It was sold in 1867, but some Russians want Alaska back from the US

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Way back in 1991, as the once-mighty Soviet Union disintegrated and Westerners cheered, Vladimir Putin’s favorite rock and roll band released “Don’t Fool Around, America,” a patriotic hit about an even older lost cause – Russia’s 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States.

This bouncy, accordion-driven single ignored the disorienting collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and instead pointed listeners east, 2.4 miles across the Bering Strait, to the 49th U.S. state, demanding:

“Give us our dear Alaska back/Give us our dear native land.”

Now the song, by rabble-rousing rockers Lyuba (the Loud Ones), has taken on new significance as President Donald Trump hosts Putin at an Alaskan military base – and conspiracy theories resurface claiming Uncle Sam swindled Mother Russia out of the 665,000-square-mile Arctic jewel.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/sold-1867-russians-want-alaska-230730406.html

I guess if you get shitfaced on a regular basis you believe about anything.

Russia sold Alaska to the US after getting their collective asses kicked in the Crimean war. They did not want the British, in this case Canada, on their doorstep. The US was neutral at the time, so they thought we'd make a good buffer.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. That's so Trump . . . .

Sell some land and then demand it back, keeping the money.

[Hekate]

2. If they work hard enough at it, they can turn Alaska's 1867 sale into another Lost Cause like the US South/Civil War

There’s always enough fools to believe that kind of shit.

Two things give me concern. First and foremost, we have a fool for a POTUS, and he kowtows to Putin “like a dog” (to use one of his favorite phrases of denigration) .

But secondly, one-half of Putin’s dream is to break apart the Western democracies. He was behind Brexit, and continues to work behind the scenes to break apart the EU. The US is not exempt from his attentions. If you recall Calexit from 10 years ago (the plan to have California secede from the Union) there was an American who headed up the notion and allegedly was a San Diego resident — but guess where his actual office was? Right across the water from Alaska, in Siberia.

The other half of Putin’s dream is to restore the boundaries of the USSR.

Such fun.

[thucythucy]

3. Russians into this nonsense should remember

that vast tracks of Siberia are claimed by China, who once held sway in those regions. China and Russia even fought a mini-war--in 1969--over one of the disputed islands. There was a larger conflict between the two countries in 1929.

Then too, some might see Finland as having legitimate claims to the land seized by the Russians after the Winter War of 1939.

Earlier--much earlier--than that, Mongolia ruled their current domain all the way to Moscow and beyond.

The Russian Empire used to be known as "the prison of nations."

You'd think their leaders would be cognizant of all this.

[Ping Tung]

4. Would they accept Florida as an alternate choice?

[11 Bravo]

5. Generations of Russians have been taught that the US signed a 100 year lease on Alaska ...

but then reneged on the terms of the lease and simply kept the land.
Pure bullshit, of course, but when the only available media is state media, that kind of crap can gain a foothold ... kind of like it's starting to do in this country.