President Vladimir Putin of Russia (and that countries latest Tzar) ...
.... has decided that it was also Poland, and not just the old USSR and Nazi Germany (via the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact), who started the Second World War.
This position seems to be rather odd, given that both the USSR and Nazi Germany invaded and divided up Poland (as well as other small East European countries) in 1939. An act which prompted both Great Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany.
They didn't declare war on the old USSR as well, simply because of a technicality in the Polish treaties, which only obliged these two powers to offer protection for Poland from ‘aggression’, from Germany. So the invasion by the USSR wasn't covered by the treaty. This secret provision in the treaty between Britain and Poland was not publicly acknowledged, but in an answer given in the House of Commons in October 1939, the UK government revealed that the Poles had “understood” that “the agreement should only cover the case of aggression by Germany.”
Also Britain in particular, saw no point in declaring war on the USSR, as it considered that Poland's eastern borders wouldn't be defensible by either country, so should be decided by negotiation on ethnographic and cultural lines between the USSR and Poland after any hostilities ended.
However, this non-declaration of war against the USSR, forms part of Putin's narrative, in which he has described the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany in the 1930's as "scum and an anti-Semite pig". Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, thanked President Putin for this, and other comments a few hours later on the 24th of December, and then demanded an apology from Poland for its part in starting WWII.
At a meeting with top Russian businessmen on the 25th of December 2019, President Putin later "surprised everyone with how deeply he was immersed in historical materials relating to the start of World War II and Poland - what the press is now discussing" ..... the Russian position, as stated by its ambassador to Poland in a TV interview, is that Poland had blocked a coalition against Nazi Germany several times in the run-up to war. "Therefore Poland partly bears responsibility for the catastrophe that ensued in September 1939." This position also states that the USSR's invasion of Poland in 1939 was not an aggression, but "to ensure the safety of the USSR".
This was all apparently prompted by an EU resolution in its parliament, that said that 'as a direct consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, followed by the Nazi-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of 28 September 1939, the Polish Republic was invaded first by Hitler and two weeks later by Stalin – which stripped the country of its independence and was an unprecedented tragedy for the Polish people' - it also blamed the USSR for 'the communist Soviet Union started an aggressive war against Finland on 30 November 1939, and in June 1940 it occupied and annexed parts of Romania – territories that were never returned – and annexed the independent republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia;'
Apparently this little noticed EU parliamentary pronouncement in September 2019, was noticed by President Putin, who took exception to this affirmation of historical fact, that was issued to mark 'the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.' Russia, in its role as inheritor of the role of the USSR in the defeat of Nazi Germany, will not accept any responsibility for its role in the Second World War's start, nor its complicity with the Nazi's in the period before 1941.
Poland of course has strongly refuted this revisionist history, pointing out that pre-1939 Poland had 'adopted a consistent balanced policy towards both Germany and the Soviet Union'. That in fact it had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union on 25 July 1932, which was extended by ten years on 5 May 1934. Similarly in January 1934, it signed the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Both of which were broken by those states not Poland.
Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office to formally object (after Poland's ambassador in Moscow was summoned over the vandalising of graves of Soviet soldiers at the Milejczyce cemetery in a Polish village). The row was further escalated when by the US ambassador to Poland, Georgette Mosbacher, who tweeted "Dear President Putin, Hitler and Stalin colluded to start WWII." .... this prompted Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin to respond that the tweet was "insulting" to Russians and Americans. Why he would think it insulted the Americans is anyone's guess, but its the sort of logic employed by North Korea. As for insulting Russians .... well only if the truth is insulting.
Incidently, the tweet prompted a flood of laughably historically inaccurate comments. I particularly admired the comment by one particular poster called Greta Hansen, who believed that the second world war included the 'central powers' of 'Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Turkey' ... which of course was the First World War .... she even checked her facts ..... and still got it wrong. Amazing!
Laughter aside, why does this all sound like the precursor to some sort of inter-state aggression to come? As the Balkans showed in the 1990's, history never finishes, and old grudges can simmer for decades or centuries, only to ignite again if a small spark lands.
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| Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - Set Terms For Invasion Of Poland? |
.... has decided that it was also Poland, and not just the old USSR and Nazi Germany (via the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact), who started the Second World War.
This position seems to be rather odd, given that both the USSR and Nazi Germany invaded and divided up Poland (as well as other small East European countries) in 1939. An act which prompted both Great Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany.
They didn't declare war on the old USSR as well, simply because of a technicality in the Polish treaties, which only obliged these two powers to offer protection for Poland from ‘aggression’, from Germany. So the invasion by the USSR wasn't covered by the treaty. This secret provision in the treaty between Britain and Poland was not publicly acknowledged, but in an answer given in the House of Commons in October 1939, the UK government revealed that the Poles had “understood” that “the agreement should only cover the case of aggression by Germany.”
Also Britain in particular, saw no point in declaring war on the USSR, as it considered that Poland's eastern borders wouldn't be defensible by either country, so should be decided by negotiation on ethnographic and cultural lines between the USSR and Poland after any hostilities ended.
However, this non-declaration of war against the USSR, forms part of Putin's narrative, in which he has described the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany in the 1930's as "scum and an anti-Semite pig". Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, thanked President Putin for this, and other comments a few hours later on the 24th of December, and then demanded an apology from Poland for its part in starting WWII.
At a meeting with top Russian businessmen on the 25th of December 2019, President Putin later "surprised everyone with how deeply he was immersed in historical materials relating to the start of World War II and Poland - what the press is now discussing" ..... the Russian position, as stated by its ambassador to Poland in a TV interview, is that Poland had blocked a coalition against Nazi Germany several times in the run-up to war. "Therefore Poland partly bears responsibility for the catastrophe that ensued in September 1939." This position also states that the USSR's invasion of Poland in 1939 was not an aggression, but "to ensure the safety of the USSR".
This was all apparently prompted by an EU resolution in its parliament, that said that 'as a direct consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, followed by the Nazi-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of 28 September 1939, the Polish Republic was invaded first by Hitler and two weeks later by Stalin – which stripped the country of its independence and was an unprecedented tragedy for the Polish people' - it also blamed the USSR for 'the communist Soviet Union started an aggressive war against Finland on 30 November 1939, and in June 1940 it occupied and annexed parts of Romania – territories that were never returned – and annexed the independent republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia;'
Apparently this little noticed EU parliamentary pronouncement in September 2019, was noticed by President Putin, who took exception to this affirmation of historical fact, that was issued to mark 'the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.' Russia, in its role as inheritor of the role of the USSR in the defeat of Nazi Germany, will not accept any responsibility for its role in the Second World War's start, nor its complicity with the Nazi's in the period before 1941.
Poland of course has strongly refuted this revisionist history, pointing out that pre-1939 Poland had 'adopted a consistent balanced policy towards both Germany and the Soviet Union'. That in fact it had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union on 25 July 1932, which was extended by ten years on 5 May 1934. Similarly in January 1934, it signed the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Both of which were broken by those states not Poland.
 |
| Soviet Troops Greet The Nazi's In Central Poland In 1939 |
Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office to formally object (after Poland's ambassador in Moscow was summoned over the vandalising of graves of Soviet soldiers at the Milejczyce cemetery in a Polish village). The row was further escalated when by the US ambassador to Poland, Georgette Mosbacher, who tweeted "Dear President Putin, Hitler and Stalin colluded to start WWII." .... this prompted Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin to respond that the tweet was "insulting" to Russians and Americans. Why he would think it insulted the Americans is anyone's guess, but its the sort of logic employed by North Korea. As for insulting Russians .... well only if the truth is insulting.
 |
| Georgette Mosbacher's Tweet Set The Cat Amongst The Pigeons .. |
Incidently, the tweet prompted a flood of laughably historically inaccurate comments. I particularly admired the comment by one particular poster called Greta Hansen, who believed that the second world war included the 'central powers' of 'Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Turkey' ... which of course was the First World War .... she even checked her facts ..... and still got it wrong. Amazing!
Laughter aside, why does this all sound like the precursor to some sort of inter-state aggression to come? As the Balkans showed in the 1990's, history never finishes, and old grudges can simmer for decades or centuries, only to ignite again if a small spark lands.
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