[Webstral]

I agree with Leg that there is a media and public relations aspect of the Vietnam experience that will be totally absent after December 1997. However, the lack of a media consideration doesn't necessarily alter the internal thought processes of the senior leaders. The in-house definition of honor becomes the only one that matters once Milgov is calling the shots for US forces in Europe. If the American flag officers agree that the best thing to do is put Germany in the best position possible before withdrawing US forces to CONUS, and if the German military leadership agrees, then that action becomes "peace with honor" by definition.

Though I'm sure I've said as much before, it bears repeating that the territory into which the Summer 2000 offensive is conducted was German territory as recently as 1945. In my mind, Germany surrendered her claims by waging war on the world and waging genocide; however, the events of the Twilight War up through 2000 render even the worst excesses of Nazi Germany a mere drop in a bucket of water. Were I a surviving American leader thinking about the future in 1999, probably I'd be willing to give the Germans a pass for what happened in the 1940's and put them in as strong a position as possible to rebuild over the next two generations. This means land and resources. Sorry, Poland. Geography has done you wrong yet again.