>> No, I'm hostile to these ugly apologetics for Joseph Stalin.
>
> I have never issued an "apologetic" for Joseph Stalin. I am not a Stalinist.
> However, I am interested in reality, which you apparently are not. I have
> pointed out that he was a) probably not insane and b) that he was a
> complicated historical figure.
I see your point, but I have a hard time not thinking that Stalin had a few Kangaroos loose on the top paddock, even knowing fully well the extent of his rationality. It was all too rational, I suppose, to methodically hunt down and wipe out enemies. True. It's unlikely he'd be able to do that out of will alone, specially if he was warped. True. But there is definitely something perverse about it, even sociopathic. I don't think there is necessarily a contradiction between acting rationally as befits a demented situation, and acting in an objectively insane manner. But we game theory nuclear monkeys knew that already...
Thiago Oppermann