F*** the Marshall Plan says Bush, no mention of millitary industrial complex that led to Americas Economic domination for the last fifty years.
RIGA, LATVIA - President Bush on Saturday called Soviet oppression in Europe "one of the greatest wrongs of history" and accepted some American blame for it.
Speaking to a Latvian audience with bitter memories of Soviet domination, Bush expressed regrets about the 1945 Yalta agreement that divided Europe into U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence. The pact, approved by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin near the end of World War II, effectively cleared the way for the creation of Soviet satellites in Eastern and Central Europe.
Bush said the agreement "left a continent divided and unstable" and led to the "captivity of millions" of Europeans who fell under Soviet control.
The president's remarks in Riga echoed comments in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the two leaders engaged in a long-distance debate over the roots and legacy of the Cold War.
Putin has been forced to deal with Russia's Soviet past as he prepares to host Bush and more than 50 other world leaders at a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Monday's planned celebration in Moscow's Red Square has been tainted by criticism over the Soviet Union's early alliance with Nazi Germany and its oppressive domination of Eastern Europe and the Baltic nations after the war.
In an interview with German television journalists, Putin agreed with Bush about the Yalta pact, but shrugged off criticism of the Soviet Union's efforts to control neighboring countries.
"There is nothing surprising about it. It built them in its own image and likeness, and it was a well-known system, a system which, unfortunately, as far as our people is concerned, was not based on democratic principles," said Putin, a former agent of the KGB, the Soviet version of the CIA. "But such were the realities of the times."
Bush delivered his remarks, the keynote speech for his five-day trip to Europe and Russia, after meeting with Baltic leaders who have refused to join him in Moscow. Many in the Baltics view the end of World War II as the day they swapped Adolf Hitler for Stalin.
Bush urged former Cold War enemies to put the past aside so they can focus on building vibrant, stable democracies. He linked the growth of democracy in Europe to his larger goal of spreading freedom around the globe.
In a blunt message for Putin, Bush said Russia should not fear the spread of democracy on its doorstep.
"Repression has no place on this continent. ... All the nations that border Russia will benefit from the spread of democratic values -- and so will Russia itself," he said. "No good purpose is served by stirring up fears and exploiting old rivalries in this region."
Bush, who is on a five-day trip to Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia, is trying to ensure that his attendance at the celebration in Moscow on Monday does not endorse the Soviet repression and rise of totalitarianism that followed.
So in his speech here, Bush leveled his harshest criticism against Russia for its actions after World War II, and seemed to lean as much toward a denunciation of postwar Soviet actions as celebratory words for the Nazi defeat.
"As we mark a victory of six decades ago, we are mindful of a paradox," Bush said. "For much of Germany, defeat led to freedom. For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire. V-E Day marked the end of fascism, but not the end of oppression."
The Russians have been angered by Bush's trip to Latvia and his scheduled visit to Georgia on Monday and Tuesday, and have accused the United States of meddling in the affairs of their former republics, now independent nations with contentious relationships with Moscow.
Bush's words in Latvia on Saturday seemed likely to anger the Russians even more, because he repeatedly used the word "occupation" to describe the Russian actions in the Baltics -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- after World War II. The Russians have furiously responded that they were invited in.
The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact in August 1939, just weeks before Germany's invasion of Poland precipitated World War II. Soviet troops joined German forces in occupying Poland, and the next year the Soviet Union also entered Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and incorporated them into the Soviet Union as republics. After the Soviet Union joined the war on the side of the Allies in 1941, German forces overran the three Baltic countries and occupied them, with local support, until Soviet troops retook them near the end of the war.
At an earlier news conference with leaders from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- all former Soviet puppet states -- Bush called for free elections in neighboring Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship.
Speaking to a Latvian audience with bitter memories of Soviet domination, Bush expressed regrets about the 1945 Yalta agreement that divided Europe into U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence. The pact, approved by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin near the end of World War II, effectively cleared the way for the creation of Soviet satellites in Eastern and Central Europe.
Bush said the agreement "left a continent divided and unstable" and led to the "captivity of millions" of Europeans who fell under Soviet control.
The president's remarks in Riga echoed comments in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the two leaders engaged in a long-distance debate over the roots and legacy of the Cold War.
Putin has been forced to deal with Russia's Soviet past as he prepares to host Bush and more than 50 other world leaders at a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Monday's planned celebration in Moscow's Red Square has been tainted by criticism over the Soviet Union's early alliance with Nazi Germany and its oppressive domination of Eastern Europe and the Baltic nations after the war.
In an interview with German television journalists, Putin agreed with Bush about the Yalta pact, but shrugged off criticism of the Soviet Union's efforts to control neighboring countries.
"There is nothing surprising about it. It built them in its own image and likeness, and it was a well-known system, a system which, unfortunately, as far as our people is concerned, was not based on democratic principles," said Putin, a former agent of the KGB, the Soviet version of the CIA. "But such were the realities of the times."
Bush delivered his remarks, the keynote speech for his five-day trip to Europe and Russia, after meeting with Baltic leaders who have refused to join him in Moscow. Many in the Baltics view the end of World War II as the day they swapped Adolf Hitler for Stalin.
Bush urged former Cold War enemies to put the past aside so they can focus on building vibrant, stable democracies. He linked the growth of democracy in Europe to his larger goal of spreading freedom around the globe.
In a blunt message for Putin, Bush said Russia should not fear the spread of democracy on its doorstep.
"Repression has no place on this continent. ... All the nations that border Russia will benefit from the spread of democratic values -- and so will Russia itself," he said. "No good purpose is served by stirring up fears and exploiting old rivalries in this region."
Bush, who is on a five-day trip to Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia, is trying to ensure that his attendance at the celebration in Moscow on Monday does not endorse the Soviet repression and rise of totalitarianism that followed.
So in his speech here, Bush leveled his harshest criticism against Russia for its actions after World War II, and seemed to lean as much toward a denunciation of postwar Soviet actions as celebratory words for the Nazi defeat.
"As we mark a victory of six decades ago, we are mindful of a paradox," Bush said. "For much of Germany, defeat led to freedom. For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire. V-E Day marked the end of fascism, but not the end of oppression."
The Russians have been angered by Bush's trip to Latvia and his scheduled visit to Georgia on Monday and Tuesday, and have accused the United States of meddling in the affairs of their former republics, now independent nations with contentious relationships with Moscow.
Bush's words in Latvia on Saturday seemed likely to anger the Russians even more, because he repeatedly used the word "occupation" to describe the Russian actions in the Baltics -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- after World War II. The Russians have furiously responded that they were invited in.
The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a nonaggression pact in August 1939, just weeks before Germany's invasion of Poland precipitated World War II. Soviet troops joined German forces in occupying Poland, and the next year the Soviet Union also entered Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and incorporated them into the Soviet Union as republics. After the Soviet Union joined the war on the side of the Allies in 1941, German forces overran the three Baltic countries and occupied them, with local support, until Soviet troops retook them near the end of the war.
At an earlier news conference with leaders from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- all former Soviet puppet states -- Bush called for free elections in neighboring Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship.
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