I have come to the conclusion, with considerable unhappiness that Putin is the new Stalin and just as President Xi is taking China back to the days of Mao, so Putin is taking Russia back to the days of Stalin. And in both cases, those were dark days where many suffered unjustly. Why do I suggest this. Consider the following which come directly out of Stalin's playbook.
Those who disagreed with Stalin paid for that disagreement with their lives, imprisonment (Siberia) or torture. The same is happening under Putin. He has killed his enemies in Russia and outside of Russia, has imprisoned thousands and even a statement of opposition to the current war can get you fifteen years in ugly Russian prisons. And, like Stalin he seems to care not what the rest of the world thinks.
Putin, like Stalin dresses actions with a veneer of judicial "fairness." Time and again, charges against his political enemies have been decided before a trial which is simply window dressing.
Subordinates would not tell Stalin what they really thought for fear of their jobs or lives. Neither does it seem that Putin's people are willing to speak truthfully with him if it means disagreeing with him.
Stalin was willing to kill people indiscriminately to accomplish his purposes without an ounce of remorse. He starved the Ukraine killing millions, and shot those who got in his way, or that he thought might get in his way. Putin used these kinds of tactics in Chechnya, Syria and now in Ukraine. People's deaths don't bother him. Shelling hospitals and schools and residential areas is a war tactic. Millions of refugees does not phase him. He will do whatever he needs to in order to accomplish his ends. Without apology and without conscience. There is a ruthlessness to both men that defies logic or humanity.
Putin, like Stalin is a liar to the core of his being. Both believe that the more you say something untrue the more the population will embrace the lie. And in many cases that is what happens. It is impossible to believe anything that Putin says and the same was true of Stalin.
Stalin tightly controlled the media in order to ensure that his party line was the one line that was communicated. Putin does the same thing and has essentially shut down any independent media in the country by passing laws that lie about the war or the country or its leaders. Of course the definition of a lie is whatever Putin does not want to hear.
Putin sees himself as a Tsar - one who is all powerful, always has the final say and whom no one can cross. While Stalin would not have thought of himself that way, he cultivated the same result by ruthlessly eliminating any and all rivals. Putin, like Stalin is consumed by his legacy and power.
Both men were and are deeply suspicious of people of faith. Stalin closed the churches and imprisoned or killed pastors. Putin has co-opted the Russian Orthodox Church for his own political purposes and has made the lives of evangelicals very difficult. The Orthodox church has made a Faustian bargain with Putin and benefits monetarily from that bargain (or did till the ruble became worthless). Evangelical Christians who will not make such a bargain are harassed, denied building permits or the ability to minister as they desire.
Both Stalin and Putin are characterized by an utter lack of any sense of righteousness. For them it does not exist. What matters is raw unadulterated power. Period. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of that power or their personal will can be sacrificed at will.
What characterizes both men is the utter disregard of what the world thinks of them. Apart from wanting to be feared, they are willing to engage in war crimes, killings, corrupted judicial proceedings and blunt force to get their way regardless of world opinion. It takes a very cold and ruthless heart to go there but that is what we are dealing with.
