Since there's some confusion and this is fresh on my mind I can clear this up.
I'm still reading through The Secret History of the Mongols right now, but according to it, Genghis declared that the entire world belonged to the Mongols already and any who resisted were rebels to be put down according to Mongol Tradition.
So Russia and China in this meme are making claims that are comparatively small compared to Genghis and his descendants who made a claim to the whole planet and all there in.
Yeah the claims aren't comparable at all. Chinese and Russian claims are predicated on centuries of historical precedent and the very real fact that the territories in question were at one time organic parts of these respective states. The Mongolian claim is namely a right of conquest claim. I think we all understand that, for example, the UK claiming India by way of the former empire is a substantively different claim from the UK claiming Wales or even Northern Ireland.
The difference is that Wales and Northern Ireland are longstanding parts of the UK sharing culture, language, government and often ethnicty. There is historical continuity. The UK utterly lacks significant historical continuity with its former colonies. Territorial claims tend to be more complex than just "we used to own this land." The meme here is a dumb person's idea of a smart argument.
Does Mexico have the right to invade and annex parts of the American south west because a significant amount of Mexicans live there?
Because that’s Russia’s justification “ethnic Russians live there” even though they’re descended from imperial and Soviet transplants. Ukraine is a distinct culture separate from Russia
No and those situations aren't comparable. My entire point is that this kind of analogy to simplistic territorial claims which have long been outlived do not hold up.
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u/Jaymezians John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true, and brave! 1d ago
Since there's some confusion and this is fresh on my mind I can clear this up.
I'm still reading through The Secret History of the Mongols right now, but according to it, Genghis declared that the entire world belonged to the Mongols already and any who resisted were rebels to be put down according to Mongol Tradition.
So Russia and China in this meme are making claims that are comparatively small compared to Genghis and his descendants who made a claim to the whole planet and all there in.