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Topic subjectStalin the opportunist.
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=226&mesg_id=291
291, Stalin the opportunist.
Posted by HoChiGrimm, Sun Aug-08-04 05:03 PM
>Yeah; if you think "surrender" equates to splitting up Asia
>between them and the Soviets, as the "Magic Summaries"
>detailed.
>
>And if the Soviets actually believed that Japan was trying
>to surrender, why did they invade Manchuria right after
>Hiroshima and the day before Nagasaki was bombed?

The Soviet Union did not
fully convey to Truman the
Japanese interest in surre-
nder--because the Soviets
wanted to enter the war and
secure a place at the barga-
ining table. (Keep in mind
that technically the Soviet
Union remained an ally of Japan
throughout World War II, and no
state of war existed between them.
The Soviets actually declared war
on Japan August 8th, two days after
the first atomic bomb was exploded.)

Source: Gar Alperovitz, author of Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, that appeared in the New York Times Op-ed page (August 3, 1989