History is a
battleground, perennially fought over, endlessly contested. Nowhere does this aphorism
hold true more than in Russia. A majority of Russians recently
voted Joseph Stalin the “most
outstanding person” in world history (followed, naturally, by current President
Vladimir Putin). No longer the monster of the gulags and purges that killed millions,
Stalin now looms in the national consciousness as the giant who defeated the
Nazis in World War II. Meanwhile, not only has Russia
annexed Crimea and destabilized Ukraine’s eastern regions, its military
adventurism has also extended to Syria. Putin, who once described
the collapse of the USSR as “the greatest
geopolitical catastrophe” of the twentieth century, looks determined …read more
Source: The New Republic
