Do not require us to reparation from Poland?
Once again, trouble came from not waiting. This time our former ally of the “socialist camp”, Poland, distinguished itself. The Coalition of Polish Patriots and Christians has posted a petition on the website of the American White House, calling on Donald Trump to help Poland get a contribution from Germany and Russia. According to the authors, Poland still has not received “fair compensation for the evil caused by the German and Russian aggressors.”
It must be said that the sweet smell of great reparations has long upset the minds of Polish patriots. In 2017, the Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydlo, had already taken the initiative to slightly milk Germany. True, in Germany they were quite skeptical and did not support the idea, but the smell, this disturbing, sweet smell of big money did not disappear anywhere from the Polish political and mental space.
From the point of view of international law, Poland’s claims on reparations from Germany are rather weak. The fact is that the Polish People's Republic has already received them as a result of the Second World War. By agreement of the winning countries, she owed as much as 25% of reparations received by the Soviet Union. But in 1953, Warsaw refused its share (after the USSR). And one can interpret the reasons for this refusal in any way, but the fact remains that for international law, Poland’s claims against Germany look somehow particularly groundless.
But the introduction of such a requirement for Russia is a relatively new matter. And in the context of the current Russophobic policy of the West, they cannot be called absolutely harmless: the proud descendants of the impoverished gentry will not receive any money, but from this it will be entirely possible to make a few boards in the fence that they are trying to fence Russia. And to be surprised that some International Tribunal in The Hague can decide in favor of the Poles, I would not. Moreover, we ourselves give rise to similar attacks against ourselves, recognizing international agreements and judicial decisions as priorities in relation to our own legislation.
That is, it’s not just spitting in the direction of Moscow, but potentially poisonous spitting. And it is necessary to react to it accordingly, without excessive complacency.
Of course, Russia has already responded to this initiative. They also remembered the 600 of thousands of Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Poland, and about the joint struggle against the Nazis, and they did not forget to mention the legal aspects of the problem. Senator Alexei Pushkov even called on the Poles to "fear God." But let's be frank: such rhetoric is unlikely to make anyone think, and we should not rely only on it, of course.
To begin with, we would have to remember that before 1 September 1939, Poland was de facto an ally of Hitler and even participated in the division of Czechoslovakia. Poland also strongly opposed the possible assistance of Czechoslovakia from the USSR, promising to simply shoot down Soviet aircraft heading for Czechoslovakia in the event of something. In fact, after this, the question of a big war was resolved, and Poland itself became its first victim: Hitler, having received the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia’s industry, which was quite powerful at that time, and also “fed” its ally Hungary to Slovakia, finally convinced that No one can stop him on the European continent. Although, as shown story, he was mistaken in this, but the whole world could see this only at the cost of tremendous sacrifices.
So, we must, as a start, actively raise the topic of Polish participation in stirring up World War II and, accordingly, reassessing its responsibility. Since modern Poland does not consider itself the successor of the PPR, which it scornfully calls the “Soviet colony”, it means that it is the successor of Poland itself, who flirted with Hitler and put poles into the wheels of the Soviet Union, which was ready to challenge the Germans back in 1938 ?. Good, accepted. But in this case, it would be Russia who should have put forward demands for Poland! I think, taking into account interest, a trillion dollars will suit us - we are not villains of what kind ...
In principle, one could welcome any steps aimed at ridding our people of the guilt complex instilled in them. You see, we are guilty before the Poles, and before the Georgians, and before the whole of Central Asia, and beyond to infinity - if we list everyone, there will not be enough fingers. And when you try to explain that, without the Russians, there would be no Georgia, and there would be another Turkish province, and the Georgians would en masse in the Turks and forbid speaking their native language, they do not believe. For some reason they think that Tbilisi would be something like a second Paris ...
Armenia without Russians simply would not exist. At all. Unless somewhere in the environs of San Francisco, and even without the support from the Caucasus, all the Armenian diasporas would most likely have been completely assimilated. Azerbaijan would certainly be a province of Iran. By the way, it’s partly now: a significant part of ethnic Azerbaijanis now reside in the territory of Iran and is not even talking about independence.
Unfortunately, our mentality prevents the correct understanding of history and our own role in it. Indeed, according to various dexterous manipulators, "history has no subjunctive mood." And if so, it becomes impossible to analyze it, because the analysis is built on the subjunctive mood - a little less than completely. So we live within the framework of Russophobic clichés imposed on us, unable even to take a sober look at our own history.
And is it any wonder that “Polish patriots and Christians” of various kinds take great advantage of this weakness of ours?
We really really miss a more honest, offensive, even a little aggressive approach to solving various kinds of international problems and challenges. We are all afraid of offending someone, we all think that we are probably to blame for something, because there is no smoke without fire ...
Yes, there is no smoke without fire. But the eyes from him usually do not come from the one who kindled the fire, but from the one to whose direction the wind blows. And now, when the smoldering little heads of old offenses are actively inflated by our enemies, our eyes not only smoke, but also sparks with coals.
We really need to learn to be offended. Do not mumble endless mantra about pragmatism, rationality, the need to be adults and clever, namely to be offended. So that those who decided to dismantle the next monument to the Russian soldiers clearly understood: Moscow will not swallow this pill silently and will answer so that their own monuments can fall.
In the meantime, this is not the case. We will pragmatically look at how reparations are demanded of us, they are called invaders, they humiliate the Russian population and in every way demonstrate their contempt for various kinds of “patriots” from the outskirts of the once great empire. Watch and believe in the triumph of international justice.
No, really, but what do we still have?
It must be said that the sweet smell of great reparations has long upset the minds of Polish patriots. In 2017, the Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydlo, had already taken the initiative to slightly milk Germany. True, in Germany they were quite skeptical and did not support the idea, but the smell, this disturbing, sweet smell of big money did not disappear anywhere from the Polish political and mental space.
From the point of view of international law, Poland’s claims on reparations from Germany are rather weak. The fact is that the Polish People's Republic has already received them as a result of the Second World War. By agreement of the winning countries, she owed as much as 25% of reparations received by the Soviet Union. But in 1953, Warsaw refused its share (after the USSR). And one can interpret the reasons for this refusal in any way, but the fact remains that for international law, Poland’s claims against Germany look somehow particularly groundless.
But the introduction of such a requirement for Russia is a relatively new matter. And in the context of the current Russophobic policy of the West, they cannot be called absolutely harmless: the proud descendants of the impoverished gentry will not receive any money, but from this it will be entirely possible to make a few boards in the fence that they are trying to fence Russia. And to be surprised that some International Tribunal in The Hague can decide in favor of the Poles, I would not. Moreover, we ourselves give rise to similar attacks against ourselves, recognizing international agreements and judicial decisions as priorities in relation to our own legislation.
That is, it’s not just spitting in the direction of Moscow, but potentially poisonous spitting. And it is necessary to react to it accordingly, without excessive complacency.
Of course, Russia has already responded to this initiative. They also remembered the 600 of thousands of Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Poland, and about the joint struggle against the Nazis, and they did not forget to mention the legal aspects of the problem. Senator Alexei Pushkov even called on the Poles to "fear God." But let's be frank: such rhetoric is unlikely to make anyone think, and we should not rely only on it, of course.
To begin with, we would have to remember that before 1 September 1939, Poland was de facto an ally of Hitler and even participated in the division of Czechoslovakia. Poland also strongly opposed the possible assistance of Czechoslovakia from the USSR, promising to simply shoot down Soviet aircraft heading for Czechoslovakia in the event of something. In fact, after this, the question of a big war was resolved, and Poland itself became its first victim: Hitler, having received the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia’s industry, which was quite powerful at that time, and also “fed” its ally Hungary to Slovakia, finally convinced that No one can stop him on the European continent. Although, as shown story, he was mistaken in this, but the whole world could see this only at the cost of tremendous sacrifices.
So, we must, as a start, actively raise the topic of Polish participation in stirring up World War II and, accordingly, reassessing its responsibility. Since modern Poland does not consider itself the successor of the PPR, which it scornfully calls the “Soviet colony”, it means that it is the successor of Poland itself, who flirted with Hitler and put poles into the wheels of the Soviet Union, which was ready to challenge the Germans back in 1938 ?. Good, accepted. But in this case, it would be Russia who should have put forward demands for Poland! I think, taking into account interest, a trillion dollars will suit us - we are not villains of what kind ...
In principle, one could welcome any steps aimed at ridding our people of the guilt complex instilled in them. You see, we are guilty before the Poles, and before the Georgians, and before the whole of Central Asia, and beyond to infinity - if we list everyone, there will not be enough fingers. And when you try to explain that, without the Russians, there would be no Georgia, and there would be another Turkish province, and the Georgians would en masse in the Turks and forbid speaking their native language, they do not believe. For some reason they think that Tbilisi would be something like a second Paris ...
Armenia without Russians simply would not exist. At all. Unless somewhere in the environs of San Francisco, and even without the support from the Caucasus, all the Armenian diasporas would most likely have been completely assimilated. Azerbaijan would certainly be a province of Iran. By the way, it’s partly now: a significant part of ethnic Azerbaijanis now reside in the territory of Iran and is not even talking about independence.
Unfortunately, our mentality prevents the correct understanding of history and our own role in it. Indeed, according to various dexterous manipulators, "history has no subjunctive mood." And if so, it becomes impossible to analyze it, because the analysis is built on the subjunctive mood - a little less than completely. So we live within the framework of Russophobic clichés imposed on us, unable even to take a sober look at our own history.
And is it any wonder that “Polish patriots and Christians” of various kinds take great advantage of this weakness of ours?
We really really miss a more honest, offensive, even a little aggressive approach to solving various kinds of international problems and challenges. We are all afraid of offending someone, we all think that we are probably to blame for something, because there is no smoke without fire ...
Yes, there is no smoke without fire. But the eyes from him usually do not come from the one who kindled the fire, but from the one to whose direction the wind blows. And now, when the smoldering little heads of old offenses are actively inflated by our enemies, our eyes not only smoke, but also sparks with coals.
We really need to learn to be offended. Do not mumble endless mantra about pragmatism, rationality, the need to be adults and clever, namely to be offended. So that those who decided to dismantle the next monument to the Russian soldiers clearly understood: Moscow will not swallow this pill silently and will answer so that their own monuments can fall.
In the meantime, this is not the case. We will pragmatically look at how reparations are demanded of us, they are called invaders, they humiliate the Russian population and in every way demonstrate their contempt for various kinds of “patriots” from the outskirts of the once great empire. Watch and believe in the triumph of international justice.
No, really, but what do we still have?
Information