I honestly think it had more to do with economics. It's just that the Ukies (and Kulaks in general) were in the way. And commies don't care about people.
Stalin was Georgian, not Russian - yet he portrayed himself as the quintessential Russian. Now if he had not been thrown out of a RO seminary, history might have been much different.
Well, but Stalin needed to be thrown out of the seminary. He was already into Marxism even then and was a disruptive, corrupting influence on the other seminarians. Simon Sebag Montefiore's Young Stalin recounts the story of how he got another seminarian to tear down an old icon, smash it and urinate on it, then congratulated him for not fearing God.
Thank you, Hilary, for a good essay. I support Ukraine for a very simple reason. I am an Eastern Catholic. I know what lies in store for the Ukrainian and Ruthenian Catholic Churches in Ukraine if the Russians take over. The same thing has happened every time the Russians have controlled the area whether it was under the Tsars or the Reds. The Eastern Catholic Churches will be persecuted, they will be outlawed, and there will be attempts at forcing them to 'unite' with the Orthodox to cleanse the stain of 'Uniatism'.
I had a Ukrainian Catholic friend in Edmonton (R+I+P) who survived the Holodomor, escaping to Canada with his parents. Ukrainians have long memories and they haven't forgotten how the Russians treated them every time they controlled Ukraine.
I also feel sorry for all the Orthodox who have split from the Moscow Patriarchate and those who were still subject to Putin's stooge, Kyrill, but who opposed the war. Their lot will not be much better than the Eastern Catholics'.
I have a question. Why would Stalin want to exterminate the Ukrainians for not being Russian, when he himself was not Russian?
I honestly think it had more to do with economics. It's just that the Ukies (and Kulaks in general) were in the way. And commies don't care about people.
Stalin was Georgian, not Russian - yet he portrayed himself as the quintessential Russian. Now if he had not been thrown out of a RO seminary, history might have been much different.
Well, but Stalin needed to be thrown out of the seminary. He was already into Marxism even then and was a disruptive, corrupting influence on the other seminarians. Simon Sebag Montefiore's Young Stalin recounts the story of how he got another seminarian to tear down an old icon, smash it and urinate on it, then congratulated him for not fearing God.
Thank you, Hilary, for a good essay. I support Ukraine for a very simple reason. I am an Eastern Catholic. I know what lies in store for the Ukrainian and Ruthenian Catholic Churches in Ukraine if the Russians take over. The same thing has happened every time the Russians have controlled the area whether it was under the Tsars or the Reds. The Eastern Catholic Churches will be persecuted, they will be outlawed, and there will be attempts at forcing them to 'unite' with the Orthodox to cleanse the stain of 'Uniatism'.
I had a Ukrainian Catholic friend in Edmonton (R+I+P) who survived the Holodomor, escaping to Canada with his parents. Ukrainians have long memories and they haven't forgotten how the Russians treated them every time they controlled Ukraine.
I also feel sorry for all the Orthodox who have split from the Moscow Patriarchate and those who were still subject to Putin's stooge, Kyrill, but who opposed the war. Their lot will not be much better than the Eastern Catholics'.