http://fearlesshistory.today.com/2008/12/17/the-most-controversial-post-yet/ Making History as personal as a punch in the face Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:13:52 +0000 http://www.today.com/version-2.3.1 http://fearlesshistory.today.com/2008/12/17/the-most-controversial-post-yet/#comment-153 vetmichael Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:51:12 +0000 http://fearlesshistory.today.com/2008/12/17/the-most-controversial-post-yet/#comment-153 Well, the most popular historic theory is that an alliance with Israel seemed natural for Stalin both because of the Socialist leanings (the Kibbutz is a farming collective, afterall) and because [perhaps more importantly] it allowed the Russians/Soviets into the Middle East. The Middle East was (and still is) a place the Russians had been fighting with Britain over for centuries - it was called "The Great Game" in the 19th century. Since the United States was the new antagonist in The Great Game, as well as a surrogate for Britain, it made a natural match. Surprisingly, despite all the Bolshevik rhetoric about a new regime and obliterating the Czarist past, the Soviet Union pretty much acted like it was a Romanov dynastic successor; aspirations to control Poland and the Balkans, for example, led to disaster for Russia but were a fait accompli for the Soviet Union after WWII. Well, the most popular historic theory is that an alliance with Israel seemed natural for Stalin both because of the Socialist leanings (the Kibbutz is a farming collective, afterall) and because [perhaps more importantly] it allowed the Russians/Soviets into the Middle East. The Middle East was (and still is) a place the Russians had been fighting with Britain over for centuries - it was called “The Great Game” in the 19th century. Since the United States was the new antagonist in The Great Game, as well as a surrogate for Britain, it made a natural match. Surprisingly, despite all the Bolshevik rhetoric about a new regime and obliterating the Czarist past, the Soviet Union pretty much acted like it was a Romanov dynastic successor; aspirations to control Poland and the Balkans, for example, led to disaster for Russia but were a fait accompli for the Soviet Union after WWII.

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