UKC

Given the Ruskies seem to have a penchant for forcibly taking land that doesnt belong to it, isnt it time that the Baltics took back Kaliningrad.

In fact, Russia, like China, is a landmass created by nicking stuff off other people so shouldnt we start to break them up and given them back their stuff?

Shhh the Welsh and Scots will hear you. 

If the people in Kaliningrad want to be a part of Russia then it's nothing to do with the Baltics.

I have a rule that if a people have lived somewhere for more than a generation then that land is theirs. The minute you start peeling back history to decide who gets to live where everyone will be deported before we know it.

Whilst I share your frustration and hate that Stalin screwed over so many people after WW2, it's done now and it's not fur us to interfere.

If however Kaliningrad decide to sue for independence I don't think we shouldn't refuse to recognise it.

Which was there before any people. 

created by nicking stuff off other people

That's basically the history of countries, royalty, tribes etc going back into the start of human history and beyond. Apes are well into it, especially chimps.

The Scots are invaders from Ireland, after the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain. The Welsh are invaders from Spain. There is some thought that the Welsh and Saxon invasions were more of a cultural shift than a population replacement so if we all go back to building stone circles and reforesting most of the place we can reverse the damage.

As a slight diversion, the "why don't you go back to where you came from" racism (*) has always amused me on one level because if you go back far enough we'd all have to leave.

I had a school friend who could trace a direct line all the way back to Simon de Montfort who IIRC came over with William to do one on Harold. Well he should obviously feck off back to France.

(*) - didn't affect me often because religion is a hide-able characteristic, but I bet there's still loads of this thrown at the non-white population.

https://youtu.be/a17duTUK6qw?si=WXuikHOg5TkAfmMR

One can dream

A short potted history...

youtube.com/watch?v=H5K4tq-9osc&

Brilliant video. Thanks

Uh? The Russians took it from the Germans, it's never been part of any Baltic state.

In my youth I had fanciful notations that the world might become a better place and although countries might still exist people would be able to cross borders at will to live and work where they pleased.

The setting up of the EU Schengen area was a great step forward and it was a great shame that the UK never joined. Even when the UK was in the EU it always felt embarrassing coming back home after a holiday and having to show a passport to get back into my own country after travelling across many EU borders without any need. After Brexit it has become even more embarrassing and it will get worse when the EU ETIAS system is introduced.

Borders exist to control people. Wars are fought because of them. 

Unfortunately, there really aren’t many visionary thinkers/politicians around anywhere at the moment that can see much beyond petty nationalistic policies to work towards a better future where people are free and equal across the whole world.

I hope future generations will do better than ours.

Hah! Presumably not the better-known Simon de Montfort [the name seemed to run in the family] 6th Earl of Leicester, brother-in-law of Henry III and sometime resident of Kenilworth Castle with a university named after him - who went on to lead a rebellion against the crown and died at the Battle of Evesham in 1265? He was French as well!

I've no idea whether his ancestor Simon I de Montfort took part in the Norman invasion although he was certainly around at that time. The family seat, Montfort-l'Amaury, is in northern France but I don't think that it was part of 11th-century Normandy.

I some places you don't have to back very far at all. A popular complaint amongst racist white Australians is about the "boat people" coming to "their" country. It's fun to ask them how their parents got to Australia.

This was in my youth in Leicester - but I'm sure the line he had went back to 11th century, so I assumed he was one of William's buddies; hadn't realised there were so many Simons in the family

Yes; the 6th Earl was known as Simon V, and his father the 5th Earl - whose name, I gather, was....er....'Simon' - was #4. I have to confess that Monty Python's 'Mrs Yeti Goose Creature' sketch came to mind!

Yeah!! They need to return the land to the Pictish people

You are suggesting some NATO states should forcibly take back some Russian sovereign territory?

Have you pondered some consequences of this?