re: Worldwide we have some demolition to do...So we start with Mecca?

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I’m pretty sure if I was from Poland or East Germany or Ukraine and there was a statue of Stalin in my community I’d ask that it be taken down too. And then if that ask wasn’t listened to, at some point I’d prob say frick it and try to tear it down myself.

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Russia, especially Putin do not take kindly to Eastern Euro countries removing Soviet era monuments.

Estonia faced diplomatic sanctions and cyber attacks a few years ago when they removed a statue of Stalin.

Prague and the Czechs are going through the same thing right now. There was a statue of Soviet General Konev in the middle of one of Prague’s most vibrant and upscale neighborhoods. The residents and city have wanted it removed for years.

The official plan was to move it to a museum that’s still in the planning stages. The local council went a little rogue and went ahead and removed it in April. Moscow was pissed, and National Czech officials even condemned the removal. Cyber attacks were launched against Czech infrastructure. The main targets were hospitals and other healthcare facilities during height of the Covid pandemic in April and May.

Some background on General Konev:
The statue was erected in 1980 to honor General Konev’s “liberation” of Prague in WWII. This liberation was accompanied by brutal crackdowns and atrocities against innocent civilians.

His post war career is why many in Eastern Europe despise him. He led the invasion of Hungary in the late 50’s when they attempted to distance themselves from Moscow.

In the early 1960’s he was in charge of Soviet Forces in East Germany. He ordered the closure of the border with West Berlin, and construction of the Berlin Wall. The Wall’s initial purpose was to seal off West Berlin from its allies in Western Europe. He led an attempt to literally starve to death West Berlin.

That effort failed, and instead the Wall quickly evolved into prison walls for East Germans, and Konev led the crackdown of citizens attempting to flee to the West.

He was then brought out of retirement and had a very murky and secretive role after the Soviets and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968.