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My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

newyorker.com

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Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#51

Post by jjtheblunt »

chasil wrote: post #7
chasil wrote: post #5

She was very lonely as her life went on, and longed for her homeland. This much I know about Svetlana, many who bear that name.

There was a story about Ayn Rand's sister. She came to visit in New York, and was bewildered by the vast array of toothpaste in a local grocery store. She was so accustomed to shortages, and expected queues, that she could not accept the immediacy and availability of commerce in the U.S. She did not stay long.

I'm born in the United States and had a Russian girlfriend for a year+ in grad school: same thing, went to modern supermarket and she was freaked out with choices overload. I understood when she described it, but it was something i had tuned out unknowingly since being a little kid.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#52

Post by akomtu »

narrator wrote: post #36
cm2187 wrote: post #19

On Stalin, I recommend the HBO movie "Stalin" with a Robert Duvall playing a very realistic Stalin. The movie also covers his tortuous relationship with his daughter. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105462/

Montefiore's "Young Stalin" which covers his life from birth to the revolution is a wild book. I like Montefiore because he has a real respect for the maniac genius and energy of the guy. What kind of person does it take to overthrow a whole society? "Court of the Red Tzar" is less fun and more of a portrait of him using his enormous capacity to work and execute to relentlessly grind out his plans to take over the wo…

Stalin's cognitive ability was dismal. His strength was his ability to connect with the infernal side of human nature. This made him an adept manipulator, this gave him the unusual energy spikes after such "connections" and this gave him a depressing aura that bent people's will. The price for such abilities is being a "puppet of the shadowy cabal", using your metaphor.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#53

Post by narrator »

akomtu wrote: post #52
narrator wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Montefiore's "Young Stalin" which covers his life from birth to the revolution is a wild book. I like Montefiore because he has a real respect for the maniac genius and energy of the guy. What kind of person does it take to overthrow a whole society? "Court of the Red Tzar" is less fun and more of a portrait of him using his enormous capacity to work and execute to relentlessly grind out his plans to take over the wo…

Stalin's cognitive ability was dismal. His strength was his ability to connect with the infernal side of human nature. This made him an adept manipulator, this gave him the unusual energy spikes after such "connections" and this gave him a depressing aura that bent people's will. The price for such abilities is being a "puppet of the shadowy cabal", using your metaphor.

Who controlled him? Absolutely nobody. He had anyone who attempted to executed.

He was a maniac for sure, and a total jerk, but a brilliant one. In "Court of the Red Tzar" after he achieves all his narcissistic glory by winning world war II he starts torturing his inner circle making them drink to the point of passing out on a regular basis trying to find any flaws in their loyalty.

The real hero of that book is Anastas Mikoyan. The guy survives Lenin, Stalin and even Khrushchev and Brezhnev kept him around. He keeps his dignity, plays a key role in defeating fascism and his brother ran a damned good aircraft design bureau the whole way through.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#54

Post by mathattack »

andrew_mason1 wrote: post #33
trissylegs wrote: post #30

Theres a podcast on iHeartRadio called Svetlana! Sventlana! I haven't listened to it yet. But I have heard the Ad too many times. (Outside the US podcast ads are mostly for other podcasts) https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-svetlana-svetlana-107693...

> (Outside the US podcast ads are mostly for other podcasts) You're not missing out much these days; most ads in the US are for other podcasts now, too.

Or for Athletic Greens. :-)

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#55

Post by hn_version_0023 »

ozim wrote: post #50
the_omegist wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...living the American Dream...

Isn’t it point of American dream that anyone can make it?

That's why the call it the American Dream. Because you have to be asleep to believe it. -- G. Carlin

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#56

Post by Hikikomori »

trissylegs wrote: post #30

Theres a podcast on iHeartRadio called Svetlana! Sventlana! I haven't listened to it yet. But I have heard the Ad too many times. (Outside the US podcast ads are mostly for other podcasts) https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-svetlana-svetlana-107693...

...and a neurotic playwright.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#57

Post by WeylandYutani »

I always respected Stalin for not giving his family special privileges. His son was captured by the Nazis during the invasion and when Stalin heard it he wasn't happy that he let himself be taken alive. The Germans actually thought they had a propaganda coup. Oh how wrong they were nobody in the Kremlin gave a shit.

It is a far cry from the pathetic excuses leading Russia today who use his name but drink champagne in foreign 5 star hotels far away from the front.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#59

Post by simple-thoughts »

lapama wrote: post #48

Just asking: is there a possibility that this could be a cold-war era PR story? I ask because I feel it is all totally perfect.

I have no idea. But an itinerant individual constantly on the move with repeated divorces, bad relation with children, ill temperament yet intelligent, and a suspiciously convenient story at the American embassy in India makes the entire story seem a bit of a “rich heiress” one.

Re: My Friend, Stalin’s Daughter (2014)

#60

Post by kwere »

Prbeek wrote: post #40
chasil wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a story about Ayn Rand's sister. She came to visit in New York, and was bewildered by the vast array of toothpaste in a local grocery store. She was so accustomed to shortages, and expected queues, that she could not accept the immediacy and availability of commerce in the U.S. She did not stay long.

People who conquered space but running an economy was where they drew the line.

the economy was designed to service the politburo elites, the army, and (maybe) the capital cities. It kinda worked for its intended purposes, a semi-artisanal system, squashed by bureaucracy and political hires dictacted by realpolitik.
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