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Mikhail Gorbachev has died

(www.reuters.com)
970 points homarp | 1 comments | 30 Aug 22 20:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.215s | source
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nradov ◴[30 Aug 22 21:39 UTC] No.32655496[source]▶
For those unfamiliar with what happened in Lithuania, in 1991 Gorbachev used military force to kill 14 Lithuanian civilians who were demonstrating for democratic reforms.

https://www.rferl.org/a/lithuania-soviet-crackdown-1991-krem...

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pastacacioepepe ◴[30 Aug 22 22:02 UTC] No.32655751[source]▶
> who were demonstrating for democratic reforms.

You seem to comment to better inform readers, yet your comment distorts the truth.

Even the article you linked talks about Lithuania declaring independence from the USSR, not asking for democratic reforms.

Despite what your article says, if you read the story on Wikipedia, Lithuania did in fact unilaterally declare independence from the USSR in March 1990.

Just as an example, check what Spain did in 2017 when Catalonia tried to declare independence after a popular vote. If Catalonians decided to resist, there is no doubt that the Spanish state would have used violence to suppress them. Try to imagine what the USA would do if any of its states tried to declare independence.

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1. qwytw ◴[31 Aug 22 06:39 UTC] No.32659126[source]▶
The majority of Catalonians didn't support independence in 2017, at most only 50% were in favor according to opinion polls. They only won the vote because most people ignored it (barely 43% even turned up…). When the referendum was held in Lithuania 93% voted in favor, in 1990 124 out of 141 MPs in parliament voted for independence (including almost all communist MPs). So I don't think the situations are really comparable that much.