The Maelstrom of Violence

[Bob Butler 54]

(08-15-2017, 04:53 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: The Russian Icebreaker, not to be confused with Arctic tourism enablement, is a means of loosening up the impediments to the conquest of The West. Let the West destroy itself from within for a  while. Make some key friends among certain factions. Then, swoop in for the kill.

Stalin was actually quite successful at it. Sure, he did not conquer all of The West. But he did manage to grab half of Europe.

That was the test run.

There are other perspectives.  Russia saw the invasions of Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Hitler, perhaps Cynic Hero's big three.  Sure, Russia was too big, Russia was too cold, and there were too damn many of them.  General Winter is excellent at defense.  Still, the notion that the world is out to get Russia is understandable, perhaps because the world has been out to get Russia.

From some accounts, Stalin was quite fearful in the early days of Barbarossa.  In many ways the Soviet World War II actions are ever so understandable.  Churchill and Roosevelt actually went out of their way to make sure Stalin remained in the war, did not make a separate peace.  Alas, autocratic government remains problematic.  I'm no Stalin fan, but you haven't got him right here.