Soviet Union

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NATO Bars Former Soviet States in Blow to US

Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia blocked

(Newser) - In a blow to the US, a divided NATO has refused to permit membership bids by former Soviet states Georgia and the Ukraine. The decision is an indication that Europe is wary of antagonizing an increasingly belligerant Russia, Bloomberg reports. Germany and France led the opposition to membership. In another...

Gorbachev Admits He's Christian
Gorbachev Admits He's Christian
Mar 19, 2008 9:00 AM CDT

Gorbachev Admits He's Christian

Ex-Soviet prez publicly atheist, but Reagan sensed 'closet believer'

(Newser) - Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union's atheist empire, Mikhail Gorbachev has admitted he is a Christian, reports the Daily Telegraph. On a visit to Italy the last president of the Communist state prayed at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi, and later told priests the...

Gorbachev: Russia Needs Real Democracy

Medvedev, Putin need to change process, ex-Soviet leader writes

(Newser) - Mikhail Gorbachev is pushing Russia's leaders to change their ways. Writing today for the Times of London, Gorbachev praises Vladimir Putin’s accomplishments as president, and acknowledges the soon-to-be prime minister's popularity. But Russia still faces big problems, which “can only be solved in an environment of real democracy....

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death
US Should
Have Hugged Castro to Death
OPINION
Feb 19, 2008 12:23 PM CST

US Should Have Hugged Castro to Death

Dictator relied on angry giant to the north to keep people afraid

(Newser) - Fidel Castro has left power, but his legacy endures because the US never did what it took to eliminate his regime: embrace it. Fidel survived for decades because his people were afraid of the angry superpower to the north, writes Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey. Had America embraced him, the Cuban...

Mao Offered US 10M Chinese Women
Mao Offered US 10M Chinese Women
Feb 13, 2008 9:54 PM CST

Mao Offered US 10M Chinese Women

He joked to Kissinger in 1973 that his nation had way too many

(Newser) - China’s Mao Zedong once jokingly offered the US 10 million women from his poor, overpopulated country to kickstart bilateral trade, the BBC reports. Other talks covered the Soviet threat, but during one chummy meeting with Henry Kissinger in Beijing in 1973, Mao said China’s female influx produced too...

NY Philharmonic to Play N. Korea
NY Philharmonic to Play N. Korea
Dec 10, 2007 9:01 AM CST

NY Philharmonic to Play N. Korea

Musical diplomacy may help, says ambassador

(Newser) - The New York Philharmonic plans a historic Pyongyang concert in February, giving Kim Jong Il occasion to dig out his fanciest tracksuit—and further defrosting US relations with the onetime axis of evil member. “We haven’t even had Ping-Pong diplomacy with these people,” said ambassador Christopher Hill....

Gorbachev Goes Easy on Putin, for Now

Ex-leader defends prez, even as Kremlin rolls back democracy

(Newser) - Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party...

From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia
From Detroit
to Dresden
to Siberia
Nov 16, 2007 5:42 PM CST

From Detroit to Dresden to Siberia

American memoirist imprisoned in Soviet gulag dead at 84

(Newser) - John Noble, an American who wrote two memoirs about the decade he spent as a Soviet prisoner, including 3 years in the gulag, died last week at 84, the Telegraph reports. Taken into Soviet custody in 1945, Noble and his father were incarcerated in Dresden, Germany, where they had run...

Watchdog Won't Monitor Russia Election

European body blames Moscow for 'delays and restrictions'

(Newser) - An international election watchdog agency has canceled its mission to monitor Russia’s December vote because its delegation's visa applications “have continuously been denied,” reports the Washington Post. The lack of oversight by the agency, part of the 55-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is expected...

Russia Stiff Arms International Vote Monitors

Showdown looms with US & EU in bid to keep observers at a distance

(Newser) - Russia may be headed for another showdown with the US and the European Union over its proposals to severely limit the authority of international election monitors. The Kremlin wants to cut the number of observers and ban their reports from publication until after elections. The move comes just months before...

Rice to Russia: You're No USSR
Rice to Russia: You're No USSR
Oct 22, 2007 3:15 PM CDT

Rice to Russia: You're No USSR

Secretary talks tough, warning Moscow about using energy supplies for political leverage

(Newser) - Condoleezza Rice said today Russia shouldn’t use its oil and gas reserves as a “political weapon,” and that the country should move away from authoritarianism and toward democracy. The secretary of state confirmed a “certain distance” between Russia and the US, Reuters reports, but the Soviet...

Israel Cracks Neo-Nazi Gang
Israel Cracks Neo-Nazi Gang
Sep 9, 2007 4:03 PM CDT

Israel Cracks Neo-Nazi Gang

Police find videotapes of gang attacking observant Jews, others

(Newser) - Israelis are glued to the TV over news that police have busted a Neo-Nazi gang on Israeli soil, the Daily Telegraph reports. The Russian immigrant group allegedly filmed its attacks on gays and observant Jews and have vowed to "kill them all." A policeman said, "It is...

Starbucks to Get First Sip of Russian Market

Legal hurdles cleared, coffee giant aims at other US brands

(Newser) - Starbucks will finally open its first Russian store next month, the Seattle Times reports, but the coffee giant will need a jolt of caffeine to achieve the brand recognition of Western rivals who've been in the market for years. Traditionally tea drinkers, Russians have warmed up to domestic coffee purveyors,...

Putin Vows to Boost Production of Military Aircraft

Plan could include new nuclear bombers

(Newser) - Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has announced ambitious new plans to revive Russia's military aircraft production, which could include new nuclear bombers for "strategic deterrence," according to a US aide. Appearing at the largest air show in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union, Putin vowed to make...

Georgia Claims Russian Attack
Georgia Claims Russian Attack
Aug 7, 2007 4:53 AM CDT

Georgia Claims Russian Attack

Missile fired on ex-Soviet republic lands without exploding

(Newser) - Georgia has accused the Russian military of launching a missile at a small village in its territory. Reuters reports that the missile narrowly avoided a town west of Tbilisi and landed in a farm. The Georgian interior minister decried what he called an "act of aggression" but the Russian...

Russians Flock to New Religions
Russians Flock to New Religions
Jul 17, 2007 3:42 PM CDT

Russians Flock to New Religions

Followers of the 'new' Jesus head to Siberia to build a town

(Newser) - Is a former traffic cop named Sergei Tropov really the reincarnation of Jesus? Five thousand devoted followers of the Church of the Last Testament believe so, and they've relocated to a remote corner of the Siberian wilderness, where they are constructing a new town founded on the 18-year-old religion. The...

Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia
Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia
Jul 2, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Billionaires Flee Putin's Russia

For mainly Jewish oligarchs, wealth and power has given way to prison and exile

(Newser) - A cadre of 50 or so Russian businessmen struck it rich when the USSR's state-owned industries went up for grabs. But most of these billionaire oligarchs are now in prison or have fled, hounded and hectored by the KGB-style tactics of president Putin. The Guardian profiles 7 deposed plutocrats, who've...

Estonia Suspects Russia of Cyberattack

NATO geeks dispatched after barrage cripples e-government

(Newser) - Estonia is under cyberattack after removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, reports the Guardian.  A barrage of mysterious spam assaults crippling government ministries, banks, corporations, political parties and news organizations has prompted NATO to deploy counter-cyberterrorism experts to the Baltic state, as officials cast a suspicious eye...

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