An interesting editorial in the IHT, regarding Russia’s hoarding of 10–15 billion dollars worth of art, taken from the Nazis during WWII, reminds one of other situations, such taken from Korea, by Japan, now a part of China and Russia. If one craves legitimacy, pass a law (Russia) or create a “NorthEast Project“.
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13 Comments
Illegal gain.
“Surely it is not in Russia’s long-term interests…” When has Russia ever cared about what the world thinks of its policies and laws. They usually respond with accusations of “outsiders interceding in Russian affairs”, which leads to veiled and often overt threats.
It’s in Russia’s long-term interest? Oh, since you put it that way, I’m sure Putin will get right on it.
‘Russia may make a shameless deal with Britain to enable both countries to profit from exhibitions, but this pattern of conduct is not sustainable for long.’ from the article
why wouldn’t britain make a shameless deal when they themsleves are shameless? the british are on par with the russians and japanese when it comes to looting the treausures of others. of course, they’d make a deal! they don’t want to set a precedent just the in case the egyptians come a knockin for all their stolen booty.
lastly, if this were about koreans asking the japanese to give back all they stole, i’m sure the expat would come out flying to accuse koreans of whinning. we’d then be treated to him telling us why it’s legal for japan to have so much that is korea’s.
Putin’s Russia is the political and spiritual descendent of Stalin’s Soviet Union, which in turn carried on the legacies of Nazi Germany. I don’t think the rightful owners will ever be able to do more than visit their looted collections.
I resent that remark!
sad that there are still people willing to fight over the ownership of this art… all it does is encourage people to hide and hoard…
Nazi germany brought unspeakable suffering to russia and it didnt payed any reparations to russia. i see no problem in russias attitude. Lets say its russias payback for germany.
As for the NorthEast Project, well, i didnt know one can claim a place which was once occupied by self-proclaimed ancestor of Koreans some 2000 years ago stil belongs to Korea or is in any way korean. (The Mongols should probably start to claim half asia+europe to be mongol as well?)
China & Korea didnt even exist at that time. therefore it belongs to both cultures, if Koreans r indeed descendant of the tribe at that time. They have to prove it. Last thing, i know what China is doing is probably not kosher, but in my view, the koreans also distort their history quite a bit. U just have to look at the korean history TVseries. i guess when it comes to f*k up history, we got two very talented nations here.
Your observation “Lost” is very much lost upon most people. A large portion of territory — understood by most to be Korean — was illegally given to China in 1909 by Japan, though the Chinese deny this was ever really Korean land, despite proof to the contrary. After the war, much what Japan had done illegally had been undone, except for this illicit treaty. As for the editorial mentioned in this thread, a big question that arises from this is “if Russia can take great art during wartime and claim this is a justified act on their part, should all war booty be regarded the same way? Is this legal or fair? Should China or any other nation keep art or territory that gained through acts of war that has been legally determined to be ill-gotten gains?
As for Korean history, there is very little historical distortion, regarding Korea, from accredited academics (with the exception of certain political elements in China). If you, however, use Korean TV dramas as an indicator of how Koreans regard their history, then you are indeed “lost”.
Koreans distorting history? Like?
China and Japan have been distorting Asian history since the beginning of the industrial age.
Goguryeo is Chinese? The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo. Tibet and Taiwan are Chinese? Taiwan maybe but Tibet aren’t even ethnically the same. Manchu’s and Mongols are apparently Chinese as well.
Not to mention the disinformation from the Communist govt.
Didn’t North Korea pretty much do the same thing when they settled their northern border with China sometime mid-century? I seem to remember hearing something about that, but don’t really have that much recollection of it. I guess you could say that the region’s been given to China twice… illegally.
Oh gee… wow… If that’s not a troll-baiting question around here, I dunno what is.
To R. Elgin
I checkes that Gando-wiki page. it says the region is perceived by many to be a Korean region. who r “many” ? koreans? any non korean academic proof?
Regarding the question if China should keep the territory…
Well. Koreans, thats the reality presently:
- The region u r talking about is 90% han + other minorities. Koreans only made up to 4% of the population there. Dont blame China, the 1 child policy applies to han chinese only.
- There r two ways to get back that place: 1. War -> bad . 2. Vote according to the rules of democracy(1 Person = 1 Vote) -> stil China will win. Han=90%. Thats it.
Ppl seems to hold on to the idea that once a place belongs to a nation it must forever belong to that nation. Wrong. A place belongs to the ppl who live there and what they accept as their nationality. So, if Korea lost that place 100 years ago, and now, the koreans became a minority of 4%, its no more ur land. For the ppl who live there, its also unfair to decide over their head that they will be Koreans without their approval. Like HK/China.
To Stacked:
1. I said TWO nations who f*k up history, i included China.
2. Just because Koreas name comes from Goguryeo, it does not mean this ancient culture belongs exclusively to Korea. A name says nothing about a culture some 2000 years ago. Its just a hint that u came from that tribe.
3. Never said the commies r good.
“Lost” Hong Kong was leased by the British with the understanding that that lease would run out. Gando was not leased, rather the subject of an illegal Japanese treaty. There is a big difference therein. The Communist Party in China has a way of ethnic cleansing — as demonstrated in Tibet — by flooding areas with Han Chinese to undermine any legitimate claims made by any one else. I certainly would not be surprised that there are more Han Chinese now living in any place that is contested by China since this is how they re-paint their thievery so as to mimic legitimacy.
I must consider that centuries from now, this may not matter since empires come and go with the passage of time and the place where I live now has had more than a few names in the last 2,000 years. Despite such, the Chinese Government of today are the children of thieves and brazen ones at that.
#12 - I wholeheartedly approve of China’s actions re: Gando, seeing as I really don’t have a leg to stand on to criticize them, living in the US and all…
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