Stalin wasn't such a bad guy...

The Kremlin in the Putin era has often sought to maintain as much sway over the portrayal of history as over the governance of the country. In seeking to restore Russia's standing, Putin and other officials have stoked a nationalism that glorifies Soviet triumphs while playing down or even whitewashing the system's horrors.

As a result, throughout Russia, many archives detailing killings, persecution and other such acts committed by the Soviet authorities have become increasingly off-limits. The role of the security services seems especially delicate, perhaps because Putin is a former KGB agent who headed the agency's successor, the FSB, in the late 1990s.

I was shocked to see the New York Times (via the International Herald Tribune) pointing out that Russia has been whitewashing their past and purging Stalin's little daliances. Perhaps they think that Stalin is getting shortchanged here. An interesting read none-the-less.