<story><title>Britain&apos;s &apos;concentration camp&apos; in Russia</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41271418</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vkou</author><text>The involvement of Western powers in the Russian Civil war (Temporary occupation of the Far East, aid to the Whites in the West) was a large contributing factor to the USSR&amp;#x27;s wretched relationship with the West - long after &amp;#x27;Communism in all countries&amp;#x27; was forgotten.&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, backing the losing side in a civil war does not ingratiate you with the winner.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pm90</author><text>There is a reason why the Western powers (especially France) supported the White Russians. The Bolsheviks had indicated the possibility of not paying back foreign loans that were taken out by the Russian Empire (they followed through on that promise and defaulted on all foreign loans; USSR was basically cutoff from the Western Financial system until WW2). France had provided most of these, but the other powers were involved as well. This was probably the most important reason for their opposition: if they let the Bolsheviks get away with not paying loans, not only would their bankers lose a shit ton of money, but what was to stop other foreign powers (possibly communist ones) from doing the same?&lt;p&gt;Most foreign wars have surprisingly banal reasons for taking place...</text></comment>
<story><title>Britain&apos;s &apos;concentration camp&apos; in Russia</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41271418</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vkou</author><text>The involvement of Western powers in the Russian Civil war (Temporary occupation of the Far East, aid to the Whites in the West) was a large contributing factor to the USSR&amp;#x27;s wretched relationship with the West - long after &amp;#x27;Communism in all countries&amp;#x27; was forgotten.&lt;p&gt;As it turns out, backing the losing side in a civil war does not ingratiate you with the winner.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>opo</author><text>Relations between the west and the Soviet Union were more complex than that:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;...The United States government was initially hostile to the Soviet leaders for taking Russia out of World War I and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism. Although the United States embarked on a famine relief program in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s and American businessmen established commercial ties there during the period of the New Economic Policy (1921–29), the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations until 1933. By that time, the totalitarian nature of Joseph Stalin&amp;#x27;s regime presented an insurmountable obstacle to friendly relations with the West.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.loc.gov&amp;#x2F;exhibits&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;sovi.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.loc.gov&amp;#x2F;exhibits&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;sovi.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>