
The Nonaggression Pact became a dead letter in 1941 when Nazi Germany, after having invaded much of western and central Europe, attacked the Soviet Union without warning. The Soviet Union’s borders with Poland and Romania that were established after World War II roughly follow those established by the Nonaggression Pact in 1939–41. Until 1989 the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols because they were considered evidence of its involuntary annexation of the Baltic states. Soviet leaders were initially unwilling to restore prewar boundaries, but the transformations occurring within the Soviet Union in the early 1990s made it virtually impossible for Soviet leaders to combat declarations of independence from the Baltic states in 1991.
RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA RELATIONS
Expanding cooperation. Russia and North Korea signed an agreement on boosting economic cooperation following a meeting between trade officials in Pyongyang. No further details about the deal were released, but Russia’s TASS news agency reported that Moscow and Pyongyang had earlier agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the two countries. Hungarian defense. Hungary will install additional air defense systems in the northeast of the country due to concerns over the fighting in Ukraine spreading into Hungarian territory. The Hungarian defense minister said the threat of escalation between Ukraine and Russia is “greater than ever.” Russia became the top supplier of natural gas to the European Union in September for the first time since May 2022, according to a calculation by Russia’s RIA Novosti using Eurostat data. European purchases of Russian gas in September were valued at 1.4 billion euros ($1.47 billion), an increase of a third over the previous September. Roughly 40 percent of the supplies is liquefied natural gas and 60 percent is pipeline gas. U.S. mediation.
US WARNING TO BAGHDAD FAILING TO STOP ISRAELI ATTACKS ON PALESTINE
Washington has warned Baghdad that an Israeli attack could be imminent unless Iraq prevents further strikes against Israel from its territory. Washington reportedly also told Baghdad that it had exhausted all means of pressuring Israel not to strike. Intel reform. Israel’s Knesset approved in a preliminary reading a bill that would establish a new intelligence body subordinate to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It would transfer the functions of the Israeli army’s intelligence unit to the office of the head of government. The chief of the new body would be appointed jointly by the prime minister and the minister of defense.
APPEARANCE OF XI-JINPING ON THE SCENE
Xi-Jinping in Brazil. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Brasilia for an official state visit. He held talks with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who called for further cooperation on infrastructure, finance, industrial supply chains, technology and the environment. A report of November 2024 informs that Washington has supplied the Philippine navy with an undisclosed number of unmanned surface vessels for its operations in the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Manila this week. He also promised that the U.S. would provide more USVs to the Philippines before the end of the Biden administration’s time in office. The drones will support Manila’s surveillance and operational capabilities in the region. Armenian defense. Armenia is reportedly in advanced talks to purchase another seventy eight advanced towed artillery gun systems from an Indian defense firm. The negotiations are taking place after the successful testing of the first batch of ATAGs delivered to Armenia last year. Turkish intel. The head of Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, met with members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The meeting, held at the CHP headquarters and organized at the request of party leader Ozgur Ozel, was meant to update party officials on MIT activities.
ALEXANDRA SHARP ON REFUSAL OF AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES AGAINST ICC ARREST WARRANT
Alexandra sharp in an article in November 2024 wrote that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to defy the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) recent decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Orban accused the ICC of “interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes” and escalating regional tensions. The ICC arrest warrant—issued for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif—cite alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. For the two Israeli officials, the court specifically pointed to actions that were allegedly part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza,” including “starvation as a method of warfare.” For Deif, the court cited actions including murder, hostage-taking, and sexual violence. Israeli forces said Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza in July, but the court was unable to confirm his death.
Under the Rome Statute, all 124 ICC member countries are required to detain any suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil. However, the court has very little recourse to address noncompliance. In defiance of the order, Orban added that he would invite Netanyahu to visit Budapest, making Hungary the first European Union country to openly ignore the ruling. Hungary is a member of the ICC; Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not. “Hungary—like our friends in the United States—is displaying moral clarity and standing by justice and truth,” Netanyahu said in response to Orban’s statement. Netanyahu’s administration has repeatedly denounced the ICC and its chief prosecutor, with several top Israeli ministers describing the court’s decision to issue the warrants as antisemitic. Hungary is not alone in rejecting the ICC decision.
USA CONTINUES ITS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL.
U.S. President Joe Biden called it “outrageous” and said the ICC should not equate Israel with Hamas. Argentine President Javier Milei also expressed his country’s “profound disagreement” with the decision and said Israel has the right to defend itself against the militant group. Unlike the United States, Argentina is a member of the ICC and would be in violation of the Rome Statute if it refuses to arrest Netanyahu. Still, some ICC members have promised to back the court’s ruling. “Those responsible for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of who committed them,” Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said. Brussels joined Canada, Ireland, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland to signal that it would detain Netanyahu were he to travel to their countries. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, expressed confidence in international law, and Austria—despite calling the warrant ludicrous—vowed to uphold the decision. Other ICC members remain on the fence for how to proceed. France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom have not explicitly said whether they would detain Netanyahu if he were to visit their countries. Berlin, specifically, said it must take a closer look at the text, noting that Germany’s history with the Holocaust has given the country “a unique relationship and a great responsibility to Israel.”
CONCLUSION
Legal experts anticipate that the warrants could lead some governments to scale down their contact with Netanyahu and other Israeli diplomats. This could come in the form of cutting ties with Israeli institutions and defense companies or spurring efforts to bring new war crimes cases against lower-ranking officials. Already, the decision has caused a planned trip to Israel by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp had been postponed, after he said that his country would comply with the ICC ruling.
