There are many things I’ve been able to shake my head at recently. The Provincial Government rescinding already awarded high school students’ university scholarships, a fortnight before lectures start; the same Government reneging on paying a few million in arts funding because ‘things have changed’, even though there’s effectively already a contractual agreement to provide those specific funds to those specific groups for those specific projects; the same Government cancelling all organised school athletic programmes, suggesting as an alternative that perhaps the students could play in the park or dance instead (no, I’m not making that up; the fact that music programmes were also cut seemed to have eluded their attention); the same Government stating that they don’t feel like honouring the agreement to turn over one-third of all gaming revenue to community arts programmes, even though that’s why they justified getting into the gambling industry in the first place; the same Government continuing to forge ahead with the building of a great big billion-dollar bridge to replace the existing one, even though a replacement wasn’t scheduled to be required for at least another five years, and the current one is in fine shape, thank you very much…
I could go on and on, and haven’t even got past the Province of British Columbia.
Let’s face it, I do go on and on here a fair bit.
However, this morning brought news of a fresh bit of mind-boggling incomprehensibility: a libel suit against a Russian newspaper for maligning the name of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, or “Joseph Stalin” as he was known to the West (I’d have provided a more faithful rendition of his name, but the blog doesn’t seem to like cyrillic characters).
Yes, someone is suing a newspaper for uttering the slander that ‘Uncle Joe’ signed documents ordering the death of then-Soviet citizens; something which he did do, as I recall. I also recall that ‘slander’ doesn’t exist when verifiable facts are stated. Which confuses me, given that this is the situation.
The suit is filed on behalf of the late General Secretary of the Communist Party of, and simultaneous Premier of, the Soviet Union by his grandson. Presumably Granddad is remembered for presents and playing with puppies around the dacha. The memory of him then eating said puppies live has probably faded a bit over time.
To learn about this insane legal matter, and read the mind-blowing statements about how the Soviet Union was a better place under his ‘strong management style’ (current Russian history-book description of him), head to the article on the BBC site here.
Ian Alexander Martin [
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