FLASH
Shkruar nga George F. Will
"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past."
By the end of the 105-day war, almost 400,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed, wounded or missing. The Kremlin reported few casualties. Vladimir Putin, an admirer of Stalin, should have studied the past that Stalin falsified.
Stalin began the Winter War, also known as the Russo-Finnish War, on November 30, 1939, just as his then-ally Adolf Hitler had started World War II in Europe three months earlier: by staging a false border incident. Stalin, the dictator of a nation of 170 million, expected to quickly subjugate Finland, a nation of 3.5 million.
When Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, his troops were told to don military uniforms. A victory parade was to be held in Kiev a few days later. In “The Winter Warriors,” a newly published novel by Olivier Norek, Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s close aide, tells a Red Army colonel that Stalin wants to celebrate his next birthday on the steps of the Finnish Parliament, “in exactly 20 days.” A Soviet general had told Stalin that 10 days would be enough.
The war ended on March 13, 1940. The Soviet Union took about 10 percent of Finland's territory.
Parallels with Ukraine
As Russia's fifth year of war to subjugate Ukraine approaches, Putin has learned that the past is easier to control than the present. He faces a bleak future if the United States and Europe exploit their advantages.
A much-reduced Russia occupies only 20 percent of the Ukrainian territory that Kiev controlled four years ago. Europe, which has not yet completely cut itself off from Russian energy, is at least getting used to the vocabulary of military seriousness.
In 2024, every Swedish family received a brochure that read: “From the year you turn 16 until the end of the year you turn 70, you are part of the total defense of Sweden and are obligated to serve in the event of war or threat of war. ”
Finland and Norway have long had military conscription. Other nations are preparing infrastructure for mobilization. Donald Trump has passed legislation that would impose devastating economic penalties on nations that buy Russian oil.
Kremlin restrictions
Last year, Putin was unwilling, paralyzed by his disaster in Ukraine, to try to save his client regime in Syria as it collapsed. The regime in Iran, Putin’s most important ally besides China, is preoccupied with oppressing Iranians. Putin’s only sympathizer in the European Union, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, may now have stronger support among American authoritarians (“national conservatives”) than among Hungarians.
Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine (to call it war would be tantamount to imprisonment) has lasted longer than Russia’s involvement in World War II. So far, Putin has certainly defined success: a negotiated ceasefire that offers Ukraine even softer security “guarantees” than those of the infamous 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Guarantees.
Guarantees and the risk of a fragile agreement
In it, Ukraine agreed to give up almost 2,000 Soviet-era nuclear weapons (and ballistic missiles and strategic bombers) stationed on its soil. Russia gave “guarantees” that it would “respect the independence and sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine” and “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.” Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and invaded Ukraine eight years later.
The choices of Ukraine’s friends could bring Putin a fitting punishment for his Ukrainian mistake. These friends could finally choose to finance Ukraine with some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. They could intensify the crackdown on the shadowy fleet of tankers that transport Russian oil to foreign buyers. And they could deny Putin a veto on security guarantees for Ukraine, including the permanent stationing of troops there. Otherwise, any deal will be a burning fuse.
Reality and propaganda
In Norek’s novel, before Russia attacked, Molotov explained that negotiations with Finland “have never been anything but a long fuse.” And if Finland accepts Soviet demands, “We will demand more until we have taken the whole country.” Today’s Stalinist in the Kremlin is no sphinx.
Writing in Foreign Affairs (“Russia’s Descent into Tyranny”), the New School’s Nina Khrushcheva reports that in 2023, “1984,” George Orwell’s dystopian novel about a regime that relies on mass surveillance and relentless propaganda, was, according to a Russian bookstore chain, the most stolen book.
In the first half of 2025, the most stolen article was the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and prohibits censorship. Hence, a Russian joke: “We read Orwell for his reflection of reality, and the Constitution as a beautiful utopia.” Negotiate accordingly./ Adapted from "Pamphlet from "The Washington Post"
Sa pak e njihni historinë e madhe të rezistencës së popujve të Bashkimit sovjetik të kohës së Stalinit.Nuk ka asnjë përafrim.Stalini nuk pushtoi,por fituesit ndanë plaçkën e luftës së dytë botërore...Kurse Putini është pushtues...
Pse cfare beri me finlanden, me kalinigrad, me pjesen e gjermanise lindore qe pushtoi dhe nuk e leshoi por e mbylli me mur.. me shtetet baltike qe i pushtoi ne 1940, me polonine qe masakroi bashke me nazistet ne marreveshjen Molotov Ribentrop.. Ptuu Komunist
Zj. Lili, Stalini sulmoi Finlandën, bëri aleancë me Gjermaninë e Hitlerit (Marrëveshja Molotov-Ribentrop), sulmoi dhe pushtoi gjysmën e Polonisë, bëri masakra kundër ukrainasve, e shumë shumë më tepër krime të tjera. Stalini dhe Putini kanë shumë ngjashmëri, dhe ka shumë mundësi të kenë të njëjtin fund. Dhashtë Zoti që senatorët dhe kongresistët amerikanë të mos pajtohen me Presidentin Trump, dhe të shprehen kundër një marrveshje të përfolur nga ekstremi i majtë amerikan dhe ndikuesit pro-rusë në internet. Atëherë do ta shohim se sa i dobët është vërtet Putini. Ky kriminel komunist rus.
Moj Lili Gojorevna rri urte se e di ti.