Replies

The Globe is spinning statistics to create a falisy. The majority of Russians if you read the article do not feel Stalins effect was positive. Futher of those who do many consider that Russia would probably speak german today if not for Stalin in WWII, they still regard Stalin as an evil bastard but regard his somewhat more of his actions as having been positive than negative.

The Globe is spinning a tall tail. I'll take Secretary Rice over them any day:

Statements by Secretary Rice:

"I want to be very clear. It isn't the Soviet Union. You know this place. This Russian Government is not the Soviet Government and sometimes people overstate this to say things have gone all the way back"

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/59375.htm

"This is not the Soviet Union; let's not overstate the case. I was a Soviet specialist. I can tell you that Russia bears almost no resemblance to the Soviet Union."

http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/2006-41-23.cfm

The majority of Russians didn't approve of Stalin before he died either.

They may enjoy the benefit of hindsight today (as well as Stalin's absence), but believe me, they knew he was an evil bastard then also, because they were the one's living (and dying by the millions) w/him.

That doesn't mean he didn't have his adherents then, and it doesn't mean that their descendants are powerless today. They appeal to a very basic Russian cultural character flaw of an odd desire for, and yet resistance against, a dominant centralized power structure. That's a powerful force in a declining nation's fight for national survival.

As to WW2, in large measure they were able to prevail because Stain was perfectly willing to commit 10's of millions of his own people to sacrifice for the good of the "Rodina". The Germans just ran out of bodies for the fight before the Russians did.

However, also if not for Stalin, they might be speaking English today, because they were so crippled after the war we could have easily finished them off. They wouldn't have lasted 2 years against the Germans w/o our Lend/Lease equipment anyway.

Truman simply lacked the will, and Stalin successfully bluffed him at Yalta. None of which matters in the least, because it's all in the past, and at best it's Grad School/Think Tank speculation.

But it is feasible now, just as it was then, for a minority of fanatical hardliners (in this case, Russian, but also applicable in most places) to rule a country using xenophobia, terror, and imprisonment.

And while I absolutely love Ms. Rice, never forget, from their perspective, to them she's just a black woman in a white man's job, and in spite of their historical lip service to the notional equality of Communism, even today Russians are some of the most racist and sexist people on earth.

They may appreciate her ability to speak Russian, and they may even respect her, but they'll never fear her (w/ or w/o us to "back her up"), and that's a very key factor for dealing with them.

BTW, it's fallacy not "falisy.