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Comment by GauntletWizard | Hacker News Reader

No, we helped the Pahlavi dynasty launch a nuclear program, whereas the Iranian Republic is now launching a nuclear program using what they've scavenged from that one.

You are conflating two different nations that happen to share a name and borders. The US trades technology with the Fourth Republic of Germany; The US did not with the Third Reich.

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Wow, so naive. The Third Reich was established in 1933, WW2 started in 1939. It didn't have time to invent much or to build industry anew. 90% of the technology came from US - directly from US government or through companies like Standard Oil and Ford. Thousands of factories got sold on the cheap in the US after the Great Recession started and all the equipment moved to Germany. A process quite similar to the outsourcing of the last 25 years or so.

Also IBM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust

Yes IBM. But if you are considering reading this book I would suggest that it might be a waste of time, unless you are a true disbeliever or are doing research on the topic.

Mr Black is angry at IBM and does not try to hide it in his writing. He writes as if he is a prosecutor trying to convince a jury in court. Very frequently and repetitively, he describes the Holocaust and explains why what the reader just read proves that IBM or some of its executives are guilty of murder. I find it insulting to have these conclusions handed to me, even if I don't disagree with them. The repetition gets boring quickly.

You mean like how some in the U.S. said we shouldn't have to repay France for their help in the American Revolution because that was a gift from the French monarchy, but then the U.S. decided to enter WWI & WWII on their behalf after deciding it was a gift from the French people?

Part of the reason not to do that kind of stuff is that you don't know how long the regime you are helping will last. I think we are finally learning that lesson. These days it seems that the risk of arms falling into the wrong hands outweighs our desire to arm what we deem to be the "right" hands today. I am certain if the Syrian civil war happened in the 1980s, we would have been sending the "rebels" all sorts of missiles and gadgets that would have floated around the world for the next 30 years.

I agree; The US should not share any of it's technological innovations with other countries, and establish a strict isolationism policy. Since we didn't see the rise of Nazi Germany, we shouldn't have allowed the Weimar Republic to use our technology or traded with them.

I'm not entirely certain how so few people here get that massive revolutions and changes in political power can change the playing field of what foreign aid and technological assistance we should give to other countries. Perhaps we should be like France, and sell tanks to the highest bidder regardless of international sanctions.

I think people are downvoting you because they're missing that by "technological innovations" you are referring to weapons. I don't care if we share MongoDB with Pakistan, but I'd prefer not to share the new railguns with anyone.

You might want to double check that one about the Third Reich!

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