kerkko.fi

 

Sweden Apologises to Baltic States

Sweden owed its Baltic neighbours a "debt of honour" for turning a blind eye to post-war Soviet occupation, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told his Baltic counterparts. Speaking at a ceremony in Stockholm attended by the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Mr Reinfeldt spoke of "a dark moment" in his country's history.

As a Finn, I would like to know, when could we expect the same sort of message of support and remorse for Finnish policies toward the Baltic States under Soviet occupation from human rights activist Tarja Halonen, chairman of United Russia's sister party Jyrki Katainen, or Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom's consultant Paavo Lipponen?

http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/10940-sweden-apologises-to-baltics-over-soviet-era

Filed under: Baltic Finland Halonen History Katainen Lipponen Reinfeldt Soviet Sweden WWII
 

The Kozakiewicz Gesture
Media_httpimgurcomrex_tvyop

In Poland, the bras d'honneur became known as the the "Kozakiewicz gesture" (gest Kozakiewicza). Polish pole vault jumper Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz made the gesture to Russian spectators in the stadium during the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The crowd supporting Soviet jumper Konstantin Volkov booed, hissed, jeered, and whistled during Kozakiewicz's spectacular performance. Having just secured his gold medal position, Kozakiewicz made the gesture in defiance to the Soviet crowd.

The photos of this incident circled the globe, with the exception of the Soviet Union and its satellites. Kozakiewicz's act received much support in Polish society, which resented Soviet control over Eastern Europe. After the 1980 Olympics ended, the Soviet ambassador to Poland demanded that Kozakiewicz be stripped of his medal over his "insult to the Soviet people". The official response of the Polish government was that the gesture had been an involuntary muscle spasm caused by his exertion.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wladyslaw_Kozakiewicz#Kozakiewicz.27s_gesture
Filed under: 1980 History LOL Moscow Olympics Poland Soviet Sports
 

Sofi Oksanen's Stalinist Mythology
The immense success of Sofi Oksanen's novel "Purge" astonishes me. The book falls into the same category as the Stalinist books of my childhood, only the heroes and anti-heroes have changed their roles. My objection to the book is that it pretends to be a realistic story about life in Soviet Estonia in the second half of the 20th century, and seems to have been accepted as such in Europe and America.

Sofi Oksanen, who has no direct experience of the time and events she describes, has taken parts of our life, sewing them together according to some age-old rules of ideological-mythological literature, and is now selling it in the West. She is selling something that pretends to be our life, but is not. I do not want anybody to take my life away from me and sell an adulterated version of it to unknowing people abroad.

http://jaankaplinski.blogspot.com/2010/08/sofi-oksanen-and-stalin-award.html
Filed under: Estonia History Literature Sofi Oksanen Soviet
 

Stalin Song
(download)

http://zhgun.livejournal.com/361630.html

Filed under: LOL Russia Song Soviet Stalin
 

Lost war

Lieutenant-General Boris Gromov, the last commander of the 40th Soviet Army in Afghanistan, stated in a 1986 memo: "After seven years in Afghanistan there is not one square kilometre left untouched by the boot of a Soviet soldier. But as soon as they leave the place, the enemy returns and restores it all the way it used to be. We have lost this war."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6971683.ece?print=yes

Filed under: Afghanistan Obama Quagmire Soviet
11
To Posterous, Love Metalab
statistics for vBulletin