"Conversion of Russia" Update

Stalin Statues Rise Again in Russia

by Christopher A. Ferrara

       Of course we knew this was coming. Now that Vladimir Putin is the neo-Stalinist dictator of Russia, it was only a matter of time before he began to pay public tribute to his role model. On January 19, 2005 Reuters news reported that "Moscow plans to erect a new statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, returning his once-ubiquitous image to its streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said Wednesday."

        Reuters notes the mysterious "coincidence" that since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000 (the very year the Vatican’s Cardinal Ratzinger and Msgr. Bertone tried to consign Fatima to the past by "interpreting" the Fatima prophecies as fully accomplished) "a number of Soviet symbols -- including the national anthem and an army flag -- have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for Russia's communist years."

        Ah yes, the Russian people are just pining away for the good old days of Joe Stalin — yet another sign of their "conversion" as proclaimed by the resolutely delusional Fr. Robert Fox.

        As Reuters notes, however, "rehabilitation of Stalin, who was denounced after his death in 1953 by the Soviet leadership for encouraging a cult of personality and killing millions of real and imagined opponents, has previously been out of bounds. Statues of Stalin were removed from Moscow's public spaces in the 1960s."

        But now, thanks to Russia’s "conversion," Stalin is making a comeback! And not just in Moscow. According to Interfax news agency "a Stalin monument would also be built in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border to mark the Soviet victory against Nazi Germany 60 years ago -- seen as the country's greatest military triumph." We can surely expect to see Stalin statues sprouting everywhere in Russia in the days to come.

        Not only that, but "In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, state television channels have shown a number of prime-time television shows in recent months depicting him in a positive light." Note carefully, dear reader: state television channels have been showing Stalin in a positive light. The fact is that the state now owns the entire Russian mass media thanks to Putin, who over the past four years has systematically seized all of Russia’s independent media outlets by having their owners indicted or exiled on trumped-up criminal charges.

        Week after week, year after year, fatima.org has told you the truth about Fatima and Russia. God willing, the truth will continue to be published here, thanks to the untiring labors of Fr. Nicholas Gruner, who willingly suffers the slings and arrows of the Enlightened Ones of the post-conciliar ecclesial establishment. It is my privilege to lend him some assistance in that cause.