Posted on 08/09/2014 6:35:25 AM PDT by wetphoenix
DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Angel Davilla-Rivas, a Spaniard who came to east Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels, proudly shows off two big monochrome portraits of Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, tattooed on the right and left side of his torso.
Davilla-Rivas and his comrade Rafa Munez, both in their mid-twenties, traveled by train from Madrid to eastern Ukraine where they joined the Vostok battalion, the most prominent and heavily armed unit fighting Ukrainian troops.
"I am the only son, and it hurts my mother and father and my family a lot that I am putting myself at risk. But ... I can't sleep in my bed knowing what's going on here," said Davilla-Rivas, sporting a cap with the Soviet red star pinned to it.
That star and a ribbon around Munez's wrist hint at the Spaniards' motivation for joining a war thousands of miles from home.
The ribbon's red, yellow and purple are the colors of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict in the 1930s where thousands of foreigners joined the leftists against right-wing foes who eventually prevailed.
Angel said he wanted to return the favor after the Soviet Union, under Stalin, supported the Republican side in Spain.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The Spanish Civil war is a communist wet dream. Too bad they got their asses kicked by Franco.
Idiots, Stalin played the Spaniards for fools in the Civil War, and killed a bunch in commie on commie intrigues.
How about this—Angel you are a friggin idiot
Not seeing through what Stalin is in the 30s might be excusable as information was scarce then. Today’s twenty-somethings sporting Stalin tattoos and idolizing his murderous empire are certified idiots.
And a couple of Spanish parents spawned this incredibly spoiled son whose own wishes supersede everyone else's.
This guy is 80 years too late in a world that has changed sides many times.
Good point
These are the grandsons and great-grandsons of the participants in the Spanish Civil War. One would think that it would be a highly irregular thing for such passions to run on for generations later.
But of course, we have the Red diaper trust fund babies of our own in the territory once known as “the United States of America”. THEY have been reproducing for several generations now, with little dilution of the ideology of which they are so fond.
Both the culture of socialism and the culture of Islam, while two distinct and sometimes conflicting ideologies, are transmitted from one generation to the next even more reliably than the genetic composition of the populations. But the ideology is NOT genetic.
It is the proliferation of “free will”, badly applied, and in each instance, “free will” is not tempered with any kind of critical thinking.
Applying critical thinking to any sort of philosophy or ideology usually results in discarding or eliminating the faulty effects of bad reasoning, and using the lessons learned to come up with a more workable solution to the vexing problems of the day.
Economic freedom, as exercised in the basic concept of capital accumulation and investment with an eye to a positive return and growth, has proved over and over to be the engine that enhances civilization and encourages intellectual growth in every sphere. It is the very substance of all life, applied to a society. Grow or die.
Religious freedom, in a similar manner, when encouraged in a relatively level playing field (no admixture of government with the religion, or using the religion as government), also helps iron out the various errors of interpretation of the will of some divine Creator, and while tempers may and do rise sharply a times, eventually cooler heads prevail, and the errors are to some degree purged, and a more real definition of the eternal verities emerges. Learn or wither.
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?
In the Spanish Civil War, Franco won all the battles, but at least the commies had all the good songs.
Google `Abe Lincoln Brigade’ for snits & giggles. Lefties in America went to Spain to fight & more were killed by the Soviet NKVD than by the `evil fascists’.
Ernest Hemingway’s supporting the Reds during the civil war was shameful, to say the least.
The commies’ living saint, Dolores Ibarruri aka La Pasionaria kept the Red Spain mythology going on U.S. campuses well into the 1980’s where it flourishes even today.
Looks like it’s still active in Spain & now it pops up in Ukraine? Geez.......
(Ernst Die Thälmann, then imprisoned at Buchenwald, headed the Communist Party of Germany)
Ukraine is a heavily leftist country, more so than Russia itself.
It is actually bouncing between two groups of socialists: “right-wing” aka fascists (national-socialists Jew-hating=leftists anyway) and full-blown commies. The latter aren’t even aware that the general direction they are fapping at (Russia) is not a Communist anymore to their great disappointment.
Ask any “democrat” pro-European Ukrainian why does he come to Maidan and what he thinks about Russian and the West.
“Russia sucks, we are poor with them. And in Europe you can do nothing and still get paid and have freebies!”
End of story.
Not like Ukrainians are doing nothing.
Their exports include some of the world’s most beautiful chicks.
True, nine is ten “Russian whores” in the world (including Russia) are Ukrainian exports. They are too rought to my taste anyway: short leggs, big thighs and huge butts.
What an idiot. I don't understand the modern Spanish contempt for Franco and the adoration of the Republican and Communist factions. Heck, I don't understand why so many Americans supported the Communist/Republican side during the war (and most still do).
For some reason I was thinking that there would be Spaniards following in the steps of their "Division Azul" ancestors and joining in the fight against the Russians/Pro-Communists who caused so much internal damage during the Spanish Civil War(rapes of nuns, murder of clergy, destroying churches). Yes, the Division Azul was aligned with the Nazi side, but soldiers weren't fighting for Nazism per se, but against Communism. They fought on the Russian Front almost to the bitter end.
And then as the anti-Russian Ukrainian factions are supposedly Neo-Nazis...this makes this whole matter even more complicated.
The history of European politics is in so many ways more convoluted and complex than ours. As fractured as politics are here, we should be thankful to be Americans living in the US.
CJ Sansom wrote a great and well researched novel called “Winter in Madrid”. The Soviets proved time and time again that those who fought for Communism were indeed useful idiots..
Well, look at the Irish. The Easter Rising was in 1916 and it still raises passion in the Irish and most if not all the players are either dead or in old age.
Things like this die hard in the memories.
This Ukrainian war is a prelude to World War III just like the Spanish Civil War was a prelude to World War II.
Maybe he’ll get to kill some priests too.
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