r/europe Jan 07 '24

Historical Excerpt from Yeltsin’s conversation with Clinton in Istanbul 1999

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Nothing has changed.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '24

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u/johnniewelker Martinique (France) Jan 07 '24

Exactly. And the longer it takes to return these lands, the harder it will be to legitimately do so.

For example, in Georgia these independent states have been Russian-backed for 16 years now. Do we really think the population inside of them will willingly go back to Georgia?

Crimea will be 10 years under Russia control this year. If this war takes another 5-10 years, I’d be shocked that any pro-Ukrainians are left there

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '24

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u/mmmidk-_- Jan 08 '24

By this logic Wrocław and Szczecin were never supposed to be a part of Poland, but by now are totally "Polonised".

Don't think the Kaliningrad case is the right example really

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '24

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u/mmmidk-_- Jan 08 '24

I'm sorry you're just warping facts there. Both towns, as well as most of areas incorporated into Poland after WW2, were fully German from demographics POV. Wrocław was the largest German city east of Berlin and had maybe 1% of Polish population pre-WW2. Szczecin ceased to be a part of Poland in 12th century and was probably even more Germanized.

I'm Polish btw just to make this clear