Russia: Mikhail Gorbachev's Legacy. Mikhail Gorbachev: 'I fought for USSR, but failed': RT interviews last Soviet leader. Gorbachev at eighty: evaluating his achievements. Next week the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev celebrates his 80th birthday.
20th anniversary since the End of the USSR. On August 19, 2011, Russians commemorate 20 years since the “August Putsch,” (August Coup) a failed coup d'etat conducted by a number of KGB officers and military units who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and decentralisation of power to the Soviet republics.
Citizens took to the streets to defend the White House, the then-residence of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, against the coup. The Russian blogosphere - divided as usual - has been discussing the 20th anniversary of the Coup, an event which has numerous contesting interpretations. Will bloggers succeed in transferring the hope for democracy and freedom felt by the defenders of the government to the younger generation?
Boris Yeltsin, in front of the White House, Moscow, 19 August 1991. Photo: ITAR-TASS, Wikipedia Betrayal or democratic victory? Mikhail Gorbachov, former president of the USSR, gave a detailed interview at Echo.msk.ru [ru]. Boris Akunin, a famous writer, recollected [ru]: Russia: Bloggers Remember 20th Anniversary of August Coup. On August 19, 2011, Russians commemorate 20 years since the “August Putsch,” (August Coup) a failed coup d'etat conducted by a number of KGB officers and military units who were opposed to Gorbachev's reform program and decentralisation of power to the Soviet republics.
Russian telescope launch pulls national space program out of black hole - CSMonitor.com. The Zenit - 3F carrier rocket with the Spektr-R radio astronomy observatory aboard takes off from the Bakinour Cosmodrome.
Oleg Urusov/AFP/Newscom Once it is fully operational, the new radio telescope will sync up with ground-based observatories to form the biggest telescope ever built. It will be known as RadioAstron, with a "dish" spanning 30 times the Earth's diameter. Experts say it will be able to deliver images from the remote corners of the universe at 10,000 times the resolution of the US Hubble Space Telescope.
"It's been planned since the 1980s, but has repeatedly fallen through for a variety of reasons. The space-based component is actually a small radio telescope, with a 10-meter dish that's far smaller than Earth-based radio telescopes, planted in an elliptical orbit about 340,000 kilometers (more than 212,000 miles) from Earth. Scientists from more than 20 countries will participate in RadioAstron's five-year mission, according to the Russian Space Agency. Russian telescope launch pulls national space program out of black hole. Russian scientists are jubilant at news that the Spektr-R, a powerful space telescope conceived in the depths of the cold war, was finally lofted into orbit aboard a Zenit rocket Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Skip to next paragraph. Russia: 20 Years Since the Putsch. Il y a vingt ans en URSS. Il y a vingt ans en URSS. Le coup de force des 18-21 août 1991 à Moscou, « tentative désespérée » de sauver l’URSS d’une dislocation inévitable, a précisément dégagé la voie à cette implosion et à la « thérapie de choc » ultralibérale des partisans de Boris Eltsine.
Comment expliquer cet effet aussi « contre-productif » de l’aventure ? Une certaine vulgate occidentale nous présente les événements comme un western mettant aux prises une bande de méchants « communistes conservateurs » et les bons démocrates triomphant du Mal. Dès l’époque, les enjeux étaient pourtant clairs : la propriété et le pouvoir alors que la Russie avait déclaré sa souveraineté sur son territoire et ses richesses naturelles. Le « communisme » soviétique était déjà défunt et l’option en faveur du marché faisait consensus. Il restait aux divers groupes d’intérêt à « faire leur marché » dans un héritage soudainement livré à une grande braderie. Quel contexte ? La perestroïka de M. M. Que veulent-ils ? Le rôle des communistes. Russia's path from Gorbachev to ... - Google Books (excerpts)
Russia's path from Gorbachev to ... In the West, the failure of the putsch is still considered to be the h..." In the West, the failure of the putsch is still considered to be the heroic victory of Boris Yeltsin and the Russian people over the last guard of the Soviet evil empire in the West.
And there is no question that the coup touched off the peaceful collapse of one of the most heavily armed superpowers in the history of the world. It also signalled the end of the Cold War and a period of US hyperpower status. But triumph of good over evil? Well... 20 Years Since the Fatal Blow to the Soviet Union. 3sat.Mediathek - Video: Ende einer Supermacht - Der Putsch gegen Gorbatschow (19/08/11) Mediathek - Video: Ende einer Supermacht - Der Putsch gegen Gorbatschow (19/08/11) Students' visit in Russia in the early 90s - animation video. Russia: Ex-UK Ambassador's Diary of 5 Days in August 1991. The dog days of the Soviet Union: the coup. Sunday, 18 August Councillor J P Sainsbury, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, comes to lunch with his wife and Roger Paine, his Chief Executive.
They are full of sensible ideas for developing the twinning relationship between Cardiff and Lugansk (formerly Voroshilovgrad) in the Ukraine. They have had a woman from the Lugansk Gorkom [district party committee] in Cardiff to learn about setting up small businesses, and they are proposing to send advisers to Lugansk for a total of 250 man-days in the first instance.
It is just the sort of practical collaboration that is needed. We ask them to keep in touch. In the afternoon we set off on our trip to the Northern monasteries and the wooden villages around Kargopol, about which we heard so much when we were in Archangel two years ago. Manezh Square in central Moscow was a focal point for demonstrations in those August days We get to bed at about midnight in the unimpressive Sovmod hotel Oktyabrskaya. Monday 19 August Barricades on Kutuzovsky prospekt. Soviet Arts Experience - Exhibition Chicago -20th anniversary - Soviet Union on soup.... Home - Soviet Arts Experience. The SOVIET ARTS EXPERIENCE - Chicago 2010-2012. Soviet Architecture in Question. Soviet Architecture in Question. It was quite a messy week, and, as you can see, very few posts were made.
As you can also see, the look of the website changed, with added functionality, cleanness and more posts at hand – I hope you’ll like it and the design proves more useful. So not to get carried away with side topics, I will start with the article I read this January (and which inspired the pictures above). Mr. Dičius, a prominent Lithuanian architect, shared his memories on principles of architecture in the Soviet times. It was an interesting time indeed – straight after the WWII there were many construction sites but a minimum of local architects.
Several tagged entries (blog, press, book, video) in occasion of the 20th anniversary from the End of the Soviet Union. 02mytwi01: #Russia - in occ. of/t 20t...