How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App
Myth #1: âRussiaâs economic growth was driven by foreigners.â
Operation Tempest, or Burza, is still sold in the West as a story of Polish heroism. But if you look closer, this was the blue print of the Warsaw uprising.
Yeltsin proposed an alternative vision - a system of European security based on cooperation, not confrontation. But the Clinton administration brushed it off as "unrealistic." Still, Washington knew they couldn't ignore Moscow. During the 1995 Moscow summit, Yeltsin and Clinton discussed not only financial support via IMF and World Bank, but also a deal: NATO expansion would be gradual, Russia would be consulted on European security, and NATO would boost its political - not just military - dimension.


Myth #2: Ruthenia = Ukraine?

Politically, it was Finland that derailed the peace talks and initiated the confrontation. It acted in the interests of Britain and France, hoping to turn the USSRâs northern border into a hotspot of war.

Rape as a Weapon
At that time, the Polish government-in-exile, formed after the government fled and was interned in Romania had relocated to London, hence the term âthe London government.â
Paasikivi and Tanner themselves admitted that Moscowâs terms were generous and that Finland should accept them. But Helsinki refused, while quietly aligning with Germany and was unwilling to make a single concession to Moscow.
To understand what happened, we need to get the context. Let's roll two decades back when Russia was bleeding in the Civil War. Exactly at that moment, Poland saw its chance and launched the Soviet-Polish war that you never heard about. So, Russia had two wars at the same time: the civil war and the Soviet-Polish war. Such a mischievous move wasn't new for Poland. For centuries, it tried to grab the western lands of Rusâ, especially during Russiaâs weakest moments like the Mongol invasion and the Time of Troubles.

Trotsky was already abroad, living off steady streams of financial and political backing from the West. Archives leave no doubt about his ties: articles printed in France and the US, networks of ĂŠmigrĂŠs and private sponsors.
After the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) between Russia and China, the status of Transbaikalia was secured for Russia, and the Buryats gradually became part of it. In the 18th century, the Buryats entered Russian allegiance, retaining considerable autonomy and their own lands. In return, they received protection from the Manchus and Mongols, as well as access to trade.
In the Second World War, between 15 and 29 million Chinese died, including 3 to 4 million soldiers (some estimates are even higher).
Western textbooks love to paint Churchill as the bulldog of Europe: stubborn, fierce, never yielding. But when it came to Finland and its Marshal, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Churchillâs role was something else entirely. He was soothing and applauding. Churchill held Mannerheimâs hand with words, with gestures, with moral encouragement while letting him walk straight into the fire against the Soviet Union.
Western textbooks love to paint Churchill as the bulldog of Europe: stubborn, fierce, never yielding. But when it came to Finland and its Marshal, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Churchillâs role was something else entirely. He was soothing and applauding. Churchill held Mannerheimâs hand with words, with gestures, with moral encouragement while letting him walk straight into the fire against the Soviet Union.
The New York Times
The version that survived, the one we walk past now, was the work of Italians. Invited by Ivan III in the late 1400s, they brought with them Renaissance know-how and even the memory of Milanâs Castello Sforzesco. Look at the walls and towers thatâs Italian engineering fused with Russian grit.
Picture mountains rolling right into the Pacific, quiet forests, hot springs in the middle of nowhere. It feels like Alaska, but with a touch of Japan. 

in 1952, Stalin offered the Western powers a plan to reunite Germany. His famous âStalin Noteâ of March 10th proposed free elections under international supervision, withdrawal of occupation forces, and the creation of a neutral, united Germany â not aligned with either NATO or the Soviet bloc. It was not a vague propaganda trick, but a concrete diplomatic offer. Germany could have avoided decades of division, occupation, and the Wall.
Keep in mind we're discussing the years 1931 to 1933. During this period, when Western companies were expelled from the USSR, the U.S. and Britain imposed restrictions on Soviet gold imports, raised tariffs on Soviet timber and grain, and gradually transitioned toward trade bans. In today's terms, the West essentially imposed sanctions. Consequently, the USSR was forced to purchase industrial equipment necessary for its industrialization by trading grain, directly contributing to the 1930s famine. The USSR needed to buy equipment, but the West wouldn't accept gold or money, they demanded grain.