To start real refugee returns the Syrian government needs to accept returnees in opposition bastions like Homs and Darraya. I haven't seen any reports on them yet.

These are good articles about Mercer: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/... http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-...

If you want a longread about this subject look at this one: https://medium.com/textifire/a-special-relationsh...

The Manafort indictment tells me that Mueller doesn't have anything against Trump. He is now basically blackmailing Manafort by throwing as much accusations as he can think of at him in the hope that he will be prepared to make a deal that provides some real evidence.

I agree. No change in sensitive matters should be implemented without consensus between the two parties.

However, that applies to both sides. Suddenly not daily displaying the flag when it has become a habit is also a one-sided decision.

Hitler needed conquests to finance his government deficits. The conquered areas financed overconsumption in Germany. This way he managed to keep the standard of living in Germany at the same level until 1944 and that was the main factor explaining why the Germans didn't get tired of all those wars.

Ceding Danzig might have helped at some point. But remember that Hitler already had made the step from nationalist to conqueror when he occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia. So the only effect of ceding Danzig would have been that Hitler had started his conquests elsewhere.

There are enough points to criticize the West regarding WW II: the injust borders and too high indemnifications of Versailles; the passivity in the Spanish Civil War; the passivity when the remainder of Czechoslovakia was occupied; the initial lack of support for Russia; the refusal to negotiate with Hitler. Building a peaceful world is a matter of balance and honesty. Let them fight it out and destroy each other sounds to me utterly immoral.