ROMANIA:

Past Steps In to Upset Russians

BUCHAREST, Mar 8 (IPS) - Russia and neighbouring Moldova have expressed anger over a Romanian court decision declaring Romania's invasion of the former Soviet Union in 1941 legitimate.

The dispute has not died down after the Bucharest Court of Appeals delivered the decision in December 2006.

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=36849

As a consequence of the ruling, members of the Romanian government who had been condemned in 1946 for their decision to attack the Soviet Union together with the Nazis were pardoned of any war crime of invading foreign territory.

.......

And....

....Antonescu made it to number 6 in the Top 10 of the Greatest Romanians in a vote on a TV show last fall.

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AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

Well, who invaded Bessarabia first?

I have to agree with Za here. If somebody snatched one of Norways counties, I'd try to get it back. What people must consider is the motivation for Romania in Barbarossa. Please note the lack of enthusiasm in the Romanian Army as they were ordered further east.

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'We march. The enemy is retreating in transport. We follow on foot.' Lt.Neil McCallum 5/7 Gordons 19th November 1942

Any plans made with Hitler in order to create Barbarossa I would not call righteous as the plan included more than just destroying the political order in the other country. Of course big politics is big politics and you have to take your side in the war but after 65 years I would not recommend it being made a legal matter, really. Especially if you lost it in the end.

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Er, I didn't quite follow, Kai...

Concerning Bessarabia, it would be interesting to see exactly who is or is not entitled to the place, SU or Romania before we pass judgement.

In a nutshell, it appears the territory was taken by the Russian empire from the Turks in 1812, then current Romania got its independence from the Turks in mid-19th Cent with Russian assistance, and after the Russian 1917 armistice the place declared independence, being taken over by Romania in January 1918 (ha!) profiting from the power void.

Bessarabia was reserved for Soviet influence in the 1939 German-Soviet pact, and in June 1940 the Red army reentered former Russian territory.

It appears the Romanian pretence on the territory is rather weak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessarabia

http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holo...y_1941_14.html

It is my belief that the entire region is subject to a number of territorial claims and counterclaims, from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, even when the Germans invaded Czecholslovakia the eternal victims the Poles took their own bite, so from my part they can all go to the Devil

Thank you

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

Sorry Za,

I guess I got a bit carried away....

Anyway, I tried to mean that whatever the background for the attack as an explanation, it was all part of Barbarossa and the reason shown here is just an excuse really because Hitler had in good time given an invitation to join in the attack. Hitler did , as far as I know, ask them to join the war, which also included the killing of innocent people not just the destruction of the political communistic system. So it includes a lot more than just taking a part of land that was "originally theirs".

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I see now. It was a little cryptic when put the first time

If I am correct there is a distinction to be made between the 1941 border crossing and War crimes. This jugdment partly legitimizes the Invasion of territories beyond the Bessarabia border. It does not accept or forgive the war crimes committed by some of those who took part in the 1941 invasion .

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Also the interesting "mix" is that Hitler promised these areas to Stalin , I think in 1940, and a litlle later on provoked the leaders of Romania to join Barbarossa....

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True, I don't think Romania would have joined Barbarossa just to get Bessarabia, but they were promissed of Crimea and especially odessa. The Romanians were essentially motivated by greed. I remember reading that when the Romanian retreated from Odessa in 1944 they absolutely took whatever they could , including the seats from the local theatre. When Hitler tried the same strategy with the Serbs by promissing Thessalonika if they attacked Greece, the Serbs told him to go to hell.

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