Familiar to Stalin

The subject of my master's thesis was the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. It's getting more and more difficult to distinguish Stalinist Russia from George W. Bush 's America.

[joe]

This is incredible. While Bush may not be one of the best U.S. presidents, to compare him to Stalin is the height of idiocy. You're comparing Guantanamo where enemies of the U.S. caught on foreign battlefields belonging to no country in particular, and where none of the terrorist prisoners has died, to the gulags where millions of innocents and political prisoners were held and murdered during the Stalin years? Congress is more cruel than the Politburo? Did you actually go to school? Who approved this "master's thesis"? Have you ever actually read ANYTHING on Stalinist Russia? Do you have any clue as to what you're talking about? To belittle the crimes, brutality, and sheer terror of the Stalin era by comparing it to the current president is an insult to all of those who lost their lives under the most cruel and murderous regime in human history.
You owe the 20 million people butchered by Joseph Stalin an apology.

[elwood]

Harold:

WHO has been spied upon? The Boy Scouts of America? The NRA? The Shriners? PETA? Family "Planning"? NAMBLA? The Brady Bunch? Who in YOUR circle has been spied upon?

How about just the people who have ties to mid eastern countries and have track records to terrorist links. Anybody else being SPIED upon?

The last time I heard the term "egrerious violations to privacy" was when the Clintons maintained detailed files on almost a thousand GOP rivals.

Stalinist? Absolutely!

[joe]

ju78i23, don't be a fool. If you want to compare Bush to anyone, maybe LBJ. But Stalin? People like you and the letter writer are completely ignorant of history and comparisons like this only serve to trivialize the true horror of Stalin's crimes. Come on, grow up people.

[Pat Mullin - Orland Park]

Just a quick observation about Mr. Taggart's article "Familiar to Stalin". From his oversimplified comparisons to his gross exaggerations and lack of support for anything like a logical arguement, I am also going to make an assumption that Mr. Tarrart never received his Master's degree!

[freerichardwanke]

Their is a man in Rockford, IL who has been held with out charges for the past 140+ days his bond was revoked evan though he did nothing wrong. His habeas corpus rights have been ignored. When we get use to ignoring the human rights of non US citizens it makes it easier to do the same to our own people

Please read more
http://richardwanke.com/

[Dick Kock]

They compare very effectively! Both were over their heads in terms of being leaders of countries, both had complexes of inferiority, both totally misjudged military situations facing their countries, stalin could'n believe hitler was attacking his country, and bush overestimated saddam's military power and intentions! Their stupid actions costed many, many lives! They'll share the same hole in the future!

[Mark]

There isn't even a remote resemblance; it's like comparing a firecracker to an atomic bomb. Visit Russia and it will become crystal clear. They have a culture which has suffered the loss of nearly an entire generation of men. Stalin was even more brutal than Hitler.

[Mark]

This commentary is so far removed from reality that I don't understand why The Trib would choose to print it. The only value in a commentary like this may be as an example of our failing public educational system. I would hope that Junior High School students would have a better understanding of Stalinism than Mr Taggart.

[Ken L]

I don't think of the Bush administration as Stalinist. More like fascist.

[Mark]

...careful that the paranoias don't come and get you.

[J Burke]

I was a child during the Cold War and I cannot help but observe that so many of the qualities which were attributed to the USSR at that time by my teachers at school are being enacted by my own government now.