Posted on 08/31/2009 9:25:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is in Poland for events Tuesday marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II as Russia fiercely denies blame in causing the war.
He plans to hold talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and also meet with the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Finland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia.
Writing in Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, Mr. Putin condemned the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty as immoral.
The pact secretly split the Baltics and parts of eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Historians say it encouraged Germany to invade Poland on September 1, 1939, setting off the war.
Mr. Putin blamed other European countries for refusing to back the Soviet Union, leaving Moscow to face the threat of Nazi Germany alone.
But he also wrote that the 1940 massacre of thousands of Poles by Soviet security forces in the Katyn Forest was a crime and that Russia has a duty "to remove the burden of distrust and prejudice left from the past."
On Sunday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said anyone who tries to lay equal blame for the war on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union is telling a "flat-out lie."
theres truth in what he said. The rest of Europe didn’t want to deal with Nazi, they were all cowards
"the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [20th] century" -Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the collapse of the Soviet Union...
"World democratic opinion has yet to realize the alarming implications of President Vladimir Putin's State of the Union speech on April 25, 2005, in which he said that the collapse of the Soviet Union represented the 'greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.'
http://www.hooverdigest.org/053/beichman.html
Actually, they kinda did deal with the Nazis. A year earlier in Munich. England, France, and Italy all signed a treaty with Hitler, dividing up Czechoslovakia as they thought was best. Oh yeah,, the Czechs were NOT invited.
Have to take into account that those countries didn’t benefit by gaining territory directly as the USSR did ref Poland, but still, deals with Hitler to avoid war were the order of the day in the late 30s.
He wants the military power of the Soviet Union back, but certainly not the Communism of the Soviet Union.
In Britain, it was Churchill that was hated even more than Hitler in the years leading up to the war.
He certainly seems to be fully supporting communist dictatorships around the globe (Chavez, Cuba, ChiComs, etc) ...
Russian nuclear bombers in Cuba?
July 23, 2008
The media has been abuzz today at the prospect of Russian nuclear bombers being stationed in Cuba if the US goes ahead with plans for missile defense bases in Eastern Europe.
The story has riled the US enough that a US general has been wheeled out to tell the world’s press that any Russian attempt to build another nuclear base in Cuba would cross US “red line”.
The story broke earlier this week, when Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted an un-named source from within the Russian military. He told the Russian daily:
“While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba.”
The quote hasn’t been independently confirmed, but the Russian Defense Ministry added fuel to the fire when they refused to comment on the story.
The prospect of Russian nuclear forces being stationed in Cuba - which is, after all, only 90 miles from the US coast - would bring back some rather unpleasant memories for the US of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, where the Soviet Union under Nikita Kruschev launched an audacious and foolhardy bid to station nuclear missiles on the Caribbean island.
http://www.siberianlight.net/2008/07/23/russian-nuclear-bombers-cuba/
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Russia and China have been holding joint war games every other year since 2005. The latest apparently took place on July 22-27 of this year. I didn't hear a word about it anywhere in the media.
"Russia and China will hold their joint military exercise on July 22-27 on the territories of the two countries. About 3,000 military men, 300 units of military hardware, over 40 planes and helicopters will take part in Peace Mission-2009 drills. About 1,500 servicemen, T-80 tanks, BMP-1 and BTR-70 armored vehicles, 22 aircraft, including two Il-76 cargo planes, five Su-24, five Su-25, five Su-27 fighters and five Mi-8 helicopters will represent Russia in the drills."
http://www.russiansentry.com/?area=postView&id=1409
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Russia, China hold Peace Mission 2009 joint exercise
The exercise involves about 3,000 Russian and Chinese servicemen, nearly 300 units of army military equipment and over 40 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Photo: BMP-86A infantry fighting vehicles of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China.
http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20090724/155604547.html
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[2009] Russia, China plan new joint military exercises
By MARTIN SIEFF, UPI Senior News Analyst
Published: March 26, 2009
WASHINGTON, March 26 (UPI) -- The continuing tensions over Russia's refusal to sell its state-of-the-art land warfare advanced weapons systems to China hasn't interrupted the rhythm of major joint military exercises between the two major land powers on the Eurasian landmass. The latest in the regular, biennial series of exercises between the two nations has been confirmed for this summer.
The next in the now well-established series of exercises called Peace Mission 2009 will be carried out in northeastern China, the Russian Defense Ministry announced March 18, according to a report carried by the RIA Novosti news agency.
The first bilateral Peace Mission maneuvers -- described at the time as counter-terrorism exercises -- were held in Russia and the eastern Chinese province of Shandong in August 2005. As we reported at that time, they were a lot bigger than mere counter-terrorism exercises. Warships, squadrons of combat aircraft and more than 10,000 troops were involved carrying out landings against hypothetically hostile shores. The maneuvers also involved large-scale paratroops drops. The scale and nature of those exercises suggested a trial run for a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan with Russian support. ..."
http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/03/26/Russia_China_plan_new_joint_military_exercises/UPI-25021238094858/
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Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
August 17, 2007
CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.
"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.
Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.
The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.
Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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War Games: Russia, China Grow Alliance
September 23, 2005
In foreign policy it’s critical to “know thine enemy.” So American policymakers should be aware that Russia and China are inching closer to identifying a common enemy — the United States.
The two would-be superpowers held unprecedented joint military exercises Aug. 18-25. Soothingly named “Peace Mission 2005,” the drills took place on the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea, and included nearly 10,000 troops. Russian long-range bombers, the army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units from both countries were also involved.
Moscow and Beijing claim the maneuvers were aimed at combating terrorism, extremism and separatism (the last a veiled reference to Taiwan), but it’s clear they were an attempt to counter-balance American military might.
Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092605a.cfm
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From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
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From the Russian News and Information Agency:
July 27, 2006
"'I am determined to expand relations with Russia,' Chavez, known as an outspoken critic of what he calls the United States' unilateralism, told the Russian leader, adding that his determination stemmed from their shared vision of the global order.":
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060727/51913498.html
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Venezuela Set to Develop Nuclear Power With Russia
September 29, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,429441,00.html
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Venezuela's Chavez welcomes Russian warships
Nov 25, 2008
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela – Russian warships arrived off Venezuela's coast Tuesday in a show of strength aimed at the United States as Moscow seeks to expand its influence in Latin America. The deployment is the first of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War and was timed to coincide with President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Caracas — the first ever by a Russian president.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22Venezuela%27s+Chavez+welcomes+Russian+warships%22&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz2
More Yahoo search results for Russia and Venezuela connections:
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu_X30pZJCJEAfCtXNyoA?p=Russia+Venezuela+bombers+tanks+arms&y=Search&fr=404_news
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From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
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Photos are from the 2008 "Victory Day" parade in Moscow:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22russia%22%22parade%22%222008%22&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz2
What Bunnicula here is saying is, “Had the USSR knew that Germany was going to break the treaty so soon, they wouldn’t have signed it, they should have had marched over Europe at once”.
They would have marched if they could, but the Soviet Union at the time was still trying to recover from the 38 purges.
The ass kicking they took in Finland, showed that they would not be ready for a few years.
I dunno. I think the Soviets were quite happy with their “new” property and probably thought WWII was going just swimmingly. That is until the scorpion stung Uncle Joe.
Barry style apologetics with the culpability...
Making the M-R treaty kind of unavoidable. And “unavoidable” is a really bad word in strategic terms. That’s why they should’ve not done it: because they had do to it. Vlad is no dummy; he knows that. He may condems the treaty as “immoral”, but there’s not where his heart is.
Good point about Churchill being hated for thinking Hitler needed to be opposed.
Although it is interesting, Europe invaded Russia numerous times since the era of Napoleon. (and the Germans were very much a part of Napoleons Grand Armee)
Napoleon, the Crimean war, WWI, and others. As far as i can see, the Russians invaded Finland.
Whatever their government, a Russian has had much more to fear from Europe than vice versa. This is the key to understanding their post war mind-set. It’s a “never again” mentality.
So you believe Poland belongs to Russia?
Nope, not sure how you got that.
Well, you said that Russia never invaded anywhere, except for Finland, so obviously you believe Russia;s annexation of Poland wasn’t an invasion.
That Russian/German treaty was evil, as was Munich. Im just saying that for the 150 years preceeding the events of 1939, Europe regularly invaded Russia every few decades. The Communists were easily able to use this justified historic Russian fear of another European invasion to further their vicious policies. In their mind, the choice was take their half of Poland, or Germany would take it all, right up to their border. And i don’t think Soviets gave a damn anyway, they were more than happy to get what they could illicitly.
But the fact remains, that treaty was a recognition that they were ill equipped to fight the Nazis. Same is true for the British, after WWI they didn’t have the stomach to take on Hitler either. So both negotiated the best deal they thought they could.
This classic David Low cartoon sums it up best.
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