Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Russia warns Poland not to touch Soviet WW2 memorials
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40775355 ^ | July 2017

Posted on 01/28/2018 12:32:58 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose

The Red Army's defeat of Nazi German forces on Polish soil in 1944-1945 remains a thorny issue in Russian-Polish relations.

Many Poles viewed the Red Army as an occupation force, not as liberators, as the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact had carved up Poland between two dictatorships.

Poland updated its "de-communisation" legislation, banning "totalitarian" symbols, which would include Soviet propaganda monuments.

The Russian foreign ministry condemned the new Polish "de-communisation" law as "an outrageous provocation", and warned of unspecified "consequences".

"The USSR paid the highest price to liberate Poland - on that country's soil, in battles with the enemy, more than 600,000 Soviet soldiers and officers died and were buried. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet prisoners of war, who died in Nazi concentration camps, also lie in Polish soil," the ministry said.

The Russian government has warned Poland that it will face sanctions if it removes monuments glorifying the Soviet victory in World War Two.

In 2007, Estonia's removal of a Red Army statue in its capital Tallinn sparked a violent protest by Russian speakers and a massive cyber attack on Estonian official websites. Russian hackers were blamed for that attack.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: blackmail; coldwar; communism; estonia; europe; hitler; holocaust; intimidation; katyn; katynmassacre; nazis; poland; redarmy; russia; soviets; sovietunion; stalin; ukraine; warsaw; worldwarii; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last
To: GoldenState_Rose

It’s definitely an interesting and boom time in the Baltics right now.

The Soviet generations are dying off and the post Soviet generations are increasing MASSIVELY. There are people near 40 years old there now with no real memories of Soviet times other than what they did on the playground. There is definitely a growing divide between haves and have nots.

These are tiny countries and the size of Russian cities just over the border dwarfs them. The weight of geography and cultural history will once again draw them east. If that will be in 10 years or 100 I don’t know. But it will happen.


61 posted on 01/28/2018 9:28:09 PM PST by lodi90
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: piasa
My neighbor was a Lithuanian-born Pole who was still serving in the Polish Army when then the war started

Piłsudski was a Polonized Lithuanian. I'd love to see the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth return.

62 posted on 01/28/2018 9:36:05 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose
"The USSR paid the highest price to liberate occupy Poland...

Fixed it.

63 posted on 01/28/2018 10:46:00 PM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

If only Katyn...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZB7wwOEhOA


64 posted on 01/28/2018 11:21:01 PM PST by Matt_DZ_PL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lodi90

You’re wrong.

While entities like the E.U. will have their part to play, in this age of Brexit and sovereignty, tiny countries will shine in all their varied, unique, language-preserving glory while the delusional empire-minded (China and Russia) are in for a rude awakening. That is of course until the freedom-lovers within those countries embrace the new reality as well and rise up against their backwards overlords.

We are moving into an age of “tiny countries.”

Other interesting developments in the post-Soviet space include:

“Kazahkstan to change from Cyrrilic to Latin alphabet.”

http://www.dw.com/en/kazakhstan-to-change-from-cyrillic-to-latin-alphabet/a-41147396


65 posted on 01/29/2018 12:07:57 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: henkster

You should read less Russian propaganda.


66 posted on 01/29/2018 2:22:12 AM PST by Krosan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: lodi90

9% of Estonian export goes to Russia. The trouble with doing business with Russia is that they feel this 9% of volume makes them entitled to control how the relations with the countries where the 91% goes must be.

We regrettably got a leftist dominated government now for the first time since independence, but it looks like having them actually have power is the best cure for their popularity, that has fallen to 36% by now. I just hope they can’t do too much damage.


67 posted on 01/29/2018 2:46:00 AM PST by Krosan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

If you drive through the rural areas of eastern France you will find literally hundreds of British, French, and German WW1 cemeteries. There are also 3 US cemeteries from WW1. I visited one and asked the caretaker if anything happened to the US cemeteries during the German occupation of France in WW2. He said no, they pretty much left the cemeteries alone and the French continued to maintain them.


68 posted on 01/29/2018 5:39:16 AM PST by ops33 (SMSgt, USAF, Retired)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose

You shouldn’t discard cultural aspect. After 30 years if an Estonian business has one Russian employee they all speak Estonian. If there are at least two their operational language is Russian. The same is true in Kazakhstan. If there are at least two white people present during a cabinet meeting the President speaks in Russian. All the public speeches by Kazakh officials are always in Russian.


69 posted on 02/22/2018 6:14:10 AM PST by NorseViking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: NorseViking

From today:

“Russian State Cult of Cyrillic Alphabet a Relatively Recent Development, Bagdasarov Says”

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/02/russian-state-cult-of-cyrillic-alphabet.html?m=1


70 posted on 02/22/2018 12:43:38 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Agreed.


71 posted on 02/22/2018 12:44:36 PM PST by kosciusko51
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose

The question of alphabet is purely political in this context. Your link correctly points out at cultural aspect of script usage but it fails to explain how exactly Latin would help Turkic people to better exercise their identity. Latin is more alien for Central Asia that Cyrillic for sure and the idea of it is to inflict a cultural split between Russia and Central Asia realigning the latter to China and Muslim world.
Why not Arabic alphabet if so?
I also fail to see the benefits of all the above for the West pushing the agenda in the first place. It makes about as much sense as if Russia was campaigning in Southwest for switching to Spanish ‘for Hispanics to better exercise their identity’.


72 posted on 02/22/2018 4:44:31 PM PST by NorseViking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: lodi90
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are tiny countries but:

This is why they will survive as separate entities - for the same reason Ireland, Scotland and Wales more or less stayed unique from England while the Cornish were absorbed - language, culture/history kept them distinct for a long time, but then the Welsh and Cornish adopted anglicanism and finally the Cornish lost their language and then they were lost

similarly the Armenians, Jews, Yazidis, Mandaens, Samaritans, Alawites, Zoroastrians survive even in tiny communities due to this separation

Within the east slavs we have the destruction of the Belarussian language first when it was reduced to a local language under the later stages of the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth - not due to forced policies but due to Polish being the prestiage langauge, then under the Tsar in the 1800s with the rise of literacy and finally the forced Russianization under the Bolsheviks.

Latvia, Lithuania will survive.

If anything we will have more "small nations" but within a wider framework like the EU. You see this in India (at least 40 different nations in one union) or Switzerland.

Even Russia gives Buryats, Tuvans, Enki, Tatars and udmurt relative freedom to survive as separate entities.

73 posted on 03/13/2018 3:37:24 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose
It depends on what will happen after Putin goes. Putin is doing the same thing that Ivan IV did - no proper succession line. When he goes, there will be another "Time of troubles" in my opinion.

But Estonia is firmly tied to Europe

74 posted on 03/13/2018 3:48:34 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster
most ordinary Russians don't know about it either. I was really surprised back in 2010 when I was in an intensive course for learning Polish and there were some young Russians (18 to 25 year olds) and they had no idea, they were no taught this.

history in Russia (well not only Russia) is selective...

75 posted on 03/13/2018 4:05:05 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: NorseViking

You write like a Russian. Are you Russian?


76 posted on 03/13/2018 4:18:11 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Keep fighting the Left and their Fake News!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Krosan

yes, 9%, but Estonia is dependent on Russian gas. Plus all the roads and rails from estonia head to Moscow. Now they are planning (or have started building a train line from Estonia to Poland.


77 posted on 03/13/2018 4:45:23 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: NorseViking

Moving to the Latin alphabet makes it easier for both westerners to “read” some Kazakh and for kazakhs to learn Western languages. At the same time it makes modern technology like phone keyboards easier to use for Kazakhs if they want to import them from Latin alphabet countries (though I agree that’s not a big plus point)_


78 posted on 03/13/2018 5:32:29 AM PDT by Cronos (Obama's dislike of Assad is not based on his brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Heating gas can be replaced by heating oil. The stations were fitted for this in 1994 when Russia turned off the gas last time.

Russia decided to blockade all Estonian goods in the 90s hoping to make it submit, but only achieved that Estonia’s economy can’t be killed by Russian whims any more.


79 posted on 03/13/2018 5:55:05 AM PDT by Krosan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Nope, I am ethnically Norse. Blonde and blue-eyed. Also tall.


80 posted on 03/13/2018 10:13:40 AM PDT by NorseViking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson