You repeat history if you forget it

I am a big fan of geo-politics and more so of history
I love reading wikipedia on an arbit subject I would type in and then keep on clicking away on related or embedded links and seeing what and where that leads me to.

This Saturday I spent a good part of the day reading on the kulaks in Soviet history, then going on to reading on the Soviet history itself and its a pretty dark, sad and un-nerving one.
Soviet Union was ruled effectively by 4 people till it was dismantled; the no of people Stalin got killed or purged as its referred to runs easly into a few 10's of millions and the error factor (ie what the esitmates may be worng by) is something like 5-7mn (its as if you were talking of ants and not people).

Its very strange that a super-power came crashing down in a matter of months post a failed coup; but when you read more into it; its pretty clear that it was bound to happen.
The Soviet society was based on fear; it is estimated that a good proportion of kulaks killed were not kulaks at all; each and every member of the State Police was suposed to show results and they went overboard on it; again absolute dis-regard for human life or any value system.
Forget all that ... how can any govt pass an order to have its own people killed ..? NKVD Order No 99447
One logic a prof in JNU (where I grew up in Delhi) gave me was they were anti-govt; and I was like God what a doofus; you blame America and all its pursuits and you are actually justifying this shit.
In case you dont get it I HATE Communists; they are definitely by far the worst of the lot; Soviet Union enslaved its own people into gulags; invaded and occupied parts of Eatern Europe for a brief spell in the late '60s; put up the Berlin Wall; invaded Afghanistan ... and none of the Commies called any of this an imperialist pursuit;
I mean come on!! What is it then; a call for lunch?

In that country between 1960s and 1970s poets and writers were just picked up and sent to the KGB HQs for interrogation; most were tortured and disposed off or sent out to Siberia. In fact some of those who did sort out their lives in Siberia and improve their lifestyle were again brought back or sent to gulags (slave labor camps)

Whats the point of this blog then?
We are moving into a society which is heading there again.
Look at Russia right now; Russians seem to be happy that they are very rich now and have had good growth coming in; but then thats not ALL thanks to Mr Putin; ok he is a strong man and all that but Russia has more to thank its natural resources esp gas, oil and now the metal commodities.
Putin knows that and thats why he is behaving like a spoilt brat; passing funny comments at embassy meets; cutting off gas supply to Ukraine and EU, going to Iran and offering that nation nuclear fuel. And then the thing of resigning from Presidency only to re-elect himself as PM; simple ways of staying in power.
And thats where the problem lies; Russians may feel wealthy & rightfully so, but they still live in fear; fear from Putin's men (KGB is back, now its called FSB but its far stronger and worse than its predecessor); already free press is an oxy-moron in Russia; and then Putin has Russian defectors and reporters killed in other nations.
An avg Russian has no clue whether European are allies or not as it depends on what side of the bed Putin gets off from ... all this leads to one thing again and thats Russians are going more and more inwards in terms of perspective and not trusting anyone and living in fear.

And thats why I am scared; if the commodity cycle craps out suddenly, and it will sooner or later, I mean crude cant stay @ $90/barrel for long w/o an effective subsitutes coming up (I am talking a few years; not like tomorrow) then Russia will be like a beggar everyone wants to ridicule because of its high handedness at present.
THEN the problem will start; because when economics fails; there is increased rumbling as unasked Qs become more stronger; then the society wakes up and says fukk you. Then you have purges happening again and then you will have a possible war to break out for Putin (or whoever is ruling Russia then) so as to divert attention elsewhere.

It may sound like a far fetched theory; but Russian/Soviet leaders have more often than not used this step to stay in power and this is like a few centuries old.

So much so for my analysis; I think China will be a great eg for Russians to work along as; Chinese are way too smart.
Indian policy and say in foreign matters has improved dramtically but I think we need to be aggressive and have a government without the Commies there.

In case you are wondering why such a long discourse; well the Commies in India have initiated a few changes in the Indian markets and I may be a statistical input no one appreciates; so I wanted to see what exactly are these Commies proud about; Russia/Soviet Union ... no way; China .. well China is far more capitalist than USA right now.
The only possible success stories could be North Korea and Cuba ... well you can have both of them.
And you dont want me to start on North Korea; I can write or 2 days on that country and its "Dear Leader".

Cheerio and all that!