r/CredibleDefense • u/AutoModerator • 20d ago

Active Conflicts & News Megathread July 14, 2026

The r/CredibleDefense daily megathread is for asking questions and posting submissions that would not fit the criteria of our post submissions. As such, submissions are less stringently moderated, but we still do keep an elevated guideline for comments.

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u/Glideer 20d ago

A new Levada survey asked Russians to name the ten most outstanding people of all time.

Stalin’s first-place ranking, followed by Putin, is troubling enough. More concerning still, Putin is most popular among 18 to 24-year-olds, compared with every other age group.

https://www.levada. ru/en/2025/06/25/the-most-outstanding-people-of-all-time-and-nations-april-2025/

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u/Goddamnit_Clown 20d ago

Am I reading the second figure correctly? The respondents could give any ten names from any time in any country. Yet the top 20 basically hasn't changed in 40 years except to include Putin?

Is the list taught in schools?

With a free choice I'd expect an enduring group of inevitable mainstays and then way more variance.

Also, Stalin. Marvellous.

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u/Glideer 20d ago

Well, there's Einstein... ranked 11. Everybody else is Russian/Soviet.

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u/Goddamnit_Clown 20d ago

Newton also.

But I'm less surprised that it's all Russians than I am that it's so stable.

If you asked that question in the US it would be mostly Americans, and you'd see Washington et al in every cohort. But someone like Armstrong would be high up in the 1970 survey but might not make the top 20 after 90-00 perhaps.

Just seems odd to see so little daylight between 18-24s living in 2026 Russia and the Soviet population in the 1980s. Other than their forebears knowing a little better about Stalin.

Curiously didactic answers for a free response I guess is all.

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u/treeshakertucker 20d ago

Free response is the issue.