85th Anniversary of the Mukden Incident

Not a great video, but I wanted to share the eerie wailing of the sirens here this morning. Today marks the 85th anniversary of the Mukden Incident and the Japanese invasion of the Republic of China. World War II may have started later, but the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and Japan's horrific treatment of the people in the territories it occupied both before and after the start of the global conflict are still bitterly remembered here nearly a century later. (And rightly so given the feeble apologies - if they can be called that! - of various Japanese leaders since then.)

Soviet War Memorial

The Soviet War Memorial on Harbin's Hongbo Square to commemorate the members of the Soviet Armed Forces who died in 1945 during the liberation of Manchuria from the Japanese during World War II. From the Russian-language inscription: 'Eternal Glory to the Heroes [Who] Died Fighting for the Freedom and Independence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.'