Russian Lawmakers Seek to Honor Stalin

[5stringJeff]

Oh boy...


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Russian Lawmakers Seek to Honor Stalin
By HENRY MEYER, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - Lawmakers in a western Russian city have called for authorities to rename streets after Josef Stalin and restore memorials to the Soviet dictator to honor his wartime leadership, officials said Thursday.

The move in the city of Oryol, timed to coincide with next month's celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II, reflects a growing trend glorifying Stalin's leadership during the war despite his role in the deaths of millions of people during his rule.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=8&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_re_eu/russia_stalin

 

[Said1]

"It is not a simple issue. Stalin was not really responsible for the repressions. In all official documents the orders are from the NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB), military tribunals. A system of repression existed and functioned by itself," she told Izvestia.

I can see that as an "additional system of repression"....maybe?

 

[Annie]

Oh boy...


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Russian Lawmakers Seek to Honor Stalin
By HENRY MEYER, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW - Lawmakers in a western Russian city have called for authorities to rename streets after Josef Stalin and restore memorials to the Soviet dictator to honor his wartime leadership, officials said Thursday.

The move in the city of Oryol, timed to coincide with next month's celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II, reflects a growing trend glorifying Stalin's leadership during the war despite his role in the deaths of millions of people during his rule.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&e=8&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_re_eu/russia_stalin

I think in either the Europe and/or Asia forums there has been quite a lot posted about the weird stands of Putin in the past few years. There has also been some serious looks by bloggers, scholars and others at what may be happening in that strange country:

http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/digest/041/mcfaul-side.html

The results of Russia’s parliamentary vote on December 7 suggest that the country has entered a new political era. For the first decade of post-communist politics in Russia, the central cleavage was between left and right, communist and anti-communist, or “reformers” and non-reformers. The central issue was the economy and policies to reform it. The vote tally suggests that a third parameter—nationalism—has overtaken these earlier divides and debates.

Of the major Russian political parties, three are rising and three are falling. United Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and Motherland (Rodina) all won more votes in this election than in the last election in 1999. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces all won fewer votes in 2003 than in 1999. The last two—Russia’s liberal, democratic, pro-Western parties—did so poorly that they will not even be represented in the new Duma.

Several factors unite these winners and losers and distinguish them from one another. First, the winners—United Russia, LDPR, and Motherland—are all parties created initially by the state, the LDPR over a decade ago, United Russia (called Unity before) in 1999, and Motherland during this electoral cycle. In contrast, societal actors founded the Communist Party, Yabloko, and the Union of Right Forces. Parties beholden to the state are gaining popular support. Parties independent from the state are losing strength.

Second, the three winners in the election are all loyal to the president. United Russia ran in this election as the party of President Vladimir Putin and is fully subservient to the Kremlin. Neo-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the LDPR leader, and the leaders of Motherland are more colorful personalities than the gray suits leading United Russia, but these two parties will also serve the interests of the president on important issues. In contrast, the three losers are all opposition parties that have never fully succumbed to the president’s will. After December 7, those in open opposition to the Kremlin have become much, much weaker.

Third, to varying degrees, all three winners are nationalist parties. Running on the coattails of President Putin, United Russia leaders and campaign materials called for a strong state and orderly country. United Russia’s major campaign slogan, plastered throughout the country, quoted Putin calling for a “strong and united country.” United Russia’s most frequently played television clip had the party’s leader, Boris Gryzlov, dreaming of a country based on “order” (poryadok) and “fairness” (spravodlivost). As a “former” KGB officer and current minister of the interior, Gryzlov’s own biography underscored these themes. Motherland leader Dmitry Rogozin even more stridently echoed nationalist themes in his campaign appearances, compelling some of his opponents in other parties to publicly use the word “fascist” to describe his ideology. Although this label was perhaps an overstatement, designed to rally liberal voters (a strategy that failed miserably), Rogozin has a long history of casting Russian problems both at home and abroad in ethnic terms. Without state support, his various electoral projects in the 1990s never amounted to much. This time around, however, with the Kremlin providing him and his party with major television coverage and financial resources, he could tap into voter demand for his nationalist message...

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600106176,00.html

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Russia and China — an ominous duo
By Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON — Where are we? At this midpoint of the Bush administration, engaged as we are in conflict throughout the world, are we winning?
The great democratic crusade undertaken by this administration is going far better than most observers will admit. That's the good news. The bad news is a development more troubling than most observers recognize: signs of the emergence, for the first time since the fall of the Soviet empire, of an anti-American bloc anchored by Great Powers...

http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/9076-15.cfm

EVERY FIFTH RUSSIAN HARKS BACK TO COMMUNISM

MOSCOW, March 3. (RIA Novosti)-One in five Russians would like the country to return to the communist system. This is the result of a survey of 1,500 people conducted by ROMIR Monitoring in more than 100 Russian cities and towns, Russky Kuryer reports.

Moreover, 57% of the respondents noted the anti-social nature of reforms, and only 17% supported the government's evolutionary line.

In all, 27% of the residents in the Volga Federal District dream of a return to the Soviet system, 26% in the Siberian district, 22% in the Central district, 21% in the Southern district, 13% in the Northwestern, 12% in the Urals and 8% in the Far East. As a rule, these people are villagers (23%) and those living in towns with a population of up to 100,000 (24%). Four years ago, 25% of Russians advocated socialism, whereas the figure is 21% today.

Sociologists believe the current reform policy mostly suits people living in cities with a population of between 500,000 and 1,000,000. However, they are also becoming less committed to market economics. On December 2002, 30% of the respondents (a record high) advocated social-sector transformations. The number of their supporters then began to decline steadily to 17% this February. ROMIR analysts say this primarily points to popular disappointment...