Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
Anybody Europe will choke on his food and cover his ears at hearing anybody mention the expression "subhuman" (untermensch)! That's what Hitler & co called Jews, Gypsies, and people with a different ideology.... And remember what he did with them...
Err... I don't quite understand why anybody would choke on his food hearing it mentioned -- as a historical fact it gets mentioned when the subject of the Great Patriotic War comes up. I believe in Russia this word is mostly remembered because that's what Hitler called Slavs. I think Jews were even lower in his category... Slavs in his opinion were at least fit to be servants and slaves -- that was the fate that awaited Russians if Nazis won...
This belongs in the political correctness thread but I certainly think that some suggestions related to it, like banning Mark Twain's books because they have the word "Negro", are ridiculous.

Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
I am just saying I don't think it's ethically right for the state to kill people for any reason.... Because once it is allowed to do it.. then where does it stop... ?
This is a good point. In Russia, Europe is often (or maybe sometimes -- but I hear this opinion a lot from people who left Russia to live and work in Europe) considered a much more civilised and safe place, so I guess because of the universal welfare and well-being there are fewer criminals, and softer punishments are enough. The only gripe that I have when anyone starts singing eulogies nowadays about how Germany is SO much more civilised than Russia, is that the same thing Hitler said to his soldiers at the eve of their invasion -- that Russia is a barbarous, uncivilised country, that Slavs are "untermensch" and so on. And he showed how 'civilised' he was in his treatment of Jews and Slavs...
*The very operation of the Russian invasion was called "Barbarossa"...

When and if Russia becomes quite as prosperous and safe, perhaps there will be less crime. Russia has always aspired to be closer to Europe, at the same time retaining its identity. At any rate, I can't say that I'm disappointed about the fact that there is going to be no capital punishment. The less violence, the better. Perhaps I would like it to just be there a potential threat, reserved for the most atrocious cases -- as it was in the 1990s, if I'm not mistaken.

About death penalty in Russia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital...ment_in_Russia

In the Soviet Union, after WWII:
In most cases (96 percent according to 1987 statistics), only murders of several people, of children, or those committed in an especially cruel manner were punished by death.