Rouble Nationalization – the Way to Russia’s Freedom. Nikolay Starikov
Читать онлайн.| Название | Rouble Nationalization – the Way to Russia’s Freedom |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Nikolay Starikov |
| Жанр | История |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | История |
| Год выпуска | 2011 |
| isbn | 978-5-459-01703-8 |
On 2nd August, 1939 the envoy of the USSR, Astakhov, was summoned by the head of the German Foreign Ministry, Joachim von Ribbentrop. The essence of his words was that there were no problems between Berlin and Moscow that could not be solved.
On 5th August, 1939 British and French delegations set off for Moscow to participate in negotiations. The English are not in a particular hurry. They do not go by air… but by sea. And not by a military fast ship but by a low-speed steamer, City of Exeter. As a result, instead of several hours, getting to Moscow takes seven days (on 10th August, 1939 the allied delegation arrives in Leningrad).
On 11th August, 1939 Hitler summons the League of Nations High Commissioner, Carl Burckhardt and asks him for a 'favour': to help explain to the West that everything that Hitler was doing was aimed against Russia. And if this were to fall on deaf ears then he would have to come to terms with Russians.
On 12th August, 1939 the first official meeting of the British, French and Soviet missions took place. Immediately it turned out that the head of the British delegation, Admiral Drax, did not have any letter of authority. The head of the French delegation, General Doumenc, was only authorised to reach an agreement and not to sign any resulting documents. When asked by the head of the Soviet delegation, Voroshilov, whether Poland and Romania would let the Soviet troops into their territory in order to fight against the German aggressors should they annexe these countries, they did not produce any definite answer. This is the very lingering that has been mentioned above. The English did not need to hold on and sit in session for too long: only two weeks were left until Hitler's planned attack against Poland.
On 15th August, 1939 at a meeting with Molotov, the German ambassador, Schulenburg, read out a note which essentially said that it was 'possible to restore good mutually beneficial cooperation' between the two countries and raised a question regarding the arrival of a high German official in Moscow. Incidentally, he was not authorised to give the note to the Russians so that no evidence would be left behind.[111]
The fact that Hitler had planned an attack against Poland for the 26th August, 1939 was known not only in London but also in Moscow. Therefore, it was decided to buy some time and play on the Germans' nerves. At the same time, this would let them find out how serious their intentions were. So, having had a lovely chat with the German ambassador and having realised that the Germans were under time constraints, Molotov said that there was no rush with the visit, ensuring they did not end up just having talks in Moscow without making any particular decisions.
On 17th August, 1939 Schulenburg saw Molotov again. The head of the soviet Foreign Ministry said that Moscow understood why Germany would really want to improve its relations with the USSR. But then a list of previous offences followed. Yet, 'since now the German government has decided to change their policy', it should prove that its intentions are serious and execute economic contracts. That would mean giving the USSR a loan of 200 million marks for seven years and supply quality equipment for this amount. This contract would come first and then it would be possible to discuss a non-aggression treaty.[112]
On 19th August, 1939 Hitler and Ribbentrop sent Schulenburg to Moscow again. He passes a proposition to sign a treaty which would consist of two provisions:
Germany and the USSR shall not under any conditions resort to the use of violence against each other. The proposed duration of the treaty was 25 years.
As an addition Germany was to use its influence to help improve the relations between Moscow and Tokyo. The last provision was crucial. It meant that signing the treaty with Germany would also solve the USSR's second problem, that being the constant aggression from Japan. This was a very serious argument. Incited by Great Britain and the USA, Japan invaded China back in the thirties[113] and started gradually biting off bits of Chinese land approaching the Russian borders. According to the English plan, the USSR was going to be attacked by Japan in the east and Germany in the west. This was to be a two-front war for the USSR, not for Germany. And the first front had already been opened. On 11th May, 1939 a regular Japanese army attacked the Mongolian frontier posts.
When the German ambassador proposed to Stalin the signing of the non-aggression pact, Tokyo was considered to be Berlin's ally. Meanwhile, heavy fighting was talking place at the Khalkhyn Gol River in Mongolia. The Japanese planned an offensive operation on 24th August, 1939. Instead, it was the Red Army that started an offensive on 20th August, 1939, that is to say on the day after the Germans offered their mediation in reconciliation with Japan. To make the Japanese more willing to negotiate it was necessary to beat them up well first.
To assess the actions undertaken by the Soviet officials properly, one needs to realise that the negotiations with the Germans and the battles with the Japanese were happening at the same time. And Berlin did not just offer its friendship: the Germans could actually persuade the Japanese to put an end to the conflict. Pursuing a war against Russia on its own was an extremely difficult task for Japan, if at all feasible.[114] And a non-aggression treaty between Berlin and Moscow would be a perfect excuse for Tokyo to stop fighting. It would be only natural to ask the following question at this point: was there a different way to influence Japan? No, because it would have required a will to stop the war between the USSR and Japan, and this is exactly what was lacking. The situation was, in fact, quite the opposite: the English were trying to organise a rebellion in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.[115] Why did the British need that? Because it was through that province that the USSR supplied support to China and Russian weapons and counsellors helped to strengthen China, thereby weakening the Japanese troops which confronted the Red Army. By blocking the route by which Russian weapons and equipment were supplied, the English were sabotaging the fight of the Chinese and strengthening the Japanese, helping them to aggravate the conflict with Russia…
Credit where credit is due. Stalin did realise how serious Germany's intentions were and did understand why they were in such a hurry. Therefore, despite the problems with the Japanese, he decided to take advantage of the situation with as much profit for the USSR as possible. The Germans asked to meet a minister in Moscow. The English sent someone with no particular position or authority. The situation was very telling…
During his visit to Moscow, the German ambassador, Schulenburg, received quite a specific response from Molotov: provided that the economic agreements were signed on the same day, 19th August, Ribbentrop could come a week later, on 26th or 27th August. When it was suggested that Ribbentrop could arrive earlier, Molotov objected that it was too early to speak of that before the first stage, that is the economic negotiations, had been accomplished. It was about 3 p.m., 19th August, 1939.[116] The officials in Berlin were panicking: time was running out very fast. The Russians were being polite but did not cast any light upon the situation. And all of a sudden they said that without a loan of 200 million marks there could be no progress in the relations. What was Berlin to do? Did Hitler want to credit Stalin? Of course not. He needed money himself to finance his preparations for a war with Poland. But he had no choice. Stalin used the good old Anglo-Saxon trick in the negotiations: having created a problem, he was 'selling' ways to solve it. Today, the USA funds international terrorism and then fights it.[117] The Kremlin lingered and then suddenly offered to speed up the negotiations through financing the USSR until 1946. And to achieve a positive result, the USSR used a carrot after using a stick. Half an hour after saying that Ribbentrop could come a week later, the German ambassador was summoned to Molotov again.
He was presented with the Soviet project of the non-aggression treaty drafted in compliance with all the rules. This is the version that was signed later on with insignificant amendments. This was an ordinary treaty; there was nothing special about it except for one detail: the draft did not specify that
Ibid. P. 148-149.
Here are just some facts. Great Britain was Japan's ally during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. As a result of the war. Japan annexed Korea, which went unnoticed by the Anglo-Saxons. After the Japanese invasion of China, despite enormous casualties on the Chinese side, Great Britain blocked all accusations of Japan's aggression as a member of the League of Nations. In total, between 1931 and 1945 as a result of the Japanese aggression, 35 million people died in China
Russia did not lose the war with Japan in 1905. We were forced to sign a peace treaty! Russia was forced to do that by means of revolutionary action, strikes, terrorist attacks and 'mutinies' in the fleet. All revolution was the result of excellent work of the foreign special services. For example, the mutiny on the Potemkin started with a soup in which the sailors found living worms. Their indignation was just – they were being fed rotten food! And it did not occur to anyone that boiling the soup would have surely killed the worms and there was no way they could still be alive. Someone purposely threw living worms into the food AFTER it had been cooked. And this is just one of the examples: the most telling one. The peace negotiations were initiated by… Japan. Two days after the battle of Tsushima the Japanese offered a peace treaty. Because they realised that it was impossible to win a long war with Russia. You can read more on how the English were forcing Nikolas II to sign the peace treaty with the help of the revolutionaries (and most importantly, why?) in:
For more information on this subject see: