Should East Europe countries be thankful to Soviet Union?

[David Floyd]

No one in his right mind can be a nazi.

By that same argument, no one in their right mind can be a communist, because look at all the trouble communism has caused us

Capitalism is based on the freedom and protection of the proerty of capitalists, not everyone.

Oh bull****. True laissez-faire capitalism protects the property of everyone. There's a difference between laissez-faire, and government intervention to set rules specifically targeted to benefit certain groups.

[St Leo]

c. [The Soviet Empire] pretty much ended the nationalities and borders question.

Hmm, drawing the map and then moving the people around to fit it doesn't strike me as a vergy good solution.

Then you have no idea about nazi occupation.

Uh huh. There is no way Nazi Germany could have lasted ten years without internal collapse. Hitler's later actions were becoming very irrational and he would have been assassinated sooner rather than later. His successors could not have been worse than Stalin.

[David Floyd]

There is no way Nazi Germany could have lasted ten years without internal collapse.

Pssst. It lasted 12

Although I do agree with your general point.

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Ned
As I said earlier in the thread, not occupying EE would have also been good for the USSR. No cold war. No massive expenditures on military. Etc.

USSR's occupation of EE was also unnecessary.

They did it for one reason, I believe. To spread communisim.

Soviet thinking : they attacked Finnland in 1939 to make Leningrad more secure and then it was sieged, they took those teritories (Baltic countries, east half of Poland, Bessarabia) to have a "tampon" zone and germans almost took Moscow. So they pushed the (ideological) border more to west.
Had you noticed that Hungary returned to 1938 borders, but Cehoslovakia didn't? Hint : its east border is more to the west.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
If believing that the SU was even worse than the 3rd reich makes you a Nazi, I guess there are plenty of nazis around...
If Sweden would have had the misfortune to be occupied of one of these pests, I know which one I would have preferred, so I guess I'm a Nazi too

Of course you are Swedish, Aryan in the eyes of the nazis. You had less to fear from them than people in Eastern Europe whom the Germans regarded as inferior humans and good for nothing but slavery.

[Mihai]

As he said, it would be better for them (Swedish). He said nothing about being better for Europe as a whole.

Most of the time small countries are cought between two (or more) big powers and they have to chose.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Saras
Heresson, i think you should say "I was wrong" and just swallow your pride I mean, really, that's just sooo lame an attempt at saving face

Oh, and btw, there were Pollacks too fighting for the nazis. And Jews, and Americans, and Brits. Sheesh!

You are wrong. There were no Polish formations by the German side - and as far as I know, Poles were the only nation not to have them - that's what is obvious here,
but perhaps it's the same case with L:ithuanians, just
our historians think it is not worth attention. There were British and English forces by Hitler even, so why not Lithuanian - unlike Poles, You don't have any bad feelings towards them, do You.

There were Poles in Wermacht thought, because there was up to 1mln Poles in the reich, and Poles of Pomerania and Silesia were automatically counted as volksdeutschs. But that doesn't count as they had no choice.

[yndy]

Not wanting to take sides here.

You guys should join a debate club.


Was just tracking what other Romanians were saying on the forum...