#molotov-ribbentrop pact

[stillunusual]

Moscow's propagandists are not necessarily ignorant.

They're just pathological liars with no moral compass….

The Kremlin's lies about the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939

The Kremlin's lies about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

[justacynicalromantic]

Yes.

[selkiesstories]

Roger Moorhouse

@thephantomcasebook @starlightasteria @duxbelisarius

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Ukrainian made Vampire attack drones, Ukraine, 2023. Source: NOELREPORTS

The "Army of Drones" is sending more than 270 Ukrainian Vampire attack drones to the front, Minister of Digital Transformation Fedorov said. According to him, these are Ukrainian-made copters. They can carry up to 15 kilograms of payload. The military will use them to destroy both armored vehicles and tanks, as well as enemy defense structures, fortifications, or ammunition depots(..)

P.S. It is important for Ukraine and the other countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region to develop their own military industry, especially high-tech long-range weapon systems. We are still at risk that several corrupt Western politicians want to make the same deals with the Kremlin as Nazi Germany did on August 23, 1939, by signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

[warsofasoiaf]

”The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact happened because Stalin was forced to by the allies. They rebuked any attempts at an alliance with the soviets. Stalin simply made the pact because he needed time to prepare for the german invasion!”. This view is often parroted by socialists and their ilk. Is this accurate?

As a point of order, I must note that this line is also fiercely promoted by Putin's Russia along with other Soviet Union myths regarding the Second World War, so this is a multi-partisan historical lie. Anyway, this is false for a number of reasons.

First, and simplest, Stalin wasn't forced to do anything. He could have prepared, raised defensive readiness, and manned the Stalin Line. He could have moved troops from the south. He could have cancelled his proposed invasion of Finland to focus on a defensive posture. He elected to carry out the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and the Secret Pact shows that it was far from a defensive move meant to preserve the Soviet Union, but a means by which to expand it.

Second, Stalin himself explicitly did not see the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact as a means to buy time. Stalin had hoped that Nazi Germany would wage war on the French and British over Poland and explicitly weaken them. Two weeks after the signing of the Pact, Stalin remarked: "A war is on between two groups of capitalist countries. We see nothing wrong in their having a good hard fight and weakening each other.” Stalin had hoped with Nazi Germany focused on a war against Western Europe and Poland, that he would have a free hand to handle his own planned war with Finland. This double dealing was incredibly common regarding foreign policy in the interwar years. Stalin facilitated German rearmament in the hopes that he would wage war against the Anglo-French alliance, and France and England ignored much about German rearmament out of the hope that Hitler's fervent anti-communism would lead him into a war with the Soviet Union that would break both powers. Stalin continually purchased war goods and shipped raw materials to Germany, and allows the Trans-Siberian Railway to ship Japanese goods to Germany; which to me sounds far more like helping to support Germany's war against France and Britain and hoping to profit in the meantime than a means to buy time.

Third, while the Soviet Union did offer an alliance, it was an ultimatum - an alliance or nothing. Per the Canadian Journal of History: "Initially, the British Cabinet resisted this proposal, as the negotiations would likely entail considerable delay; ministers preferred instead a quick declaration of Soviet support to deter possible German aggression in the short term. When it became apparent that the Soviet position meant an alliance or nothing, the Cabinet overwhelmingly opted to pursue an alliance. Despite British determination to reach an agreement, the negotiations proved futile. Soviet demands to provide guarantees to Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, and Rumania against indirect German aggression prompted fears that the Soviets sought the right to interfere in the internal affairs of their neighbours." So far from "rebuking any attempt at an alliance," the negotiations simply failed. The Soviet Union pressed high demands, ones that were undoubtedly unpopular at home due to the domestic peace and pacifism movements (while we criticize the Munich Agreement, it's worth noting at the time that it was immensely popular in Britain and France). Only after the annexation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and establishment of the puppet states of Moravia and Bohemia did Britain begin rearming. British legislators believed that the Franco-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty led directly to German rearmament, so they likely saw an alliance as a direct war against Nazi Germany, which they didn't want and felt they were unprepared for.

Fourth, Stalin didn't prepare for a German invasion. Stalin was hilariously unprepared for Operation Barbarossa despite frequent warnings from both his own intelligence and that of Great Britain and the United States. Taking eastern Poland meant abandoning the Stalin Line, but Stalin was unhurried in the construction of the new Molotov Line and abandoned any notion of defense-in-depth, meaning much of the fortifications between Leningrad and Berlin were either not built, in disrepair, or abandoned. Stalin began to repair the damage to the Red Army not due to the time bought by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but the disastrous performance of the Red Army during the Winter War.

This thesis is largely bunk, meant to prop up the also-false tribal interpretation of the interwar years that communism was uniquely and consistently anti-fascist, but that's a story for another time.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[stillunusual]

After the Second World War, the diplomatic communications between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which had been stored in the archives of the German Foreign Office, were translated into English and published in a book called "Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-41".

The book's contents (which can now be viewed or downloaded free of charge from many online sources) make it impossible to deny that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - signed in August 1939 - was just the first step in a continuum of collaboration between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that lasted for the next two years.

For example, on 18th June 1940, as the Nazis were concluding their military campaign in France and the Soviets were annexing the Baltic States, the German Ambassador in the Soviet Union, Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg, sent the above telegram to the German Foreign Office, after a very cordial meeting with Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov….

[byzfox13]

80 years ago today, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union changed Europe's borders in secret. #MolotovRibbentrop80

[stillunusual]

In tankie clownland, it's a complete mystery why this happened (and it's best not to mention it)….