http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/sovietunion/ en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:51:35 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417672/posts Vladimir Putin calls for more weapons to stop America doing 'whatever it wants' A Topol-M missile in Red Square. Vladimir Putin called for more Russian offensive weapons to punch through America's new missile defence shield Will Stewart in Moscow Russia needs more weapons to punch through America’s new missile defence shield, Vladimir Putin said yesterday in blunt remarks that will complicate efforts to cut the nuclear arsenals of the former Cold War rivals. The Russian Prime Minister, reasserting himself as the country’s real ruler, said that Moscow should press ahead with a new generation of weapons to stop the Americans... The Times(UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417672/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:51:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414527/posts Russia will work on a new generation of nuclear missiles to ensure its nuclear deterrent remains effective, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. Medvedev said the new missiles would be developed in full accordance with arms agreements made with the United States. "Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev said in an end-of-year interview with state-controlled television channels. "This process will be continued, and our nuclear shield will always be efficient and sufficient to protect our national interests," Medvedev said. The Kremlin chief said Russia and the United States were close to a... reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414527/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:41:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411269/posts 25 December [1991] Gorbachev resigns; Russian flag replaces Soviet over Kremlin. CIA.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411269/posts#comment Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:25:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410136/posts WASHINGTON — Negotiations with Russia to replace an expired Cold War-era arms control treaty have bogged down and now appear unlikely to be concluded by the end of the year as the White House had hoped. As the two sides seek a breakthrough, President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, plan to discuss the nuclear negotiations in a meeting Friday on the sidelines of United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two leaders are not expected to seal a deal. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, say negotiations with... The Associated Press (hosted on Google) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2410136/posts#comment Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:52:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403605/posts SNIPPET: "Venezuela's Marxist leader, Hugo Chavez, is receiving "thousands" of reliable, accurate, and very portable Russian ground-to-air missiles as part of a military buildup supposedly in anticipation of an anticipated U.S. assault. Chavez knows that there is no chance that the Obama administration will launch an attack against his regime. The real reason for Chavez's missile purchase and his military buildup in general remains hidden and disturbing. Chavez states that he is enraged that neighboring Colombia is permitting the United States to use six bases on Colombian territory. The troops had been stationed in Ecuador, but were expelled that nation's... INATODAY.com - INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANALYSIS TODAY http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2403605/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 12:49:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404399/posts It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for... Air and Space Smithsonian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404399/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:37:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404398/posts It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for... Air and Space Smithsonian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404398/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:37:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401009/posts “Uncle Joe” New National Hero Modern Russia Displays Red Roots thelastcrusade.org Joseph Stalin sent over 30 million Russians to their deaths during his reign of terror. His body was removed from the Kremlin. His name was taboo for decades. But the ruthless Soviet dictator is the new hero of modern Russia, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin now openly praises “Uncle Joe’s” achievements. In a recent appearance on national television, Mr. Putin gave credit to Stalin for making the Soviet Union an industrial superpower and for defeating Hitler in the Second World War. “It’s obvious that, from 1924 to 1953,... The Last Crusade http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401009/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 16:44:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397817/posts The United States is about to lose a key arms-control tool from the closing days of the Cold War -- the right to station American observers in Russia to count the long-range missiles leaving its assembly line. The end of full-time, on-site access will likely ignite complaints in Congress, with insiders from both parties arguing over whether the George W. Bush or the Obama administration is responsible. Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397817/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 19:55:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397542/posts CARACAS (Reuters) - Russia is building arms plants in Venezuela to produce AK-103 automatic rifles and cartridges and is finalizing contracts to send 53 military helicopters to the Andean nation, Moscow's envoy to Venezuela saidMonday. Ambassador Vladmir Zaemskiy told a news conference that Russian engineers and Venezuelan construction firms were building the rifle and cartridge plants which, when operational, would employ more than 1,500 workers. He gave no completion date for the plants under construction in the central state of Aragua. Details about Moscow's military shipments and projects have been scarce since socialist President Hugo Chavez's government began signing military... Forbes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2397542/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 13:49:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396759/posts Poles protest US Stalin memorial plan23.11.2009 11:06 The Polish community in the United States is outraged by a plan to honour Josef Stalin by placing his bust on a pedestal at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.  According to William McIntosh, the director of the Bradford museum, which is coordinating the project, the Soviet dictator deserves to be acknowledged alongside Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt has he was an ally of the US after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The plans have met with protests from Polish war veterans in New York.  President of the Kosciuszko Foundation,... POLISH RADIO-EXTERNAL SERVICE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396759/posts#comment Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:08:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395553/posts MINSK (Reuters) – The United States and Russia will sign a deal this year to cut vast Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons but may miss an early December deadline, a Kremlin source told Reuters on Friday. Diplomats from the two biggest nuclear powers are trying to prepare a new agreement on cutting atomic weapons before the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expires on December 5. The new accord will be signed "in a European country" in December, the Kremlin source told Reuters in Minsk, where President Dmitry Medvedev was meeting regional leaders. "We may not be able to do... Reuters on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395553/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:43:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394736/posts November 26, 2009 Baroness Ashton denies taking funds for CND from Soviet Union Baroness Ashton of Upholland’s past came back to haunt her yesterday when the European Union’s new foreign affairs chief was forced to deny taking funds from the Soviet Union during her days as treasurer for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Lady Ashton, a surprise choice for her post, was challenged to deny that she had contact with Russian sources while she was in charge of its accounts at the height of the Cold War. The Times has learnt that concerns about her CND involvement are felt across... The Times(UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2394736/posts#comment Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:37:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393566/posts Today, November 24, it is exactly 150 years since Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species. The world has been gearing up for this “second echelon” of celebrations for this international “Year of Darwin”, following on from the 200th anniversary of his birth this last February. Atheists and humanist groups in particular have seemed to be relishing the thought of giving further prominence to the ideas of their patron saint. Their adulation is heightened by their knowledge that... CMI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393566/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:27:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392861/posts Poles protest US Stalin memorial plan 23.11.2009 11:06 The Polish community in the United States is outraged by a plan to honour Josef Stalin by placing his bust on a pedestal at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia. According to William McIntosh, the director of the Bradford museum, which is coordinating the project, the Soviet dictator deserves to be acknowledged alongside Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt has he was an ally of the US after Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The plans have met with protests from Polish war veterans in New York. President of the Kosciuszko... thenews.pl http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2392861/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:25:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389693/posts Russia has provided an "unprecedented" 970 billion roubles (22.6 billion euros, 33.8 billion dollars) to its defence industry this year, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. State support for the sector had helped it grow by 3.8 percent since the start of the year despite the economic downturn, Putin said in comments reported by Russian news agencies. "During the recession we have allocated enough money to the military-industrial sector, which is a priority for government support. In 2009 funding reached an unprecedented level for our country: almost 970 billion roubles," Putin said. State aid had taken the form of reduced-rate... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2389693/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:41:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388676/posts This is the third article to appear on these pages from an IBD subscriber who lived in the Soviet Union until 1980. Click here to read the previous two articlesWhenever I speak about my experiences living in the USSR, my American friends respond that such things can never happen in a democracy like the United States. They don't understand why I am repulsed when I hear the president talk about "sacrificing for the collective good," which sounds so compassionate, as opposed to greedy capitalism. "Sacrifice for the collective good" is one of the founding principles of socialism, where the collective,... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388676/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:14:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388736/posts Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has often described the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the greatest tragedy” of the 20th century, has now said that the “reunification” of Georgia has “already been decided,” a suggestion some of his listeners believe was a call for restoring Moscow’s control over Georgia and even the former USSR as a whole. In an intriguing commentary published in yesterday’s “Gazeta,” Bozhena Rynska describes both the celebration of the 80th birthday of longtime Soviet and Russian official Yevgeny Primakov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s two very different toasts on that occasion (www.gazeta.ru/column/rynska/3287611.shtml). The celebration took... Eye on Eurasia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388736/posts#comment Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:25:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388479/posts The diaries of the journalist who helped expose the Soviet Terror Famine in the Ukraine are now on display in Cambridge. At the time of his writings he was denounced as a liar by Soviet sympathizers including Walter Duranty of the New York Times. Had he not died in suspicious circumstances he would no doubt have been pleased to see that the truth of his accounts is now accepted, although he would perhaps be disappointed to see that one of the outlets for his writing, the Guardian (then the Manchester Guardian), frequently publishes articles explicitly and implicitly supportive of totalitarian... Johnny Newton blogsite http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388479/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:24:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388036/posts Russia is to build up its navy over the coming decade, President Dmitry Medvedev announced on Monday, as he visited a Russian guided missile cruiser in Singapore. Speaking to sailors on board the Russian Pacific Fleet's Varyag, Medvedev said around half of Russia's military hardware would have to be renewed by 2020. "Yes, an expansion of our naval presence is planned. Russia can only consider itself a full naval power if it has a full fleet that carries out training and combat tasks," he said, according to official Russian news agencies. The Varyag, built in the 1980s under the Soviet... Space War http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388036/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:56:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386746/posts SINGAPORE: A major pact within tantalizing reach, President Barack Obama aims to nudge forward an arms-control deal in talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum brought Obama to Singapore, but he is focusing on individual meetings Sunday with Medvedev and with Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of the world's largest Muslim nation and Obama's home as a boy. The US-Russia meeting takes place as the nations seek a successor to a Cold War-era agreement. Obama planned another milestone: joining a larger meeting that includes the leader of military-ruled Myanmar. Obama is sure to face criticism... China Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386746/posts#comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:20:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380388/posts Communism is alive and well. ....Far from being dead and buried, communism remains a potent force - one that is still a threat to Western nations that value freedom and capitalism. This is because the ideological roots of communism have not been defeated. Rather than being polar opposites, fascism and Marxism are evil twins. They are both socialist ideologies that espouse one-party rule, economic collectivism and social regimentation. They are implacably opposed to capitalism, the sovereignty of the family and Judeo-Christian civilization. They are aggressively imperialist, seeking world domination. The major difference between them is that while Marxism champions the... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380388/posts#comment Fri, 6 Nov 2009 22:48:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383459/posts Mikhail Gorbachev—the man who pulled the Soviet Union's troops out of Afghanistan after a decade of stalemate—says the US should do the same. newer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383459/posts#comment Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:13:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383588/posts Nov 10, 2009 — When the Berlin wall fell 20 years ago, Dorothee Hubner first dared to think, “Are we allowed to leave and finally be free?” Her story and that of her parents Gerhard and Gertraude, scientists trapped in East Germany, was told by Andrew Curry, a freelance writer, in Science.[1] Dorothee was 23 years old in 1989. Her parents, also biochemists, “had spent decades struggling to do research in East Germany without compromising their personal ideals with allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.” By not pledging allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, the Hubners faced a life of... CEH http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383588/posts#comment Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:15:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382323/posts We are approaching the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism. This comprehensively refuted the Communist claim to represent the people. Yet, the claim continues, sometimes dazzling a new generation of youngsters with no inkling of why the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. In democratic Capitalism, said Karl Marx, the rich became richer and the poor poorer. Marxism inspired young idealists for over a century. Lenin's revolution in Russia in 1917 was hailed as a new dawn. Stalin's invasions brought Communism to Eastern Europe. Communist governments there pledged to create a paradise for workers, who would be freed... The Woodward Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382323/posts#comment Mon, 9 Nov 2009 19:34:58 GMT