Imagine the team Czechoslovakia could have if they were still a country…

[Nemchinov13]

yeah, if only the Soviets forcibly still controlled two entirely different peoples

What do you know about history? Only that which they taught you high school, apparently. Before I start presenting a counter argument to your statement, I'm going to ask you this - why did the US govenment genocided Native Americans? Why did they put the survivors into reservations? What right did they have? After the Civil War, US Army has drastically decreased in size. Yet, almost all of the Army units were deployed on the Wild West, waging war against its native inhabitants (chief Sitting Bull sounds familiar? Battle of Little Big Horn?). Little Big Horn became famous only because an Army unit (7th Cavalry Battalion is it?) had suffered a defeat at the hands of the Natives. Yet, how many villages, how many of these native inhabitants were slaughtered without anyone else knowing about it?

Forcibly... Rus has began as a state in the Dnieper basin, nowaday Ukraine. They have survived the Vikings, 240 year submission to Mongols... That 240 year Mongolian rule has weakened Rus, and most of its western territories were lost to more powerful Poland, Lithuania, and to some degree, Hungary. Those territories later became Belarus and Ukraine. Ironically enough, the Ukrainians who were fighting for their freedom from Poland and Lithuania were calling themselves Russians. The Moskovian government helped them as much as they could, but they two were beset by Swedes, Polish-Lithuanians, Krimean Tartars and Turks (Moscow was lost twice). Finally the Romanovs came to power and in 1648, Ukrainian leader Bogdan Khmelnitzki has pronounced the union of Small Rus (Ukraine) with Greater Rus (Russia). This is as short as I could make it. So, as you can see Russians and Ukrainians are not all that much different.

 

[Nemchinov13]

i'm sure there is a lot of animosity btwn ukrainians and russians. not only b/c of russification policy and the famine of the 30's. i think very many ukrainians at 1st were happy that the nazis drove out the soviets. i read in a magazine a poll that said that ukraine was the country hated most by russians, even more than US. and ukraine didn't like russia either.

It's not hated, it's disliked. Why? Because the whored themselves over to NATO. Simple as that. That's why there's a lot more sympathy towards Belarus, because they don't care. In fact, I wish Russia was more like Belarus and sometimes I wish that Lukashenko was the Russian president.

 

[nik jr]

It's not hated, it's disliked. Why? Because the whored themselves over to NATO. Simple as that. That's why there's a lot more sympathy towards Belarus, because they don't care. In fact, I wish Russia was more like Belarus and sometimes I wish that Lukashenko was the Russian president.

maybe ukraine went to NATO b/c they feared russia swallowing them.
lukashenko is a bad dictator.

 

[Nemchinov13]

maybe ukraine went to NATO b/c they feared russia swallowing them.
lukashenko is a bad dictator.

What? Swallowing Ukraine? Both Ukraine and Russia know that there's nothing that Russia could do to Ukraine. The only reason they want to join NATO is to spite Russia. And no, we don't hate Ukrainians (I'm reitirating this again). It's the Ukrainians who hate Russians. We treat Ukrainians just like Americans treat Polaks.

 

[Nemchinov13]

lukashenko is a bad dictator.

Why is he a bad dictator? Because he's not privatizing the major Belorussian industries? Because he does not want the same thing that happened in Russia ("wild capitalism") happen to Belarus? Because he doesn't care about Brussels, Washington and Moscow? Because he actually cares about the well-being of its citizens and he does not allow the foreign firms to bribe his government officials? Because he maintains a small but efficient first-class army?

 

[nik jr]

What? Swallowing Ukraine? Both Ukraine and Russia know that there's nothing that Russia could do to Ukraine. The only reason they want to join NATO is to spite Russia. And no, we don't hate Ukrainians (I'm reitirating this again). It's the Ukrainians who hate Russians. We treat Ukrainians just like Americans treat Polaks.

well, maybe i should not have said hate; but ukraine was the least-liked country of all for russians.

it's very common for a minority group to feel small and threatened. and i don't think u can fault them for feeling like that. it's been a major feature of world history since the 19th C. we can see it all over. many quebecers want to be independent of canada. slovaks got their own country. many tamils are rebelling to get their own state in sri lanka.

why would ukrainians want to spite russia? i don't think it makes sense. i don't know why russia should care if ukraine wants to join NATO.

 

[Nemchinov13]

why would ukrainians want to spite russia? i don't think it makes sense. i don't know why russia should care if ukraine wants to join NATO.

I care. Because I'm scared of NATO. With our Armed Forces reduced to what it is now, I fear that if we are going to finally have a true patriot in Kremlin (ala Belarussian Lukashenko), USA and NATO will find a good excuse to bring chaos (excuse me, in American language it's called "liberation") to our land. It would be the same thing as in Iraq. Who ever said that Iraqis are happy?

 

[BruinsGirl]

i can't believe.
i was born and grew up in czechoslovakia. i didn't want czechoslovakia to split but i'm happy for independant slovakia now. it's so much better for both slovaks and czechs. don't get me wrong czechs are still "my people" .


to BruinsGirl:
i've always though that ukrainiens (not sure how to write that) hate being called russians...no attacks
at least those i've talked on that topic told me so

I am not ukrainian.. Part jewish, part russian... There are a lot of russian people living in Ukraine and other former USSR republics. For many moving to Russia isn't an option. Besides in many parts of Ukraine culture is more close to russian than to ukrainian. For example in my Kharkov (now Kharkiv) and in many Eastern cities Russian language was used everywhere as primary language. We even started learning Ukrainian only in second grade, and it wasn't mandatory... Now everything is changing and it's not easy for many people even for ukrainians who've never used
it. Peoople in Western Ukraine have completely different culture and don't really like Easterner, and especially russians.

When USSR was one coumtry it wasn't as noticable, as Russian was official language etc.

It was also great to travel without any problems to any republic... It was also nice to feel yourself a part of big wonderful country.

Anyway... On March 1st, we'll celebrate 10 years of moving here... and when I have nostalgic moment it's all about Soviet Union, not Ukraine .

 

[nik jr]

Why is he a bad dictator? Because he's not privatizing the major Belorussian industries? Because he does not want the same thing that happened in Russia ("wild capitalism") happen to Belarus? Because he doesn't care about Brussels, Washington and Moscow? Because he actually cares about the well-being of its citizens and he does not allow the foreign firms to bribe his government officials? Because he maintains a small but efficient first-class army?

he tramples all over ppl's rights. there are other options than lukashenko and oligarchs.

I care. Because I'm scared of NATO. With our Armed Forces reduced to what it is now, I fear that if we are going to finally have a true patriot in Kremlin (ala Belarussian Lukashenko), USA and NATO will find a good excuse to bring chaos (excuse me, in American language it's called "liberation") to our land. It would be the same thing as in Iraq. Who ever said that Iraqis are happy?

and maybe ukraine is scared of russia. even if us ever wanted to attack russia, europeans wouldn't allow NATO to do it. i don't think ukraine would want it either.
russia should not fear us. it has nuclear weapons. us had many more reasons to attack ussr, but it didn't b/c of nuclear weapons.

 

[nik jr]

i too have heard that ukrainians hate to be called russians. could try to ask some ukrainians, if any are here.

 

[NitroF]

I have mentioned this before to. I believe if they were still one country they would be pretty dominate internationaly. probably better than us. or at least very very close. How crazy would that team be to play against lol. Who do you think would win? Canada or USSR

Elias Lang Jagr
Nagy Straka Hossa
Gaborik Vyborny Demitra
Satan Havlat Hejduk

Bondra, Svatos

Chara Visnovski
T. Kaberle F. Kaberle
Zidlicky Kubina

Malik

Hasek
Vokoun
Budaj

I just roughly threw those lines together (Havlat and Satan are out of position for starters), but as you can see, Czechoslovakia would be fierce.

Hell of a team!

 

[Legionnaire]

theres no doubt that if the US had ANY...ANY outside shooting in these last Olympics they would have fared 10x better than they did. If Michael Redd or Kobe or Ray Allen or anyone with a shot that can range past 15 feet had been put on the team instead of Carmelo, Marbury, Boozer then the US would have medaled.

Arrogance or not if the best team from the US plays there is no way they should lose. I'm sorry but you cannot have an answer for the likes of

1- Jason Kidd
2- Kobe Bryant
3- LeBron James
4- Tim Duncan
5- Shaq

Bench= Iverson, Wade, Stoudemire, McGrady, Redd, Allen, Garnett, Brand, Wallace

I would bet the farm that a team with that lineup would win Gold 10/10 times, the only problem is i dont think we'll ever see a lineup like this because of egos and such, maybe if we played with 3 basketballs we could solve all the problems but that cant happen

Team play always beats a group of individuals

 

[Legionnaire]

i too have heard that ukrainians hate to be called russians. could try to ask some ukrainians, if any are here.

The Ukraine is feeble.

 

[Bonzi]

i too have heard that ukrainians hate to be called russians. could try to ask some ukrainians, if any are here.

Well, that's not Russians fault, is it? In the Western Europe and the US every single man from any former Soviet country is called "Russian". As far as I know, in famous "Russian mafia" in the US, the number of Russians is small enough(it mostly consists of representers of other former Soviet republics), however it is still called "Russian mafia".
And you know, Crimea and some other eastern Ukranian regions were given to Ukraine to consolidate the "communist streak"(though Crimea was given to Ukraine in the 50's with no reason by Khruschev...), and now we just don't want this regions, which are originally ours, to join the block, that's opposite to Russia.
Between, I spoke with a couple of guys from Belarus, and they don't think it's all that bad in their country, they are satisfied with the standarts of living in Belarus, and don't think someone, except Lukashenko could do it better.

 

[Hasbro]

Imagine how good a team Russia would have if the Czar never abdicated. They'd have all the republics, Poland (can't forget about them) and Finland.

 

[Legionnaire]

Well, that's not Russians fault, is it? In the Western Europe and the US every single man from any former Soviet country is called "Russian". As far as I know, in famous "Russian mafia" in the US, the number of Russians is small enough(it mostly consists of representers of other former Soviet republics), however it is still called "Russian mafia".
And you know, Crimea and some other eastern Ukranian regions were given to Ukraine to consolidate the "communist streak"(though Crimea was given to Ukraine in the 50's with no reason by Khruschev...), and now we just don't want this regions, which are originally ours, to join the block, that's opposite to Russia.
Between, I spoke with a couple of guys from Belarus, and they don't think it's all that bad in their country, they are satisfied with the standarts of living in Belarus, and don't think someone, except Lukashenko could do it better.

That's not true. I think a lot of "Westerner's" understand there's a big difference between the peoples both ethnically, and culturally.

It's called the Russian Mafia because Russia is where is was born. While there may have been others from the Soviet bloc who were imprisoned when/where the Red Fellas were started, the majority were Russian.

 

[The Vengabus]

I am not ukrainian.. Part jewish, part russian... There are a lot of russian people living in Ukraine and other former USSR republics. For many moving to Russia isn't an option. Besides in many parts of Ukraine culture is more close to russian than to ukrainian. For example in my Kharkov (now Kharkiv) and in many Eastern cities Russian language was used everywhere as primary language. We even started learning Ukrainian only in second grade, and it wasn't mandatory... Now everything is changing and it's not easy for many people even for ukrainians who've never used
it. Peoople in Western Ukraine have completely different culture and don't really like Easterner, and especially russians.

When USSR was one coumtry it wasn't as noticable, as Russian was official language etc.

It was also great to travel without any problems to any republic... It was also nice to feel yourself a part of big wonderful country.

Anyway... On March 1st, we'll celebrate 10 years of moving here... and when I have nostalgic moment it's all about Soviet Union, not Ukraine .

Thanks. Ukraine is the largest country aside from Russia in Europe.. bigger than france or germany, and used to have a population near that size a mere 20 years ago. It is not culturally homogenous. I'm also from Kharkov, but im too young to be nostalgic about anything. Russian was my first language, and everyone I know from there speaks Russian not Ukrainian. People in the east of the country voted (mostly) against the 'orange revolution', they identify often better with Russians than with Ukrainians. I've lived in Canada my whole life, but I have a Russian name, and when people ask I say I'm Russian.

Zherdev's ukrainian too.. right?

 

[Hasbro]

The Ukraine is feeble.

Only in Risk

 

[jekoh]

Someone may feel like a Jedi knight and might be offended when he is called American, same with the Ukrainians - some of them (usually from the Western Ukraine) feel like Ukrainians and others (like Datsyuk, Kovalchuk) feel like Russians.

Maybe, just maybe, it has something to do with the fact Datsyuk and Kovalchuk were born and raised in Russia. Merely having a Ukrainian last name doesn't make them Ukrainians.

 

[Bonzi]

Name means nothing. You can find 100%-Russian with the surname like Yuschenko, and 100%-Ukranian with the surname like Ivanov.

 

[C-J...*]

I´d like to see a 7 game-series between Europe, and the rest of the world.

Imagine the team Europe could line up

 

[jekoh]

I´d like to see a 7 game-series between Europe, and the rest of the world.

Imagine the team Europe could line up

Rest of the world could be strong at center: Datsyuk, Malkin, Yashin...

 

[C-J...*]

Rest of the world could be strong at center: Datsyuk, Malkin, Yashin...

Those three wouldnt even make the team

 

[Legionnaire]

Those three wouldnt even make the team

Tough call. At least one of them would though IMO.

Forsberg
Sundin

Well maybe not

 

[Archijerej]

Mister Nemchinov, Ukrainians didn't call themselves Moscovites (because I doubt the name Russians existed back then, XVII century ), and the Union of Pereyeslavl happened in 1654 not in 1648 when the Cossacs insurrected, when it became obvious that they couldn't manage a decisive win against Polish-Lithaunian state. So they turned to Aleksy Mikhailovich Romanov as their ally and protector. When you ask a question: were they closer culturally and politically to Moscov then to Warsaw and Vilnius? Yes, they were. But were they Moscovites or considered themselves Moscovites? No way. Don't let the rhetoric fool you. They needed tsar's help so they claimed themselves "brothers". Chmielnicky first wanted the same laws and profits for Cossacs (not Ukrainians in general) that Polish and Lithaunian nobility had. He wanted a Commonwealth of Three Nations istead of Two Nations (Pol-Lith). The, when he grown into power, when peasantry supported him and he kicked our butts couple of times, he wanted an independent Cossac state. He turned to tsar when the Poles began to, if not take advantage (Berestechko battle) than at least restore the balance of power.
So my advice, I would not try to convince the Ukrainians, especially the Western ones, that they are Russians or that their Republic is pathethic or should return under the wings of Sacred Rus' just like I wouldn't try to convince them that they are Poles (wich they ofcourse are not). Anyways, sorry mods for this historical-political rant. It won't happen again.
BTW Bruins Girl, you are my favorite Bruins fan I still remember this "przyjaciel" . Sould I say "Szcze ne zmerla Ukraina" or maybe you're blue not orange? . Oh wait, I see that you're not Ukrainian, anyways you have my invitations for my mom's pierogies, a common cultural treasure for three nations