Kerry privately urges Poroshenko to provide evidence of Kremlin involvement with separatists in Ukra

[Tommy_Carcetti]

84. You completely missed my point.

That Horst Wessel Lied wasn't the official national anthem of Germany isn't the point. The point is, the song was a relic of that era with a very specific context to it. Just like how the Confederate Battle Flag wasn't actually the national flag of the Confederate States of America but it still brings with it a very specific context.

Now, as it relates to the Soviet State Anthem that has since been adapted into the Russian National Anthem, the music to that was commissioned by Stalin and written for Stalin. I hope we can all agree that Stalin-- along with Hitler, Pol Pot and maybe one or two others--was one of the worst persons of the 20th Century. Why Russia would want to look back fondly upon old Stalinist relics, I have no idea. Unlike--for the example you provided--Deutschlandlied, the Russians can't say the song existed before Stalin. Different lyrics or not, the repackaging of the song despite the fact the Russian Federation already had another national anthem is disturbing.