George Santayana cautioned us, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That assumes that we remember the past correctly. If we don’t recall the past correctly, we reverse reality. When we claim some factual statement, it is a lie.

Reality?

Putin wants to recreate the old Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was based upon the territory of Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. During the reign of Peter the Great, Russia didn’t control Lithuania until they invaded it in 1939 during WWII. Stalin decided that Lithuania was now a part of the USSR. Lithuania remained a part of the Soviet Union until Gorbachev. Gorbachev essentially dropped the Brezhnev Doctrine of the late 60s, which stated that the Soviets had the right to force compliance to the Soviet borders regardless of what former countries might think. The Lithuanians saw Gorbachev’s actions as allowing them to withdraw from the USSR. They declared independence on March 11, 1990, based on misreading Gorbachev’s mindset. The Soviets gave them the ultimatum to renounce their independence or die.

The Lithuanians rejected the Soviet demand to capitulate to their terms. The Soviet army invaded Lithuania. However, Gorbachev was losing power as the Soviet leader. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned, which ended the USSR. Therefore, Lithuania was never a part of Russia until WWII.

So, what? Putin attempts to rewrite the history of Russia. Merely stating a reality doesn’t make his statement de facto correct. Putin’s buddy Trump makes dozens of daily lies in America. Putin wanted to restore Russia based on what Peter the Great ruled during his reign (1672-1725). Historically, Ukraine wasn’t a part of Russia until Catherine the Great (1762-1796) seized it. Crimea was acquired in 1782, nearly a century after Peter the Great’s rule.

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda, said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Putin stated the big lie and invaded Ukraine. That big lie caused over 30,000 Ukrainian civilian causalities and 100,000 military causalities. Russian military causalities are over 200,000. Those who suffered during Putin’s war with Ukraine were based on a lie. Putin isn’t the 21^st-century Peter the Great of Mother Russia.

Putin’s war

This is Peter the Great with Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, victory, arts, and law. Peter the Great is Putin’s role model.

This is a painting of Peter the Great and Minerva.

This is Czar Putin the Great. I wasn’t able to find a photo of Putin with Minerva.

“Aren’t I a really big deal?”