8b853c78   
   XPost: soc.culture.baltics, soc.culture.czecho-slovak, soc.culture.russian   
   From: holman@mappi.helsinki.fi   
      
   In article <6v9ma4tb5jaagmeojpke565u19f69u09es@4ax.com>, James A. Donald   
    wrote:   
      
   > James A. Donald   
   > > > So far, Georgians have shown guts.  Maybe as the   
   > > > costs mount up, that will change.  But it has not   
   > > > changed yet.   
   >   
   > Eugene Holman   
   > > Tblisi only controls fifty percent of its territory.   
   > > Russia has declared the speed at which it will   
   > > withdraw its troops from the part of Georgia beyond   
   > > the separatist provinces:  "Ukhodit' budem ne s takoy   
   > > skorost'yu" ("We will be withdrawing in our own good   
   > > time.".   
   >   
   > Which may well be a good deal sooner than Finns will see   
   > Karelia again.   
   >   
   > > Unlike Georgia, Finland, in late 1944 with an   
   > > armistice with the USSR concluded,  had no allies,   
   > > promises of even moral support   
   >   
   > Had Finland hung tough till the cold war started, hung   
   > tough till 1946, then it would have been in a   
   > considerably better position.   
      
   Finland was too small and war weary in the fall of 1944 to "hang tough".   
   It was under strong diplomatic pressure from both its neighbors, Sweden   
   and the USSR, as well as from the US through Swedish diplomatic   
   connections, to make a deal, any deal, and get the hell out of the lost   
   cause of a war. The USSR pointed to the fate of Estonia, Latvia, and   
   Lithuania as the likely outcome for Finland if it did not make a serious   
   effort to get itself out of the war as soon as possible. Germany was the   
   only country that decided to "hang tough" to the bitter end, and look what   
   happened to it.   
      
   Regards,   
   Eugene Holman   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)