Unimaginable

[poliphilo]

Twelve million people died during the Russian Civil War.

Then along came Stalin and he killed and he killed and he killed.

Thirty million Soviet citizens died during World War II

But Russia is still there and not notably underpopulated and some people lived through the whole bloody shambles and are still walking around today.

And we Brits go on about how brave we are because the Germans once dropped a few bombs on London.

Comments

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

Actually, Russia is increasingly depopulated but that's more due to low birth rates and the tendency of much of the populace to drink itself to death at an early age.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Is it any surprise they drink themselves to death with the history they've had?

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

Regrettably, I suspect the present they have is more the issue. This is something that has gathered pace considerably since the fall of communism.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to say.

That Russia's experience of "freedom" should be more debilitating than its experience of totalitarian control is horrifying.

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

More here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4125072.stm and here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3984951.stm

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

"They stress that a number of simple, if unpopular, measures, such as putting up the price of alcohol or forcing people to wear seatbelts, might make a lasting difference."

Extraordinary......