Thursday, May 21, 2009

Russia to Edit its History

Medvedev's new Russian othodoxy | Irina Filatova | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

All leaders love to interfere with the pursuits of discipline of history: they assume that by doing so they can define the cause of their nations' past. However, the more sophisticated among them have long since understood that historical battles are better left to professionals, if one were to avoid a future hush judgment. Not so in Russia, where President Dmitry Medvedev has just signed a decree creating a commission tasked to counter attempts 'to falsify' history to Russia's detriment.


I don't see that much to worry about here. The study of history is about constantly re-writing the past. It's true some resulting narratives are politically biased but in our world such biases are often challenged.

It's somewhat interesting that Russia's leaders are even interested in history.

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