Awkwardly euphemistic

Comment on the article Vladimir Putin bans comparisons between Soviets and Nazi Germany in Second World War by Tom Parfitt in The Times, 1 July 2021.


Lech S Borkowski comment The Times 12 July 2021
Lech S Borkowski, comment in The Times 12 July 2021

‘The latter is likely to anger former Soviet states like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which say they were occupied by the Red Army and then coerced into joining the Soviet Union against their will.’

The Times follows the Communist narrative, which avoids any mention of occupation of Poland by Soviet Russia. The phrase ‘coerced into joining … against their will’ is awkwardly euphemistic. We are talking here about murder, torture, concentration camps. The use of ‘former Soviet states’ is inappropriate. They didn’t have any sovereignty.

Note also the following:

‘In response, Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, called Putin a liar.’

This is a non-essential criticism from Polish PM. By calling Putin a liar Morawiecki avoided giving proper response, which would be to recall the Communist terror unleashed against Polish citizens, such as my family members, in eastern Poland occupied by Soviet Russia. Contemporary Polish ruling class follows unmistakably the same Communist narrative, in which eastern Poland and its citizens are to be erased.

@LechSBorkowski