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https://nadinbrzezinski.medium.com/why-we-are-here-the-past-and-its-link-to-the-present-8861d44899c6>
"I admit I should have paid more attention to Eastern Europe before Ukraine was
invaded on February 22, 2022. Excuses, excuses, and I hate to say it, we all
missed why this happened. It was not about Ukraine in 2014. No, it’s not that.
This goes much earlier, and it’s part of the long trends in Russia.
Don’t look at Ukraine, or at least not 2014. Look much further into the Russian
past. I spoke the other day about the long trends of Russian history. We all
need to look at two things in Russian history.
The first is the gathering of lands. Vladimir Putin has referred to this
because he points at the imperial project under the Tsars. He sees himself as
one, with Boyars obeying him.
While it started earlier than the Romanovs, the actual start of the modern
Russian empire was both Peter and Catherine Romanov. It was not just Ukraine
but also the Caucasus that resisted until the end of the 19th century. You may
say they never stopped fighting.
It was also the east. Russia expanded, using its military or treaties. It
reached the Pacific in the 19th century, with agreements with imperial China.
The treaty of Aigun allowed Russia to get to the Pacific.
Incidentally, there have been clashes on the border from time to time, and it
is set along the Amur River. It is this treaty that the Chinese don’t
particularly like. They would also love Vladivostok, the Russian Pacific
theater port, back. From time to time, there have been border clashes.
The expansion reached its maximal point with Alaska and far down with
settlements around the Russian River in California. As we all know, Russia sold
Alaska to the United States in 1867. This was the end of the Russian expansion
eastwards."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
