Ann Applebaum Interview on NPR

     Distinguished author Ann Applebaum was interviewed recently and asked about her recent book, "Red Famine: Stalin's Genocide in Ukraine: 1932-1935".   Ms. Applebaum has written other books including two involving Russyan gulags, and Russyan Revolution.
     Her latest book delves into the actions of Stalin during his most paranoid stage when he perceived threats under every rock and in every nook and cranny.   He, Stalin,  felt that Ukrainians were not going to join his revolution and that they needed to be brought to their knees and Russified.  His method: mass starvation.  Famine often is understood as the result of forces of nature: weather and climate combine to destroy crops and the production of food stuffs.  This mass starvation was a political  move by the Politburo to respond to Stalin's dictate to expand the revolution into the breadbasket of the southern regions he needed to feed his 'new' revolution.  Much of his methods are being exercised today: disinformation, propaganda, armed agents moving against locals to force them to relocate.
      All of these actions led to the deaths of over 4 million Ukrainians.  4 millions.  4 millions without food.   Many Ukrainians were sent into Siberia into exile.  Their language was supplanted by Russyan; many jobs were taken over by imported Russyans; and Ukrainian culture was obliterated.
More later