The day is almost upon the world when Russia may very well be the last defence against the greatest threat to the world and humanitys march to captivity in this most cunning game of chess unless they too have been already been seduced by this new order..As sure as the dawn turns to dusk the hour is coming when soveirgn nations will be hated and the individual is no more.

I wonder if he would be so bold enough to say "Russia strongly opposes the rewriting of the history of Stalin in attempts to fight falsehoods about Russia's role in World War II"? Russia is like an abused wife whose husband beats her, yet she still remains faithful and says "I know he really loves me." Russia, it's time to get out of this abusive marriage that you have with a delusional view of Stalin. Russia defeated Nazi Germany DESPITE the fact that Stalin was in control. Had a more sensible leader been at the helm you would have undoubtedly had significantly less losses. Russian prisoners returning from Nazi camps wouldn't have been imprisoned in and many killed. Citizens whose only crime was living in a Nazi occupied zone wouldn't have faced persecution and murder. Numerous military leaders wouldn't have been executed over nothing. Defenses would have been adequately prepared before the Nazi's invaded. But this history IS being rewritten in Russia today. Though Medvedev and Putin and others do get up and cross their fingers while saying things like "The atrocities of Stalin must never be repeated" his image gets paraded around the country on Victory Day. Of course, nothing is said about this. If you want Europe and the US to be enlightened to the USSR's role in the war then start by enlightening your own people to what you know is absolutely, without a doubt positively true.

I agree, Russia is emotional to the point of living in unreality in regard to some matters pertaining to WW2. But this unrealistic emotionality is not merely the product of its WW2 sacrifices – all of Europe and beyond suffered in the war, yet no one makes quite the same deal of it as Russia. The imminent May celebrations are not a military memorial – they are the elaborate rituals of a secular religion. Russia has deliberately elevated its WW2 experience to a level approximating mysticism to serve as a covering to avoid dealing with the facts of its Soviet-era national and international criminality. And now that the facts of that criminality have irrevocably emerged anyway, Russia gets extremely defensive over the mysticism it has created. Even its coined term, “Great Patriotic War”, is misleading. For Russia, it was not just a war of defence and patriotism, but an imperial war of foreign conquest, a way-station towards the imposition of Soviet ideology upon all the world. The Soviet Union was the only country to emerge from the war with more national territory than it had when it entered. If Russia just kept its Soviet-era mythology to itself, that would be one thing. But Russia does not do this; it constantly seeks to obligate others with its myths and when they decline to play along, vehemently accuses them of some pretty vile things, like “re-writing history”, of being Nazis, of practising apartheid on the basis of alleged Nazi ideology, of desecrating war graves, etc. etc. Russia’s neighbours don’t appreciate such thoroughly unpleasant outbursts endlessly directed against them. So when Russia’s Foreign Minister once again and for the umpteenth time obliquely accuses them of “rewriting history”, it is entirely appropriate to respond by evoking the adage, “put up or shut up” – ie, either provide actual evidence to back up those claims, or drop the accusations already.

Marzipam6, You know as well as I do that Russia is paranoid and overly sensitive in defense of her involvement in the Great Patriotic War. Therefore, Russia tends to overreact to even the smallest criticisms or slights concerning this war. Russia made a tremendous blood sacrifice to defeat the invading Nazis and will react emotionally to any attempts to undermine the glory of the Red Army. A concern of the Russians seems to be their perceived awe for German forces fighting on the Eastern Front in some of the former USSR republics, Western Europe and in the US. Russia is simply taking preemptive action to ensure that Russian cause in the war is not tarnished or mitigated in any way. Lavrov is concerned that the West's zeal in condemning Stalin's horrible crimes will somehow tarnish the valor of the Red Army fighting the Nazis. I believe this is an understandable concern, even though you may not agree with me. I can't, at the moment, cite specific examples you are asking, but I do recall reading in some Western literature the claim that Russian contribution to the defeat of Germany was not as significant as the Russians believe it was. I suppose such claims might irritate the Russians.

RT: "According to the Russian foreign minister, Saakashvili “genetically has an imperial attitude toward minorities” who are living on the territory of his country, and that’s what he demonstrated in August 2008." Saakashvil i has the same "imperial attitude" towards his own Georgian people. Initially , in 2003 - 2004, there was great excitement that Saakashvili is the Messiah who will sweep away the Eduard Shevardnadze family corruption, and bring true democracy to Georgia. But, alas, Saakashvili turned out to be just another despot that America has a long history of supporting to foster their own interests at the expense of the local people. Gone is the excitement and hope the Georgian people had for the American sponsored "Rose revolution". Unfortunately for the Georgian people, Saakashvili has such a lock on the political, economic, financial and media realms of the country that there currently is no chance for an opposition party to embark on a serious campaign to contest Saakashvili's presidency.

Lavrov is quoted as saying, “Russia strongly opposes the rewriting of the history of World War II in attempts to fight Stalinism.” This Russian thrust really has to stop, as it does Russia no credit. I challenge Lavrov, the RT, contributors to the forum – anyone at all – to provide one incident where anyone apart from Russia itself has altered any account of history. Please detail what the account was altered from, what it was altered to, by whom, and when. Every country apart from Russia has the same understanding of WW2 as it has always had. But for the past 90 years at least, about each couple of decades Russia rolls out a new and fundamentally different version of its history. And ironically, it is Russia, from its highest levels on down, that accuses nameless and faceless others of “rewriting history.”