Re: "Old spy was no innocent" (Oct. 16, 2005): Peter Worthington was rightly derisive of professed "idealism" by Soviet spies during the Cold War, noting Stalin, next to Mao Zedong, was "the cruellest and most ruthless tyrant of the 20th century." Yet, many Canadian opinion- and decision-makers have always seemed much impressed by just such "idealism." Consider the history of Dr. Norman Bethune: First, an unbashed Stalinist; later, an unabashed Maoist. In 1990, in tandem with China, Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp celebrating Bethune's life and work. This but a year following the Tiananmen Square Massacre ordered by China's Maoist regime. Casualties were in the thousands, mostly student idealists yearning for democracy. Stalin and Mao's combined total of victims would equal three times Canada's present population.

Orest Slepokura
Strathmore, Alta

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(You needn't remind us)