Word: stalinism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...hard to imagine any of Russia's current leaders getting a birthday party like the one thrown Monday at Moscow's Ismailovsky Hotel for the former despot, Josef Stalin. The grand hall was packed beyond capacity with more than 2,000 revelers - some of whom wept as patriotic poems were read. Famous actresses sang ballads with the backing of a full military orchestra. And towering over the stage was an enormous portrait of the birthday boy in his military regalia, adding an element of the surreal to the entire scene...
...What may be more surreal, however, is the resurgent popularity that Stalin is enjoying at the moment in Russia. Just in time for the 130th anniversary of his birth on Dec. 21, the state-run polling agency VTsIOM released a survey showing that despite the millions of Soviet citizens who fell victim to purges, starvation and summary executions under Stalin's regime, 54% of Russians now have a high opinion of his leadership qualities. And when asked about his personal attributes, 50% of respondents said they viewed them as average or above average - up from 45% when the same survey...
...This is no historical accident. The Russian government has been sending clear signals in recent years that Stalin's achievements must be revered - despite the "mistakes," as officials often put it, that were made during his time in power. During Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's annual call-in TV show earlier this month, which included several staged questions aimed at sending the public a message, Putin warned Russians against making any "overall judgment" against Stalin. To prove his point, he cited the forced collectivization of agriculture, a process that historians say caused millions of deaths from starvation in the 1920s...
...despite Kissinger's role in the secret bombing of Cambodia. (Tho rejected his award, the only person to do so, saying there was no peace in his country.) One Nobel Committee member resigned in protest over Yasser Arafat's 1994 win, calling the Palestinian leader a "terrorist." Even Joseph Stalin was nominated twice for his efforts to end World...
...Russia will fall apart. The country is so big and so unwieldy that it seems always on the verge of implosion - like a bolshaya deryevna, or big village, riddled with ethnic fissures and political upheavals, always teetering between calm and chaos. Hence the appeal of the strongman - say, Josef Stalin. Someone to keep everyone else in check...