Role of Russia

[Siberia]

I would repeat my examples here - two Great Russian leaders, that were belied after their's death - Tzar Ivan Grozny and Stalin. Taking more recent example - Joseph did so much for the majority of the ordinary people, that despite of violent propaganda campaign (started straight away after his death in 1953 by "follower" Khryshev) vigorously continuing today with approval of VVP, has not been able to change yet Stalin's positive perception in the eyes of more than 50% of Russians (people still know where the lie and truth is).

My grandmother was one of seven children. Her family lived near the river Kama, European part of Russia. They were a family of ordinary peasants, hard workers. But they had two cows to feed their large family. According to the law adopted by Joseph Stalin, those who had two cows were considered 'kulaks' - rich peasant-exploiters. And because they had two cows to feed their nine-member family, they were deprived of everything (thier small house, a plot of land and two cows) and sent to Siberia - to die of cold and hunger.

My ancestors from my mother side were an ethnic minority in Siberia after emigrating there in the 19th century. They witnessed first hand Stalin's policies. Leaders were killed, practice of shamanism was prohibited, schools were closed down, radio channels were closed, ethnic cultural activities were forbidden and ethnic books were burned down. They contributed a lot to Siberia, nevertheless they were deported like animals in the trans-Siberian to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. They were left in the middle of nowhere in winter time, so there was less or no chances of escaping through the borders. Many people died and some whom survived, did so due to the hospitality of nomadic tribes in the Middle East.

It is so amazing that you mentioned it, Gaby. Not many people know about it nowadays actually, even in Russia: only the ethnic minorities mostly.

But this is absolutely true. I will try to explain in more detail. Stalin promoted and developed classic academic education. He developed science because without science he wouldn't be able to create a powerful industrial empire, to begin with. He built many universities and libraries thoughout the USSR.

But there was a strictly taboo knowledge in the Soviet Union: esoteric books and practices. People were hiding their precious ancient books in their cellars or elsewhere, and if those books were found during the regular raids from the government, the owners of those books had serious problems and the books were either taken away or burnt.

My grandmother told me about those books: they were absolutely astonishing in their content and essence. They called them shamanic/pagan Bibles. Those books, among other things, contained prophecies of today's events and inventions, for example. Shamanic/pagan culture and knowledge were very deeply rooted in Siberia, and Stalin did his best to destroy them, to erase this knowledge from the people's memory.

Some of this knowledge survived and is now recovering.

 

[anothermagyar]

I would repeat my examples here - two Great Russian leaders, that were belied after their's death - Tzar Ivan Grozny and Stalin. Taking more recent example - Joseph did so much for the majority of the ordinary people, that despite of violent propaganda campaign (started straight away after his death in 1953 by "follower" Khryshev) vigorously continuing today with approval of VVP, has not been able to change yet Stalin's positive perception in the eyes of more than 50% of Russians (people still know where the lie and truth is).

My grandmother was one of seven children. Her family lived near the river Kama, European part of Russia. They were a family of ordinary peasants, hard workers. But they had two cows to feed their large family. According to the law adopted by Joseph Stalin, those who had two cows were considered 'kulaks' - rich peasant-exploiters. And because they had two cows to feed their nine-member family, they were deprived of everything (thier small house, a plot of land and two cows) and sent to Siberia - to die of cold and hunger.

My ancestors from my mother side were an ethnic minority in Siberia after emigrating there in the 19th century. They witnessed first hand Stalin's policies. Leaders were killed, practice of shamanism was prohibited, schools were closed down, radio channels were closed, ethnic cultural activities were forbidden and ethnic books were burned down. They contributed a lot to Siberia, nevertheless they were deported like animals in the trans-Siberian to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. They were left in the middle of nowhere in winter time, so there was less or no chances of escaping through the borders. Many people died and some whom survived, did so due to the hospitality of nomadic tribes in the Middle East.

Time went by and people got adapted and incorporated to the Soviet Union back then. It was a hardship after another. Just this last weekend I had the opportunity to talk in Russian with an Armenian couple who were part of the USSR. Although they were not particularly proud or identified with the suffering and hardships gone through the years, they did highlighted that it was actually Russia who had something to say and teach about morals to the world at large today. It was a very interesting talk.

FWIW.

Thank you to share Siberia and Gaby! :)
I think you guys talking about the Gulag.
Stalin created it, it was set up as prison camp, mostly in Siberia.

[quote author=Wikipedia]The Gulag (Russian: ГУЛАГ, tr. GULAG; IPA: [ɡʊˈlak] ( listen)) was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, from the 1930s until the 1950s.[1] While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of extrajudicial punishment. The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union, based on Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code). The term is also sometimes used to describe the camps themselves.

"GULAG" was the acronym for Гла́вное управле́ние лагере́й (Glavnoye upravleniye lagerey), the "Main Camp Administration". It was the short form of the official name Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й и коло́ний (Glavnoye upravleniye ispravityelno-trudovykh lagerey i koloniy), the "Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Labor Settlements". It was administered first by the GPU, later by the NKVD and in the final years by the MVD, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. While the first corrective labour camps after the revolution were established in 1918 after the attempted assassination of Lenin, and the internment system was rapidly growing. The Gulag was formally and legally created and recognized much later, on April 25, 1930, and formally dissolved on January 13, 1960.[2][3] Several Soviet dissidents wrote about the continuation of the Gulag even after it was officially closed. Among them, Anatoli Marchenko (1938-1986), who actually died in the Gulag, demonstrated in his writings that the Soviet gulag had not ended with Joseph Stalin.[4] Similar testimonies came from Soviet dissidents Vladimir Bukovsky, Yuri Orlov, Nathan Shcharansky, all of them released from the Gulag and given permission to emigrate in the West, after years of international pressure on Soviet authorities.[/quote]

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag

So you know Anthony, I don't think Stalin was such a great leader.
Stalin was a characteropath, he developed brain damage in his childhood, due to brain legions.
There is a great book by ANDREW M. LOBACZEWSKI, Political Ponerology, you would benefit greatly to read it, if you care.
I know I did, thanks to Laura.
http://www.ponerology.com/

Here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Political-Ponerology-Science-Adjusted-Purposes-ebook/dp/B009EGBZ64/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416250684&sr=1-1&keywords=political+ponerology

 

[Siberia]

Thank you to share Siberia and Gaby! :)
I think you guys talking about the Gulag.
Stalin created it, it was set up as prison camp, mostly in Siberia.

Thanks for your comment Emma, but Gulag is a separate subject. I was speaking of collectivization, you may wish to read some more about it too:

Collectivization in the Soviet Union was enforced under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms: mainly kolkhozy and sovkhozy. The Soviet leadership was confident that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for urban population, the supply of raw materials for processing industry, and agricultural exports. Collectivization was thus regarded as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed since 1927. This problem became more acute as the Soviet Union pressed ahead with its ambitious industrialization program.

In the early 1930s over 91% of agricultural land was "collectivized" as rural households entered collective farms with their land, livestock, and other assets. The sweeping collectivization often involved tremendous human and social costs.

[...]

Since the second half of the 19th century, Siberia had been a major agricultural region within Russia, espеcially its southern territories (nowadays Altai Krai, Omsk Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Kemerovo Oblast, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast). Stolypin's program of resettlement granted a lot of land for immigrants from elsewhere in the empire, creating a large portion of well-off peasants and stimulating rapid agricultural development in 1910s. Local merchants exported large quantities of labeled grain, flour and butter into central Russia and Western Europe.

In May 1931, a special resolution of the Western-Siberian Regional Executive Committee (classified "top secret") ordered the expropriation of property and the deportation of 40,000 kulaks to "sparsely populated and unpopulated" areas in Tomsk Oblast in the northern part of the Western-Siberian region.

 

[Renaissance]

Thanks for your comment Emma, but Gulag is a separate subject. I was speaking of collectivization, you may wish to read some more about it too:

Collectivization in the Soviet Union was enforced under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms: mainly kolkhozy and sovkhozy. The Soviet leadership was confident that the replacement of individual peasant farms by collective ones would immediately increase the food supply for urban population, the supply of raw materials for processing industry, and agricultural exports. Collectivization was thus regarded as the solution to the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed since 1927. This problem became more acute as the Soviet Union pressed ahead with its ambitious industrialization program.

It's really unfortunate that collectivization was implemented in this way, i.e. ponerization of sharing resources. Seems a significant distortion of tribal living, which humanity could really benefit from.

 

[Siberia]

It's really unfortunate that collectivization was implemented in this way, i.e. ponerization of sharing resources. Seems a significant distortion of tribal living, which humanity could really benefit from.

Yes, Renaissance, the idea in itself was not bad, it was its implementation that was disastrous: when peasants were actually deprived of everything, even their basic necessities like warm shoes, clothes, etc. And they had to work very hard at collective farms to feed the urban areas, while dying of hunger and cold themselves. If it was implemented in a more humane way, people would probably understand.

 

[Altair]

Just to give you an idea who was really behind collectivization, Holodomor and other mass murders of Christians in the Soviet Union (From The Controversy of Zion by Douglas Reed):

The simultaneous triumphs of Bolshevism in Moscow and Zionism in London in the same week of
1917 were only in appearance distinct events, The identity of their original source has been shown in an
earlier chapter, and the hidden men who promoted Zionism through the Western governments also
supported the world-revolution. The two forces fulfilled correlative tenets of the ancient Law: "Pull down
and destroy . . . rule over all nations"; the one destroyed in the East and the other secretly ruled in the West.

The controlling group that
emerged in 1917 was so preponderantly Jewish that it may be called Jewish. The nature of the instigating
force then became a matter of historical fact, not of further polemical debate. It was further identified by its
deeds: the character of its earliest enactments, a symbolic mockery of Christianity, and a special mark of
authorship deliberately given to the murder of the monarch. All these bore the traits of a Talmudic
vengeance.

The British Government's White Paper of 1919 (Russia, No. 1, a
Collection of Reports on Bolshevism) quoted the report sent to Mr. Balfour in London in 1918 by the
Netherlands Minister at Saint Petersburg, M. Oudendyke: "Bolshevism is organized and worked by Jews, who
have no nationality and whose one object is to destroy for their own ends the existing order of things". The
United States Ambassador, Mr. David R. Francis, reported similarly: "The Bolshevik leaders here, most of
whom are Jews and 90 percent of whom are returned exiles, care little for Russia or any other country but are
internationalists and they are trying. to start a worldwide social revolution".

This was Mr. Robert Wilton, correspondent of the London Times, who experienced the Bolshevik
revolution. The French edition of his book included the official Bolshevik lists of the membership of the ruling
revolutionary bodies (they were omitted from the English edition).

These records show that the Central Committee of the Bolshevik party, which wielded the supreme
power, contained 3 Russians(including Lenin) and 9 Jews. The next body in importance, the Central
Committee of the Executive Commission (or secret police) comprized 42 Jews and 19 Russians, Letts,
Georgians and others. The Council of People's Commissars consisted of 17 Jews and five others. The
Moscow Che-ka (secret police) was formed of 23 Jews and 13 others. Among the names of 556 high officials
of the Bolshevik state officially published in 1918-1919, were 458 Jews and 108 others. Among the central
committees of small, supposedly "Socialist" or other non-Communist parties (during that early period the
semblance of "opposition" was permitted, to beguile the masses, accustomed under the Czar to opposition
parties) were 55 Jews and 6 others. All the names are given in the original documents reproduced by Mr.
Wilton.

I'm not sure about the role of Stalin. Is it possible that he was just a puppet in the hands of his zionistic advisers as Woodrow Wilson was a puppet of the Zionist Edward Mandell House?

 

[Siberia]

Just to give you an idea who was really behind collectivization, Holodomor and other mass murders of Christians in the Soviet Union (From The Controversy of Zion by Douglas Reed):
[...]
I'm not sure about the role of Stalin. Is it possible that he was just a puppet in the hands of his zionistic advisers as Woodrow Wilson was a puppet of the Zionist Edward Mandell House?

It is true about the roots of Bolshevism: the revolution of 1917 was engineered by the Anglo-Zionists, of course. Lenin was thier proxy. But as for Stalin, things are much more complicated. Stalin was a powerful dictator who managed not only to defeat Hitler, but also to create a huge and strong sovereign empire.

As for Zionists, it seems that he was mostly acting in the interests of the USSR when dealing with them. Here is one of his famous quotes in this regard:

Let's agree to the creation of Israel. This will become pain in the a** for the Arab states and will force them to turn their back on Britain.

I think he pretty much realized who he was dealing with, here is another of his famous quotes:

You are blind kittens. When I die, the country will die too. Because you don't know who your enemies are.

Stalin was a complex character. Very smart and experienced, he knew nothing about empathy at the same time: his major infrastructure projects aimed at strenghtening the country's economy and defence were often implemented in an absolutely relentless manner, like in the case of collectivization, for example. fwiw

 

[Antony]

Here is a good interview with Stalin taken by H.Wells in 1934 (in English)
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/h-g-wells-it-seems-me-i-am-more-left-you-mr-stalin.

Siberia,
it is very difficult to judge from a distance if he had empathy or not. There are on the net/books first hand memories of people who interplayed during their life with Stalin (for eg. Marshal Rokosovsky, being falsely charged of being a spy, sacked during high officers "cleansing" and put in jail in 1937, was released in 1940 - personally met by Stalin with a huge bouquet of white roses. Few knew that during these years Stalin gave money to his family from his own wage). These may well put a question mark on your thesis.

 

[Laura]

Here is a good interview with Stalin taken by H.Wells in 1934 (in English)
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/h-g-wells-it-seems-me-i-am-more-left-you-mr-stalin.

Siberia,
it is very difficult to judge from a distance if he had empathy or not. There are on the net/books first hand memories of people who interplayed during their life with Stalin (for eg. Marshal Rokosovsky, being falsely charged of being a spy, sacked during high officers "cleansing" and put in jail in 1937, was released in 1940 - personally met by Stalin with a huge bouquet of white roses. Few knew that during these years Stalin gave money to his family from his own wage). These may well put a question mark on your thesis.

Frontal characteropathy: The frontal areas of the cerebral cortex (10A and B acc. to the Brodmann division) are virtually present in no creature except man; they are composed of the phylogenetically youngest nervous tissue. Their cyto-architecture is similar to the much older visual projection areas on the opposite pole of the brain. This suggests some functional similarity. The author has found a relatively easy way to test this psychological function, which enables us to grasp a certain number of imaginary elements in our field of consciousness and subject them to internal contemplation. The capacity of this act of internal projection varies greatly from one person to another, manifesting a statistical correlation with similar variegation in the anatomical extent of such areas. The correlation between this capacity and general intelligence is much lower. As described by researchers (Luria et al.), the functions of these areas, thought-process acceleration and coordination, seem to result from this basic function.

{In the past} damage to this area occurred rather frequently: at or near birth, especially for premature infants, and later in life as a result of various causes. The number of such perinatal brain tissue lesions has been significantly reduced due to improved medical care for pregnant women and newborns. The spectacular ponerogenic role which results from character disorders caused by this can thus be considered somewhat characteristic of past generations and primitive cultures.

Brain cortex damage in these areas selectively impairs the above mentioned function without impairing memory, associative capacity, or, in particular, such instinct-based feelings and functions as, for instance, the ability to intuit a psychological situation. The general intelligence of an individual is thus not greatly reduced. Children with such a defect are almost normal students; difficulties emerge suddenly in upper grades and affect principally these parts of the curriculum which place burden on the above function.

The pathological character of such people, generally containing a component of hysteria, develops through the years. The non-damaged psychological functions become overdeveloped to compensate, which means that instinctive and affective reactions predominate. Relatively vital people become belligerent, risk-happy, and brutal in both word and deed. Persons with an innate talent for intuiting psychological situations tend to take advantage of this gift in an egotistical and ruthless fashion. In the thought process of such people, a short cut way develops which bypasses the handicapped function, thus leading from associations directly to words, deeds, and decisions which are not subject to any dissuasion. Such individuals interpret their talent for intuiting situations and making split-second oversimplified decisions as a sign of their superiority compared to normal people, who need to think for long time, experiencing self-doubt and conflicting motivations. The fate of such creatures does not deserve to be pondered long.

Such “Stalinistic characters” traumatize and actively spellbind others, and their influence finds it exceptionally easy to bypass the controls of common sense. A large proportion of people tend to credit such individuals with special powers, thereby succumbing to their egotistic beliefs. If a parent manifests such a defect, no matter how minimal, all the children in the family evidence anomalies in personality development. {...}

Comparative considerations also led the author to conclude that Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, also known as Stalin, should be included in the list of this particular ponerogenic characteropathy, which developed against the backdrop of perinatal damage to his brain’s prefrontal fields. Literature and news about him abounds in indications: brutal, charismatic, snake-charming; issuing of irrevocable decisions; inhuman ruthlessness, pathologic revengefulness directed at anyone who got in his way; and egotistical belief in his own genius on the part of a person whose mind was in fact average. This state explains as well his psychological dependence on a psychopath like Beria . Some photographs reveal the typical deformation of his forehead which appears in people who suffered very early damage to the areas mentioned above. His typical irrevocable decisions his daughter describes as follows:

Whenever he threw out of his heart someone whom he had known for a long time, classifying him among his “enemies” in his soul, it was impossible to talk to him about that person. The reverse process became impossible for him, namely persuasion that he was not his enemy, and any attempts in that direction made him fly into a rage. Redens, Uncle Pavlusha, and A.S. Svanidze were incapable of doing anything about it; all they accomplished was to have my father break off contacts and withdraw his trust. After seeing any of them for the last time, he said goodbye as if to a potential foe, one of his “enemies”…

We know the effect of being “thrown out of his heart”, as it is documented by the history of those times.
When we contemplate the scope of the evil Stalin helped to bring about, we should always take this most ponerogenic characteropathy into account and attribute the proper portion of the “blame” to it; unfortunately, it has not yet been sufficiently studied.

 

[Renaissance]

Another result of how the sanctions are making Russia more self sufficient and how Putin has turned it around to help the people is in the recent moves to make it more difficult for the financial elite to hide their money abroad in tax havens. It's not surprising that the West frames this as a bad thing:

Putin's doing what no one else will: Fighting the oligarchs

Just a few months ago Putin was being attacked by many saying he was part of the oligarchy! Guess that didn't work out.

 

[Antony]

Renaissance,
It is a good move after 15 years of "reign". Deoffshorisation rhetoric has started ages ago (in the middle of 2000s) and still brought no results.
The thing is that in parallel there is a decree which is now being prepared in Duma called by people "Rotenberg's Law" (it is his old friend- judo partner, who's property was confiscated in Italy recently). It's main idea is to compensate from Russia's budget the loss of foreign property/assets of our oligarchs, that is being expropriated abroad under sanctions pretext or else. How nice- one hand does the opposite to another.
http://www.russia-direct.org/reviews/media-focuses-russias-controversial-new-law-protect-oligarchs (in English)
http://kprf-kchr.ru/?q=node/6258 (in Russian)

 

[Lumiere_du_Code]

It is a good move after 15 years of "reign".

Anthony, look at United States. who reigns there for many decades? it's different forces, eh? no, this one force. are changed only persons to continued the show. but behind the scenes are always the same players. so what's the problem here with Putin?
Today he announced his an agenda, saying "Our task - to create a single economic and humanitarian space from the Atlantic to the Pacific." He talked about it for a long time.
Anthony, why the West falls on Russia, m?

 

[Lumiere_du_Code]

when Medvedev was president, whether it was better? he allowed to tear Libya. Medvedev - absolutely not a politician, he is doodle. he would just dance to the tune US if Putin was not the prime minister. why so many liberal bastards spawn in Russia, for what? You know the answer! and who dashed all plans of these heinous critters?
Anthony, you did not answer, what would you do, as president of Russia?

 

[Yozilla]

Anthony, you did not answer, what would you do, as president of Russia?

Maybe invest in time machine project and go back to live in CCCP at Stalin's time?

 

[Laura]

There are a number of interesting remarks in this article:

http://www.sott.net/article/289195-Putin-US-wants-to-subdue-Russia-but-will-never-succeed

Such as:

He said that people in Russia really like the Americans, but it's the US politics that are not accepted so well. "I think America and its people are more liked than disliked by people here [in Russia]. It's the politics of the ruling class [in the US] that is likely negatively viewed by the majority of our citizens," he said. ....

Telling it like it is.

And then, amazing diplomacy:

Answering a question about Abbott's idea to "shirtfront" Putin over the downing of the MH17 jetliner, the Russian president said no such confrontation took place at the Brisbane summit.

"We had very constructive discussions of not only the themes that had brought us together, but some very grave issues involving the Malaysian Boeing. We discussed that in every detail. I can assure you that everything was decent and rather friendly," said the Russian leader.

He simply is NOT going to be baited.