December 21st - a date that will live in infamy

Today (OK, it's after midnight and technically the 22nd here, but in the States it's still the 21st) is the birthday of my very good friend Margaret. I am going to send her a congratulatory email wishing her all the very best in her 22nd year (she is turning 21 on the 21st today!) and also wishing her to share as few traits as possible with some of the famous political figures with whom she shares a birthday.

The one most remembered in Russia today was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin) - or "Joe Sta-LEEN," as I will never forget hearing him called with admiration by an elderly DC cabbie who had been in the USSR during the course of his WWII service in the US Navy - a leader who presided over mass murder within his own country but also over Russia's transition to an industrialized nation. Today was a "round date," as Russians say ("kruglaya data") for old Uncle Joe - he would have been 125 years old if Soviet scientists could just have found a way to keep him alive, and who knows what the world would look like if they had.

In honor of the occasion, I ventured to my favorite bookstore in town and headed straight for the antiquarian section in the basement, where I was able to find this pamphlet with the text of Stalin's May 4, 1935, speech to Red Army Academy graduates:



OK, I actually went to the bookstore for other reasons, but I thought the visual aid would be good for the blog, and so I picked it up - just 200 rubles (kind of a rip-off, actually). If you are in a celebratory mood, see also this interesting web resource - Songs about Stalin.

Some Russians apparently think this date is cause for celebration - according to a survey by the Levada Center, 21% of Russians agree with the statement that Stalin was a "wise" ruler; and 16% agree with the statement that the Russian people require a harsh ruler like Stalin. The total of those two groups outweighs the percentage (31%) of respondents agreeing with the statement that Stalin was a tyrant. See my previous post on illiberalism below.

Other excessively single-minded and perhaps marginally unstable political figures born on this date in this part of the world:

- Dmitri Rogozin, leader of the Rodina ("Motherland") political party here in Russia - perhaps my least favorite Russian politician for his smug mien and misguided nationalism.

- Mikheil Saakashvili, the genius behind the Rose Revolution and currently the president of Georgia (Tbilisi, not Hot-lanta) as a result.

Apparently December 21st is the birthday of Jane Fonda and Phil Donahue as well. What does it all mean? I encourage any astrologically minded readers to comment, since I have no idea.