Bears Armed wrote:North German Realm wrote:Except not. West and East Germany reunified in 1989-90 (3 October 1990). Ukraine and Belarus existed only as
part of the Soviet Union, without any authority as a sovereign state outside of it (like the modern Republics of the Russian Federation). They became sovereign nations in August 1991, and their statehood internationally recognized -at some points- later into 1992-3. At the point the 4+2 negotiations were going on, Ukraine and Belarus existed only as members of the Soviet Union, and under jurisdiction thereof. Their "internationally recognized statehood" was like that of the Republic of Dagestan. None at all. Whether or not Pomerania and (EDITED: Lower) Silesia should have been returned to Germany isn't my point, it's that Kresy should have been returned to Poland
first, before any form of negotiation over German unification could start (as Germany still had claims on lands held by Poland, which it did not rescind until after the agreement).
Except that, to placate the Soviets, Belarus and the Ukraine had been given
theoretically-separate seats in the UN from early on in that organisation's existence...
Definitely Not Trumptonium wrote:I think you're forgetting that "Russia" in 1939 included Belarus and Lithuania, which border Kaliningrad.
Incorrect. The Soviet Union didn't annex Lithuania until the summer of 1940.
1939 1940 makes no difference, I'm simply illustrating that the USSR already bordered Kaliningrad de jure before the conferences deciding its future.
The New California Republic wrote:Definitely Not Trumptonium wrote:In many respects, East Germany is one of the worst post-communist countries today.
In 2017, the East German unemployment rate was more than double that of the Czech Republic and Poland, for example. Wages in East Germany are lower than both of those, when adjusted for PPP.
Ignoring for a second that East Germany isn't a separate country, many of the current economic problems in that part of Germany can be laid at the feet of the wrecking ball tactics of the Treuhand.
So? Identical tactics were used in the Czech Republic/Slovakia and in Poland, originally called Balcerowicz Plan which predated Treuhand by a good few months. East German problems are precisely due to the fact that they are part of Germany at-large, as their currency is uncompetitive for their productivity and West German manufacturing companies obliterated East German competitors, while West German consumer goods companies set up networks in East Germany and then export profits back to the West. None of Germany's 100 largest firms are located in the East.
In the same fashion, a Korean reunification without at least some 30-year transitioning period of two independent cooperating states would completely obliterate North Korean society.