The 1980 Olympics, held in Moscow, were embraced with much national joy, but also international discontent. After doing well in the previous Olympics, the Soviets repaired and built new training facilities and stadiums to prepare their athletes and show their world their pride and skill through sports. Soviet athletes are filled with desire … Continue reading Soviet Sports
Category: 10th Weekly Edition
Aberration in Afghanistan
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The Soviet Union’s intervention in Afghanistan is widely seen as one of the most costly and misguided military decisions made in the 20th century, and it is often cited as one of the biggest reasons the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. In his book Russia: A History, Gregory Freeze notes that the “coup de grace for detente was the … Continue reading Aberration in Afghanistan
Boycott after Boycott
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When I think about the Olympic games, I think of a world wide sporting event that has gone one since the 1894 (and in the 8th century in Ancient Greece). It feels like a time where for even a few weeks, rival nations can come together and compete in a way that shows respect for […]
From Sea to “Glorious” Sea
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Lake Baikal is the world’s largest and oldest freshwater lake. It lies in the indentation where Asia is splitting apart from Siberia, the beginning formation of a new sea. Lake Baikal has had mixed emotions surrounding it- some believed in conservation, while others were simply concerned with the economic advances surround Baikal. Laws and regulations are now in […]
Blat Out Wrong
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Throughout the seventies and into the eighties, the black market had become “a fact of Soviet existence.” Seventeen Moments talks of the building of a car park and the different factors that went into the decision of whether to follow the law, which would lead to likely failure, or make use of the Soviet black market […]
Neglect of Lake Baikal
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During Stalin’s reign in the USSR, it is safe to say that certain aspects of society were neglected. One important concept that did not receive the attention that it deserved was the idea of environmental conservation. Due to Stalin’s great emphasis on the industrialization of the Soviet Union, environmental issues were not properly acknowledged. Lake Baikal […]
Dissent in the 1970’s
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Photo source: http://www.haaretz.com/st/c/prod/eng/25yrs_russ_img/ The 1970’s marked the emergence of a movement in defense of human rights. The main voice for the movement was the Chronicle of Current Events. This journal consisted of political programmatic materials, and it allowed the editors to share their hardships and the human rights violations they had been subject to. Dissidence also took … Continue reading Dissent in the 1970’s
Anekdoty: Quiet Pessimism
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As the systemic crises of economic failures and political inefficiency continued from the ‘reforms’ of Khrushchev to the ‘restoration’ of … More
Cultural Contradiction
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The Helsinki Accords were signed on August 1, 1975 in Helsinki, Finland (US Department of State). The signatories of this conference include 35 European states, the US, and Canada. The goal of this conference “was to reduce tension between East and West” (New World Encyclopedia, 2014). This diplomatic effort served to lessen […]
Olympic Fanfare and Drama
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***Please open this while reading: The World’s Favorite Song. Stagflation no more?…Much to the West’s discontent, the 1980 Summer Olympics was selected for Moscow, in 1974; in the middle of the strategic parity with the US. Russia, emerging as a superpower getting global attention, infringing on US supremacy in news, image, and knowledge. And now, … Continue reading Olympic Fanfare and Drama
