The Latest on 80th Anniversary of WWII: Russia tweets reminder of Soviet role

Associated Press ^ | Sep 1, 2019

[CondoleezzaProtege]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Latest on the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II (all times local):

7:00 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t invited to attend ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the day World War II started in Poland.

But his Foreign Ministry tried to make sure the Soviet Union’s role in ending the war got acknowledged at least.

The ministry tweeted on Sunday: “One may have varying opinions on Soviet policy during the initial period of World War II, but it is impossible to deny the fact that it was the Soviet Union that routed Nazism, liberated Europe and saved European democracy.”

[NorseViking]

In fact in Russia Germans are called Fritz and the Germans call Russians Iwan:)

[rlmorel]

Well, you get the idea. I was dredging up a childhood joke from some 50 years ago!

[NorseViking]

I heard it in a different form regarding Egyptians and IDF. :)
The start was about the same but then the Arabs got to the idea and called Shlomo there was silence. Then Israel’s side asked who called Shlomo:)

[dfwgator]

The Soviets didn’t fight the Nazis until the Nazis attacked them.

We fought the Nazis without being attacked by them.

[NorseViking]

That sounds nice but not historically correct.
The Soviets and Mexico technically fought the Nazis before anyone else in Spain since 1936.
US had its boats sunken by the Nazi which qualifies as an attack and also Hitler declared war on US.

[rlmorel]

Hahahaha...some things are just universal, I think...:) It reminded me of this:

Scene from American Carol: "Mohammed!"

[blueplum]

I know very little about Russian history. I do recall the Russian empire was fighting the eastern front for centuries against muslims/mongols and for those same centuries Cossacks became an important influence in Russian politic and the Russian military, gaining elite privileges and status, but not always loyal to the govt. Some Cossacks viewed the German invasion as liberation from Stalinism. Some had divided loyalities between Turkey and Russia. And many expected Russia to allow them to create their own separate Cossack state post-ww2. So it raises the question whether the post-war genocides were, in communist minds, simply a followup to the Decossackization, forced relocation and the Holodomor conducted against Cossack territories a decade prior??? The elimination of anyone that stood against the political socialist/communist goal - the wiping of an 'independent' elite military culture off the map as a means to prevent a post-war, civil war? It would be interesting to discover just how many of those murdered post-war were Cossack and how many were just regular joes hoping for western freedoms and killed simply for their thought crime against communism.

[otness_e]

“US had its boats sunken by the Nazi which qualifies as an attack and also Hitler declared war on US.”

If you’re referring to Pearl Harbor, that was actually the Japanese who did that, not the Nazis.

And while he may have declared war on the US in 1939, we didn’t directly fight them until 1941 with Pearl Harbor.

[NorseViking]

Hitler declared war on US in 1941. And he attacked US shipping in Atlantic.

[otness_e]

Okay, I stand corrected.

[dfwgator]

If you’re referring to Pearl Harbor, that was actually the Japanese who did that, not the Nazis.

[rlmorel]

Thoughtful post.

I am no expert on Russia either, but I know what is undeniable to me, and undeniable as the Holocaust, is the Soviet murder of millions of their own people from the Kulaks to the Generals who simply got in the way in the Thirties.

What a putrid ideology. And frightening. I hear people say that those kinds of things couldn’t happen int the USA, but I think it not only could, but will if we do not remain vigilant.