'russia - A Century Of Suspicion...'

[Khandro]

Did anyone watch this excellent programme last night;
Russia -A Century of Suspicion: A Timewatch Guide.
BBC4 yesterday (22nd Nov.) 9:00pm ?

If not, and you have the means, I can recommend it. It gives a very clear picture of the negative propaganda distributed by Western media - including an honest critical self-assessment of the BBC itself.

[ivor4781]

excellent programme well worth another viewing.

[naomi24]

I didn't watch it but I will.

[ladybirder]

Me too.

[mikey4444]

No Khandro, but it is on my iPlayer list !

I did watch the previous program, at 20:00, all about Ancient Greece, and that was wonderful...I can thoroughly recommend it ...didn't intend to derail your thread !

[ichkeria]

Thanks Khandro
I'll try and have a look if I get a chance

[Khandro]

Please do come back to discuss when you've seen it.
I'm old enough to have lived through the whole changing scenario.

[ivor4781]

so am i khandro
at those times we were all bamboozled by the american "red under the bed" scenario
i went on a 17 day hol to USSR Kiev/Moscow, Leningrad in May 1968 and i was chastised for being a Communist by my neighbours for going.lol,though i have never had any political leanings,met so many lovely people in USSR and loved the holiday,

[ivor4781]

just thought,my ativar is of a ground to air missile aty a site not far from me in the 60s aim at soviet incoming warplanes

[naomi24]

For anyone interested te programme is repeated tonight. BBC4 - 8pm. I'll record it and watch tomorrow.

[ichkeria]

I'm interested, but unable :-)

iPlayer it will have to be

[naomi24]

Khandro, I watched this today. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for recommending it.

[Khandro]

naomi; And thank you for pointing out the repeat which I taped and watched again last night. So many issues; the absurdity of Reagan's war in space 'Starwars' programme, the woman held up as a child by Stalin, and the sculpture, 'Thank You Comrade Stalin for Giving me a Happy Childhood', and in fact, he had then her father murdered.
It was worth reminding us in the west that we seem to think that it was the only the allies who finished off to Hitler, but the price paid by the Russians was immeasurably worse - I was reminded of this after my op. earlier this year, when I shared a room with a splendid German man, who, when he was three, his father had died in the battle of Stalingrad. God, what hell that was!
I don't think I will forget the simple dignity of the man in the brown check shirt and few teeth who said how he had worked since he was a child and could therefore withstand the incredible hardship of the Gulag, but had pity for the office workers who had never even handled a spade and had perished under the burden.
The neocons et al, still continue to vilify Russia and Putin as it is in their personal interest to do so, because they need an enemy even if it is an imaginary one.

The saying Show me who profits from war and warmongering and I'll tell you how to end it
comes to mind.

[naomi24]

Khandro, I too admired that man – what simple dignity - and the questions surrounding Stalin’s death intrigued me, but the account of the siege of Leningrad where the occupants, starving and without water, resorted to cannibalism, the city losing more lives during that period than the combined British and American forces lost during the whole course of World War II, made my blood run cold. ‘Hardship’ doesn’t begin to describe it. Unimaginable!

As an aside, I recall visiting the huge Gum department store, featured in the programme, during the days of communism when its only wares were meagre, tacky and eminently unattractive. Similarly, shopping in other Communist/Socialist countries produced no enthusiasm to purchase because there was simply nothing to buy. On one visit to former Yugoslavia I tried to buy sandals. I was offered a choice of just two styles – take it or leave it. I left it. How different life in those places is now.

The world of communism/socialism is the stark reality of ‘1984’ and has nothing to recommend it. An excellent documentary, Khandro. Thank you again for pointing me in its direction.

[naomi24]

Khandro, just a thought but I wonder if you might consider asking the Editor to move this thread to Society and Culture? It's such an interesting subject and one that if placed elsewhere, where it's not been shoved off the front page, could generate a lot of interesting discussion.

[Khandro]

^^ I don't know how to do that, but I'm in agreement if you will.

[naomi24]

Khandro, I've asked via the Report button.

[Khandro]

Good, please keep me posted.

[naomi24]

Thank you Editor.

[Khandro]

Ah, we are now, thanks to naomi, in Soc. and Cul. which is good, because I'd like to bring in another dimension, I read that Patriarch Kirill, who is head of the Russian Orthodox Church recently visited London to consecrate their church (a cathedral in fact) in Kensington, the visit was so little noticed that it "felt like censorship", the reason? The Russian Orthodox Church has blessed Russia's military support of President Assad of Syria, who is one of the few heads of state in the Near East to defend Christians. 'It is rarely mentioned here, in or out of parliament, that for Russia, the brutal Syrian campaign is a holy war against extremist factions of Islam, because Russia, for all its communist history remains, profoundly Christian.'

He said, departing from Luton Airport, "Today's war against terrorism should be a common cause, it is not only Russia's concern, it is a concern of all countries and we must unite to exterminate this evil'.

This is a view shared by Cardinal Cristoph Schoenborn - Archbishop of Vienna, who said; "Will there be a third Islamic attempt to conquer Europe?
Europe's legacy is in danger because we Europeans have squandered it. It is clear that many Islamists would like to take advantage of our weakness, but they are not responsible for it. We are."

[Khandro]

Perhaps on reflection, you can put on hold the last paragraph for now.

I'm trying to point to the continuing hostility towards Russia which was outlined in the programme.