Russyan History: Rewrite !

   The Panfilov 28, a near mythical story of heroism and defiance in the face of a Nazi attack on Moscova during WW II, appears to have been just that: a myth.   After a post battle story was published by a Russyan journalist looking to make Joe Stalin look good, the story of 28 soldiers who stood against Nazi tanks at the gates  was fabricated from the beginning.
    Years after the event, actual named participants who were dead, turned up alive.  Now what?  Well, news show Vesti, says the whole affair was a myth created to foster defiance among the citizenry during the dark days of the war when Russya's very survival was in question.   Now, as has often happened,  modern Russyans must reconstruct their history.   But this is nothing new.  It's a fact of life among all Russyans: change historical fact be eliminating all references to actual events; then creat new events to support current trends.
     Ah, Russya, gotta love this vast country, biggest in the world.  But not really serious.

Michael Khodarkovsky
       Professor Khodarkovsky teaches at Loyola University in Chicago.  He was born in the Soviet Union and grew up under the old soviet system of government, gone since 1989.  He authored a recent article published in the WSJ -wsj.com. 
      He points out with specific evidence that the Kremlin under Mr. Putin is moving down a path familiar to many Russyans:  if we disagree with historical facts, we will  rewrite them, eliminate them, condemn them, and drive all dissidents out of the country, the world's largest.  According to the professor, in Russya, history isn't a matter of facts and figures, but of propaganda, to be rewritten by the regime.  One example involves the above story.  The editor of the RED STAR newspaper, Vladimir Medinsky, a widely considered crude propagandist and Putin henchman, considers history to be a tool of propaganda, used as necessary.  He is now promoting a single history book to be used throughout Russya to teach correct history to young students.
       As part of this program of propaganda, Putin will erect a statue of St. Vladimir(not Vova) in MOscova this fall, 80' tall, to assist in convincing doubters that the moves in Ukraine were justified.  St. Vladimir is the patron of Kiev and Ukraine.
     In Prof. Khodarkovsky's words, Russya is moving backwards to its own drummer- Putin.