Russian Bronze Statue in Estonia

[Ken White]

Remember most accidents happen within 2 Miles / 3.22 km of home...

[Ron Humphrey]

Remember most accidents happen within 2 Miles / 3.22 km of home...

The whole home...your hat and mobile hat racks probably keeping you on your toes

Glad to hear your home.

[Stan]

Glad to see I was missed

Not quite sure where you two are going with this, but the abuse beats what I tried to pass on the porcelain for the last 3 months

Forget that one !

Regards, Stan

[kaur]

The Russian defense ministry said today that an article which was put on its site a few days ago and which has sparked outrage among some Russian commentators with its suggestion that Poland was to blame for the start of World War II “must not be considered the official point of view of the Ministry of Defense.”
In a statement to journalists, the ministry’s press service said that the article, “Inventions and Falsifications in the Assessment of the Role of the USSR on the Eve and at the Start of World War II” by Col. Sergey Kovalev of the ministry’s Institute of Military History, was only for discussion (http://www.mil.ru/info/1069/details/...shtml?id=63460).

Indeed, Sukhov says, Kovalev’s argument fits in with the pattern of “hysteria” in certain Russian quarters about the removal of the Soviet war memorial from the center of Tallinn, even as Russian companies move similar monuments in Russia itself in order to make “selfish” profits from the real estate beneath them.
And the military writer’s argument also fits with the notion, now enshrined in a Russian history textbook “according to which Joseph Stalin was ‘an effective manager.’” According to Sukhov, texts like Kovalev’s suggest that the time may come when some in Russia will decide to describe Adolf Hitler as “’an effective manager’” too.

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/...distances.html

[kaur]

Russia wheels out the evil weapon of history.

Distorting the facts about the Second World War may well be a prelude to a battle over a land corridor through Poland, writes Simon Heffer.

Published: 4:24PM BST 06 Jun 2009

Russia has been struggling with its idea of itself since the international humiliation of losing its empire nearly 20 years ago. For a time its sudden wealth – thanks to a high oil price and the value of other of its minerals – restored its amour propre.

Then the oil price collapsed, soon after the militarily successful but diplomatically disastrous war with Georgia last year. Once more Russia was poor – with many of its greatest businessmen broke – and an international pariah. So now history, that much-abused weapon, is brought out of the armoury.

To the rest of the world, the Stalin era is one of shame for Russia. The country is seeking to change this. The cynical pact with the Nazis, concluded between Molotov and Ribbentrop a little more than a week before the outbreak of war, is now defended as an essential prelude to the defence against the "inevitable" attack by Hitler. It enabled Russia to occupy half of Poland and the Baltic States.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/c...f-history.html

Magistra vitae?
May 28th 2009

The fine line between disagreement and propaganda

FORGET gas, nukes or Iran. The deep divide between Russia and its western neighbours is about history. President Dmitry Medvedev has set up a commission to look at “falsifications of history that damage Russia’s interests” (he should use a comma: this phrasing implies that other falsifications promote Russia’s interests). A draft law in the Duma would criminalise equating Stalin and Hitler, or denying that the Red Army “liberated” eastern Europe from fascism. Whether out of cynicism or nostalgia, Russia’s rulers have resurrected the Soviet view of history, itself a product of the Stalin era. For the countries of central and eastern Europe, this is not just obnoxious, but threatening.

Similarly, different forms of collaboration during the war deserve more study. Should, for example, the émigré Cossack leaders such as Pyotr Krasnov who fought on Hitler’s side be counted in the same category as the Russian Liberation Army of General Andrei Vlasov, formed by captured Soviet soldiers? Tens of thousands of Russians fought alongside the Nazis, with mixed motives: deluded, desperate and despicable. How might they be compared with the Estonians and Latvians who fought the Soviet advance in 1944? It is easy to paint the past in simple brushstrokes of evil black and brilliant white. But adding carefully chosen shades of grey creates a more informative picture.

Sadly, Russia is not looking for such nuances. Indeed, it is demanding that other countries abandon complexity and fit their history into the Soviet straitjacket. This may resonate inside Russia but it rings the wrong bells abroad, particularly as grim anniversaries approach: the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the Soviet attack on Poland, the annexation of the Baltic states and Western Ukraine, and the massacre of captured Polish officers at Katyn.

http://www.economist.com/world/europ...ry_id=13726216

[Stan]

A quick video on the Baltic Way (human Chain).

Twenty years ago, the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were firmly part of the Soviet Union.

But many people were calling for greater independence from Moscow.

One high profile protest against Soviet rule was the human chain across all three nations on 24 August 1989, when millions of people joined hands.

Brian Hanrahan reported from Estonia during the late 1980s for the BBC, and has returned to see the legacy of the revolution.

[kaur]

During last week in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) there were destroyed Russian church and war memorial. No reaction from Russian side.

Here are articles in Russian.

http://www.newsru.com/world/22nov2009/jh.html

http://www.vremya.ru/2009/216/5/242370.html

[Stan]

Great articles, Kaur ! But keep in mind that only 5.5 percent of the 28 million are Russian (well, so they think they are), which doesn't leave much room to bitch or be acknowledged. We could be so lucky

If I remember correctly, the Uzbek government was already tearing down glorified Soviet memorabilia as early as 1890 something. Much like Estonia, Tashkent desired to take control over her own destiny. Who would want to be remembered as being part of the Soviet empire with a bunch of churches and bronze statues ?

Did you catch the Russian paper Pravda's journalist who comment something to the effect of "better to show respect to NATO who are protecting the world and the harvest of opium poppies"

Much like Estonia's President, Russia can't afford to piss off President Karimov (he does not play well with others (Russians))

The DOS has some interesting points regarding religion and Uzbekistan. A bit of a long and boring read though !

Regards, Stan

During last week in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) there were destroyed Russian church and war memorial. No reaction from Russian side.

Here are articles in Russian.

http://www.newsru.com/world/22nov2009/jh.html

http://www.vremya.ru/2009/216/5/242370.html

[Stan]

Oops, forgot the English speaking community with my last post

The demolition of monuments might be another proof of Uzbekistan turning its face to the West. Pravda.ru interviewed Andrei Grozin, Head of the Department of Central Asia and Kazakhstan at the Institute for CIS countries to find out.

“The actions of the Uzbek officials look like a challenge. Yet, if we were to analyze their behavior since the collapse of the USSR, we would have observed nothing strange. Tashkent was initially determined to eliminate everything linked to the Soviet past.

[kaur]

1 neostalinist Russian site has produced their own database of resistance vicitims. Paul Goble takes a look from different angle.

Many Russians who visit this site may learn for the first time just how strong was the resistance to Stalin’s imposition or re-imposition of Soviet power in the Western borderlands of the USSR and the occupied Baltic countries, something that will do little to promote positive attitudes among them to the peoples of these now independent countries.

At the same time, many of the peoples in these countries will be able to use this site to learn more about the national resistance in their past than many of them have up to now, a knowledge that will also affect how they view the Soviet system and those who continue to apologize for some of its worst periods and personalities.

http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/...-web-site.html

[kaur]

The Worst of the Madness

November 11, 2010
Anne Applebaum

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
by Timothy Snyder
Basic Books, 524 pages, $29.95

Stalin’s Genocides
by Norman M. Naimark
Princeton University Press, 163 pp., $26.95

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/arch...gination=false