[twinself]

Yeah, Poles learned their lesson of pre-war Poland. Living in a country doesn't mean you are ready to fight for its independence. Unassimilated minorities can be a threat no less than your country's enemies. I'll set some examples - who knows them better than us Poles. My father's family was denounced to Soviets by a Jew, Polish citizen. We had some "truthful" Polish-German Volksdeutsche in Slask as well. The same concerns Ukrainians with Polish citizenship in Wolyn. Some members of these ethnic groups took advantage of their privileged postition (partly Polish - partly "other") in the time of a moral probe. Fortunately of course there were brave, truthful Polish Jews, too. I'd rather call them Poles of Jewish origin. Anyway I am really glad our minorities are real minorities nowadays and this is not our problem anymore.

You don't speak country's official language, know nothing about it history etc. - you don't become a citizen. As simple as that. Over. If you want to become a conscious citizen with a right to decide upon your motherland's fate, represent your group in dealings with other groups... Then prove you deserve it by passing a language/history test at least. Is this unfair for you? I think best test for Latvian citizenship of Russians would be their behaviour after Latvia was reinvaded (hopefully this will never happen). It makes me wonder if they'd pass blood test for their country's independence, too.

[jb6]

How about the Belruss and Ukrainians in inter-war Poland, which held the western oblasts of those countries. I'm sure they had a lot of love for the military dictator while their churches were being burned down for refusing to convert to catholicism. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Ever wonder why the Zaprochina Cossaks rebelled so often against the Polish kings?