The New York Times believes they think and speak for all of us or how we should think. Not me. I am too much of a history buff and have read of what the Soviet regime was like under Lenin and Stalin. It cannot be swept under the rug as soft socialism and romantic.

Here is one article about what the Blood Red Century was really like.

Tags: Russia, Stalin

I've posted several blogs about Stalin, a thoroughly evil man. He was short though still taller than me. Maybe he had small man's syndrome. Nope, he was a megalomaniac without that I believe. He did try to hide his small stature and look larger in photos than he was in real life. Check it out.

Tags: Stalin, World War II

I have pointed out in other blogs about Robert Conquest and the books he wrote that so thoroughly captured the history of Stalin's rule and damage to the people living under the Soviet Union. Another tribute to a man who brought history to life and did a good thing while doing so.

Tags: Stalin

Anne Applebaum who is a compelling writer reviews the first volume of three planned books of an extensive biography of Stalin. The premise here is not that he was crazy or devious but rose to the top of this group because he was smart and ambitious. It pays to understand Stalin because many still wish he was in charge of Russia and admire what he achieved. There also could be more like him out there in the future. Know thy enemy. Read about it here.

Tags: World War II, Stalin

Jonah Goldberg has written a number of articles and a book about the twin political beliefs, fascism and communism. In this article, he gives the argument again that a political theories, they are not opposites as many portray them. They are actually closely related with different economic arms to that particular political philosophy. I agree with his take on it though I am sure there would be plenty of heavy debate on that statement. His article can be found here. The current situation occurring between Russia, the Ukraine, and the Crimea demonstrates quite nicely how this operates in real time.

Tags: History, Europe, Hitler, Stalin

I have written previously about a very good history professor and author, Timothy Snyder. He is a professor at Yale University and has considerable expertise on the Eastern European sphere of World War II. He currently has an article about how we should view the acts of Hitler versus Stalin. Who might be worse? Are the shear numbers of people killed more horrendous than the way they were killed? Did the killings overlap in some countries and could be attributed in some manner to both men? Even out of these numbers, even the difference of one is a human soul that should be mourned. It takes a lot of “ones” to add up to the millions lost. Snyder claims that the numbers attributed to Stalin may be less than surmised since more came back from the Gulag alive than previously reported. Yet, the numbers lost before the war were great and often not considered to the level of casualties during the war. Please read his work here.

Tags: World War II, Europe, Hitler, Stalin

In the Ukraine, they refer to it as the Holodomor. It refers to the time in the 1930s when Stalin decided to bring the Ukraine to heal under the Soviet yoke by starving much of the population. I have mentioned this in previous blogs when talking about the books Bloodlands and Savage Continent. Millions of people were starved, often to death, to achieve a better system overall for the Soviet totalitarian regime. Do we possibly have a milder form of that going on now with “We know what health care system is better for you than the horrible plan you had and didn’t know it” routine we hear on TV lately about Obamacare. A discussion about the Holodomor is found here.

Tags: Stalin, World War II, Soviet Union