The following is from an article by Michio Ezaki in today’s Sankei Shimbun, Sound Argument, titled “A View of History to Confront Russian Aggression.
As already noted, Ezaki is an up-and-coming critic in the postwar world.
This article is a must-read for Japanese citizens and people around the world.
Readers will find that it applies precisely as it does to China.
The emphasis in the text other than the headline is mine.
Suffering from Freedom Deprivation and Repression
Neighboring countries such as Poland and the Baltic states are vehemently opposed to Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and continue to support Ukraine.
These neighboring countries have memories of being occupied and ruled by the Soviet Union during and after World War II and suffering from the suppression of human rights. They feel that “The same thing that happens to you today can happen to someone else tomorrow.”
However, due to the Soviet Union’s complete control of information, the international community was not well aware of the Soviet Union’s “crimes” for a long time after the war.
Instead, the international community, and the liberal press, in particular, emphasized the achievements of the Soviet Union in overthrowing Nazi Germany.
It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when the Baltic states, Poland, and other countries regained their freedom, that the reality of the Soviet occupation and suppression of human rights became widely known.
Neighboring countries that had been deprived of their freedoms and suffered human rights repression began to collect and publish records of the situation.
Thanks in part to the efforts of these neighboring countries, three years ago, on September 19, 2019, the European Parliament, an arm of the European Union (EU), in a resolution titled “An Important European Memory for Europe’s Future,” asserted that …
《Eighty years ago, on August 23, the Communist Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact called the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In their secret protocol, Europe and the independent nations sandwiched these two holistic regimes. They divided the territory and incorporated it into their interests, paving the way for the outbreak of World War II.》
In the 80th year of the war, the European Parliament finally criticized the Soviet Union as an “invading nation” and admitted the mistake of the Nuremberg trials that regarded the Soviet Union as a side of justice.
The resolution continues
《As a direct consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent German-Soviet Border and Friendship Treaty on September 28, 1939, the Republic of Poland was first invaded by Hitler and then two weeks later by Stalin, depriving him of his independence. It was an unprecedented tragedy for the Polish people. The communist Soviet Union began a war of aggression against Finland on November 30, 1939, and in June 1940, occupied and annexed part of Romania and never returned it. The Soviet Union annexed the independent republics Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.》
The Soviet Union did not abide by the ceasefire agreement.
Soviet “aggression” continued even after the ceasefire agreement was reached.
The Soviet Union did not abide by the ceasefire agreement and continued its “aggression” against neighboring countries.
《After the end of World War II, some European countries remained under dictatorships and some under direct Soviet occupation or influence, deprived of their homes, independence, dignity, human rights, and socioeconomic development for half a century.》
During the war, the execution of intellectuals, looting and assault, and forced labor in Siberia and elsewhere were rampant in Soviet-occupied Poland and the Baltic states.
Moreover, after the ceasefire agreement, these countries, which were supposed to regain their freedom and independence, were turned into satellite states of the Soviet Union.
In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved, the Baltic states regained their independence, and Poland regained its freedom.
However, the Putin administration justified the Soviet “aggression” and began working to restore the Soviet Union once again.
Poland and other neighboring countries are understandably alarmed.
The European Parliament also points out that.
 “In August 2019, Russian officials denied responsibility for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its consequences. They are now promoting the view that Poland, the Baltic states, and the West caused World War II. (Omitted) Deeply concerned about the efforts of the current Russian leadership to gloss over the crimes committed by the Soviet totalitarian regime by distorting historical facts (Omitted).
We call on the European Commission to firmly oppose these Russian efforts.
A victorious nation historical view” doesn’t work.
However, on June 18, 2020, President Putin wrote an article titled “The Real Lessons of 75 Years of World War II” in the electronic edition of the National Interest, a U.S. political and diplomatic journal, in which he criticized the European Parliament’s resolution as “a bunch of crap.”
Thus, the confrontation between Western countries that criticized the Soviet Union’s “aggression and suppression of human rights” and the Putin administration, which insisted on a “victorious nation historical view” that justified Soviet “aggression” with the side view of overthrowing the Nazis, was intensifying, but the Japanese side paid little attention.
However, with respect for freedom and human rights, should Japan not also join in this debate?
At any rate, after accepting the Potsdam Declaration, many Japanese were detained in Siberia by the Soviet Union, killed, and deprived of the Northern Territory, and are still illegally occupied.
In response to the recent “invasion” of Ukraine, Japan has also taken steps to impose sanctions against Russia from the standpoint of opposing “change of status quo by force.
At the same time, Japan should also confront and thoroughly criticize President Putin’s peculiar view of history, which justifies the Soviet Union’s “aggression” in cooperation with the United States and Europe.
The victor nation’s view of history, which regards the Soviet Union as a righteous nation, is no longer valid.