This is not to say that the Poles’ concerns weren’t entirely valid in the context of the time. They just played their hands wrong, and paid for it (as did most of the rest of Europe collectively).

Astonishing isn’t it. Why on earth would the Poles be frightened of allowing the Red Army onto their territory? Can you think of any reason? I can’t! After all, look how well things turned out between 17th September 1939 and 22nd June 1941, and between 1945 and 1989.

Published: September 5 2009 03:00 | Last updated: September 5, 2009 03:00

From Mr George Hallam.

Sir, Stefan Wagstyl is correct to criticise the recent Russian view that Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was just a tactical move by Stalin to win time to prepare for war against Hitler, but not for the reason he gives (“Stalin still looms large over eastern Europe”, August 31).

Prior to the pact western governments, led by the British government, and, also incidentally, the City of London, consistently favoured Hitler. To quote Lord Lloyd’s 1939 justification of the British declaration of war in The British Case : “However abominable . . . [Hitler’s] methods were, however deceitful his diplomacy, however intolerant he might show himself of the rights of other European peoples” the possibility of an ultimate settlement still remained. Why? Because Hitler served a supposed common interest in protecting “traditional institutions and habits” from communism.

By making a pact with Germany, Stalin was able to destroy Hitler’s credibility as a bulwark against Bolshevism. Overnight Stalin did more to undermine Hitler’s influence in ruling western circles than had been done by years of lectures and sermons on “the evils of Nazism”. As Lord Lloyd said at the time: “The conclusion of the German-Soviet pact removed even this faint possibility of an honourable peace [with Hitler]”.

Without the pact, not only might the Soviets have found themselves at war far sooner than was historically the case, they might well have done so with Britain and France looking on as neutrals; just as they had during the Spanish civil war. This would have allowed Germany to supply itself from the entire world market. Much as Stalin later berated the British for their reluctance to open a second front, he had much to be thankful for in that the Royal Navy maintained a blockade on Germany.

So the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was not just a tactical move. It was a brilliant strategic coup and should be celebrated as such.

George Hallam,
Department of International Business
Greenwich Business School,
London SE10, UK

Russia, Romania “concerned by Kosovo situation”
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=09&dd=04&nav_id=61559

Along with Russia and a number of other countries, Romania doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s independence, while having historically good relations with Serbia.

In the Polish-Russian dispute over what happened in 1939, rival myth-making is being driven by domestic political calculations on both sides. Polish right-wing politicians including the present president have used the memory of 1939 and the alleged continuity of Soviet and Russian policy to whip up nationalist feelings and bolster their support. In Russia, the Putin-Medvedev administration also has mobilized Russian nationalism and has avoided condemnation of many Soviet crimes, since it itself is largely based on institutions inherited from the Soviet Union, including the security services.

Viewed from one angle, the Polish side is more to blame for this unnecessary dispute. Russian governments have long since apologized both for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the Katyn massacre. As for the idea of moral equivalence between the history of Nazi Germany and of the Soviet Union as a whole, that should have been laid to rest by the way in which the Soviet Union withdrew peacefully from Eastern Europe after 1989, and then imploded itself — remarkably peacefully for such a huge state. This is not something that one can imagine Nazi Germany doing.

Furthermore, it does need to be acknowledged that while Soviet victory in World War II imposed a dreadful Communist system on Poland, it also saved Poland from what would have been its infinitely more ghastly fate under Nazi rule — which we know from Hitler’s plans for the systematic destruction of the Poles as a national community
…
In the case of a Soviet-German war in 1939, an additional factor would have been at play, which was the openly expressed desire of some conservative circles in both Britain and France for a war between Nazism and Communism that would destroy both.

So from the point of view of strategic calculation, Stalin’s actions in turning the tables on Britain and France were quite understandable, and would have been followed by most countries in the same circumstances. The same goes for the moves to increase Moscow’s strategic depth by the military occupation of eastern Poland and the Baltic States.
…
Poles and others should drop the suggestion that the Soviet Union was the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany, and that contemporary Russia should acknowledge this. It is appallingly offensive to all Russians, and especially the vast number whose own families suffered terribly under Stalin. This approach virtually ensures a continuation of hostility between the Polish and Russian peoples, which every responsible leader should seek to diminish. Equally, Russians themselves, and everyone who has Russian interests at heart, should demand from the Russian government a much more searching public examination of the crimes of the Soviet Union against its own people and others.

This point has a similarity to some pro-Western regimes in predominately Muslim countries. Some of these governments pursue policies which many of its citizens oppose.

Without meaning to Muslim bash and propagate terrorism as a valid political option, Orthodox Christian extremists fall short of committing 9/11 like acts which lead to greater attention.

Some prominent elements in the Western commentariot show concern for issues like the so-called “Muslim street,” while ignoring matter like how the predominately Orthodox Christian states opposed the Clinton administration led NATO attack against Yugoslavia.

Some others besides yourself might find this piece to be of interest:

http://www.firstthings.com/print/article/2007/01/the-condescension-of-the-christian-west-40?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=700

I think that there is more of a cohesive Central/ East European cultural identity than many in the west appreciate. As consumerism collapses in the crisis, I think that this may intensify. Especially as Russia seems to be inching towards liberalism. There is in Orthodox nations a deep fear of Freemasonry, global projects and the NWO which means that America’s influence has always been a bit shaky in the region.

My Romanian friend also thinks it would be ridiculous to let NATO expand into Georgia and Ukraine.

Russia today released secret documents from the archives of its foreign intelligence service that it said showed how Poland sided with the Nazis before the second world war and tried to destroy the Soviet Union.

Russia published 400 pages of documents gathered by undercover Soviet agents between 1935 and 1945, including telegrams, letters and reports intercepted from Polish missions abroad. Their release coincided with the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war.

The declassified files from Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service allegedly show that Poland was plotting against the Soviet Union in the years preceding the war, which began when Hitler invaded western Poland on 1 September 1939.

Seventeen days later, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland. But according to the SVR, Poland was not simply a victim of Soviet aggression, but had been actively pursuing an anti-Soviet foreign policy from the mid-1930s. This included supporting anti-Soviet national groups in Ukraine, the Caucasus and central Asia.

Lev Sotskov, a retired KGB major general who compiled the documents, said there was evidence Poland signed a secret protocol with Germany in 1934. Citing a report written by an unidentified Soviet agent, he said Poland had agreed to remain neutral if Germany attacked the Soviet Union.

His claims provoked uproar at a press conference in Moscow, with Polish journalists jumping to their feet and denouncing the document as a fake. There were also heated exchanges over the role played by Jozef Beck, Poland’s foreign minister in 1939, amid unsubstantiated claims he was a German agent.

The “protocol” goes much further than the 1934 non-aggression pact between Poland and Nazi Germany…
…
The documents show that a group of Polish spies based in Paris took part in a secret operation called Prometheism to incite an uprising in Ukraine, Georgia and other Soviet territories. “We know all about that. It’s already written about,” Wolos said.

Other documents declassified include a letter from Hermann Göring following a visit to Warsaw in 1937. Göring passed on an assurance from Hitler that Germany wouldn’t attack Poland, warning that the real danger to Poland came from Moscow – “not just from Bolshevism but from Russia”.

2. In his latest email letter, Mike Averko makes a valid point that if Poland expects Russia to continue incessantly apologizing for Katyn, then it should first reciprocate by recognizing its appalling treatment of Red Army POWs in the Soviet-Polish War of 1919-21.

Last night, the Russian TV (channel 1) showed a smashing documentary “Could Stalin have stopped Hitler?” – made up entirely of foreign documents. The preface was that this film in NO WAY is pro-Stalin, it is with the understanding that he committed grave crimes against the people of the USSR, BUT the film will show that England, France and Poland refused several times to form an anti-Hitler pact (that Stalin proposed) and stop Hitler. They also showed secret Polish documents saying that Poland approved of Hitler’s policies, and wanted a Polish-French-German pact against Russia…. this is too long to retell the story here, but it certainly was sensational in exposing what the western powers and Poland were planning, and it was all against Russia. Then came the surprise, when Hitler turned on all of them…

This documentary film was publicly protested by Poland, and it is obvious why… Putin also mentioned that in addition to Katyn – which is acknowledged as an NKVD crime, Poland should acknowledge what it did to about 70 thousand Soviet soldiers in the war of 1920 – they literally starved them to death in the most horrendous conditions. This is many times more than those shot at Katyn – which was also the place of mass murder of non-Poles by the NKVD.

The poll on “Jak oceniasz artykuł Putina?” (how would you rate the Putin article?) is interesting. About half the Polish voters thought it was balanced and conciliatory, around a third thought it mixed and difficult to assess, whereas 15% thought it repeated the “same arguments, propaganda, lies”. This again suggests that most Russophobia in the east-central European nations is concentrated amongst the elites rather than the silent majority.