There is nothing to be said for being crippled. You don't see the world better or clearer, nor do you develop some special set of skills by way of compensation.
Tony JudtAfter 1945 what happened was rather the opposite: with one major exception boundaries stayed broadly intact and people were moved instead.
Tony JudtHow should we begin to make amends for raising a generation obsessed with the pursuit of material wealth and indifferent to so much else?
Tony JudtThe American financial and military commitment really only kicks in with Korea. Not that Korea was the real game for the Americans; their real fear was that this was just the prelude to a second Korea in Germany. We now know from the Soviet archives that the last thing Stalin was going to do was start a war in Central Europe. The Americans didn't know that, and it was the fear that he might which transformed NATO from a sort of shell game into a real military alliance. That total commitment basically transformed the Marshal Plan into military aid.
Tony Judt