From the time of Peter the Great, one of Russia’s primary goals in expansion has been acquisition of a warm water port with access to the open ocean. They’ve never quite gotten one. ?But K-town is accessible without ice more of the year than St. Petersburg, and also is much harder to blockade away from the open ocean than the latter, which can be blockaded by a handful of Finns or ?Swedes with a grudge (an historically there have been many).
Because Stalin was in everything but name a Russian Tsar and a Russian imperialist.
Stalin was not ethnically Russian. However, when Lenin died and Stalin took control the Soviet Union essentially became de facto a resurrection of the Russian Empire.
Lenin had genuine interest and belief in the whole “ideological spread of communism” and thought the world would eventually become 100% communist and the concept of “states” would disappear.
All evidence suggests that while Stalin was happy when ideologically pro-communist revolutions happened around the world, Stalin was primarily focused with the interests of Russia and not particularly concerned with anything else. Stalin openly disliked other communist leaders who were not in personal fief to him.
Stalin’s behavior clearly shows he viewed himself as essentially a Russian Emperor, and his actions were about maximizing the power of Russia, not of the rest of the Soviet Union and not of the “world communist movement.” During WWII Stalin supported the Kuomintang in China, he had peaceful relations with them after the war was over and he instructed Mao to make peace with the Kuomintang. He did this because he felt Chiang Kai-Shek’s China was a better bulwark against the Japanese. Mao basically ignored Stalin, and Sino-Soviet relations were strained from that point forward. Stalin had no use for communist leaders that didn’t accept Stalin’s authority.
Godwin’s law. The mustache-guy also supported building autobahns.
Well a lot of Germans in Sudetenland, Danzig, and Austria wanted reunification, and in addition there was precedent for all people of one ethnicity to be united after World War I.
Not in this case however. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the Germans living in Austria wanted to join Germany. Fear of an enlarged Germany compelled the victors to put a clause forbidding it in the Treaty of Versailles.
While it is true ethnic regions combined it was also the case that massive migrations occured after WWI when the former wasn’t possible.
Vladivostok.
Valdivostok freezes in the winter.
Despite being near the northernmost extreme of the country,
the European Russian port of Murmansk is ice-free year-round
because of its location near the end of the Gulf Stream.
How does Germany recover their lands then? invasions. And so history is repeated thanks to that way of thinking.
Dear God! This post self-godwinizes!
I use the loss of German territory after the two world wars in order to justify Israeli expansion during the wars of 1948 and 1967. A price should be paid for starting and losing a war of aggression. The wars of 1948 and 1967 were intentionally wars of annihilation. The Arabs wanted to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews there.
The Palestinians supported our enemies during the Second World War, the Cold War, and the War in the Guld. This is how they responded to 9/11:
The Palestinians have no claim to our sympathies at all.
Actually they do; americans simply ignore the existance of this video.
Pro Tip: Linking to Fox News hyperbole is very damaging to your credibility around here.
I thought you could use the advice.
Take this, then:
There is no question that large numbers of Palestinians celebrated 9/11.
Wow, you found another cite with the exact same group of morons on the exact same sidewalk.
Your point is taken though, I withdraw my criticism and your 40 second clip of douchebags stands as concrete condemnation of an entire people.
I’m an American so I hope someone doesn’t now link to a COPS episode.
I said Germany doesn’t recover their lands, so there’s no issue with that.
Yes, a lot of them did. That sure worked out well for them.
Also worth noting: though it’s commonly said that the post WWI borders were based on ethnicity, that is simply absurd on its face. Yet another case of ‘common wisdom’ that turns out to be complete crap once one actually takes a look at it. The results had a lot more to do with realpolitik than any reflection of ethnic realities, whatever that might mean.
Of course, Yugoslavia (an ethnically homogenous nation-state) has held together through thick and thin ever since the war. So I could be wrong about this.
Interesting…I expect that the ex-east Prussians are all pretty old by now…so no return to greater Germany. However, the future might bring about some changes, especially if Poland decides to accommodate German speakers inside Poland.
What becomes of ethnic Russians now inside independent countries like Lithuania?
LIthuania has been independent of the USSR for 25 years. By now all of its Russian population has had sufficient time to consider their options and make their decisions, don’t you think?
They’re Lithuanian citizens. [Homer Simpson] If they don’t like it, they can go to Russia. [/HS]
Personally I’m still pushing for full restoration of Livonia and/or the Hanseatic League.
I’m not sure you want to be using the term “Greater Germany” when discussing WW2 and redrawing borders; Grossdeutschland is a term highly tainted by the Nazis. I’ll repeat what I said in 2011: Germany can have East Prussia back when they give back the 6 million or so Poles they murdered in WW2.
Carpathia shall rise again!