Opinion of the Treaty of Versailles?

[angus]

Gets a far worse rap than deserved, actually.

Possibly, but having the Big Four treat the Japanese who attended like they were less than human had a lasting effect.  Five allied nations sent delegates, but only the Big Four were recognized.  Pearl Harbor may still have been a target because we had business interests in raped Nanjing, but treating the Japs like subhumans cannot possibly have been justified.  And we don't even get into the humiliation of the German people by the British and French, because I'm sure anyone over the age of six understands that this set the stage for the NSDAP and its (highly successful) program of job growth and remilitarization and increased nationalism which led to an even bigger war.

FWIW, I voted Horrible Treaty, and I think that the US congress is just as much to blame for its long-term effects as the other various parliaments involved, but then I'm old enough to remember the Cold War--the inevitable indirect geopolitical result of the treaty of Versailles--as an everyday reality. 

[angus]

Fun fact: ...  very clever scam.

It is fun.  I read about that years ago, but I never really thought of it as a scam.  Maybe that's because here in the US we don't call that sort of thing a "scam."  We call it a "waiver."  Then again, it is fairly common for policy committees to recommend policies even with everyone in committee knowing that people will regularly be asking for a "waiver" in order to circumvent the policy.  The idea is to appease policymakers, who must be elected by the great unwashed masses, while simultaneously trying to maintain a logical operating position.  Do Germans also regularly operate like that?  I always thought they were given more to marrying spirit and letter in law.  Well, anyway, this is only a scam if you want to call it that.  Schacht's idea was neither unethical nor unworkable.  Since scam means to cheat or swindle by fraud, and since everyone who actually had money on the line knew of the details of the business arrangement, I don't really think this qualifies as a scam in the true sense.