In Putin's World:
In a new dispute exposing the complexity of Poland's relations with Russia, Moscow is threatening Warsaw with "most serious consequences" for dismantling a monument to a Soviet World War II general.
The removal of the 1970s memorial to Gen. Ivan Chernyakhovsky began Thursday in the northern town of Pieniezno, where the general died of wounds in February 1945. He is buried in Russia. ...
The statement [by Russia's embassy in Poland] said that Russia has "warned the Polish side many times" that removing such monuments cannot continue "without the most serious consequences." It did not specify the consequences.
Complexity? It's simple. Poland is not owned by Russia and Russia can just get over themselves.
The Poles should really stick it to the Russians and replace every monument honoring Russia with statues of memorial to the Soviet hero Dzershinsky:
An anti-Soviet joke long current in Warsaw: Q. Who is the greatest Pole in history? A. Feliks Dzerzhinsky, the Polish-born founder of the Cheka, forerunner of the K.G.B. Q. Why? A. Because no Pole killed more Russians.
Because it really is that simple.
And note from that 1991 link that once upon a time, Russians were eager to pull down the statues of their Soviet masters.
