Freedom or Power?

Today President Bush spoke forcefully of the human aspiration toward freedom, and how it can provide a catalyst for lasting peace among nations. This is the core of his strategy in the war on Islamic terror, and I hope his idealism is proven to be realism.

Developments like this, however, buttress the argument that Man is far more a power-seeking being than a freedom-seeking one:

Stalin back in favour as new statue goes up in Moscow

A NEW statue of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is to be erected in Moscow, returning his once-ubiquitous image to the streets after an absence of four decades, a top city official said yesterday.

Since Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, a number of Soviet symbols - including the national anthem and an army flag - have been restored to use, reflecting widespread nostalgia for the communist era.

But the rehabilitation of Stalin - denounced by Soviet leaders after his death in 1953 for encouraging a cult of personality and killing millions of real and imagined opponents - had remained out of bounds. Statues of him were removed from Moscow in the 1960s.

Oleg Tolkachev, Moscow's senator in the upper house of parliament, said a monument was to be erected to Stalin and others who led the war against Hitler. A statue will also be built in the Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.

In another sign of Stalin's growing appeal, many prime-time television shows have recently depicted him in a positive light.