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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 10:56 pm Post subject: Stalin Casts Shadow Over V-E Remembrance |
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Stalin Casts Shadow Over V-E Remembrance
By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 8, 6:17 PM ET
MOSCOW - One poster stands out among the billboards splashed across Moscow for celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany: Josef Stalin against the backdrop of a Red Army soldier raising the Soviet hammer-and-sickle over the Reichstag in Berlin.
Stalin always has been a contradictory figure in Russia, seen as either the powerful boss who led the country to victory over the Nazis and made it a 20th century industrial giant or the tyrant responsible for killing millions of his own people.
Under President Vladimir Putin, he appears to be making a comeback, with monuments in the works and criticism muted.
After waves of denouncements following Stalin's death in 1953 and as Soviets learned in the 1980s the full extent of his crimes, the Kremlin has been quiet about Stalin in recent years.
Putin rarely has harsh words for him. In a rare critical statement, Putin told Germany's Bild newspaper on Thursday that Stalin was a tyrant, but added that he should not be compared to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
"I can't understand you equating Stalin and Hitler. It goes without saying that Stalin was a tyrant, whom many call a criminal. But he wasn't a Nazi," Putin said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/stalin_s_comeback |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 2:15 am Post subject: |
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"I can't understand you equating Stalin and Hitler. It goes without saying that Stalin was a tyrant, whom many call a criminal. But he wasn't a Nazi," Putin said.
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Old Vlad is probably thinking that Hitler's racist ideology, which called for the subjugation and possibly the eventual extermination of Slavs, made the prospect of a Nazi-ruled Russia somewhat more sisnister than that of a Communist-ruled one. |
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funplanet
Joined: 20 Jun 2003 Location: The new Bucheon!
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 5:26 am Post subject: |
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Nazism...Communism are just labels.....not much difference in their racist policies.
They were both EVIL |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: University of Western Chile
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, whatever. I'm just glad we weren't fighting Denmark. |
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Konundrum
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Boston
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 5:07 am Post subject: |
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At least Stalin wasn't racist....he hated everybody. |
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igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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funplanet wrote: |
Nazism...Communism are just labels.....not much difference in their racist policies. They were both EVIL |
I'd agree. At the root tyranny, no matter what alleged political stripe, has the same destructive / oppressive nature.
The phony left / right thing is largely perpetuated by cunning Hegelian despots; global puppeteers exploiting ideology in an effort to further entrench total political gain & confusion / division amongst the ignorant masses.
Hypnotic labels. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 1:14 am Post subject: |
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maybe Putin is trying to cozy up to the old guard in Russia as well as letting China know that old ties remain strong. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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In the specific context of the 60th anniversary, Russians still see Stalin as being the central figure in defeating Nazis from within Soviet borders in World War 2. Therefore they celebrate this day.
In my view, Putin's position on Stalin and the Red Army is contradictory.
On the one hand he disdains communists, yet he retains all of the powerful authoritarian reflexes that existed in the old system. |
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