Thursday, April 28, 2005
Putin Finds A Theme
Russians continually look to the past for the "good old days." And when they do, they continually plunge themselves back into oppression for the sake of being able to brag about world importance or military might, or some such. Apparently Vladimir Putin is now trying to capitalize on that tendency. First there were these comments a few days ago, and now this.
Try, if you can, to picture the scene. A vast crowd in Red Square: Lenin's tomb and Stalin's memorial in the background. Soldiers march in goose step behind rolling tanks, and the air echoes with martial music, occasionally drowned out by the whine of fighter jets. On the reviewing stand, statesmen are gathered: Kim Jong Il, the dictator of North Korea, Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the former dictator of Poland -- and President George W. Bush.I can't blame the Russians for wanting to "turn back the clock" to a time when they were far more influential in the world, but there has got to be a better way than this.
That description may sound fanciful or improbable. It is neither. On the contrary, that is more or less what will appear on your television screen May 9, when the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II is celebrated in Moscow.
