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Message:: [QUOTE="medoraman, post: 1293817, member: 26302"]This, sir, really is at the crux of world view differences between Russia and the West. I know what you say is true, I have had exchange students from Russia who believed similar. I mean you no disrespect, I consider you a friend, but based upon what we have been taught and what we read we simply cannot comprehend how a nation can glorify a ruler who singularly was responsible for 40+ million deaths of his own countrymen. My Russian student, after I gave her some reading material about Stalin's era, did change her mind. She said no word of the deaths were ever mentioned in her schooling. Stalin was definitely complex, and did do things that benefitted Russia, so in a sense you are right maybe he shouldn't be thought of as pure evil. However, after readin Solzhenitsen, (sp?) and many other accounts simply can never forgive his gulags, which were just as abhorrent as similar nazi camps. Like I said sir, no disrespect, and I know many if not most Russians feel the same, its just a fact that utterly baffles most westerners. To us it is akin to Cambodians glorifying Pol Pot, or gypsies glorifying Hitler. What is really unusual is that Russians are much more pasionate about him than Georgians are, (he was Georgian for others who do not know that). Like I said earlier, this entire thread will depend on yoru world view, and nothing in this post is meant to criticize yours. Chris[/QUOTE]