Victory Day Parade, Moscow Red Square, May 9, 2014

Full video from RT.com of today's Victory Day Parade in Red Square.

There was a time when this parade, which has taken place annually in Moscow since victory over the Nazis in 1945, was considered nothing but Communist propaganda. That's the way it was presented to school-kids during the height of the Cold War, and that's all I thought it was until much later in my life when I learned just how awful the War had been for the Soviets, how many millions had died in combat and from the effects of the War, and how grateful the survivors were.

None of this was even hinted at during the many years of anti-Communist propaganda which Americans were subjected to every day.

Since I learned of what sacrifices Soviet citizens and soldiers made during the War, which they call The Great Patriotic War, I've seen this parade quite differently. Many of the older people who attend the ceremonies, dripping with their Soviet medals and ribbons, cannot hold back their emotions. Nor should they. What they went through and survived is almost inconceivable to most Americans who have no idea to this day how immense the battles were in Russia and the Soviet Union, and how determined was the Soviet defense.

Every time I see this parade, I empathize so strongly with those who sacrificed so much to ensure the survival of their nation and their progeny.

I doubt there's been anything else approaching it in human history.

ПОЗДРАВЛЯЕМ!!! УРА!!!

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And of course, "Putin is the New Hitler..." Or for the Nazis in Ukraine, he's "The New Stalin." Pfft.