Worldfocus

02/22/2009 :: 06:42:21 AM
John Kantor Says:

Just like Germany in the 30s and Russia in the 2000s wants an identity - so Stalin becomes a simplistic answer - a caricature of strength. The irony, of course, is that the US just elected its own caricature - one who promises easy, one-syllable answers for all the world’s problems. While Russia is trying to find a way to engage the world again, the US is turning its back on it. Guess who’s going to wing Cold War II?

02/18/2009 :: 12:22:15 PM
The Melancholy Poet Says:

Homage To The Great Play Called History.

You are able to see…
here and elsewhere:
Living People trying
as best they can…
to survive on:
cold dinners…
portions:
of food
almost without true nourishment…
of abandoned projects
without econonomic vibrancy
snow covering the hardness
of the ground…
the neigborhood streets
throughout busy but desolate cities…
in, sometimes: dwellings without much heat
though wrought, still:
with fires constituted
with Family Love and Warmth…
Scenes evenso depicted under, often:
the most cloudy of Winter skies
while the People continue to dine
upon their nutritionally desolate Existences…
left to deliberate upon the wandering nature
of those paths so intricately involved in Living…
working through them and continuing on with flames lit up as better thoughts
as they might continue to wonder …
as to what future section of place at Life’s Table will best provide for their lives
and to where that place’s section will lead them…whether this is:
contemplated now,
a moment from now,
or even an hour from
our current concept of this or next year.

(For a Change Of Scene in a different Act
of this Grand Play called History:)

Now? Once again:
We see…
others in their Minds wondering
while at Table pondering…
as to what choices they should make
in their selection of A Man Presumed Great
but still a Dead Dictator.

Need anyone say or write much more
to realize the coldness in this picture?

Politics will not answer this Question.
Nor will Economics.

Speculate on a single possible answer
or many potential solutions as one might…
Snow melts in its own time…
But Who sends it? And Who melts it?

Let the mind drift back now…

Back to snow covered streets
and cloudy skies…
while remembering:

Winter is only One Season
out of Four.

Who is really concerned about the Living
as opposed to the Dead…
and considering that there must be
an Infinite Intelligence…
whether the Almighty is, still:
not a God of the dead…
but of the living?

02/18/2009 :: 10:50:56 AM
Olga Matveeva Says:

The issue that was ignored in broadcasting of “World Focus” is that Stalin didn’t win the contest.It is crucial for political programs of not ignoring such issues, because Russian Americans as me are interested in good relationships between Obama and Medvedev. Demonizing of Russians through their adoration of dictatorships is certainly doesn’t help in achieving such goals. It is true that Russian people inclined to like absolute monarchy and dictatorships, but so far they didn’t accept Stalin being a winner in the contest. The same way as Germans didn’t accept Hitler to be a similar winner. There is a hope for Russian future so far and this hope should be explored in politics.

02/17/2009 :: 10:11:04 AM
Marta Oriole Says:

It’s hard to believe that in 2009 Western journalists are still conflating the Soviet Union with “Russia.” Stalin killed millions of SOVIET citizens: Soviet Ukrainians, Soviet Lithuanians, Soviet Armenians–not just Russians. Mr. Himmel’s sloppiness is inexcusable.

02/17/2009 :: 12:12:26 AM
John W. Hazouri Says:

Wow! Stalin the most importanat! If you want to see how important he was to Vladimir Lenin, look at the original, 1917, organizational chart, The Soviet Government. Uncle Joe, is dead last on the chart, very bottom left hand corner, Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Bukharin were light years ahead of Stalin, that’s why he orchestrated their murders!