Posted on 06/21/2007 4:11:05 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday no one should try to make Russia feel guilty about the Great Purge of 1937, saying it may have been one of the most notorious episodes of the Stalin era but "in other countries even worse things happened."
Speaking at a televised meeting with social studies teachers, Putin noted that this is the 70th anniversary of a year many Russians regard as a synonym for state-sponsored terror. It is an anniversary that has, however, gotten relatively little attention in Russian media.
"Yes, we had terrible pages" in Russia's history, Putin said. "Let us recall the events since 1937, let us not forget that. But in other countries, it has been said, it was more terrible."
Russia should never forget the abuses of the Communist era, Putin said. But he also said no one had the right to make Russia feel guilty about those abuses.
"No one must be allowed to impose the feeling of guilt on us," he said. "Let them think about themselves. But we must not and will not forget about the grim chapters in our history."
Political arrests on dubious charges were common throughout Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's rule, resulting in the execution of hundreds of thousands of Russians. Millions more became inmates of the gulag, the Soviet system of thousands of slave labor camps.
Large-scale arrests of Communist Party members began in 1934 and seemed to reach a crescendo in 1936-37, when a series of show trials was held in Moscow featuring dramatic courtroom confessions.
Thousands of bureaucrats, military officers and party officials were rounded up and imprisoned by the NKVD, one of the predecessor agencies to the KGB. Many were shot after secret trials.
Russia has never sought to bring to justice KGB officials implicated in human rights abuses committed during the Communist era. Putin, a proud alumnus of the KGB, headed its main successor organization, the Federal Security Service, in the late 1990s.
Speaking with the teachers, Putin suggested the United States' use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War II was worse than the abuses of Stalin. He also cited the U.S. bombing campaign and use the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
"We have not used nuclear weapons against a civilian population," he said. "We have not sprayed thousands of kilometers (miles) with chemicals, (or) dropped on a small country seven times more bombs than in all the Great Patriotic (War)" — Russia's name for World War II.
"We had no other black pages, such as Nazism, for instance," he said.
His remarks came just over a week after President Bush unveiled a monument to the victims of communism in Washington. At the ceremony, Bush compared those totalitarian regimes to modern terror groups.
Putin said he regretted some of Russia's history textbooks had been written using grants from foreign groups, implying foreign governments were dictating how Russian history should be told. Textbook authors "dance to the polka that others have paid for," he said.
In recent years, the Kremlin has cracked down on the operations of foreign non-governmental organizations, saying some were pursuing political agendas.
Hey Vlad — Communism and Nazism are just two sides of the same coin!
I believe Stalin is still the record holder with 20 million victims.
Did he forget to compare Saddam Hussein?
Jackass.
I see right through you, comrade Putin.
He makes a fool of himself everytime he opens his mouth.
Yeah, the commies in Vietnam were really hideous, Mr. Putin. In fact, commies everywhere have been pure evil scum. But Stalin still ranks high (low) among the worst scumbags in history, and none of your propaganda will change the facts.
“Speaking with the teachers, Putin suggested the United States’ use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War II was worse than the abuses of Stalin. He also cited the U.S. bombing campaign and use the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.”
Was this really Putin talking, or was it one of the Democratic candidates for President?
“in other countries even worse things happened.”
Putin could be a Fellow at the Center For American Progress. See if the FEC records show any contributions to MoveOn.org.
“we had no black pages such as Nazism” If Germany had not been galvanized by someone or something to fight soviet totalitarianism to the death, Comrade Putin would be slave master of the world now , instead of having to defend his his unredeemed nations rush to a new totalitarianism. Peace on him and his henchmen.
I understand not wanting to make you Country look bad, but Pooy Poot, you are wrong as two boys ....
Putin = Rasputin.
He admits doing evil things, but he does not want to feel guilty about doing them.
So what is to stop you from doing evil things in the future, Vlad ?
Maybe it was both. After all, Putin is the world's only true democrat.
Perhaps the Democrats, in a last ditch effort, will nominate him to run for U.S. President against Fred, as their own candidates are tainted and tarnished from years of suffering the mental illness called "liberalism." </sarcasm>
No, Stalin was a piker. Mao’s Red China 76,702,000
http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html
“Speaking with the teachers, Putin suggested the United States’ use of atomic weapons against Japan at the end of World War II was worse than the abuses of Stalin. He also cited the U.S. bombing campaign and use the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.”
Was this really Putin talking, or was it one of the Democratic candidates for President?
My guess would be James Earl Carter, former President.
Hitlery Clinton is a Josef Stalin FAN! She certainly could have written or said these words!!
So could John Fn Kerry!
et all
Putin and HItlery will be soulmates once she takes power. But lookout all you demonazi hoardes - just like her model - Stalin - the commies always turn on THEIR OWN eventually!
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