Long Memories

It is often unwise to engage in triumphalism when one hasn't really won.

It is even less wise when one is celebrating mass murder in the very land where the slaughter was committed and there are still survivors around with long memories.

Case in point.

The same statue had been damaged last week in an explosion claimed by a Ukrainian nationalist group, Tryzub (Trident), which denounced Stalin as "the executioner of the Ukrainian people and an international terrorist."

Stalin is a deeply divisive figure in Ukraine, which is sharply split between its nationalist west and pro-Russian supporters in the east who take a fonder view of the Soviet past.

Yes, blowing up a statue of Stalin is criminal property damage.

That said, the irony of seeing the Communist Party of Ukraine make a claim of private property rights to file charges is just sauce for the goose.