Prior to 1991, the Baltic States had long suffered from precarious sovereignty. In the early years of the 20th century, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had gained recognition as independent nation states by the Soviet Union, only to lose it in 1939 after the signing of the Molotov Ribbentropp Pact. Over the course of World War … Continue reading The Baltic Independence Movement →
Category: Red Star
AIDS and the “high-risk” group.
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(Image source: NPR) “When my doctor indicated to me in December of 1981 that I was immune deficient I said, “What does that mean?” And he said, “We don’t know.” “The effect of being told that I was immune deficient was devastating. I called my parents and said “I am going to die.” (Two statements … Continue reading AIDS and the “high-risk” group. →
Explosion? What explosion?
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On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station occurred due to a surge of power in their no. 4 reactor. The explosion caused radioactive dust to travel through the air, killing 38 people immediately and an estimated 100,000 later. Wind carried the radioactive dust throughout the air, stretching across the Soviet … Continue reading Explosion? What explosion?
All the Lies We Cannot See: Operation Infektion and HIV/AIDS in the Soviet Union
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In the early 1980s, the HIV/AIDS virus emerged and spread with quick and deadly force. Throughout the decade and into the 1990s, those infected (often part of socially-ostracized groups) fought for their lives in the face a seemingly indifferent government, a willfully-blind public, and slow-moving pharmaceutical companies. However, in the midst of the chaos caused […]
A Bright New Future?
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The 1970’s the golden years of the space age, it was only a few in July of 1969 had the Americans had put two men on the moon. With these significant technological innovations and a great deal of growing imagination, people began to think about life among the stars and the things we would do …
Comrades of the Traveling Pants
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Imagine a world where the bare necessities like water, shampoo, or even jeans were beyond your grasp. What lengths would you go to obtain these simple consumer goods that we have come to take for granted? In the image above, Russian poet Smirnovskii sums it up …
Khrushchev’s War on Religion
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The period of “de-Stalinization” led by the Soviet Union’s new leader, Nikita Khrushchev was marked by a rolling back of many of Stalin’s most oppressive and brutal policies. However, one place in which Khrushchev strongly contradicted this trend was in his treatment of the Orthodox Church and religion in general. After a period of toleration […]
Coon Rapids?
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Who was the first leader of the Soviet Union to visit the Unites States of America? That’s right it was Nikita Khrushchev along with his family, even his son-in-law Alexei Adzhubei back in 1959, from September 15th to the 27th of the same month. And Khrushchev saw all the sights to see in America, he visited the … Continue reading Coon Rapids? →
Come Fly With Us
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The 1960’s was an era of precarious relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The decade started out with proxy clashes by the two superpowers, followed by near nuclear war, and various other close calls. However, this turbulent period of hostility started to change and move towards a detente between the two sworn … Continue reading Come Fly With Us →
The Corn Man
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Following the virgin lands program, Nikita Khrushchev was looking for a solution for the soviet’s livestock issues. To increase yields, Garsts Khrushchev began a campaign to promote corn as a feed crop. In 1959 he toured middle America to witness Corn production in the united states. I think the nature of the campaign is best …
