Free Republic

ROME — Pope Francis tied Russia’s war on Ukraine to Joseph Stalin’s 1930s Holodomor, when the Soviet leader engineered a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians. “Let us pray for peace in the world, and for an end to all conflicts, with a special thought for the terrible suffering of the dear and martyred people of Ukraine,” the pontiff told pilgrims and tourists gathered in the Vatican Wednesday for his weekly general audience. “This Saturday is the anniversary of the terrible Holodomor genocide, the extermination by hunger in 1932-33 artificially caused by Stalin,” the pope continued. “Let us pray...

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he was misunderstood, when he made his scurrilous comments on the Senate floor, last week. Saying that he would not apologize for his comments on Thursday, he issued this on Friday: “My statement in the Senate was critical of the policies of this administration, which add to the risk our soldiers face. I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings. Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and...

On 23 February 1944 the Soviet leader, Josef Stalin, deported the entire Chechen people, and their Ingush neighbours, from the Caucasus to Central Asia. Chechen BBC journalist Sapiet Dakhshukaeva talks to some who survived. Zulpa, one of my relatives, was deported with her family from a village in the mountain district of Shatoy. She was only 10 years old, but she remembers that day 60 years ago as if it were yesterday. "All of us were herded into the nearby collective farm, and we spent the night there. They wouldn't let us spend our last night at home. And our...

Stalin's Arctic dream left in the cold (Filed: 25/10/2003) Julius Strauss reports from Mulda on how towns are being abandoned and communities destroyed as Russia retreats from the desolate planes of its frozen north. Tatyana Orlova will pile her belongings on to a government lorry next week and shut the front door of her shabby, freezing flat for the last time. The following day the authorities will throw the switch on her electricity supply - the centrally provided hot water and heating were cut off in the spring - and the Arctic settlement of Mulda, once home to more than...