ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union's policies toward its nearest neighbors have been successful to a degree that few appreciate. During World War II, the Soviet Union—along with England, France and the United States—signed the Atlantic Charter, including this vow: "We seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other." From Poland, the Soviet Union seized 181,000 square kilometers and twelve million people; from Finland, the Porkkala naval base, the Karelian Isthmus, the great city of Vyborg, the western shore of Lake Ladoga and the Petsamo area. The Soviet Union took some 684,000 square kilometers of territory with 25 million people, all in defiance of the Atlantic Charter and a mountain of "friendship" and "nonaggression" pacts with those who trusted her neighborliness. While the Soviet Union was subjugating over 13 million square kilometers of territory with over 575 million people, the free world liberated over 6.5 million square kilometers with over 550 million people.
