Stalingrad - Baghus - sinking of an army
An army without a uniform. Tangled hair instead of helmets, rags instead of jackets and pants, stockings instead of boots. The soldiers look more human the more their military mask disintegrates. Perhaps the soldiers of an army will find their way back to their humanity especially in defeat. You should not be naive. Some may say so, others continue to be fanatical in their ruthless attitude through the pain of defeat. Significantly, it is always fanatical ideologies that drive people into hopeless situations. In the end, most prefer the wailing of captivity in this world of paradise in the afterlife. It takes a very strong will to commit suicide, even if the act is supported by religious fanaticism. Many who have been in such a situation report the cruel mechanism of a survival drive that becomes stronger as physical deprivations increase. Many, who had lost all hope in the ruins of Stalingrad relied on the bullets of their comrades to die. It had not been different in Baghus. The most threw away their explosive belts and dragged themselves into captivity.
Of course you can dismiss all IS members as crazy, but this will not help. There were reasons for these people to fanatize themselves: Iraq, where a ruthless Shiite regime was installed by the US after the second war, which brutally suppressed the Sunnis. Mullahs, who planted in the prisons of the Americans the poison of a fanatical Islam in the heads of former Saddam officers. Desperate, hopeless people who joined the army of the IS, because it paid better.
There were also reasons to join the NSDAP and march into World War II. Nazi ideology was also brilliant at fanatizing hopeless, humiliated people with the usual ingredients: nationalism, intolerance, racism, supermanhood, glorification of violence, profit maximization; not to forget the unconditional belief in having to sacrifice for one great cause to be part of that greatness.
There are always reasons. Reasons are not to be confused with apologies.
The demise of the IS army in Baghus is not comparable in scale to the catastrophe of the Sixth Army in Stalingrad, but the images of the empty, hopeless, beaten faces, reeling in rags in captivity, are similar. Fanatic ideologies often have the most extreme impact on those who are not part of the sect's innermost circle.
The majority of soldiers in Stalingrad were not fanatical National Socialists. The majority in Baghus also consisted of people, who tried to survive on the side of the supposedly stronger and willing – certainly some full of enthusiasm – to commit war atrocities. To survive the war, not infrequently sadistic traits are developed, which is not only in the "In Stahlgewittern" by Ernst Jünger read. For this, you do not have to be fanatical Nazi or Salafist. Psychological studies show, how quickly the so-called normal citizen can develop into a sadistic monster during the war.
For most, fighting was a job, be it for new sneakers, a coke, a burger, or two weeks of survival – weird, how fast basic values change in a war situation, and for all those involved.
Air strikes left as irreparable mental damage to the soldiers and militias as bloody melee struggles on the ground. And no ideology protects against that - although the Nazi regime glorified war and violence, there were a significant number of SS frontline fighters who needed to be housed in psychiatric hospitals. But of course is the pure conscience, which conveys a murderous ideology, demands the extermination of the enemy with the different faith, and transfigures the fighter into a hero, helpful in killing.This is probably the root of all these hermetic ideas. A self-contained parallel world, in which our own laws apply – why do we long, be it in the game or in bloody seriousness, after such a rigorous decoupling from our real world? Because we basically gave it up long ago? Because only there do we see our omnipotence feelings satisfied in the face of a crumbling real world?
One thing is clear: without a worthwhile alternative in reality, people will increasingly flee into unrealistic parallel worlds and, as in the case of IS, try to impose their cosmos on the rest of the world.
After the Second World War, the victorious powers cleverly dealt with the loser Germany. The Germans were not humiliated again and driven politically and economically into a hopeless situation, as after the First World War. The Nazis were deprived of the ground by allowing the Germans, at least in the West, to experience an unprecedented upswing and prosperity – democracy in Germany only worked as an economic success story.
So far, you cannot see such smart politics in the Middle East at all. Unless the Middle East people are given an economic perspective and given back their dignity, the spiral of violence and hatred will continue. But maybe that's exactly what the politicians want - because during the IS terror the oil was cheaper than ever. Even fanatics need to finance themselves. And nothing is better suited than terrorist attacks to allow the people to accept surveillance of all kinds.
Of course you can dismiss all IS members as crazy, but this will not help. There were reasons for these people to fanatize themselves: Iraq, where a ruthless Shiite regime was installed by the US after the second war, which brutally suppressed the Sunnis. Mullahs, who planted in the prisons of the Americans the poison of a fanatical Islam in the heads of former Saddam officers. Desperate, hopeless people who joined the army of the IS, because it paid better.
There were also reasons to join the NSDAP and march into World War II. Nazi ideology was also brilliant at fanatizing hopeless, humiliated people with the usual ingredients: nationalism, intolerance, racism, supermanhood, glorification of violence, profit maximization; not to forget the unconditional belief in having to sacrifice for one great cause to be part of that greatness.
There are always reasons. Reasons are not to be confused with apologies.
The demise of the IS army in Baghus is not comparable in scale to the catastrophe of the Sixth Army in Stalingrad, but the images of the empty, hopeless, beaten faces, reeling in rags in captivity, are similar. Fanatic ideologies often have the most extreme impact on those who are not part of the sect's innermost circle.
The majority of soldiers in Stalingrad were not fanatical National Socialists. The majority in Baghus also consisted of people, who tried to survive on the side of the supposedly stronger and willing – certainly some full of enthusiasm – to commit war atrocities. To survive the war, not infrequently sadistic traits are developed, which is not only in the "In Stahlgewittern" by Ernst Jünger read. For this, you do not have to be fanatical Nazi or Salafist. Psychological studies show, how quickly the so-called normal citizen can develop into a sadistic monster during the war.
For most, fighting was a job, be it for new sneakers, a coke, a burger, or two weeks of survival – weird, how fast basic values change in a war situation, and for all those involved.
Air strikes left as irreparable mental damage to the soldiers and militias as bloody melee struggles on the ground. And no ideology protects against that - although the Nazi regime glorified war and violence, there were a significant number of SS frontline fighters who needed to be housed in psychiatric hospitals. But of course is the pure conscience, which conveys a murderous ideology, demands the extermination of the enemy with the different faith, and transfigures the fighter into a hero, helpful in killing.This is probably the root of all these hermetic ideas. A self-contained parallel world, in which our own laws apply – why do we long, be it in the game or in bloody seriousness, after such a rigorous decoupling from our real world? Because we basically gave it up long ago? Because only there do we see our omnipotence feelings satisfied in the face of a crumbling real world?
One thing is clear: without a worthwhile alternative in reality, people will increasingly flee into unrealistic parallel worlds and, as in the case of IS, try to impose their cosmos on the rest of the world.
After the Second World War, the victorious powers cleverly dealt with the loser Germany. The Germans were not humiliated again and driven politically and economically into a hopeless situation, as after the First World War. The Nazis were deprived of the ground by allowing the Germans, at least in the West, to experience an unprecedented upswing and prosperity – democracy in Germany only worked as an economic success story.
So far, you cannot see such smart politics in the Middle East at all. Unless the Middle East people are given an economic perspective and given back their dignity, the spiral of violence and hatred will continue. But maybe that's exactly what the politicians want - because during the IS terror the oil was cheaper than ever. Even fanatics need to finance themselves. And nothing is better suited than terrorist attacks to allow the people to accept surveillance of all kinds.
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