Excellent summation of Russia's expansionism by 'Le Figaro'
(here is an excerpt translated in English).
It drew my attention, after I read pecksniff's parallelism (aka 'If only Napoleon had won, and conquered Russia...')
Wiktor Stoczkowski: "Has Vladimir Putin really gone mad?"
"Those who agreed, at the Yalta Conference, to abandon half of Europe to the Russian dictatorship, to buy for themselves half a century of peace and prosperity, look upon this war as if they understood neither the stakes nor the the extent. They would like to believe that the only problem is Vladimir Putin's "madness,"
In February 1919, under Lenin's command, the Russian army invaded Poland, starting a war that would last almost two years.
In September 1939, at the behest of Stalin and under a secret agreement with Hitler, the Russian army occupied the eastern part of Poland.
In November 1939, Stalin attacked Finland and, at the end of a few months' war, conquered a Finnish province.
In June 1940, the Russian army annexed the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In November 1956, Nikita Khrushchev brought Russian troops to Hungary to overthrow the government, which had dared to announce free elections and withdraw from the Warsaw Pact.
In March 1968, Leonid Brezhnev sent tanks to end the democratization of Czechoslovakia.
In December 1979, at the behest of the same Brezhnev, Russian troops captured Afghanistan.
In 1994, in response to the proclamation of Chechen independence, Boris Yeltsin sent the Russian army there, engaging in a long-running armed conflict that led to the lasting vassalization of Chechnya.
In August 2008, Vladimir Putin declared war on Georgia and annexed two provinces of the Georgian state, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in disapproval of Georgia's growing independence from the West.
In February 2014, the day after the Ukrainian People's Revolution overthrown Russia's ousted president, Putin invaded the Crimean peninsula to annex it to Russia, before offering military support to pro-Russian secessionist groups in Ukraine's Donbass and Luhansk regions.
For a century all but Mikhail Gorbachev, notably, have pursued the same brutal and cynical policies. Military expansionism is in the DNA of most Russian leaders."
https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/monde/w...utine-est-il-vraiment-devenu-fou-20220301#_=_
(here is an excerpt translated in English).
It drew my attention, after I read pecksniff's parallelism (aka 'If only Napoleon had won, and conquered Russia...')
Wiktor Stoczkowski: "Has Vladimir Putin really gone mad?"
"Those who agreed, at the Yalta Conference, to abandon half of Europe to the Russian dictatorship, to buy for themselves half a century of peace and prosperity, look upon this war as if they understood neither the stakes nor the the extent. They would like to believe that the only problem is Vladimir Putin's "madness,"
In February 1919, under Lenin's command, the Russian army invaded Poland, starting a war that would last almost two years.
In September 1939, at the behest of Stalin and under a secret agreement with Hitler, the Russian army occupied the eastern part of Poland.
In November 1939, Stalin attacked Finland and, at the end of a few months' war, conquered a Finnish province.
In June 1940, the Russian army annexed the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In November 1956, Nikita Khrushchev brought Russian troops to Hungary to overthrow the government, which had dared to announce free elections and withdraw from the Warsaw Pact.
In March 1968, Leonid Brezhnev sent tanks to end the democratization of Czechoslovakia.
In December 1979, at the behest of the same Brezhnev, Russian troops captured Afghanistan.
In 1994, in response to the proclamation of Chechen independence, Boris Yeltsin sent the Russian army there, engaging in a long-running armed conflict that led to the lasting vassalization of Chechnya.
In August 2008, Vladimir Putin declared war on Georgia and annexed two provinces of the Georgian state, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in disapproval of Georgia's growing independence from the West.
In February 2014, the day after the Ukrainian People's Revolution overthrown Russia's ousted president, Putin invaded the Crimean peninsula to annex it to Russia, before offering military support to pro-Russian secessionist groups in Ukraine's Donbass and Luhansk regions.
For a century all but Mikhail Gorbachev, notably, have pursued the same brutal and cynical policies. Military expansionism is in the DNA of most Russian leaders."
https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/monde/w...utine-est-il-vraiment-devenu-fou-20220301#_=_
Last edited:
