Thursday, November 9, 2017

Stephen F. Cohen — The Unheralded Putin—Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1


Professor Cohen puts to bed the charge that Vladimir Putin is a Stalinist, a crypto-Stalinist, or is trying to rehabilitate Stalin. 

 I would compare the Russian attitudes — there is a wide range of it — to American attitudes and now raging controversies about people formerly regarded as American heroes over their connection with slavery. This is epitomized in the demand to remove stature of Confederate heroes and it is also reflected in the controversy over slave ownership by the founding fathers, including the iconic presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. 

Then there is the controversy over Native American genocide and American heroes that led it or condoned it. President Andrew Jackson stands out but he was not alone.

And not to forget, the US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons.

People that live in glass houses should not throw stones.

The Nation
The Unheralded Putin—Russia’s Official Anti-Stalinist No. 1
Stephen F. Cohen | Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies, History, and Politics at New York University and Princeton University

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