This morning, at my regular morning coffee in Downtown Manhattan Beach I was discussing the downing of the Malaysian Airliner by Russian thugs in eastern Ukraine with a casual friend. I expressed to my friend that it was perfectly clear to me that Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, was responsible. In the course of our conversation I mentioned to him some historical bad behavior by the Russians, such as the Katyn Forest Massacre of 1940. Most people have no idea what this was. Click here for a summary of what happened in the Katyn Forest.
In 1939 the Russians invaded Poland. In September 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland too. The Nazis and the Soviets agreed to divide Poland between themselves. Sometime between 1939 and 1941 The Russians proceded to arrest a large number of Polish soldiers and their officers. In a bizarre decision, the Soviets decided that they would murder all of their Polish prisoners; a sort of ethnic cleansing. About 22,000 Polish soldiers, officers, and Polish intellectuals were brutally massacred and buried in the Katyn Forest. The Nazis discovered the mass graves in 1943. The Russians denied it and blamed the Nazis. The Russians finally confessed in 1990, fifty years later, that they were responsible. Does anything sound familiar with the current Ukrainian situation? Did the Russians admit to shooting down the Malaysian airliner? Again, my motto: Those who fail to learn from history will be condemned to repeat it. Another short summary of the Katyn Forest massacre is in this link. Click here to read it.
No comments:
Post a Comment