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>> As far as "proxy war" see the sibling thread That does not address anything I've said. >> Well, if you are the native population, what do you have to say about USA's actions since its founding until now, towards your people? Nothing. The US has not committed any "actions" against my people. >> The vast majority just want to go to work and they don't particularly care about this, despite any "fuck yous" you may throw their way. You are totally out of your depth again. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have a combined population of about 6 million. In 1989, they organized a protest against Soviet occupation, the largest protest in the history of the world, with 2 million people taking part in it - a third of the whole population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way In Estonia in particular, about two thirds of all Estonians came together on the same day and participated in the protest, precisely to send a fuck you to people like you who kept making excuses for the occupation. >> When it came to the USSR, they did in fact become a member No they didn't. While in alliance with Germany, USSR made increasing demands to Latvia in 1939-1940, culminating with demanding establishment of Soviet military bases on Latvian soil due to "security concerns" (sounds familiar?). Latvian government kept making one concession after another to appease the USSR and avoid war, but once the bases were established, USSR used them to overthrow Latvian government, staged mock elections where only collaborants were allowed to set up their candidacy (and got all the votes), then those collaborants "asked" to join the USSR literally at gunpoint (armed Soviet military personnel were in the parliament), and then in the finale, NKVD and the Red army murdered members of legitimate Latvian government and other officials, and murdered or deported tens of thousands of people, and gave their home to Russian colonists, and then continued to exploit Latvia economically and suppressing Latvian language and culture and bringing in further colonists for 50 years. All international organizations, from the European Court of Human Rights and European Council to the United Nations recognize the Soviet occupation of Latvia as illegal. From a 2006 decision of the European Court of Human Rights: "Latvia, together with the other Baltic States, lost its independence in 1940 in the aftermath of the partition of Europe between Germany and the USSR agreed by Adolf Hitler's Germany and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union by way of the secret protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement contrary to the generally recognised principles of international law. The ensuing annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union was orchestrated and conducted under the authority of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the Communist Party of Latvia (CPL) being a satellite branch of the CPSU." In another case, related to Estonia (shared the same fate), the Court found: "The Court notes, first, that Estonia lost its independence as a result of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact"), concluded on 23 August 1939, and the secret additional protocols to it. Following an ultimatum to set up Soviet military bases in Estonia in 1939, a large-scale entry of the Soviet army into Estonia took place in June 1940. The lawful government of the country was overthrown and Soviet rule was imposed by force. The totalitarian communist regime of the Soviet Union conducted large-scale and systematic actions against the Estonian population, including, for example, the deportation of about 10,000 persons on 14 June 1941 and of more than 20,000 on 25 March 1949. After the Second World War, tens of thousands of persons went into hiding in the forests to avoid repression by the Soviet authorities; part of those in hiding actively resisted the occupation regime. According to the data of the security organs, about 1,500 persons were killed and almost 10,000 arrested in the course of the resistance movement of 1944–1953. Interrupted by the German occupation in 1941–1944, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until its restoration of independence in 1991. Accordingly, Estonia as a state was temporarily prevented from fulfilling its international commitments." Even your own liked article says: "The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states from 1939–40 and 1944–1991 is widely considered illegal by the international community and human rights organisations." Latvia never joined the USSR and any notion of seccession is utter nonsense. Latvia was an occupied territory, and once the USSR collapsed, Latvian government returned from exile, restored its institutions, and continued serving its people after a 50-year pause violently forced upon them. >> As far as "allowed", I quote In 1989, the USSR also condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and herself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries, including Latvia. Soviet authorities denied for 50 years that the secret protocol existed, calling it a forgery, and condemned it in 1989 only because an Estonian physicist managed to get his hands on a copy authenticated by the National Archives of the United States, and brought the copy to USSR. After that, there was simply no other option than to condemn the alliance with Hitler as it was, clearly written down in black and white. While it was an important moral victory to Latvian independence movement, it did very little to end the Soviet occupation of Latvia in practical terms. Soviet authorities continued to suppress the independence movement until the very end, until the USSR fell apart several years later. Military forces that enforced the occupation didn't leave until mid-1990s. To this day, Russia denies the illegal occupation, has not paid any reparations nor extradited war criminals, continues hostile rhetoric towards Latvia, and makes excuses for crimes against humanity commited by them in Latvia. |
I guess I will rephrase — can you, at long last, address what I have been asking about US crimes, which have been far more egregious and affected large swaths of land and people? Where is the CONSISTENCY in the moral and practical stance being advocated?
About proxy war: yes it does, because the strawman is that Ukraine as a whole has to be a proxy for another country, for that to be a proxy war, but that’s not how proxy wars work.
You won’t see much support for invasions or occupations from me, but it is a fact that Latvia was an SSR.
Many regions do not get the luxury of independence at all. Hong Kong for instance was a mere football between two empires (Chinese and British). They don’t have a say. Neither did Kurds or Catalonians or Basques etc.
Hong Kong all by itself also had 2 million people protest recently, and China didn’t care. You don’t seem to say very much about that. I mean China’s a Big Bad too, right?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48656471.amp
In Chechnya, far more than 1/3 of the population showed up to protest Charlie Hebdo cartoons. And what is your prescription there?
I think peaceful protests are great. Democracy and international courts are even better! War is not. I am glad that Latvia got its independence without any shots fired. So did Australia. Not so for the USA, they fought a war to secede from the British empire, then fought an even bloodier civil war to prevent the southern states from seceding. They also fought a war with Mexico to annex a lot of territory. And so on.
USA doesn’t have a great track record of getting involved. It supports Saudi hegemony over Yemen, providing planes that bomb hospitals and markets. It supported Pakistan in Bangladesh’s war of independence, even as Pakistan’s army engaged in genocidal rape. These are recent events.
Also, US itself has invaded and occupied many areas much the same way. Some, it annexed (like when it overthrew Hawaii’s kingdom and annexed Hawaii, then stationed troops there — how is that different?) Others, it basically enslaved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_Ha... … more recently, it simply invades and occupies, undermines or destroys but doesn’t annex or enslave (Iraq, Libya, etc.)
Anyway, I am critical of the Russian government and can condemn crimes done by it as well as US and China. Are you able to say anything of substance about the long list of crimes by the US? My point is that these imperialist countries and their cold war are the reason that smaller countries get caught in their proxy wars. And the only way out is for them to stop the violence and commit to good-faith dialogue where they agree not to crods each other’s red lines.