Ping!
Belarus is run by a Putin puppet.
Have they named the square the "Treblinka Square"? /sarcasm
"Polish born revolutionary Felix Dzerzhinsky" -
As with anyone who leaves a mark on history - There are people who see the person one way - and then there are others who see the same person in another light -
It would be interesting to "know" what is causing the "troubled times" in that area today - perhaps that would go a long way in explaining the words spoken -
just a thought -
Those people love to wear a yoke around their necks, they do not feel normal without one.
One thing to Dzerzhinsky's credit is that he most likely had the enourmously evil Stalin poisoned.
(You can take Putin out of the KGB but can you take the KGB out of Putin?)
______________________________
Not quite ...
The Ultimate Birthday Gift
The Mayor of Moscow is leading a campaign to resurrect a monument to the founder of the feared Soviet Secret Police: Felix Dzherzhinsky. The City Planning Committee meets tomorrow to discuss the proposal. As NPR's Lawrence Sheets reports from Moscow, Russian liberals are up in arms over the plans to rehabilitate a man they see as a ruthless murderer.
It was the middle of the night on August 22nd of 1991 and the shortlived coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev had just collapsed. Hundreds of anti-communist protestors cheered as cranes ripped the imposing 15-ton bronze monument to Felix Dzherzkinsky from its pedestal in front of KGB headquarters. It's a moment some saw as marking a symbolic end to the Soviet Era. One man watching the spectacle that night was "Valery Valitchko," a career KGB officer. Seeing his ideological godfather, Dzherzhinsky dangling from a giant noose made Valitchko's blood boil:
"We saw the column of marchers coming toward the building," Valitchko said. "Like other KGB officers, I was startled. My first impulse was to take up arms and fight." Now, KGB veterans like Valitchko may get symbolic retribution. Moscow's populist Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, is championing Felix Dzherzhinsky's rehabilitation. He wants the statue put back in front of the former KGB building, now home to Russia's FSB Security Services.
"The wave of protest of those times was aimed against the existing political order," Luzhkov says, "it wasn't aimed against Dzherzhinsky's monument," Luzhkov argues. Dzherzhinsky did good deeds, like ending homeless among Russian children after the October Revolution. He notes he helped build Russia's gigantic network of state railroads. But that logic shocks liberal Russian politicians like Boris Nemtsov.
"Everyone knows Dzherzhinsky was an executioner," Nemtsov says. "Upon his orders, millions of our compatriots were destroyed: women, children, priests and intellectuals." Nemtsov points out that Dzherzhinsky personally sanctioned unleashing terror against his anti-communists opponents. He also set up the first labor camps which later became part of the Gulag Archipelago. Nemtsov calls the idea to restore Dzherzhinsky's statue "an affront to the millions of victims of Stalinist terror."
But the idea is popular, even in relatively liberal Moscow, a majority of Russians say they want Dzherzhinsky back in front of the old KGB building. 45-year old Vladimir is strolling about the Moscow sculpture garden where Dzherzhinsky currently stands.
"Dzherzhinsky, along with Lenin and his team, helped to build a powerful state for over 70 years. They made it one of the great countries of the world," says Vladimir, "History is history and there's no way of getting away from it. Only time can be the judge," he says.
Pollster "Masha Volkenstein" says a yearning for the order of Soviet times helps explain the popularity of the campaign to rehabilitate Dzherzhinsky as does a desire by Russians to see their history in a more positive light.
"Also important is that a big part of the population don't know Dzherzhinsky. I mean, young people - they don't just, they don't have any idea who he was and what it is about."
President Vladimir Putin hasn't commented personally on the idea of rehabilitating Dzherzhinsky, although his administration expressed some muted concerns. But Putin opponents describe the idea by Mayor Luzhkov to put Dzherzhinsky's statue back in front of the FSB building as "the ultimate birthday gift" to Putin, himself a former KGB spy.
The Kremlin leader turned 50 years old today.
Lawrence Sheets, NPR News, Moscow.
This transcript included among the articles within: The Empire Strikes Back: Putin Cult Reaches New Levels
Ping
Apparently so. Dherzhittsky was a stone cold killer, always the chief requisite for advancement in a cabal of cowardly thugs and goons. [The portrayal of his character in the most excellent TV series, Reilly Ace of Spies, was probably toned down for family audiences.] The salient question is whether Pooty Pooty's "message" is for internal or external consumption. In any case, we should return to the trust but verify mode in our dealings with Pooty Pooty. Which is too bad, really, since we have a lot of important interests in common with the Russkies these days.
I do know that Putin is an admirer of Stalin(to some degree but its been a few years since reading about this so I don't remember much about the particulars) as well and that he and Lukashenko seem to get along quite well, but Putin doesn't comment to much about it. For him he plays the 'public statesman' very well. I also don't think you will find much of anything about Putin position about returning the statue in the public forum. At this point it is still a proposal, but given enough time I do believe we will see the statue returned.
Sword and Shield of the Party Bump.