The word despair comes to mind. That some Russians continue to strive to change things in the face of so much defeat is inspirational. That so many Russians succumb to despair is understandable.
Putin is now announcing that the siege of Leningrad in 1942 was not just a German attack, that other now NATO countries also participated. I su…
The word despair comes to mind. That some Russians continue to strive to change things in the face of so much defeat is inspirational. That so many Russians succumb to despair is understandable.
Putin is now announcing that the siege of Leningrad in 1942 was not just a German attack, that other now NATO countries also participated. I suspect he wants to inflame Russian passions and lay the PR work for future forays into NATO countries, maybe even to draw Xi into the mess. What Putin isn't telling the Russian people is that as independent nations other countries did not participate, only Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. He is expanding the Ukraine War with his current public statements intended to justify revenge.
The Germans were the only ones around Leningrad. The Finns came in on what they called "The Continuation War" from the "Winter War" of 1939-40. But they only fought to regain the territory they had been forced to cede to the Soviets. Never around Leningrad.
The Hungarians fought on the southern Eastern Front in Ukraine with the Germans, as did the Romanians. But Kyiv's nowhere near Leningrad.
Soldiers from the Baltic States the Soviets had occupied in 1940 did fight with the Waffen SS, (which was organizing "Europeans" into the force - Belgians, Dutch, the Baltics, etc.) and some of them could have been around Leningrad, so Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - by really stretching things, he could say "NATO countries" were involved in the siege of Leningrad. But if they composed 1 percent of the troops there, that would be stretching it.
The word despair comes to mind. That some Russians continue to strive to change things in the face of so much defeat is inspirational. That so many Russians succumb to despair is understandable.
Putin is now announcing that the siege of Leningrad in 1942 was not just a German attack, that other now NATO countries also participated. I suspect he wants to inflame Russian passions and lay the PR work for future forays into NATO countries, maybe even to draw Xi into the mess. What Putin isn't telling the Russian people is that as independent nations other countries did not participate, only Nazis and Nazi sympathizers. He is expanding the Ukraine War with his current public statements intended to justify revenge.
The Germans were the only ones around Leningrad. The Finns came in on what they called "The Continuation War" from the "Winter War" of 1939-40. But they only fought to regain the territory they had been forced to cede to the Soviets. Never around Leningrad.
The Hungarians fought on the southern Eastern Front in Ukraine with the Germans, as did the Romanians. But Kyiv's nowhere near Leningrad.
Soldiers from the Baltic States the Soviets had occupied in 1940 did fight with the Waffen SS, (which was organizing "Europeans" into the force - Belgians, Dutch, the Baltics, etc.) and some of them could have been around Leningrad, so Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - by really stretching things, he could say "NATO countries" were involved in the siege of Leningrad. But if they composed 1 percent of the troops there, that would be stretching it.
The Russians bombed Babi Yar.
I wasn't aware of that. Given the anti-Semitism of the Soviets, following the traditional Russian attitude, it doesn't surprise me.
I think Xi is too smart to fall for that. I like to think that he cares for his people.
With the emphasis on "his"; the submissive.
I think he at least cares for them enough, that he would not send people to die based on lies Putin is telling.