This is great article. It is a pity that neither Poles or Russians now theirs, and their neighbors history, forgetting even toxic nationalistic education. More Poles and Russians should read this article, regardless of events of past and coming weeks adding to the National frenzies. Since the author is de-mythologizing it, I would add some missing points. The first and most important is that the fight was and is not about the nations themselves, but about the model of society, citizens and their human rights. Human rights were always low in Russia. First hordes of Mongols kept population exposed to constant attacks and abduction. Then Vikings (Russ-bearded hence name Russia) kept their subject as slaves (Kristian in Russia means- farmer- why?) Rulers of Russia had always low regard for their own citizens, but were able to exploit their fears. First religious fears against Islam (that is why Serbs are so staunch allies in their war criminal trespass). Then fear of the Western human freedoms (that is why Russian army was invited by Polish backward aristocracy to partition Poland- to defend it from Western/French ideas). Russia has been always a wild-west (East) for outdated aristocratic leaders. Russians teach their subjects about Boris Godunov and claim he was killed by Poles. They do not teach about tsars being oppressors.
Thanks - you make some great points. I do agree that a lot of this is about what type of society the other should be, and I think this is something that operates on both a concious and unconscious level in the relationship between Russia and Poland. The trouble is that there are lots of people in Russia who would love to find a way out of their cycle of oppression and lack of access to human rights, but obviously are held back by their leaders. That’s why Russian leaders feel the need to dwell on these divisive historical issues by writing statements like Putin wrote in 2021 and the speech he gave about Ukraine yesterday.
This is great article. It is a pity that neither Poles or Russians now theirs, and their neighbors history, forgetting even toxic nationalistic education. More Poles and Russians should read this article, regardless of events of past and coming weeks adding to the National frenzies. Since the author is de-mythologizing it, I would add some missing points. The first and most important is that the fight was and is not about the nations themselves, but about the model of society, citizens and their human rights. Human rights were always low in Russia. First hordes of Mongols kept population exposed to constant attacks and abduction. Then Vikings (Russ-bearded hence name Russia) kept their subject as slaves (Kristian in Russia means- farmer- why?) Rulers of Russia had always low regard for their own citizens, but were able to exploit their fears. First religious fears against Islam (that is why Serbs are so staunch allies in their war criminal trespass). Then fear of the Western human freedoms (that is why Russian army was invited by Polish backward aristocracy to partition Poland- to defend it from Western/French ideas). Russia has been always a wild-west (East) for outdated aristocratic leaders. Russians teach their subjects about Boris Godunov and claim he was killed by Poles. They do not teach about tsars being oppressors.
Thanks - you make some great points. I do agree that a lot of this is about what type of society the other should be, and I think this is something that operates on both a concious and unconscious level in the relationship between Russia and Poland. The trouble is that there are lots of people in Russia who would love to find a way out of their cycle of oppression and lack of access to human rights, but obviously are held back by their leaders. That’s why Russian leaders feel the need to dwell on these divisive historical issues by writing statements like Putin wrote in 2021 and the speech he gave about Ukraine yesterday.