Russian Revisionism

Yes the Soviet Union helped start World War II, this re-write by the Russians is quite pathetic. For starters it was the USSR which supplied NAZI Germany with many of the natural resources it needed to prime up its war machine. The USSR also invaded the Eastern half of Poland as part of the Non-Aggression pact additionally the Soviets managed to seized land from Romania as part of their bullying and general lawlessness . Top this off with Stalin's invasion of Finland in 1940 and you have one of the key ingredients for the outbreak of World War II.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's president defended Moscow's role in World War II before the 70th anniversary of its outbreak, saying in an interview broadcast Sunday that anyone who lays equal blame on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is telling a ''cynical lie.''Dmitry Medvedev's remarks were the latest salvo in Russia's bitter dispute with its neighbors over the war and its aftermath. The Kremlin has launched a campaign for universal acceptance of its portrayal of the Soviet Union as Europe's liberator.

In Eastern Europe, however, gratitude for the Nazi defeat is diluted by bitterness over the decades of postwar Soviet dominance.Medvedev suggested in the interview with state-run Rossiya television that nobody can question ''who started the war, who killed people and who saved millions of lives -- who, in the final analysis, saved Europe.''

''You cannot label someone who defended himself an aggressor,'' Medvedev said.Tuesday marks 70 years since the Nazis invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, shortly after Josef Stalin's Soviet Union reached a nonaggression pact with Germany that included a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.

Weeks after the German invasion, the Soviet army entered Poland from the east. After claiming its part of Poland, the Soviet Union then annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania.

Does this mean there was even a chance of averting World War II? The answer is no as Hitler was clearly set on launching war, but the actions of Stalin and Russia clearly took the regional dangers of Hitlers actions and help transform them in a war of massive proportions.