Soviet Union

THURSDAY , AUGUST 27th, 2009 “It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes… we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.” - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn - ADDITIONAL INFO… Biography… Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (December 11, 1918 – August 3, 2008) was a Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his writings he made the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union’s forced labor camp system — particularly The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich , his ... Read Full Story

Why preparation is the key to successful development in the rapidly developing market in the 'Stans' The former Soviet republics of Central Asia - namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tadjikistan - have come a long way in liberalising their economies since becoming independent countries at the start of the 1990s. While for much of the twentieth century, these countries were largely closedoff to trade and commerce with the outside world during their time under central authority directed from Moscow, in the 1990s they have become increasingly open to foreign businessmen. The massive task of re-constructing their planned Soviet economies to ones based on ... Read Full Story

President Yeltsin passed away today - Monday, the 23rd of April, also known as Saint George's Day, 2007. He died from heart failure at the age of 76. Few people will be remembered as much as Boris Yeltsin, not only for the momentous place he held in modern history, but also for the mistakes and errors of judgement that were laid at his door. Whether it was seeing him standing on a tank outside of the Russian "White House" resisting the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, or shouting down Mikhail Gorbachev (his old rival and Russia's last Soviet president) after the same said coup attempt. ... Read Full Story

XV POLITICAL INFLUENCES Political leadership has affected the education systems of many countries in the 20th century. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) under Communism and in Germany under the leadership of National Socialism, totalitarian systems of government imposed strict guidelines on the organization of national education systems. Many other countries during the 20th century—including the United States—have sought to balance control of their education systems between the federal government and local governments or private organizations. Most countries in the 20th century have also taken steps to increase access to education. A In the United States One-Room Schoolhouse One-room schoolhouses are usually ... Read Full Story

Hello, I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking of an article that I read. This article was on the Forbidden Space City! After reading the article, I want to go there. Not sure if they will let me? I am going to ask my wife about Forbidden Cities in the CCCP era and Russia now. ========================== Russia's Space City Frozen in Time: The Associated Press "Sunday, October 21, 2007; 12:40 PM BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- In this remote and rusting town on the barren steppes of Central Asia, the space race and the Sputnik era seem much more than a memory. Rockets ... Read Full Story