Posted on 05/17/2013 9:32:56 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
Ilya Bryzgalov is at the centre of controversy after praising socialist icon Joseph Stalin.
In an interview Wednesday with Russian sports website Championat, translated by Yahoo! Sports, the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender said he saw “logic” in former Soviet Union leader Stalin’s actions.
Stalin is one of the most reviled leaders in history and is responsible for the killing of millions of people.
Asked if there were any historical figures he’d like to talk to, Bryzgalov answered Genghis Khan, Stalin and Albert Einstein. Bryzgalov was then asked for his thoughts on Stalin.
“Positive. I see logic in his action,” he said. “Not without going too far, of course. But he came to power in a country that had just lived through a revolution. There were so many spies, enemies, traitors there.
“A lot of people still had guns after the civil war. The country was in ruins, (people) needed to survive somehow. The country needed to be rebuilt, and in order to do that it needed to be held in iron hands. Then WWII began. A lot of people came back from that war with guns as well. There was devastation all around, the country had to be rebuilt, had to be able to defend itself. There were so many criminals.”
Bryzgalov added: “He knew what he was doing. He is described as a ‘bloody tyrant.’ But at the time it couldn’t be any other way. Yes, there were innocent people who were victims of repressions … But it happens.”
Yikes.
Bryzgalov also goes on to talk about Philadelphia ghettos, people who live on welfare, the media and Star Wars.
The article has since been deleted from Championat’s site, but a cached version is still available.
Remains to be seen if he's in Tim Thomas's league as a money goaltender, too.
Ilya Bryzgalov praises Stalin... which now puts him only slightly to the political right of the today’s democrat party.
Wow... the proggies have a propaganda bonanza with this guy, huh?
I think of the Democrats as being more "Trotsky-ite".
The imprisonment of one guy is somehow congruent with the wanton slaughter of 30 million people through execution and starvation?
You would think if he wanted to make his point, he could have at least mentioned the treatment of Indians.
What a NUT CASE!!!
Bump
Thanks! What happened to him? He was great.
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