Putin vs. Stalin: Memories of My Cold War Childhood

image via flickr.creative commons;DonkeyHotey

I know I said I was through with political blogging, but watching Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, zero in on Ukraine like a schoolyard bully going for the new kid, got me thinking about my Cold War childhood.  Somehow all the doublespeak and propaganda seem very ominous and very familiar to someone who learned to " duck and cover" in grade school. 

 

If Putin wants to bring back the USSR, he's doing a pretty good job of channeling Josef Stalin, and I am far from the only person to have noticed. First we got an updated version of  what Stalin did at Yalta, when Russia grabbed most of Eastern Europe and half of Germany while Churchill, and a dying Roosevelt believed, and just let it happen. In 1947, after Yalta, Churchill coined the phrase " Iron Curtain" and it was definitely appropriate until the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

Now, in the wake of Putin's Crimea annexation,a crackdown on the press and limitations on personal freedom in Russia have begun. It's all being sold to the public as a return to empire and glory.  Me? I'm not so sure.  I remember the bad old days of the Cold War all too well. I don't relish a return to the constant fear of Russian military aggression that marked those days in America. I remember having to swear that I had never been a member of the Communist Party in order to get a passport when I was 20. Though I was a child at the time,  I also remember McCarthyism and the anti-communist xenophobia of the '50's. I don't relish seeing history repeat itself.

 



 



 According to today's  Washington Post  in an article titled' In Russia, A Soviet Revival Grips Leadership:

"The State Duma gave a final reading Tuesday to a bill that, as part of an “anti-terrorism” package, would require any blogger who gets 3,000 or more visitors a day to register with the state and be subject to state regulation. Other legislation before the Duma would make it a crime punishable by five years in prison to take part in an unsanctioned protest or to publish information that puts the government or military in a negative light. Members also are considering a bill that would add a course in political instruction to the school curriculum"

 So much for freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Oh, did I mention that the article also says that all members of Russia's police force, and possibly also their families, are now unable to travel abroad?  The ruling clique is dancing with joy and counting its money.   Now that the boy oligarchs have privatized everything and have all of what used to belong to the Russian State in their own pockets, they are ready to flex their egos and play bigtime war games with the west. You know how it is, boys will be boys and it's all about mine is bigger than yours.

 

The sabres are rattling as Putin plays schoolyard bully, first with Crimea, and now with Eastern Ukraine.  Will Russia invade Ukraine?  Not in the conventional sense, I am sure, but Russia will manage to destabilize it, doing its own little " death by a thousand cuts" number, while China watches in the background, and Europe and America sharpen their economic tools.  You can bet there will be some guys from Texas showing up in Western Ukraine real soon to show the homeboys just how fracking is done and plans for an Eastern European " Oil Lift" ( kind of like the Berlin Airlift) are no doubt on the drawing board.

 

As John McCain observed so trenchantly, " Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country" That is to say, the 2 trillion dollar Russian economy is based almost entirely on oil and natural gas reserves, and if Eastern Europe stops buying; well, you get the picture. Russia cannot hope to win economically or militarily over the West, and I don't see China getting involved(but you never know, especially with China).  If the egos get big enough, and the desperation is great enough, I can see Putin and company going for the nuclear option... and that scares the living, you-know-what out of me.  I grew up with that possibility and I don't want to go back to it. I'm too old to " duck and cover"

 

I leave you with a little ditty written in early 1960's, at the height of the Cold War which epitomizes how my generation felt about the whole thing.  Anybody else remember Tom Lehrer?

 







Too Gay to Adopt in Ukraine

There will be no celebrity adoption for Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish in Ukraine. Both Church and state are firm about that.

At 62 Elton John is too old to adopt under Ukranian law, and at least as far as the Church is concerned, he is also, evidently, too gay. I read about it this morning online. " Elton John Is A Sinner" the headline screamed. A Church spokesman had this to say about gay marriage and the proposed adoption of a 14 month old HIV positive Ukrainian orphan by the celebrity couple.

"People pretend to have good intentions, create semi-marriages and so-called families, and moreover they dare to adopt children. Unlike people who are blessed by God to create natural families, these are people who succumb to their passions."

The harshness of the remark made my hair stand on end. Who does this guy think he is making judgements like that? It's not like heterosexuals make wonderful parents just by virtue of being heterosexual. I was married for more than 30 years. My husband and I had two children. I am now divorced. I was an OK mother, but I sure made my mistakes. I wouldn't call my marriage a brilliant success, especially considering the way it ended. But according to this priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church my marriage was blessed by God and Elton John and his partner are only "succumbing to their passions."

I wish he could meet two gay men who live just a few blocks away from me. They have an adopted daughter from China who is about seven now. She came to them from a Chinese orphanage when she was an infant. She is a happy kid and they are responsible, excellent parents, respected in the community and active in local civic and charitable affairs.

Just a few blocks away from me in another direction lives a traditional family of mother, father, and two boys, ages 8 and 10. They are not happy campers. The neighbors can hear them fighting and screaming at each other all the time. There is lots of stomping in and out and slamming if doors, not to mention yelling and threats. On a couple of occasions the cops have been called by worried neighbors. The older boy is angry and troubled and the younger one just looks lost. Is the wife a battered woman? I suspect so. Is her union blessed by God? I wonder.

There may be good reasons why Elton John and his partner should not adopt this particular child. I have to say I am not a big fan of celebrity adoptions in general. This kid seems to have a living, if sick mother and a brother who is in the orphanage with him. Perhaps there is extended family. He's not really alone after all. When I watch the video below, I'm not even sure how serious Elton John really was. It sort of seems like he was just carried away by the moment. Whatever. Maybe it was a slow news day.

My point is only this. Love comes in many forms and so does family. It seems to me that in the name of human compassion, we ought to honor them all and not be too quick to judge who is doing God's work and who is not.

source: Mail Online