Should borders automatically revert back to pre-war status following conflicts? Is annexing territory to counter aggression politically acceptable? Must both sides agree?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w … 865970.ece
It was in accord with earlier agreements between Allied powers and one of the conditions of the USSR to enter in war with Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuril_Islands_dispute
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w … 865970.ece
It was in accord with earlier agreements between Allied powers and one of the conditions of the USSR to enter in war with Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_PactThe Kuril Island dispute is a dispute between Japan and Russia over sovereignty over the southernmost Kuril Islands. The disputed islands are currently under Russian administration as part of the Sakhalin Oblast, but are also claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern Territories (北方領土 Hoppō Ryōdo) or Southern Chishima (南千島 Minami Chishima).
On July 7, 2005, the European Parliament issued an official statement recommending the return of the territories in dispute[1], to which Russia protested immediately.
As of 2006, Russia's Putin administration has offered Japan the return of Shikotan and the Habomais (about 6% of the disputed area) if Japan renounce its claims to the other two islands. The Soviet-Japanese joint declaration of 1956 signed by the USSR and Japan promised at least Shikotan and the Habomais to be returned to Japan before a peace agreement could be made.
On 16 August 2006, a Russian border patrol boat found a Japanese vessel fishing near the disputed islands. The Japanese vessel allegedly defied several orders to stop, and made dangerous maneuvers. A Russian patrol opened preventive fire on the Japanese vessel to stop it. A Japanese 35-year-old crab fisherman, Mitsuhiro Morita,[2] was wounded in the head unintentionally (according to Russian sources) and died later. It was the first fatality related to this dispute in 50 years.[3] Nevertheless, the diplomatic fallout from this incident was minimal.[4]
As of late, Russia's economic boom has spread to the Kurils, leading islanders to turn their backs on Tokyo's trump card of financial aid in a deadlocked territorial row.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-Am … c_of_TexasThe Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, named after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, refers to the officially-titled Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, signed in Moscow in the early hours of August 24, 1939, dated August 23. The Pact is known by a number of different titles. These include the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Hitler-Stalin Pact and German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact. It remained in effect until Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 in Operation Barbarossa.
In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol dividing the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania into spheres of Nazi and Soviet influence, anticipating "territorial and political rearrangements" of these countries' territories. All were subsequently invaded, occupied, or forced to cede territory by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, or both.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_war
Mexico lost more than 500,000 square miles (about 1,300,000 km²) of land, about 40% of its territory. The annexed territories contained about 1,000 Mexican families in Alta California and 7,000 in Nuevo México.[citation needed] A few relocated further south in Mexico; the great majority remained in the United States. Descendants of these Mexican families have risen to prominence in American life, such as U.S. Senator Ken Salazar, and his brother, U.S. Rep. John Salazar, both from Colorado.
General Grant's views about the War:"Generally, the officers of the army were indifferent whether the annexation was consummated or not; but not so all of them. For myself, I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory.
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