Richard - I think it is not about hindsight, but who you associate with.

Karen Anne - wow, you have some Lithuanian roots. I have been to Lithuania once and I fell in love with this beautiful country. It is very different from Russia, where everything is huge. If you are on a train and you are going through taiga (forest), you would be seeing it for days, if these are fields, it is miles and miles.

Lithuania is like other European countries, small and everything is on a more human scale. You see a field, then there is a lake, a forest, and then a hillside. The eye is never bored.

They are going through a difficult time. They were independent and free from 1918 until 1940. One would think that what;s the problem, now you are free again. But it is a very slow and painful process. You can't simply say "bye socialism, hi capitalism". Capitalism is not a candy for deserting socialism, like many in the Eastern block think. It is more sweat than you ever imagined, and sweating is out of the question for many.

It is easier to rewrite a history book adjusting it to the new ruler, but it is way more difficult to make even a small step in any direction after destroying people's sense of ownership, individuality, entrepreneurship.

Bill - this is unfortunate. My 17-year old grandson does not understand that he has grandparents, and I never had them, as they were exterminated by Nazi in 1941, and they were not in the army, they were not fighting, they simply happen to be Jews, and Jews in Russia.

Hitler for him is not really that far from Batman

Lenn - we all have. Some are worrying at the U-turn, others are enjoying fresh air. I am among those who is worrying about the U-turn, as I think we could get something better for the trillions of dollars wasted than just... fresh air.

Isn't fresh air the biggest commodity for politicians?

Mike - I responded to Bill's comment, and did not even think of what you made me think. The funny thing is that you, guys, here in America knew about it, but we back there in the Soviet Union didn't. It is not that I am reminding you about it, it is my relatively knew knowledge, and many there still did not get it,and with the efforts of today;s government in Russian, they would not. And that is scary part. Not denouncing a indecent and wrong move, but justify it as historical necessity.

Russians like to remind the world about the Munich's shameful agreement of 1938. Rightfully so. But it was denounced by every nation.

Russia's politics is not based on humanity or morals, only on today's convenience.

Patricia - let's hope that this is just for history books.

Scott - Due to my age and background, I am very suspicious of Presidents trying the make a country a better place. I would say that I would feel more comfortable with the administration trying to preserve what is already done by other generations and build on that, rather then destroying it with the promise of reaching a brilliant future.

It is like promising to buildpalaces instead of shabby houses, but for that they need to level the shabbyhouses. And we all know that there is enough money for bulldozer only. But we are told not to worry because the minute we start tearing the houses down, the money miraculously would pop up in huge quantities.

So far we have watched billions disappearing in that miracle even since last January, but have not a single $billion miraculously falling from the blue.

As I said, I wholeheartedly agree with you that we are getting a lot of fresh air for Trillions of dollars.

Tim - I know that it is very tempting to see them in the same light as you see politicians in the US, but it is not the same. And the difference is so many times greater than the similarities.

I amy sound naive but in the US people do have power. They can elect and impeach. It may not be easy, but there is a due process and the mechanisms to do that.

You do not have that in Russia and for many reasons. Politicians and political landscape, and political culture there is very different, and on the other side the electorate is very different. It is the political frolicking under the sheets behind the scenes, pure power struggle.

But we have enough scare with our politicians here, so let's leave Russia alone. I do not think there will be serious changes in that respect for a long time to come. If they never condemned their bloody past, how can they build a democratic society? It is just a new name for the old game, and Putin is the soldier and the Master of it.

Charles - How true. Who would have imagined that in Russia, which suffered so much in WWII, skinheads with swastikas would be marching the downtown? Would anyone try it in 1965, he would be killed on the spot by angry people.

Veterans were the role models. Now they are very old, and do not look like heroes. They live poor miserable lives, and younger generation would rather not see them at all, and even less to admire.

Such a shame

Tchaka - The Soviet ideology (and socialist ideology in general) is based on practical applicability at any given moment, so alligning with Hitler was just a calculated move. They made a choice between Great Britain, and the rest of Western Europe and Hitler. As for what they write and what they say, the can't care less.

I suspect the West did not do a stellar diplomatic job in their negotiations with the Soviets, but to a degree I think it was not even that relevant. I think Stalin sensed that in the long run, they would be a stronger opponents to his expansion (not difference in the globality of plans to instill their regime on other nations) than Hitler, who, in their calculations, would be so weakened in the exhaustive war, that would become an easy target for the Soviets.

There is no decency and no morals there. If you read the newspapers published half a year prior to signing the Pact, they were so anti-germany, so blatantly aggressively against... and then 2 months prior to the signing the tone changed. No attacking of fascism, now we friends, doing business together.

Both had daggers behind their backs, and were just looking to stub the others. In a word - great partners.

Scott - history lessons work both ways. We become a better place is very different from Obama is trying to make America a better place. The difference is between democracies where people are moving in certain directions and certain individuals with power moving the nations in certain directions.

Unless, of course, you live  in Utopia called belief in one great man's powers