coisty:
“If it weren’t for Stalin South Ossetia would never have been Georgian territory in the first place. If it weren’t for the Ukrainian Krushchev Crimea (with a Russian majority) would not be in Ukraine.”
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Your comment makes some very good points, but I think Georgia’s borders were established long before the Soviet period. I’d like to see this historical point clarified.

I think some commentators here are making too big of a deal about Stalin’s role. Just because borders were defined during Stalin’s rule does not mean that the decisions were arbitrary, unreasonable or unjust or that Stalin personally had anything at all to do with the decisions.

As coisty points out so aptly, it is ironic that that so many people who roundly criticize Soviet nationality policies as arbitrary, perverse and wicked are now treating all the borders established by the Soviet Union as inerrantly wise and eternally sacred.