Soviet Union
Are We in a Syrian Missile Crisis?
President Trump's Syrian policy – or lack of a clear Syrian policy – is risking a catastrophic open conflict with Russia<p>On Sunday, a U.S. F/A-18E …
SyriaThe Kremlin's Election Meddling Is Paying Off
The president’s policies in office have aligned almost perfectly with Vladimir Putin’s goals.<p>Fifty-four years ago this month, former President John F. Kennedy delivered the “Strategy of Peace,” a powerful address that captured America’s indispensable leadership at the height of the Cold War. …
RussiaWWII: Russian T-34 Was a War-Winning Tank
<b>By Paul Richard Huard</b><p>On June 22, 1941, Nazi German launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive attack on the Soviet Union that was the largest invasion …
Military HistoryThe Cold War Was Once Fought With Bonkers Concept Cars
It’s not widely known, but for a very brief period in the early 1950s, the Cold War was being fought with massive, bulbous slabs of cyclopean …
Muscle CarsWhy America loses wars it starts
Since the end of World War II, why has America lost the wars it started? And why has America failed in the military interventions it made without just cause or legitimate reason? Vietnam, the invasion of Grenada, the Beirut bombings in Lebanon that killed over 240 American servicemen in October …
Foreign PolicyEducating Afghanistan’s young people is the only true solution to the scourge of terrorism
Last month, a US government agency issued an assessment of the United States’ efforts to help Afghanistan recover from the devastation of 16 years of war. Its findings were grim. Six out of every 10 dollars since 2002 had been spent on Afghan defense forces, yet problems were rampant. Widespread …
EducationHow a U.S.-Russia Back Channel Came to Life
The Friday Cover<p>The Friday Cover is POLITICO Magazine's email of the week's best, delivered to your inbox every Friday morning.<p>American and Russian officials are quietly working together to bury Cold War ghosts.<p>The inscription etched on the wood paneling was almost mocking, given the terrible state …
RussiaYuri Drozdov: The man who turned Soviet spies into Americans
<b>Yuri Drozdov once said it could take up to seven years to train an "illegal", the Soviet spies planted abroad under false or assumed identities, sometimes for decades.</b><p>As former chief of the KGB intelligence agency's Directorate S, which managed the illegals programme, Drozdov knew more than most …
National Security8 Important Eras of American History
The United States of America is a relatively young nation in comparison to European powerhouses like Britain and France. Yet, in the years since its …
HistoryHow the CIA Turned Us onto LSD and Heroin: Secrets of America's War on Drugs
And that's exactly the story Lappé and his co-producers Julian Hobbs and Elli Hakami tell in a mesmerizing four-part series that debuted this week on …
Foreign PolicyDefeat of Germany in World War II Was Possible Without U.S. Help, Russians Say
Soviet victory did not require help from Allies, the majority of Russians believe.
European HistoryRussia’s Cyberwar Lab and Haiti’s Portable Pharmacies: The Week in Global-Affairs Writing
The highlights from seven days of reading about the world<p><b>How an Entire Nation Became Russia’s Test Lab for Cyberwar</b><br>Andy Greenberg | <i>WIRED</i><i><br>“</i>Yushchenko, who ended up serving as Ukraine’s president from 2005 to 2010, believes that Russia’s tactics, online and off, have one single aim: ‘to destabilize …
North KoreaEx-Soviet 3-Star General Who Knows KGB Better Than Anyone in Media Pushes Back on Anti-Trump Conspiracy Theories
In 1978, Ion Mihai Pacepa walked into the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany, and defected to the United States.<p>At the time, Pacepa was an intelligence …
RussiaHow the British left condoned the murder of millions
In the 1930s and 1940s leading left-wingers went mad for Bolshevism, oblivious to Stalin’s notorious purges<p>Giles Udy did not start out with the intention of writing this book. He was in Russia about 15 years ago and happened to hear about Norilsk, a remote, frozen part of Siberia where the Soviet …
HistoryA Guide to Exiles, Expatriates, and Internal Emigrés
First let me say what I think these terms signify in common speech. An expatriate is different from an exile. In early use an exile was a banished …
LiteratureEstonia will back up its government in a 'digital embassy'
The rules on what governments can, and can't, do with your personal data is based entirely on where the information is stored. Since tech companies shunt your stuff to servers across the globe, there's a risk that an oppressive regime can use its rights to start peeking at your stuff. That's why …
EstoniaHow a Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psychic
In the 1920s, USSR scientists investigated “biological radio communications,” more popularly known as telepathy.<p>Three years after he started to study …
CultureHow America’s friends and enemies have adjusted to the age of Trump
As US allies wrestle with what to do next, China hopes to benefit from a world in flux<p>Several US presidents have proclaimed a new world order. Today …
Chrystia Freeland“We win, they lose” – Wonderful world of Binary categorisations
There was no ceasefire, no peace conference, no formal treaty and guaranties, no expression of interests and settlement. Only the gazing face …
GeopoliticsLetter to a young Corbynista
Younger voters need to be reminded what socialism in action is like<p>Dear John,I really hope you won’t be offended by this letter from your uncle. I have nothing but respect for you and I would hate to damage the friendly relationship we have had since I first met you when you were six years old.<p>I …
RussiaHow One Russian Sub Almost Started WWIII
It is commonly accepted that the world has never come closer to nuclear war than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the United States confronted …
WarRussian hackers targeted election systems in 21 US states
US officials have yet to reveal which US state voting systems were targeted by Kremlin-linked hackers during the voting that saw Donald Trump elected …
CybersecurityAs Syria’s war enters its endgame, the risk of a US-Russia conflict escalates
Competition between Washington and Moscow for a say in any peace deal is increasing the danger of a wider war starting by accident<p>Not for the first time there are dire warnings of a direct US-Russia confrontation in Syria that could escalate, in the worst case, into a third world war. What is going …
SyriaHas HBO Found Its Next 'Game of Thrones'?
Can 'Watchmen' be the network's next big hit?<p>There’s no doubt that right behind the scenes at HBO, priority number one is finding its next <i>Game of Thrones</i>. Since its fantasy juggernaut is about to begin its penultimate season (with the eighth and final season rumored to air in 2019), the cable …
Game of ThronesVladimir Putin: 87 Percent of Russians Back Leader on Global Issues
LONDON — President Donald Trump isn't the only person who admires Vladimir Putin: He boasts sky-high approval ratings in Russia.<p>A new Pew Research Center survey suggests 87 percent of Russians have “some or a lot of confidence” in his handling of global issues.<p>However, the positive perception of …
World NewsPutin's show of strength overseas is masking a pressing domestic crisis
In the past three years, Russia has invaded one of its neighbors, entered a military conflict to support a longtime ally in the Middle East, and — quite credibly — been accused of hacking election campaigns in the US and France.<p>It's all helping to create an impression of Russian President Vladimir …
RussiaTwo-And-a-Half Minutes to Midnight: Our Fear of Nukes and How We Got Here
<i>Elizabeth King | Longreads | June 2017 | 10 minutes (2645 words)</i> Bug-out bags, self-designed evacuation plans, stockpiles in the garage. Most …
North KoreaPresident of Ukraine Compares 'Charismatic' Trump to Reagan Ending the Cold War
President Donald Trump may continue to catch heat for alleged connections to Russia, but Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says that he sees …
Donald TrumpIn Putin’s Russia, Even History Is a Perilous Place for Dissent
PODOLSK, Russia — As a former Soviet factory director, Vladimir Melikhov survived the brutal business turf wars of the 1990s to make a fortune in construction. Now he devotes his energy and money to what, in the Russia of President Vladimir V. Putin, has become a truly risky enterprise: digging …
World NewsAnatomy of a Witch Hunt
Americans won’t be really good citizens until they read Timur Kuran and Cass Sunstein’s 1999 law review article about “availability cascades.”<p>Their launching point is the process by which we (i.e., human beings) decide to believe what others believe, and judge the truth of a proposition by how …
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