Alexander Arkhangelsky is consistently one of the more thoughtful and original voices on Russia out there, and – here’s the weird part – he actually works for the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.  Certainly there is a major difference between a pure propaganda outlet like RussiaToday and the basic wire reports of RIA, but as a commentator it is great to see this one dandelion pop up through the concrete of state media.  Here, via Russia Profile, he makes an argument against the revival of Joseph Stalin posters by Moscow authorities for the Victory Day march, drawing comparisons with how Germany has dealt with its own past.

In reality, yes – Stalin and Hitler are essentially two different manifestations of the global evil, very different. And communism and Nazism are incongruous forms of state dehumanization. To say that they are no different means to replace understanding with a slogan. In turn, there are very significant differences between Hitler’s national-socialism, Mussolini’s fascism and Franco’s authoritarianism.