Patrick Buchanan's new book

[rj]

> On Wed, 22 Sep 1999, Paul Mackin wrote:
> 
> > In Buchanan's considered view view, the West should have let Hitler have
> > his little treats in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and then left him alone
> > to take care of Stalin for us.
> 
> Does the comparison make any sense to you yet, rj?

Let's see. Todorov makes no such claims about what "the West" should or
shouldn't have done, because he's writing as a historian and cultural
analyst, not as a political rhetorician. Riemer, as a Hungarian Jew
himself who came to Australia as a refugee in 1947, has written
extensively in both fiction and autobiographical form about his
experiences of anti-Semitic persecution and the Nazi onslaught in
Eastern Europe. It is hardly likely that he would concur with Buchanan
either. Riemer's published books are: *Inside Outside* (1992), *The
Hapsburg Cafe* (1993), *The Ironic Eye* (1994), *America with Subtitles
(1995),The Demidenko Debate* (1996) and *Sandstone Gothic: Confessions
of an Accidental Academic* (1998).

So, to sum up, the only comparison that is beginning to make some sense
to me is the one between yours and Buchanan's ignorance, Derek.