Only after 70 years who could have imagine that so powerful West led by USA would relinquish its power and wealth to the East, led by Russia and China. In another decade or two the World as we know it would cease to exist once and for all and new rulling forces will get in charge of the Planet, and it won't be the West because they tolerated leaches for too long to drian their wealth away and destry it by economic terorosm.

This is brilliant interview. I do hope that this professor would be invited to RT again and that we will get more substitutive interviews such as this one from RT. The West does not want to talk about its imperialistic wars against Africa and Asia that it why to onset of WWII is dated 1939 Germany invasion of Poland. Russia has all the legitimate reasons to defend its glorious history and be aware of the forces which are scheming to weaken Russia's position in the world stage.

In the late 1920ies and early 1930ties when UK was not yet threatened by Germany and Italy Winston Churchill PUBLICLY praised both Italian fascism as well as German Nazism for their anti-communist policies. Speaking about Benito Mussolini W. Churchill said: "What a man! I have lost my heart!... Fascism has rendered a service to the entire world... If I were Italian, I am sure I would have been with you entirely from the beginning of your victorious struggle against the bestial appetites and passion of Leninism." Speaking about Adolf Hitler W. Churchill said: "There must not be lacking in our leadership something of that spirit of the Austrian corporal" "Those who have met Hitler face to face in public, business, or on social terms, have found a highly competent, cool, well-informed functionary with an agreeable manner, a discerning smile, and few have been unaffected by a subtle personal magnetism."

I think the research of historians such as Yaroslav Butakov is important not only for the reasons he stated so brilliantly but also for Russia itself and its own revisionism that seeks to denigrate some of the great achievements of the Soviet Union. It is pertinent that modern Russia be careful for its own glorification of Tsarist Russia that implicitly seeks to dilute the role of the Soviet Union in pulling Russia out of its primate condition into a powerful modern nation. Russia must continue to give help and assistance to nations from the former Soviet Unions whose citizens have contributed to the ultimate defeat of the Third Reich. With all its excesses, after 1956, the Soviet Union was the barrier to the U.S global domination that replaced the Germany dream of global domination. The U.S dream of global domination is still in play today. With the U.S currently occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and its plan to attack Iran, Russia is the only credible world power which can contest the U.S drive for full spectrum global domination. This is the true lesson and moral legacy of the Soviet Victory in 1945 over the forces of the Third Reich.

It was the UK who declared war on Germany on 2nd Sep 1939. One may say the Treaty of Versailles was the beginning of WWII.

Mr. Yaroslav Butakov : "Besides, let’s pay attention to the fact that as a result of the Soviet-German treaty of 1939, the Soviet Union did not annex a square foot of Polish territory. Or, rather, in 1939, a part of Polish territory was indeed annexed – Bialystok, but after 1945 it was returned to Poland."

"Besides, let’s pay attention to the fact that as a result of the Soviet-German treaty of 1939, the Soviet Union did not annex a square foot of Polish territory. Or, rather, in 1939, a part of Polish territory was indeed annexed – Bialystok, but after 1945 it was returned to Poland." Not quite true I'm afraid. On the 17th of September, hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops entered Poland and captured almost the whole of Eastern Poland. Stalin later ordered the massacre of around 20,000 Polish officers at katyn. Many eastern parts of Poland were never returned. For example Lviv, which was Polish from 1349 to 1772, and became part of Poland again after Poland gained full independance in 1918. It was a largely Polsih city (around 65% of the population were Polish in 1931), with few ukranians (8% in 1931). However during the Soviet invasion of Poland, Lviv was captured and incorporated into Ukraine, where it has remained ever since (100,000-140,000 Polish citizens were forced to leave by the NKVD). "After Czechoslovakia was occupied, it was as if Poland was inviting attack." To be frank, I'm not surprised that Poland was unwilling to let Soviet troops in. Once Soviets troops get into a country, it is very hard to get them out. Poland simply wanted to retain its independance without becoming a Soviet puppet, or worse, being made a member of the Soviet union. The period of communist rule in Poland (up until 1989) showed just how disastrous letting too much Soviet influence into the country would have been.

It wasn't just the German attack on Poland that kicked off WW2 -- it was the joint German-Russian attack, remember? As for which country benefited most from the war, only one country in all the world ended the war with more national territory than it had at the start. The USSR. The article also repeats the worn-out mantra against "re-writing history", but as usual it completely fails to tell us what such alleged re-writing has changed history from, what it has changed to, by whom and when. Just amazing.

smugre As might know already “ The West” as not the center of global power began in 1492 with the conquest of the Americas. Before 1492, "The East" had all that we call civilisation before the West any anything resembling modernity. It is hard for those who believe in Hegel’s universal teleology of European supremacy [see Hegel’s Phenomenology of History] and neocons claim that the 21 century as the American century [see Francis Fukuyama’s the end of history and the new American century neocon manifesto] find it hard to deal with the resurgence of “the East.” Of course, what goes around comes around. Manifest Destiny was founded on colonial aggression and racial supremacy and both are seeds of destruction. As for Russia, it is both the East and the West and the Russians should embrace this geographical and ethnic crossroads.

It can be considered also that WWII started with the Spanish Civil War in 1936 as in the Spanish Civil War the weapons and ideas that would be used later by Hitler, Stalin and Churchill were prepared. Spanish conseratives received support both from Germany, Italy and the U.K. (in fact Franco arrived to the Peninsula in a British plane called "Dragon Rapid" and with an English pilot) Germany sent the Condor Legion which used the first modern planes manufactured by Germany, but Mussolini sent thousands of ground troops. The USSR also took part supporting the communists and socialists with weapons and advisors. In WWII it is evident that the main force defeating Nazi Germany was the USSR. Most human loses, and the largest determinant Battle (Stalingrad) were fought in Russian soil. The U.K. and France enjoy, like Russia, a right to veto in the UN Security Council and "legal" nuclear weapons. Curiously, at PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) the GDP of the UK, France and Russia are very similar (around $3 Tr.) At the same time, two nations with larger GDP (Germany and Japan) are still under U.S. military occupation, with restrictions and treated like minor-age nations without full sovereign rights. That´s a consequence of losing WWII. A third nation, Brazil, also has a GDP similar to the UK, France and Russia but decided to sign the NPT (Non Proliferation Treaty) ending with its nuclear weapons program. As a consequence of winning WWII, the U.S., Russia, China, France or the UK can invade other nations and have the right to use nuclear weapons while Germany and Japan only can use their troops to support the American War effort. They cannot act by themselves in defense of their own sovereign interests, but just as American contractors.

To be frank I think that 2WW started from Japanese-Russian border wars - which even Russians don`t seem to remember much.

I watched Butakov's interview. Sorry, I don't endorse his views. It's absurd to say Soviet Union did not occupy any Polish territory. It 's an irrefutable fact that eastern Poland was occupied by the Red Army when war ended. Stalin redrew Poland's borders. Poland was compensated for what she lost in the east at Germany's expense.As result, Silesia now became the part of the newly constituted Polish state.Consequently, many German families living in that place for centuries were uprooted. This cannot happen without the connivance of western allies. But western powers were helpless. As the old adage says to the victors go the spoils and to the losers,the costs.

What a strange young man. The guy is engaging in rewriting history in truly orwellian style. Never mind his silly explanation for Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939 and for the Soviet invasion and annexation of eastern ½ of Poland. The question "When did the WW2 start" is silly 'cause history is not a set of grand events like WW1 or WW2 but a continuous process. One could just as well say that WW2 started in Versailles. But if in Versailles - why not earlier, in 1914 which lead to Versailles? Nobody with a hart in the right place will negate that those who lost the most in WW2 was Europeans themselves, no matter what nationality (Russians, Germans, Poles), and European Civilization. Europe was smashed and with it - its role as a powerhouse in the World.