This was a sickening plan, but it made a kind of demented sense. Rather than becoming more involved in global trade as the British had, the Germans would feed themselves by taking land and killing the people who'd previously lived there. Similarly, Japan at the beginning of the war was suffering from an acute fear of food shortage because its agricultural sector was having trouble keeping up with population growth. And the Japanese, too, sought to expand their agricultural holdings by, for instance, resettling farmers in Korea. So, while it's tempting to say that World War II was about the Allies fighting for democratic ideals against the totalitarian, militaristic imperialism of the fascist Axis powers, it just doesn't hold up to scrutiny. For instance, a hugely important Allied power, Stalin's Soviet Union, was, like, the least democratic place ever. Stan just said that was hyperbole, but it's not.