(Czech) President Zeman calls for lifting of Russia sanctions at event organized by Putin associate

[happyslug]

3. The Czechs "Kicked the Russians out"???????

Last edited Tue Oct 7, 2014, 10:19 AM - Edit history (1)

Sorry, the Russians LEFT on their own as they went bankrupt. The Czechs were happy to see them leave, but they did nothing to kick them out.

This is a fact most Czechs accept, that the Russians pulled out for Russia could no longer afford to maintain the costs of occupying Eastern Europe. The reforms that lead to the fall of the Communist Government of the Soviet Union also lead to the fall of the Communist Governments of Eastern Europe but again it was the result of Russian bankruptcy not active fighting by anyone in Eastern Europe.

As to the Ukraine, President Zeman is correct, it is an Ukrainian Civil War that everyone should stay out of, but it is also a Civil War among Eastern Slavs, which by definition includes the Russians AND the Ukrainians. Where the Ukraine ends and Russia begins is and always will be a line drawn in the dirt. It is arbitrary and capricious for there is NO natural border between the two nations (i.e. where ever you draw the line, you will have some people of each "Nationality" in the other country). A Pole is someone whose main river is the Vistula, a Ukrainian is someone whose main river is the Dnieper, a Russian is someone whose main river is the Volga (Belarusians is someone who lives in the Pripet Marshes).

The problem with these trends is there are NO solid border between these areas (unlike the Mountains that separate the Czech Republic from Poland). Thus you have always had massive over lap of the people between the Vistula and the Volga and the people in between (Poles and Ukrainians mix in Eastern Poland and Western Ukraine, and Ukrainians and Russian mix in the Western Russia and Eastern Ukraine. The Pripet Marshes gave the Belarus its separation from the Poles, Ukrainians and Russians, The Carpathian Mountains gave the Slovaks their separate identity. Even for the Czechs, Slovaks and Belarusians you have overlaps with each other and Poles, Ukrainians and Russians (These are all "Slavic" People, for this discussion I am ignoring the non-slavs in Eastern Europe). Some of the these people, being slavs, what variation of slavs is a question (on the borders, they do intermix and interbreed, thus someone may be a Ukrainian with a Russian Parent or vica versa).

Side note: Under the Soviet Union, you had to state your Nationality on your internal passport that everyone had to have. If your parents were of two different nationalities when you turn 18 you had to pick one as your own nationality and could NOT change it afterward. From what I have read that is still the rule in Russia and the Ukraine.

Thus, what is an internal Civil War, may not be one. The border of the Ukraine and Russia is much like the border between Indiana and Ohio, a line drawn in the dirt. If Ohio or Indiana would go into Civil War (and the the Federal Government no longer existed), both sides would draw from friends, relatives, co-workers and other people from the other state. The same for the Ukraine (and even Russia), people will come to the assistance of Friends, relatives, coworkers and other people they deal with on a constant basis. Thus Russian intervention should have been expected, just like Polish intervention if the fight involved the Western Ukraine.

Thus the Ukraine is a mess, a mess that could be resolved if people would work together, but to many people want someone else to accept they demands and refuse to even considered the concerns of the other side. That has to stop. both sides have to work together to come to a solution to the problems of the Ukraine, and so far I have NOT seen any such effort except by Putin. Some sort of deal has to be agreed upon.