May 09, 2005
No allies should be sorry today.
The New York Times has a piece on its front page titled 'As World Leaders Watch, Putin Honors Soviet War Sacrifices' with the teaser paragraph 'The Russian leader expressed no contrition for Soviet domination of Eastern and Central Europe, as some leaders hoped.'
You're not going to ever get a defense of the Soviets here at 'Alarming News' but let's be realistic. Today is VE day celebrating the end of World War II. The Soviets, for all their dispicable faults, were a central reason why that war was won by the Allies. I don't see how a day that marks the end of brutal murder and oppression should turn into a day of blame of any of the parties that brought that murder and oppression to an end.
My grandmother's two brothers fought and died in that war. They were in their late teens and early 20's. They left at the start of the war and were lost in action not long thereafter. My grandmother's sister got married shortly before the war broke out. Her husband was sent to 'the front' and was never heard from again. Should these people not be honored? Had they lived, they would've hated the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, though would probably have been part of the occupying armies. Americans and free people around the world need to remember that the tyranny that Russians practiced on their neighboring countries was practiced on its own people as well. Regular Russians didn't have a choice in terms of participation in their government's agenda.
Remember the heroes of the Second World War, even if they wore a different uniform. And, just for today, imagine what our lives would've been like without them. We can go back to remembering the murderous ideology of Communism and the pain and suffering it caused millions of people tomorrow. Today we celebrate the defeat of Hitler and the end of World War II.
Posted by Karol at May 9, 2005 11:22 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags:
well said.
Posted by: nick saunders at May 9, 2005 11:50 AMWhile V-E day isn't the day to honor the victims of Communism, there should be a day set aside for that remembrance as well.
I'm sure we can look forward to the New York Times leading the way to set such a date aside.
Posted by: Gib at May 9, 2005 01:11 PMAbsolutely. No one would be happier with such a day than I. I just don't get why the media decided that today was the day that Russia should atone. Today is celebration of one of the few things Russia has ever done right, and even then only after being doublecrossed by Hitler.
Posted by: Karol at May 9, 2005 01:14 PMMaybe France is better choice fot atonement? You know that whole collaboration with Nazis before the joined the allies.
Posted by: Petitedov at May 9, 2005 01:53 PMThe Soviet contribution to the war effort would be more widely appreciated if it hadn't begun with the non-aggression pact with von Ribbentrop. This is not to denigrate the heroism and sacrifices of individual Soviet soldiers, but to explain why (in addition to its history of oppression and mass murder), the USSR might not be thought of in quite the same way as, say, the British.
Posted by: Jim at May 9, 2005 02:07 PMJim, I agree. And I have no love for Russia, despite having been born there. Out of all the days to chastise Russia, today seems a poor choice.
Posted by: Karol at May 9, 2005 02:09 PMSoviet suffering in WWII was like Greek tragedy, in a way Americans probably can't grasp. They lost half a million soldiers defending a murderous regime from a genocidal one
Posted by: jeff at May 9, 2005 04:59 PMthey lost a lot more than half a million. at kiev alone 675,000 men were killed wounded or captured.
russia lost millions.
Posted by: Nick Saunders at May 10, 2005 05:21 AMThe Soviet people, in spite of the handicaps imposed by Stalin, and a desperate Nazi Germany, broke the back of the German army in Russia, and handed them a defeat from the jaws of victory - a big costly one, and a turning point in WW2. That should be the commemoration.
Karol is right, poor choice of date for atonements. I don't know if there are any, but if Stalin had a "workers day", or something that is no longer recognized, maybe it should be revived by the state to thank the people and remember history.
To make a rambling post short: Karol 1, Badly-timed apologies 0.
Posted by: Loop at May 10, 2005 05:47 AMPeople forget it was the Soviets alone who won the war. Not the British and the Americans. The Americans primary aim in Europe was to prevent it becoming Communist. This is why the US prioritised Europe ahead of Japan, it is also the reason for the Marshall plan.
The fact that Roosevelt and Churchill (to a small degree) didn't take on Stalin in 1945 says a lot about the lack of American resolve. And the great irony is the Britain entered the war to protect Poland from dictatorship.
Posted by: Monjo at May 10, 2005 07:37 AM"The fact that Roosevelt and Churchill (to a small degree) didn't take on Stalin in 1945 says a lot about the lack of American resolve."
Aye, all very well for the armchair general to pontificate about 60 years later. Doesn't occur to you that with over 30 million dead bodies across the continent, and cities everywhere in ruins that perhaps everyone was a little war weary ?
Posted by: Urbane McMeercat at May 10, 2005 08:31 AMThe fact that Stalin was an idiot and that neither he nor his generals gave a shit about the lives of Russian soldiers/civilians contributed greatly to the high numbers. They were just cannon fodder to them.
Posted by: ll. at May 10, 2005 05:02 PMUrbane: The issue was that Russia had 20mil troops, the US had 4mil.
Posted by: Monjo at May 11, 2005 10:55 AM
