Russian history.

Look no further than the UK for vile self serving leaders ,in case you've missed the lying ,cheating, thieveing clown who takes MONEY off the Russians .He's hardly one to be proud of .
Pot ,kettle .black springs to mind ..Bojo may not be bombing innocents but he and his cohorts have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of their own countrymen/women with many more in the year ahead because of their policies .Oh and WE have weapons of mass destruction too....

Some good questions, Fennel.

What has happened since 1917 has been horrendous with the exception of a few years,
However, I think Russia under the Tsars had considerable problems too. Such a huge country must be difficult to govern.

Democracy such as we enjoy here is long way off there.

Stalin was easily as bad as Putin. It’s not new.

Without doubt Russia under the tsars had ‘considerable problems’. That’s why there was a revolution.

I don’t think you can compare the UK government with someone who is aggressively attacking a neighbouring country. Stalin was Russian he did a lot of damage.
There is a question about who caused the most deaths Hitler or Stalin somewhere in the region of 10 to 12 million. But Mao beats them all at between 45 and 55 million.
Putin also has a wee way to go to catch up on these sort of figures.

FFS it's not a competition!

Any dictator or royal ruler who disregards the needs/lives of the majority of citizens is as bad as the other 1000 or 100000000 lives does not make one less evil than the other!

Those figures make me want to put my head in my hands and weep Jumblygran. All those wasted lives, dreams and talents. All those people who might have brought about peace, cured illnesses, led countries to prosperity and greatness or just had happy families and peaceful lives.

Mao and his ‘Great Leap Forward’ project was devastating. I read a book 2 years ago. 55 million lives were sacrificed in the experiment.
?
The people of China had no chance. Starvation due to corruption on a grand scale. Almost the whole population of the UK just wiped out from 1958 to 1962.

It is a good question Fennel. It seems that every generation, somewhere in the world there are malign leaders, often people who have come from troubled backgrounds themselves. What sets them apart is that they don’t see the value in human life, so people who stand in their way are destroyed.

the resulting comments from the op were all on another thread just the other day!

You've lost me there lemsip.
Can you give a link?

I've been watching Nicholas and Alexandra on Netflix. It's an interesting drama documentary with a clear explanation of the downfall of the Romanovs. Russia entered WW1 to fight against Austria and Germany and lost millions of soldiers and in the process lost the support of the aristocracy.

Earlier today a Russian author was interviewed on Channel 4 news. I didn't catch his name but he is totally opposed to the war and thinks that eventually the army will revolt. He mentioned boycotts of Russian culture - composers, authors, dramatists etc and said that if this happened it would only add to Putin's support within Russia. I sincerely hope that no one is doing this.

Yes you are right PECS it is not a competition.
Absolute power just does corrupt.