[A. Pole]

BTW, there's even a warm, fuzzy feeling for the Stalin years in Russia- a nation with a severe global sociopathy.

If USA Congress were massacred in the name of free market and free trade and it was followed by impoverishment of majority and death of millions of people (the life span in Russia fell by several years to the same effect) what would be the reaction?

[fat city]

Oh, I don't know- let's ask the Ukrainians.

[hinckley buzzard]

There are more appropriate comparisons actually available in history, among them the loss of empire by the Persians, who still resent it, and the Turks(Ottomans), not to mention the French and some atavistic Germans. People tend to identify with the strength of their country and when their country is emasculated they tend to take it personally.

Nostalgia for those good old days is nothing new or unusual.