I have often wondered whether Stalin was worse than Hitler. I have not been able to answer that because they were both so horrific. They were both so mentally ill. And neither would have been able to do what they did without the hundreds or thousands of people who enabled their reign's of terror. Not unlike the many GOP enablers.
Putin's ambitions are losing, and although he may remain a figurehead of his "Mother Russia," he will never be taken seriously again. But for his nukes, which I doubt have been cared for and are thus all but useless, he'd be a little paranoid, botoxed man, waiting for his number to be called. I think his greatest ambition was to reconstitute the Soviet Union, no matter how unrealistic that may be. He's losing a war against a small country, which he thinks, should have fallen and bowed to him back in February. Tin pot dictator.
Sep 16, 2022·edited Sep 16, 2022Liked by Greg Olear
Fascinating history lesson.
Greg is uniquely qualified to be telling this story, we learned in the past year, because of his Ukrainian heritage [does anyone have the reference to the precise article?] Before I learned, I was pronouncing his name as if Irish. It’s OH-lay-ar. (Right?)
The Soviet Union, and now the much smaller Russian Federation, are certainly relics of the old Russian Empire. Chechnya and Chechens, as just one example, are probably treated the way Ukraine was in the 1930s. If you ignore the native American cultures that have been overridden, suppressed, and eliminated, the lower 48 of the USA is not really an empire. But the Russian Federation and China are still very much empires: different provinces have very different languages and ethnicities, and could easily be their own nations.
So to maintain unity, it looks like you have to use drastic measures, like Putin’s dictatorship and the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party.
After whatever happens to Russia takes place over this Ukrainian war, China will be next.
Putin, during the development of his career, was stationed in East Germany and learned the culture and the language. So he was a student of power politics, being able to study close-hand what happened in Hitler’s time and also Stalin’s time. Many times he has demonstrated his love of czarist Russia, like during weddings. I think he loves the Russian orthodox church for its opulent displays of garish wealth, because it’s certainly not for anything spiritual or moral. The Soviet Union is his pride and joy. There is probably some glee and gloating in having participated in the Soviet occupation of East Germany. He prides himself on being a student of history, but the truth is that he is only a student of ancient history, obsolete history. He has a tremendous amount in common with Trump and the MAGA-t crowd of racism and sexism, because they all share the devoted attachment to the past. Some races are better than others. Men are dominant over women. It’s all about hierarchy, and that is the theme of the age of Pisces, which is the 2000 years now ending. The age of Aquarius is the future. These people are all still stuck in the past. Image. Wealth. Superior status, whether as an “in-power” Russian, or an “in-power” white, or any status which allows one to subjugate another class. Only morons get to the top in this society of cretins, because it takes a moron to have to rely on overt ultimately meaningless differences (race, gender, gender orientation, religious identity, political identity) in order to make value distinctions.
A good book to read is "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" by Dmitri Volkogonov. Volkogonov was a Soviet General, in his own words "a committed hardliner," until as the head of the Soviet History Department he was allowed access to the real Soviet archives. What he discovered turned him 180 degrees.
The book is available at Amazon, and you can get used copies in good condition (as I did) from other book dealers.
It's "eye opening" as they say, even for someone who thought his eyes were already open. And it gives historical context to understand how and why contemportary history is as it is.
“The breakup of the Soviet Union was not a catastrophe. It was an inevitability.”
… making the break-up of the Russian Federation an inevitability as well.
After the democracy suppression that the Death Star (Kremlin) did on Khodorovsk, and also on Novosibirsk, not to mention the very recent suppression of the district leaders in Putin’s home of St. Petersburg, you have to wonder just how many different portions of “Russia” would become their own nations. I’d love to see that tally after the break-up. And what becomes of Kaliningrad? Another teeny tiny nation?
Putin is not only making war in Ukraine but on Reality itself
Great interview, Greg. Also—the preface of “Empress” hooked me; I just bought the paperback. Good work!
I have often wondered whether Stalin was worse than Hitler. I have not been able to answer that because they were both so horrific. They were both so mentally ill. And neither would have been able to do what they did without the hundreds or thousands of people who enabled their reign's of terror. Not unlike the many GOP enablers.
Why my support for the return of nomadic Hunter/gatherers?
The first war, 2700 bc was likely for limited agriculture resources. Keep in mind Ukraine is considered the "bread basket" of Europe.
Putin follows the murderous path of historys war on the innocent by narcissist sociopaths in the name of "Mother Russia."
So not much new here.
Pequots 1637
Basically, Peter the Great and his successors put the “Roman” in “Romanov.”
…and quite appropriately usurped the word “czar,” a variant of “caesar.”
Putin's ambitions are losing, and although he may remain a figurehead of his "Mother Russia," he will never be taken seriously again. But for his nukes, which I doubt have been cared for and are thus all but useless, he'd be a little paranoid, botoxed man, waiting for his number to be called. I think his greatest ambition was to reconstitute the Soviet Union, no matter how unrealistic that may be. He's losing a war against a small country, which he thinks, should have fallen and bowed to him back in February. Tin pot dictator.
Fascinating history lesson.
Greg is uniquely qualified to be telling this story, we learned in the past year, because of his Ukrainian heritage [does anyone have the reference to the precise article?] Before I learned, I was pronouncing his name as if Irish. It’s OH-lay-ar. (Right?)
The Soviet Union, and now the much smaller Russian Federation, are certainly relics of the old Russian Empire. Chechnya and Chechens, as just one example, are probably treated the way Ukraine was in the 1930s. If you ignore the native American cultures that have been overridden, suppressed, and eliminated, the lower 48 of the USA is not really an empire. But the Russian Federation and China are still very much empires: different provinces have very different languages and ethnicities, and could easily be their own nations.
So to maintain unity, it looks like you have to use drastic measures, like Putin’s dictatorship and the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party.
After whatever happens to Russia takes place over this Ukrainian war, China will be next.
Putin, during the development of his career, was stationed in East Germany and learned the culture and the language. So he was a student of power politics, being able to study close-hand what happened in Hitler’s time and also Stalin’s time. Many times he has demonstrated his love of czarist Russia, like during weddings. I think he loves the Russian orthodox church for its opulent displays of garish wealth, because it’s certainly not for anything spiritual or moral. The Soviet Union is his pride and joy. There is probably some glee and gloating in having participated in the Soviet occupation of East Germany. He prides himself on being a student of history, but the truth is that he is only a student of ancient history, obsolete history. He has a tremendous amount in common with Trump and the MAGA-t crowd of racism and sexism, because they all share the devoted attachment to the past. Some races are better than others. Men are dominant over women. It’s all about hierarchy, and that is the theme of the age of Pisces, which is the 2000 years now ending. The age of Aquarius is the future. These people are all still stuck in the past. Image. Wealth. Superior status, whether as an “in-power” Russian, or an “in-power” white, or any status which allows one to subjugate another class. Only morons get to the top in this society of cretins, because it takes a moron to have to rely on overt ultimately meaningless differences (race, gender, gender orientation, religious identity, political identity) in order to make value distinctions.
A good book to read is "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" by Dmitri Volkogonov. Volkogonov was a Soviet General, in his own words "a committed hardliner," until as the head of the Soviet History Department he was allowed access to the real Soviet archives. What he discovered turned him 180 degrees.
The book is available at Amazon, and you can get used copies in good condition (as I did) from other book dealers.
It's "eye opening" as they say, even for someone who thought his eyes were already open. And it gives historical context to understand how and why contemportary history is as it is.
“The breakup of the Soviet Union was not a catastrophe. It was an inevitability.”
… making the break-up of the Russian Federation an inevitability as well.
After the democracy suppression that the Death Star (Kremlin) did on Khodorovsk, and also on Novosibirsk, not to mention the very recent suppression of the district leaders in Putin’s home of St. Petersburg, you have to wonder just how many different portions of “Russia” would become their own nations. I’d love to see that tally after the break-up. And what becomes of Kaliningrad? Another teeny tiny nation?
Telegram reports of an attempted assassination of Putin. Russia denies it.