[AnotherUnixGeek]

Say what you like about the Russians. But had it not been for their spirit, fighting and incredible capacity to tolerate suffering and loss, they would not have decimated the best of the German army by 1944.

I'd never say that innocent soldiers and civilians under the control of a murderous dictator like Stalin had it coming, but it's hard to feel too much sympathy for the Soviet regime's cries about how much it suffered in WWII. The Soviets climbed into bed with Hitler, and got half of Poland as their payment on the counter. The only reason they decimated the best of the German army was because Hitler decided to knife the hooker he took to bed.

[kearnyirish2]

Part of the Soviet’s death toll also includes people in the West who fought for the Axis (Ukrainians and Baltic people, for instance). On paper, they are USSR casualties; in reality, they were fighting against Stalin.

[Leaning Right]

> The Soviets climbed into bed with Hitler, and got half of Poland as their payment on the counter. <

Many years ago I took a political science course that examined politics from the other guy’s (non-American) point of view. One of the topics was the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939.

Stalin watched as France and Britain let Hitler take Austria in 1938. Then Stalin was deliberately excluded from the Munich conference that gave Hitler Czechoslovakia. So maybe Stalin is thinking, the West won’t stand up to Germany. I’d better make a pact with Hitler, or I’m next.

I’m not saying that’s the correct interpretation. But it is something to think about.