Reds

Gary Morson has a review of Jonathan Brent's new book, "Inside the Stalin Archives" http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-lingering-stench--airing-Stalin-s-archives-4028. Delightful stuff, the Soviet butchery of its own and other people in the name of whatever it is that communism is supposed to mean. I'm not sure if the Soviets even really understood what they had or what their state religion was about, only that they had to protect "it" from all threats foreign and domestic. I think the North Koreans have continued on that same line; to perfect Stalin's quest for perfect madness. We'll make a prediction here that whenever that day comes when the hermit kingdom finally implodes or just plain kicks the bucket, we'll see revealed a level of outright savagery and loathsomeness that will make Stalin and Lenin and Pol Pot and every other awful human that this world has produced quite proud of Kim and Lil' Kim.

I'm a little selfish and sophomoric about this, but I kind of miss the Soviets. No, not for their economic system and impressive number of gulags but instead for the pure buffoonery that constantly seeped out of the place. Brent gets into it a little in his book-- the awful suits, the hideous attempts at working appliances, the dismal living conditions, et al. But what I really yearn for are the spectacular space foibles of cosmonauts landing in the wilds of Siberia to fend off wolves before an eventual rescue, and entire fleet arsenals going up due to Ivan tossing his horrid Soviet produced cigarette next to a crate of captured Wehrmacht ammo (the Reds never got rid of anything). That kind of thing. We see some of the same crudity when Putin bullies about the place offering public support for some fellow despot, or some Russian billionaire is exposed for attempting to corner the market on East Bloc whores, but those are not nearly as satisfying as a column of Soviet tanks dropping into the Volga after a ill-constructed bridge collapses. As much flak as the US has received from whatever misadventures have occurred during the Iraq occupation, one can only marvel at what would have taken place had the good ol' Russians been charged with the same task. I don't want to say it's fun to think about, but such a scenario would provide a level of entertainment never before witnessed. Tolstoy would be all over it.