Monday, February 16, 2009

Re: The Russians still love Stalin

This morning I received the following in response to my note, “The Russians Still love Stalin – Sharansky believes in a myth” http://www.lawrencehelm.com/2008/12/russians-still-love-stalin-sharansky.html :

“Very well said, Mr Helm!

The Russians do not want to follow the American example. We have been going our own way.

I can only add that the present-day rabid russophobia, that has been so overtly promoted by the mainstream Western mass media, ironically, redounds greatly to the Stalin's cause advantage.

We understand FREEDOM differently than the Westerners.

Regards!

Michael Kuznetsov
http://www.russian-victories.ru/russians.htm

COMMENT:

I read the material on Michael Kuznetsov’s web site with great interest and think it a valuable representation of the Russians who do still love Stalin. I found it refreshing that Mr. Kuznetsov does not represent a Leftist Anti-War position. Russia is proudly warlike and can, according to him, whip any nation that invades it, and I believe that is true. I don’t agree with his assessment that American foreign policy is bent upon surrounding Russia. I believe our attentions are elsewhere and we are leaving it up to Western Europe to deal with their Russian neighbor. Yes, we have provided support to some of the former SSRs but that is more from an egalitarian desire to draw “non-functioning” nations into the “functional core” of economic stability – although this is a bad time to be talking about economic stability. I certainly don’t believe that American foreign policy is headed toward a nuclear war with Russia.

Mr. Kuznetsov says that America doesn’t really know what war is. I take him to mean that since we haven’t been invaded by a foreign nation we can’t understand war from that perspective, and that is true. But I’m not convinced that it is a bad thing to have been so deprived.

Mr. Kuznetsov wrote,

Frequently, I have been asked:
"If the topic of your website is being the examination of Russian ethnic peculiarities, then why do you dedicate so much of space to the Great Patriotic War?"
My answer is:
This is because all of the main fundamental features of any nation's character, both strong and weak, would manifest themselves most evidently just during the hectic times of overcoming a deadly danger and inconceivable sufferings.
Simply put, the WAR is always the Moment of Truth for any nation – a real, yet horrible chance to prove its own worthiness in the world.”

I agree with that. Our own Civil War was a defining event for us. Hitler dismissed the U.S. as a fighting force because we were a “mongrel” people, but Churchill said that he had studied our Civil War and knew we would stand.”

I personally feel no “russophobia” as Mr. Kuznetsov puts it. I have long admired the classic Russian novelists. The Brothers Karamazov is probably my favorite novel. I’ve read it 4 or 5 times and Crime and Punishment and Tolstoy’s War and Peace probably 3 times each. In fact I’ve read quite a lot of Russian literature, in translation of course. The Sholokov series beginning with And Quietly Flows the Don comes to mind. I recall that back in the early 60s I got into an argument with a Russian expatriate who always had the white powder for an antacid on his lips. I told him I had read Russian literature and didn’t believe the Russian people were as aggressive as they were being portrayed. They would never risk having their nation damaged by nuclear weapons. Yes Khruschev pretended to be willing to cross over the brink, but that was only because he felt Kennedy could be pushed.

I don’t feel ambitious enough to take up all the points Mr. Kuznetsov has raised. I mention him here because he commented on one of my notes, and when I read his web site I saw that he represented the point of view I referred to. So I present him here as reference only.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Helm:

Thank you very much for your comments, which I believe to be rather favourable toward my web site.

It's a pleasure to encounter so wise and experienced person like you.

One question, though: Do your words "I read your web site" mean that you have not seen the pictures thereupon?

I am asking because I heard that some people would disable their internet browser function which shows pictures, and thus they can read the text only.

I must admit also that I feel rather intrigued with this phrase of yours:
"I mention him here because he commented on one of my notes, and when I read his web site I saw that he represented the point of view I referred to."
What exactly did you mean, please?

In case if you may be interested in another web site of mine, here its URL:
http://www.great-victory1945.ru

Warmest regards from Russia!

Michael

Lawrence Helm said...

Michael:

See my new comments at http://www.lawrencehelm.com/2009/02/re-russians-still-love-stalin-sharansky.html

Lawrence