When this Blogger was a young lad, once a month or so, he accompanied his Father, a Trotskyite, to do a welfare check on two ancient Russian émigré Trotskyites. They had lived under the     Czar, Lenin and Stalin; before they fled Russia.   One day, they started chatting about Tsar Nicholas II; how unlucky he was. How his very presence caused bad things. They discussed the Khodynka Field Stampede; which occurred in 1896, during the Tsar’s coronation celebration.   Thousands upon thousands of Russians had gathered on a field, outside of Moscow, to receive gift packages from the Tsar. However, there were not enough packages, and a stampede occurred. Over 1,380 Russians were crushed to death.   The ancient lady informed this Blogger that no tragedy like that had ever occurred in Russia before; and she noted that Nicholas was called     NICHOLAS THE BLOODY from that day forward. She also remarked that the event was a bad omen for what was coming. Lost wars...