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Odious Anniversary Sunday

Click to see original imageTo those who remember .. and who cherish freedom Aug. 21 will be a sad anniversary. That was the day in 1968 – 15 years ago when a half million Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invaded the beautiful and peaceful nation of Czechoslovakia and crushed a democratic reform movement which had blossomed that spring. “Truly a Soviet day of shame.” That’s what Sen. Charles H. Percy, Illinois Republican, called the upcoming anniversary in a Senate speech just before the current cgpgressional recess. It was the second time the Russians had intervened in that country since Czechoslovakia came into being after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 near the close of World War I. The Communists seized control of the Czech republic in 1948. In 1960 tl1ey changed the country’s name to the Czechoslovak Social Republic. The Soviet Union’s brutal repression in 1968 of its acquired satellite followed some Czech steps toward democracy made under the leadership of Party Secretary Alexander Dubcek and President Ludvig Svoboda. Only five days before the invasion, Czechoslovakia and Romania had signed a 20-year friendship treaty symbolizing their new independence from Soviet mastery. Czechs fought bravely in the streets and thousands of citizens shouted defiance, but their effort was no match for the tanks, planes and troops of Russia and four satellites. Claiming they were invited to Prague to quell “counter-revolutionary forces,” the Communists rang down the iron curtain with a clang that still echoes across the world. Other such echoes still linger, including: – The bloody repression of the revolution in Hungary in 1956 when the flickering light of liberty inspired Hungarians to fight against overwhelming odds before being crushed by the Russian military might. – The Dec. 24, 1979 Soviet invasion of tiny Afghanistan in violation of the Helsinki accords in 1975. Brave and heroic Afghans are still waging a determined fight against the occupation forces. – Martial law and other measures imposed by the Communists in Poland to crack down on the Solidarity Union’s renewal of democratic principles. The 15th anniversary of the “Soviet day of Shame” in Czechoslovakia should be a reminder not only of these acts of tyranny but of the powerful yearning for freedom by the oppressed. Free nations of the world should apply whatever influence they can in support of liberty and human rights across the world, at the same time reaffirming their own commitment to these principles.