Points of View

Two books with a similar theme – one that appeals to me.

They both cover the years after the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) up to the end of the Second World War; events that happened less than a century ago and yet I am only beginning to grasp their significance. They both rely on first hand accounts and I am impressed by the compendious (a word hitherto not deployed here) bibliographies at the end of both. Of course Chips Channon, Virginia Cowles, Missie, Mary Alison (Miss May) and no doubt others have been recommended here but these two books are a recommendation for those not wanting to go to the source but to get a broader insight into what was happening in Germany and Russia. How two great nations were brainwashed by a charismatic but flawed demagogue and a paranoid dictator. Alan Philps, writing in January 2023, draws a comparison between Stalin and Putin. Although he has been a frequent visitor to the Hotel Metropol as a journalist I doubt he will be welcome in Moscow today. Here are the conclusions he draws.

”As these words are written, there is stalemate on the battlefied. The survival of Ukraine depends in large part on the continued flow of American weaponry. Just as Stalin spared no effort to manipulate the media and keep the Western onside during the Second World War, victory for Putin now depends on him doing the opposite: undermining American support for Ukraine so that Washington tires of being Ukraine’s armourer at a time when the United States should be focusing on China not Europe. America bowing out of the fight would leave President Zelenskyy outgunned by Russia, and forced to accept humiliating peace terms. Just as Stalin insisted on total control of wartime propaganda, we can be sure that Putin will use every weapon available in his arsenal, from the broadcast propaganda of his TV stations to the darker arts of social media manipulation and and the hacking of emails, to turn American opinion against the Ukrainians That is his path to turn what looks like defeat into victory.” (The Red Hotel, the Untold Story of Stalin’s Disinformation War, Alan Philps)

Much depends on the next President of the United States and that is why President Zelensky is pushing ahead faster than may be prudent to avoid a stalemate that might take Ukraine back to where it was under Stalin.

When this track was released in 1968 the group was accused of being un-American. “How observant”, John Lennon remarked dryly.