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Chernobyl 2006 Directly in front of the gate the radiation levels are 350-3000 microroengen. Soviet scientists reported that the Chernobyl Unit 4 reactor contained about 180-190 metric tons of uranium dioxide fuel and fission products. Estimates of the amount of this material that escaped range from 5 to 30 percent, but some liquidators, who have actually been inside the sarcophagus and the reactor shell itself -- e.g. Mr. Usatenko and Dr. Karpan [citation needed] -- state that not more than 5-10% of the fuel remains inside; indeed, photographs of the reactor shell show that it is completely empty. Because of...

The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was a historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there is the very different era that has followed. The morning of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear station on April 26, 1986, the Politburo met to discuss the situation, and then organized a government commission to deal with the consequences. The commission was to control the situation, and to ensure...

Soviet Economic Decline: Did an Oil Crisis Cause the Transition in the Soviet Union? If Marxist-Leninist Communism was so inefficient, then why did it last in one form or another for over 70 years in Russia and the Soviet Union before it finally died. Did it last so long because inherently it provides a good economic system or did it last so long because inherently it was not as inefficient as we are made to believe, but that some other circumstances caused its demise? We believe the latter. The Soviet system was not spectacularly inefficient and was an adequate, though...

Although the Caucasus are placed at the edge of virtually every map, there is something about Georgia that has always put it on the front lines of history. Georgia, for example, recently become famous for pulling off the "Rose Revolution" - a bloodless regime change which paved the way for a number of other relatively peaceful reformist movements across the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. In fact, the term "color revolution" owes its existence to Saakashvili's first making his way into the parliament building clutching that now-famous flower, and for this reason when analysts speak of the last...

Mikhail Gorbachev made this statement in his recent Time interview. DO YOU THINK WE ARE MOVING BACK TOWARD A COLD WAR? "I think some people may be pushing President Bush in the wrong direction. I don't think the U.S. can impose its will on others. This talk of pre-emptive strikes, of ignoring the U.N.Security Council and international legal obligations--all this is leading toward a dark night."

Washington, Apr 02: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who triggered the demise of the Soviet Union's Communist empire, said in an interview published today that the United States was "intoxicated" by its power and should not impose its will on others. "This talk of pre-emptive strikes, of ignoring the UN Security Council and international legal obligations -- all this is leading toward a dark night," Gorbachev told time magazine. "I think some people may be pushing President Bush in the wrong direction," he said of the us leader. "America is intoxicated by its position as the world's only superpower. It...

FLASHBACKS TO a vanished Cold War have been recurring in the news. Just the other day, the world learned that an Italian parliamentary commission has concluded ''beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the Pope Karol Wotyla," the Polish pontiff known as Pope John Paul II, in 1981. About the same time, Mikhail Gorbachev was hosting 200 eminent guests at a snazzy Moscow restaurant, where he celebrated his 75th birthday and reviled his absent supplanter, Boris Yeltsin. Gorbachev accused Yeltsin of acting on his own, treacherously, to dissolve the Soviet Union...

Fifty Years Later, Russians Regard Stalin Positively March 4, 2006 (Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in Russia think the tenure of one of the most notorious Soviet leaders was beneficial, according to a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation. 47 per cent of respondents believe Josef Stalin played a positive role in the country’s history. Stalin was the second leader of the Soviet Union, taking over after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. Stalin was responsible for a series of repressive campaigns—known as the Great Purge—during the 1930s. During his tenure, Stalin eliminated all possible political opposition...

FORMER Soviet leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev has turned 75, bitter that the end of the Cold War has left the United States with what he called a "superiority complex". "It would be in everyone's interest if that big country America recovered from that disease," he said. Mr Gorbachev, who launched the democratic and economic reforms that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, described the end of the Cold War as a gift that the United States has squandered. He also denounced growing Russophobia, saying "some in the West would like to...

Italian Panel: Soviets Behind Pope Attack By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago ROME - An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II — a theory long alleged but never proved, according to a draft report made available Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe. "This commission...

Gorbachev, Who Turns 75 Thursday, Says End of Cold War Only Strengthened U.S. 'Arrogance' MOSCOW - Mikhail Gorbachev's magnetic brown eyes shine as brightly as ever, and he speaks with the same passion about the collapse of the Soviet Union as he prepares to mark his 75th birthday on Thursday. The man who ended the Cold War and launched democratic reforms that broke the repressive Soviet regime continues to enjoy the limelight, globe-trotting on behalf of his political foundation and environmental group and taking part in charity projects. At a meeting with foreign reporters this week, Gorbachev blamed the United...

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday warned the United States against unilateralism in global affairs and hailed the Kremlin's invitation for Hamas to visit Moscow, criticizing the West for trying to shun the organization. Gorbachev said the United States had failed to use the end of the Cold War for purposes of global development and abused its position as the world's only superpower. "There is only one superpower now and it doesn't know what to do with its status," Gorbachev said at a meeting with foreign reporters. "As a result, we got Yugoslavia and Iraq, and the situation has...

When Nikita Khrushchev died in 1971, I was still a girl, but I remember him well. We used to visit him on the weekends on his farm at Petrovo Dalnee, about 30 miles outside of Moscow. I would work with him among the tomatoes or beehives. Although to me he was my kindly old great-grandfather, my family assured me that he was a great man, a world leader, a liberator -- someone I should be proud of.

The original American system promised a society in which the benefits of civilization including liberty, property, privacy, security and justice would be available to all of its citizens who were willing to work for them. However, such a society can only be sustained when the majority of the citizens are mature adults who accept the basic principles of self-government, self-reliance, and mutual respect. Those principles require the individual to assume reponsibility for his own actions, to be a producer rather than a parasite, to exercise his liberty with consideration for others, and to support and defend the system. It doesn't...

Global Manipulators Move Beyond Petroleum The Saudis have a saying “My father rode a camel, I drive a car, my son rides in a jet airplane – his son will ride a camel.” In July this year BP Amoco, the world’s second largest oil company, announced it had chosen a flower as its new emblem in a dramatic upheaval of the oil multinational’s global brand. Unveiling the new emblem, Sir John Browne, BP chief executive, suggested that “BP” be read not as British Petroleum, but as “Beyond Petroleum”. The new green and yellow floral sunburst design distances BP from its...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY The first family is spending the weekend at Camp David. Next week, the President, Vice President and others in the administration will be pushing back on the issue of monitoring international phone calls potentially connected with terrorism. THE WEEK AHEAD: Once again Scott McClellan did not announce the week-ahead schedule at his press briefing. However, a search of news articles yielded the following: President Bush will speak Monday at Kansas State University about U.S. efforts to fight terrorism. His address will be part of the university's Landon Lecture series and is scheduled to begin at...

Day after day in New York City, a small and strange procession can be seen moving along the pavement. While taxicabs whiz by and passersby move out of the way on Big Apple sidewalks, a handful of acolytes transport a large, hand painted box crafted from the wood of a sycamore tree. Make that "a sustainably harvested in Germany" sycamore tree. Dressed not in long flowing robes, but in average business apparel, the acolytes are garden-variety United Nations employees. There’s no need to hire Brink’s for protection and nothing but propaganda and hype worth robbing. The precious cargo of the...

SACRAMENTO – Fighting global poverty and creating stronger international alliances are the keys to security and spreading democracy, former Soviet president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev said Wednesday. "It is hard to imagine a calm, safe and secure world" where so many people live in poverty, Gorbachev said through an interpreter. He spoke Wednesday as part of a lecture series at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. "If people's lives are not becoming better, people begin to change their minds and say democracy is worthless," he said during an hour-long question-and-answer session before...

While the Americans are considering which steps to take against Syria in the U.N. Security Council session on Tuesday in which the U.N. report on the murder of Hariri will be presented, a senior diplomatic source in New York told Ynet that "the toughest nut to crack is Russia, which is trying to save the Syrians" A senior diplomat has told Ynet that the Russian government is attempting to rescue the Syrians from the potentially devastating consequences of a U.N. report on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, which has tied senior Syrian officials to the murder....

Praise fest for Gorby on CSPAN2. Clinton just finished speaking. Check CSPAN2 for rebroadcast. Clinton admitting to being in USSR in 1969 or 1970. Let's see if we can get transcripts published.