Tsk Tsk!

While on the subject of "news of the week" look at this offering from Reuters:

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Wine labeled with a photo of brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was pulled from shelves in the Canadian province of Manitoba this week after complaints from the local Ukrainian community, a spokeswoman for government-owned liquor stores said.

The sherry and port from the Massandra winery in Ukraine featured a photo on the bottles' labels of Stalin seated with former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The wine commemorated the Yalta Conference, held at a castle near the winery 60 years ago this week, where the leaders decided on the shape of Eastern Europe after World War II.

"I don't want Stalin to be forgotten. I want him to be remembered for exactly what he was: a genocidal mass murderer," said Lubomyr Luciuk of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

The Yalta agreement forced hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans living in Western Europe to return to countries controlled by the former Soviet Union, where many were killed, Luciuk said.

"I don't think anyone in Canada would welcome a Hitler Riesling or a Stalin sherry or a Pol Pot port or a Mao Tse-tung merlot," Luciuk said.

About 3 percent of Canadians, or more than 1 million people, identify themselves as ethnic Ukrainians in census surveys. About 40,000 Ukrainian political refugees moved to Canada after World War II, Luciuk said.

The Manitoba Liquor Control Commission had ordered 14 cases of the wines, priced at C$38 ($30.60) a bottle, but only six bottles had been sold before the wines were pulled, said Diana Soroka, a spokeswoman.

Pete's Points:

The headline reads: "Why Not Just Put Hannibal Lecter on the Label?"

The comment; "I don't think anyone in Canada would welcome a Hitler Riesling or a Stalin sherry or a Pol Pot port or a Mao Tse-tung merlot." is not one that I would make so boldly.

After all, people around the world have been eating croissants as a way of commemorating the rout of the Turkish forces at the gates of Vienna by metaphorically eating the Turks or at least their symbol - the crescent for simply ages.

I have not seen this creative pastry (now unfortunately claimed by the French as their own while we all KNOW it was created by a Hungarian) being lambasted or being withdrawn from sale.

I think that Lubomyr Luciuk of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association is in fact partly correct, although taking certain liberties of his own.

No one would be welcoming a Stalin Sherry or a Pol Pot Port - but not for the reasons stated.

Since Portugal and Spain have been actively protecting the names of their famous produce, anyone who dared to label something with the words PORT or SHERRY would in all likelihood be part of a massive court case seeking damages for daring to use these words in their label.

I suspect that having been alerted to the fact that the Massandra winery in the Ukraine is selling something which is called port and sherry may get it into more trouble than simply not being able to market 14 cases of the produce in Manitoba.

In addition the news article is most disrespectful.

It mentions the titles of both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill but refers to Mr Stalin (better known to some as Dugashvilli) merely as "the brutal dictator".

Most unkind don't you think?

Perhaps he too should have been given his full title - even if he was a "brutal dictator"

Then again, it may be interesting to reflect on the old adage - "you are known by the company you keep" when considering that he was seated in between the former President of the USA and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.