DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Opinion: The principle that animated Henry Kissinger’s foreign policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Fareed Zakaria | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s Note: Fareed Zakaria hosts “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” airing at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. CNN —Henry Kissinger, who died this week at 100, may have been the most famous foreign policy practitioner in modern American history. And yet, admired or despised, he managed to hold the world’s attention long after his power waned. The Vietnam War was over. It particularly irked him that the liberal elites who had been enthusiastically in favor of the Vietnam War in 1967 became his most vicious critics within a few years.

Persons: Fareed Zakaria, “ Fareed Zakaria, CNN — Henry Kissinger, Kissinger, Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert Kennedy, Egypt, Fareed Zakaria Kissinger, Hitler, Goethe, Stalin, reread Spinoza, Henry Kissinger, Henry Kissinger’s Organizations: CNN, doer, The, Israel, Pakistan Locations: America, The United States, Vietnam, Soviet, Washington, Beijing, China, Israel, Taiwan, Moscow, United States, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Chile, Indonesia, Germany, optimists, European, Japan, Europe

☆ Napoleon, Once a Legend, Is Now a Mere Movie Star - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Mark Mazower | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“History,” the essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1840, “is the biography of great men” — and of these Napoleon, whom Carlyle described as “our chief contemporary wonder,” was considered by many to be the greatest. The ambitious dreamed of emulating him; inmates of lunatic asylums believed they were him. And now we find him, some 200 years later, larger than life once again, on IMAX screens and in multiplexes in Ridley Scott’s new epic “Napoleon.”So why does Mr. Scott’s choice of subject feel like something of a throwback? What has changed is not Napoleon’s story, but our sense of the possibilities it once represented. People (with the possible exception of Mr. Putin) are unlikely to see themselves as history’s protagonists.

Persons: Thomas Carlyle, “, ” —, Napoleon, Carlyle, ”, Ridley Scott’s, Hegel, Silvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, Stalin, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Mr, Putin, who’ve, Scott Locations: Ridley, Italy

☆ Attack Drones Bombard Kyiv
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Marc Santora | More About Marc Santora | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia launched the largest drone attack it has ever directed at the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, before dawn on Saturday, sending wave after wave of drones packed with explosives toward a city that is home to more than three million people. The Ukrainian Air Force said that the attack featured “a record number” of one-way attack drones. At least five people were injured in Saturday’s attack, city officials said, and dozens of homes damaged or destroyed. Searchlights swept the predawn skies as air defense teams hunted for the drones approaching the city from all directions. The first alarms sounded shortly after 2:30 a.m., and the rattle of antiaircraft guns and powerful explosions echoed for hours, the noisiest night that Kyiv has endured in months.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, ” “, ”, Stalin Organizations: Ukrainian Air Force Locations: Russia, Kyiv

☆ Azerbaijan’s 10 best castles and fortresses
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Tom Marsden | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

It grew up around a fortress built in the 1750s by Panah Ali Khan, founder of the Karabakh Khanate (1748-1822). Kamilla Rzayeva Tea culture: Azerbaijani tea culture originated in Lankaran and the hospitable locals will often welcome visitors with a refreshing glass. Kamilla Rzayeva Yanar Bulag: Yanar Bulag, meaning "burning spring" is a natural spring which percolates methane gas. Kamilla Rzayeva Hirkan National Park: Home to endangered Persian leopards, Hirkin National Park is a great place for hiking and cooling off. Kamilla Rzayeva Ironwood trees: Hirkan National Park's famous ironwood trees are believed to have survived the last Ice Age.

Persons: ”, Alexander the Great, Timur, Russia –, Elchin Aliyev, who’s, Akhsitan I, Ilisu, Ivan Paskevich, Imam Shamil, Potemkin, Sergei Einstein’s, Panah Ali Khan, Persian Shah, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, Joseph Stalin, Kamilla, Stalin, Yanar, Zindan Organizations: CNN, UNESCO, Sheki, of Sheki, Zaqatala Locations: Europe, Asia, Azerbaijan, Russia, USSR, jostle, Old City, Baku, Mardakan, Shabran, Persia, Chirag, Sheki, Caucasus, Ilisu, Ilisu Sultanate, Soviet, Zaqatala, Lesser Caucasus, Shusha, Karabakh, Persian, Alinja, Azerbaijan’s, Nakhchivan, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, Machu Picchu, Azerbaijani, Lankaran, Ironwood, ironwood, Talysh

☆ ‘Murder’s Easy. We Did Something Much Worse.’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Sarah Weinman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There’s a mordant theme to this month’s column; in three of the four books, dark humor undercuts despair and sardonic wit compensates for failure. Nowhere are these traits more on display than in DEATH OF THE RED RIDER (Pushkin Vertigo, 396 pp., paperback, $16.95), the second appearance of Yulia Yakovleva’s Stalin-era detective, Vasily Zaitsev, who goes about the ordinary business of solving murders while communities around him in 1930s Russia are purged and exiled en masse. This time Zaitsev is dispatched to Novocherkassk, a Soviet cavalry school in the south of Russia, to investigate the horrifying death of a famous rider and his horse midrace. Soon he’s given an assistant he didn’t ask for, Comrade Zoya Sokolova, who arrives with her own agenda. The events — aided by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp’s nimble translation — unfold slowly, but hold the reader’s attention.

Persons: Pushkin, Yulia Yakovleva’s Stalin, Vasily Zaitsev, he’s, didn’t, Zoya Sokolova, Ruth Ahmedzai Locations: Russia, masse, Novocherkassk, Soviet

☆ Kremlin's Peskov Hopes Putin Runs for Another Term as President - TASS
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published on Friday that he hoped President Vladimir Putin would run in the March election for another term as Russian president, a move that would keep the Kremlin chief in power until at least 2030. Asked by the student television channel of Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO) what the next president after Putin should be like, Peskov said: "The same." "Or different but the same," Peskov added with a smile. I have no doubt that he will continue to be president." Reuters reported earlier this month that Putin has decided to run in the March election, as the Kremlin chief feels he must steer Russia through the most perilous period in decades.

Persons: Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Boris Yeltsin, Josef Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev's, Peskov, Guy Faulconbridge, Dmitry Antonov, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: Kremlin, Moscow State Institute for International Relations, Reuters Locations: MOSCOW, Russia

☆ An Epic Pilgrimage Across Three Great Religions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Aatish Taseer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +111 min

Before there was tourism, there was pilgrimage: a trip of endurance, hardship and ecstasy in celebration of one’s faith. On an epic pilgrimage of his own, one writer ventures into the heart of three great religions in Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. The Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala the day after Ashura. “They’re poor, but they come thousands of kilometers for the love of Imam Hussein.” PILGRIMAGE WAS A great equalizer. “Labaik ya Hussein,” came the solemn chorus of surrounding voices.

Persons: Eduardo Quintela Gonzáles, ” Quintela, JAN, “, ”, Quintela, Victor, Edith Turner, Chaucer, ferne, sondry londes, Vaishno Devi, Lyra Skinner, Lyra, Victoria Preston’s, —, Prophet Muhammad, Virgin Mary, Bath, Naipaul, Augustus, Ryan, garret, Virgin, Monica Machicao, Nicholas Casey, ” Monica, Casey, Evo Morales, sloughing, Columbus, Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Monica, glitzy cholets, Peru —, Viracocha, it’s, Pablo Quisbert, Leandro Chitarroni, Eichmann, Father Chitarroni, Father Chitarroni’s, Conquistadores ”, Fernando Cervantes, Bernabé Cobo, Quisbert, Edgar Quispe, Tatiana Huayhua, Francisco Tito Yupanqui, Mary, Yupanqui’s, su, Yupanqui, Chitarroni, she’s, Friar Abelino Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori’s, Irene, Juana, hajji, Waka, Aracely Alcón, Santiago, Alcón, ‘, don’t, ” Alcón, Tito Yupanqui, Uma Marka, Pachamama, haggard, Amaru Fiorilo Barrios, he’d, ” Fiorilo, Fiorilo, who’d, Valeria Alcón, Laureano Jose Quisbert, Elena Ticona Flores, Eduardo Quintela’s, Ensamble, pang, padre, consolations, Sincrético, El, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Axel, amauta, strode, La, Aatish Taseer, Saint Helena —, Constantine I, La Paz, Orgilbaatar Tsolmon, Orgil, Genghis Khan, Edward Gibbon, ” Orgil, Araniko’s, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s, Kubla Khan, Coleridge, Kublai, Stalin, sybarite, Khamar, Dalai Lama, Lama, Christopher Kaplonski, ger, I’d, banshtai tsai, Prim, Egi, Munkhdul, Gandantegchinlen, Haidav, herder, “ Um sain, boltugai, Danzanravjaa, Zanabazar’s, Erdene, Mandakhtsog Monkhbaatar, Monkhbaatar’s, Dalai Lamas, prostrated, He’d, Zuu, she’d, Santiago de, L.K, Advani, Emperor Babur, Ram, kar sevaks, Ayodhya, Narendra Modi, Munkhbaatar Batchuluun, Henry Wallace, Franklin D, Potemkin, Munkhbaatar, Gerelmaa, Giimaa, She’d, Eduardo Quintela, Aracely, Santiago’s, Joseph Brodsky’s, Muhammad’s, Hussein, William Keo, ” Khuder, pillion, Labaik, Hussein ”, O Hussein, hearkened, Prophet, Ali —, Ali, Yazid, Imam, crackling, chickpeas, Imam Ali, Imam Hussein, Saddam Hussein, Tusi, Qasim, Imam Hussein’s, Khuder, “ Will, Najaf, prestes, — I, Yasir Yaseen, Ashura, Ali Akbar, Abbas, Ali Asghar, “ We’re, Francisco Goya’s, Hussein’s, Groom, Joseph, ” Wissam, Turfi, Saddam —, Arbaeen, Saddam, “ Imam Hussein, WE, Muhammad, Barnaby Rogerson, Prophet Muhammad ”, ” Ali, Muhammad — Muhammad, formlessness, Muqtada al, Abrams, chiding, Abu Musab Al, Zarqawi, Al Qaeda, William, “ They’re, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, flagellants, ruddy, stylishly, Hussein — shahid —, Farman Ahsan, Syed Salman Raza —, Saddam’s, ” Raza, William “, Ali Zayn al, Abidin, Labaik ya Hussein, thrall —, Lloyd, Susanne Rudolph — Organizations: CITY LA, LA, LA PAZ, Virgin, Crusaders, Dolorosa, Sun, The New York Times, Bolivian, Spain, La, Cordillera, Universidad Mayor de, Catholic, Good, La Paz, Dominican, Pakistan, Caesars, Nissan, Coke, Communists, Communism, ardor, Communist, Hyundai, flails, sacra, Apache, Mahdi Army, Al, ISIS, Karachi —, Princeton Locations: Bolivia, Mongolia, Iraq, Aatish Taseer Bolivia Mongolia Iraq, CITY LA PAZ, BOLIVIA, NAJAF, IRAQ, ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, LA PAZ, La Paz, Bolivian, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, New York, Christian, British, sondry, India, Delhi, Varanasi, Europe, American, Mecca, Arabia, Long, Vino Tinto, Chile, Peru, Monica, Plurinational State, Bolivia —, Americas, Spain, Columbian, Aztec Mexico, Inca Peru, Calvary Hill, Virgen del Cerro, South America, Puerto Rico, Huatajata, ”, Argentine, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Mexican, revelry, Spanish, “, morena, La, “ India, multilayered, Potosí, Argentina, Warisata, Scotch, Santiago de Compostela, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Nations, El Alto, Buenos Aires, Bombay, Tibet, Bolivia’s, Yamuna Rivers, United States, Buddhist Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian, Istanbul, Asia, Islam, China, Beijing, Dadu, Erdene Zuu, Soviet, Gobi, Los Angeles, gers, Qing China, Karnataka, Töv Province, Karakorum, Khamar, Erdene, Ukraine, Korea, Golden, Bayankhongor, Lhasa, Dalai, Inner Mongolia, Mongol, Nalaikh, Santiago, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury, Bulgan Province, Somnath, Gujarat, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, ger, East German, Uvs Province, Pakistani, Indian, Tennessee, Najaf, Baghdad, Khuder, —, abayas, KARBALA, Kufa, Medina, Saudi Arabia, Karbala, Imam Ali, Bab, Kuwaiti, Bohras, South Asia, Tajikistan, Zaydis, Yemen, Alawites, Anatolia, Syria, Iran, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Sadr, U.S, Jordanian, Al Qaeda, Mesopotamia, Al, Multan, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Lahore, Kuwait, Karachi, Doha, Qatar

"The decision has been made - he will run," said one of the sources who has knowledge of planning. Three other sources said the decision had been made: Putin will run. A foreign diplomatic source, who also requested anonymity, said Putin made the decision recently and that the announcement would come soon. Peskov said in September that if Putin decided to run, then no one would be able to compete with him. "Russia is facing the combined might of the West so major change would not be expedient," one of the sources said.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Kuzma Minin, Dmitry Pozharsky, Mikhail Metzel, Putin, Boris Yeltsin, Josef Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev's, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Mikhail Gorbachev grappled, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Alexei Navalny, Oleg Orlov, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: Unity, Sputnik, Kremlin, Reuters, Kommersant, West ., KGB, Soviet, Cuban Missile, West, NATO, China, European Union, Thomson Locations: Red, Moscow, Russia, MOSCOW, West . RUSSIA, Soviet Union, Ukraine, United States, European, Soviet Russia, Afghanistan

☆ Opinion: The shocking resurgence of antisemitism
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. Frida Ghitis CNNA few of the rioters carried Palestinian flags, underscoring the obvious link between the attack and the war between Israel and Hamas. In terrifying scenes, the rampaging crowd, some shouting “Allahu akbar,” surrounded passengers, pressuring them to prove they were not Jewish. Universities have become hotbeds of antisemitism, with Jewish students fearing for their safety. (Police have since arrested a Cornell student after he allegedly threatened to kill Jewish students.)

Persons: Frida Ghitis, “ Allahu akbar, ”, —, Christopher Wray, Michael Koplow, “, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin, Hitler, “ I’m, Olaf Scholz, Biden, Israel, that’s, It’s, Vladimir Putin, Rabbi Alexander Boroa, — “ Hitler Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Politics, Frida Ghitis CNN, Hamas, Makhachkala Uytash, United Nations General Assembly, Universities, Cornell University, Ivy League, Police, Cornell, The Cooper Union, Israel, Republican, Boston Marathon, Federation of Jewish Locations: Dagestan, Russian, Tel Aviv, Israel, Gaza, Egypt, Makhachkala, Russian Republic of Dagestan, Palestine, New York, menacingly, Austria, South Africa, Nicaragua, Germany, Venezuela, Milan, Hamburg, Berlin, Australia, Argentina, Russia, China, United States, Caucusus, Moscow, Ukraine, Washington

☆ Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

She was expelled to Uglich (about 740km from St Petersburg). "He was shot in Moscow, but as we all live in St. Petersburg, we have made this memorial plaque here. Yet for many Russians, Stalin's name still evokes the savage repression that culminated in the Great Terror of 1936-1938. The Big House is the nickname of the St Petersburg headquarters of Stalin's NKVD secret police, which later became that of the Soviet KGB and now the Russian FSB. It was to help people like Gerchikova that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial International was founded as the Soviet Union collapsed - to document Soviet political repression and help to rehabilitate its victims.

Persons: Anton Vaganov, Joseph Stalin's, Natalia Anafonova, Stalin, Vladimir Putin, Zinaida Gerchikova, I've, Gerchikova, Sergei Gorshvo, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, PETERSBURG, Big, St, Soviet KGB, Thomson Locations: Levashovo, Saint Petersburg, Russia, dribs, Soviet, Petersburg's, St Petersburg, Moscow, St . Petersburg, Russian, Soviet Union, Nazi, Ukraine, Sverdlovsk region

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — They were banned under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Now, after less than a century, official attitudes about abortion in Russia are changing once again. Although abortion is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia's declining population. In 2012, the number of “social reasons” for allowing abortion between weeks 12 and 22 was cut to just in the case of rape. He also moved to restrict abortion pills, which are approved to be taken to end a pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.

Persons: —, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Putin, ”, Lina Zharin, we’re, Michele Rivkin, natalist ”, Rivkin, Fish, Mikhail Gorbachev's, Boris Yeltsin, Lyubov, ” Rivkin, Tatyana Golikova, Mikhail Murashko Organizations: Kremlin, Orthodox Church, University of North, Abortion, Conservative, Russian Association of Population, Health, Russian Association for Population, Development, Health Ministry Locations: TALLINN, Estonia, Russia, Kaliningrad, University of North Carolina, Chapel, —

☆ The Russian military is executing soldiers who won't follow orders and threatening to execute entire units if they retreat, the White House said
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a briefing, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia is executing some soldiers. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe Russian military has been executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in a White House press briefing Thursday. "It's reprehensible to think that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn't want to follow orders," Kirby said in the briefing. There have been multiple reports documenting the apparent poor conditions, low morale, and high casualty numbers for Russian soldiers. In a video plea from March, Russian soldiers complained that they were being sent into battle with "blocking" units that were meant to keep them from running away.

Persons: John Kirby, Kirby, —, Simon Miles, Stalin, Miles, haven't, Verstka Organizations: White, National Security, Service, House, Duke University's Sanford School of Public, Soviet Union, Red Army Locations: Russia, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ Opinion: Oxi Day: The true story of how Greece helped defeat the Nazis
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Opinion Christopher Cosmos | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

To fully understand the quote, though, it’s necessary to start further back, in the hours before the invasion and fighting began. Adolf Hitler himself, as Chancellor of Germany and leader of the Axis Powers, had no intention of invading Greece. The German invasionEven though Greece had defied the odds and beaten the Italians when no one thought they could, they wouldn’t be able to defeat the combined Italian and German forces. Join us on Twitter and FacebookOxi Day celebrates the path of bravery, unity, and freedom over the path of fascism, tyranny, and lies. Most of all, Oxi Day is a day that celebrates sacrifice of the highest order by the Greek people during WWII, and all those who fought in Greece alongside them.

Persons: Christopher Cosmos, Winston Churchill, Christopher Cosmos Christopher Cosmos, Ioannis Metaxas, Emanuele Grazzi, Grazzi, Metaxas, “, c’est, oxi, Benito Mussolini’s, Adolf Hitler, he’d, Mussolini, Count Galeazzo Ciano, “ Hitler, Zeus, Alexandros Papagos, Mark Mazower, Hitler, Napoleon, Basileus Leonidas, –, it’s, Wilhelm Keitel, ”, hasn’t, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, that’s what’s Organizations: Facebook, CNN, British, Italian, German, Allies, America, Nuremberg, Russia, Twitter Locations: Grand Rapids , Michigan, Greece, Italian, French, Albania, North Africa, Britain, London, United Kingdom, Italy, America, Athens, Germany, Russia, Thermopylae, Crete, Soviet Union, It’s

☆ Little-known life of Moomins creator Tove Jansson explored in new exhibition
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Aurore Laborie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Paris CNN —The Moomin characters may be internationally famous, but a new exhibition in Paris shows a lesser-known side to the Finnish artist who created them. The show takes an intimate look into the life of Tove Jansson, both as a prolific artist and an advocate for female independence. Courtesy The Community and Moomin Characters Ltd. Using illustrations, cartoons, photography, music, writings and letters, the exhibition shows Jansson as a multifaceted character who could — and did — make art out of almost anything. Tove Jansson's Moomin character "Little My" paper doll.

Persons: Tove Jansson, ”, Sini, ” Tove Jansson's, Jansson, “, Thomas Zambra, —, Signe Hammarsten, Viktor Jansson, Tove Jansson’s, Tove Jansson's, Summers, Hitler, Stalin, “ Garm, Lewis Carroll’s, Alice, Tuulikki Pietilä, Tuukka Laurila, Pietilä, Zambra, Tove Jansson ”, Louis Organizations: Paris CNN, CNN, des Beaux Arts, Nature, Espace Mont Locations: Paris, Finnish, Kanto, Tuukka, Stockholm, Scandinavia, Finland, “, Helsinki, Wonderland, Espace

☆ Russian failures in Ukraine are forcing Moscow to give up on one of the biggest Putin-era military reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

As a result, Russia's military is ditching one of the main reforms lauched under Vladimir PutinNEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. The German Army in World War II routinely formed combined-arms battlegroups ("kampfgruppen"), as did the US Army's task forces. BTGs were composed of professional contract soldiers, who are generally more capable, competent, and motivated than the sullen conscripts that still hamper Russia's army today. A few high-readiness battalions can't compensate for the low-readiness conscripts that make up about one-third of Russia's army. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images"The Russian military is well-suited to short, high-intensity campaigns defined by a heavy use of artillery," Michael Kofman and Rob Lee, both experts on Russia's military, wrote in June 2022.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, —, Vladimir Putin's, Josef Stalin, SERGEY VENYAVSKY, Olesya, Tkacheva, BTGs, SERGEI VENYAVSKY, ALEXANDER NEMENOV, Michael Kofman, Rob Lee, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Russian, Red Army, Tactical Groups, Getty, Ukraine —, Brussels School, Governance, Wilson Center, Washington DC, German Army, US, Foreign Military Studies Office, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Troops, Soviet Army, British Army, Ministry of Defense, Russian Armed Forces, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Chechen, AFP, Washington, Russian, Georgia, Moscow, Syria, Russia's, Krasnodar, Soviet, BTGs, Germany, Forbes

While Russia narrowly avoided what many feared could be a civil war, the violent clashes on Oct. 3-4, 1993, marked a watershed. The public feels scared and intimidated after years of sweeping Kremlin efforts to quash dissent, he said. As tensions soared, Yeltsin ordered the parliament disbanded, a move that Russia’s Constitutional Court declared illegal. Grigory Yavlinsky, a veteran politician who defied Yeltsin and later opposed Putin, described the 1993 events as a key moment that determined Russia’s post-Soviet history. “The result is … the system that has led Russia where it now is,” he said in a recent commentary.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Josef Stalin, Boris Yeltsin, Yeltsin, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Prigozhin, ”, Andrei Kolesnikov, ” Kolesnikov, Dmitry Peskov, ” Peskov, Mikhail Gorbachev, Alexander Rutskoi, Viktor Alksnis, Grigory Yavlinsky Organizations: Kremlin, Communist, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Putin, Constitutional Locations: Moscow, Russia, Soviet, Russian, Ukraine, USSR

☆ 'They're just meat': Russia deploys punishment battalions in echo of Stalin
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

"Storm fighters, they're just meat," said one regular soldier from army unit no. He said he didn't know why the commander gave the order, but claimed that it typified how Storm-Z fighters were considered of lesser value than ordinary troops by officers. Three of the five Storm-Z fighters interviewed by Reuters, and the relatives of three other Storm-Z fighters, described nightmarish engagements that saw much of their squads wiped out. At a televised meeting with a small group of regular Russian servicemen, he said he was aware that two of their comrades, former prison inmates, had been killed in action. Three Storm-Z fighters said they were offered wages of about 200,000 roubles ($2,000) per month, though said they had been paid roughly half that amount, on average.

Persons: Polina Nikolskaya, Maria Tsvetkova, who've, Wagner, Reuters wasn't, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Josef Stalin, Artyom, Shchikin, Vladimir Rogov, Rogov, Shchikin's, Z, Igor, they'd, we've, Christian Lowe, Pravin Organizations: REUTERS, REUTERS Acquire, Maria Tsvetkova LONDON, Convicts, Storm, Reuters, Kremlin, 237th, Intelligence Team, Institute for, Red Army, 291st Guards, Rifle Regiment, 291st, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Bakhmut, Russia, Russian, Ukrainian, U.S, Soviet, Mordovia, Zaporizhzhia, Geneva, France, Siberia

☆ Podcast: The punishment squads on the front lines in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Russia is deploying punishment squads on the frontlines in Ukraine. What Donald Trump stands to lose in fraud case – and will the Democrats save House Speaker Kevin McCarthy? Listen to our weekend special on Big Tech Parts 1 & 2. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising.

Persons: Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Taylor Swift, Stalin Trump, Stoneman Willie Organizations: Apple, Google, Reuters, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: Russia, Ukraine, New York

☆ Opinion: The transformation of Kim Jong Un’s sister
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Sheena Mckenzie | Cnn Opinion | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The woman was Kim Yo Jong — younger sister of the North Korean leader and one of the country’s most important political advisors. Kim Jong Un's sister stands alongside the North Korean leader at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the Amur region, Russia, on September 13, 2023. CNN: Of all the members of the Kim Dynasty, why did you choose to focus on Kim Yo Jong in your book? South Korean President Moon Jae-in (right) shakes hands with Kim Yo-Jong (middle), North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's sister, in 2018. I’ve watched hundreds of hours of North Korean footage and read thousands of North Korean articles and statements in writing this book.

Persons: Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong, Yoon Lee, ” Kim Yo Jong, Sung, Kim Yo, Kim, Alonso Nichols, Tufts University Sung, Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Chol, Jong, Cleary, Kim Il Sung, Stalin, Moon Jae, ”, Joe Biden “, Lord David Alton, Kim’s, I’ve, that’s, Yoo Lee, It’s, it’s, Jang, Thaek Organizations: CNN, North, North Korean, South Korea —, Woodrow Wilson International Center, Scholars, Tufts University, Jong Un, Soviet Army, South Korea’s, Games, South, House, United Nations Locations: Pyeongchang, South Korea, North Korean, Amur, Russia, North, North Korea, Switzerland, Mt, Paektu, China, Korean, Communist, Pyongyang, Handout, United

☆ A Subtle Change for Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( David Leonhardt | More About David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

These countries tend to be flawed democracies (like Brazil, India, Israel and Nigeria) or autocracies (like Saudi Arabia and Vietnam). If the U.S. suggests that only democracies are welcome in its alliance, that alliance will shrink. But, he added, Biden “has also been clear that in that larger effort, we need constructive relationships with countries of all different traditions and backgrounds.”The C.I.A. The U.S. strengthened its ties with Vietnam — which remains a one-party state — when Biden visited Hanoi this month. All of this may help explain the approach Biden took at the U.N. yesterday.

Persons: ” Walter Russell Mead, ” Mead, Biden, Peter Baker, Jake Sullivan, ” Sullivan, Biden “, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Narendra Modi, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s, India’s, Edward Wong, Mark Mazzetti, ” Organizations: Washington, Hudson Institute, White House, autocracies, Stalin’s, Vietnam, Saudi Locations: Beijing, Brazil, India, Israel, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, U.S, United States, Stalin’s Soviet, Kuwait, Europe, Japan, South Korea, China, British Columbia, Hanoi, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia

Western officials saw the summit with North Korea as an effort by Putin to secure a potential arms bonanza for his military. North Korea also could increase its ammunition production at Russia’s behest. Yang Uk, a security expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, noted that in addition to Soviet-designed armaments, North Korea also could share some of its latest military equipment. “There isn’t really much left in the policy toolbox in terms of addressing the challenges specifically from Russia and North Korea,” Park observed. It’s just basically not implementing sanctions.”A major factor Russia needs to consider while it seeks to expand ties with North Korea is China, Pyongyang's No.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Putin, Kim, Josef Stalin, Kim Il Sung, ”, John Park, Harvard Kennedy, it’s, James O’Brien, James Nixey, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “, Yang Uk, ” Yang, Leif, Eric Easley, “ Putin, ” Nixey, Antonio Guterres, “ It’s, It’s, Danica Kirka, Emma Burrows, Kim Tong, hyung, Kim Hyung Organizations: North, Putin, Harvard, U.S . State Department, Chatham House, South Korea’s Asan Institute, Policy Studies, Ewha University, U.S, Observers, Associated Press Locations: Pyongyang, Ukraine, Moscow, Asia, Korean, Korea, Russia, North Korea, ”, “, Eurasia, London, U.S, Central, Eastern Europe, South Korea’s, Soviet, Vostochny, Seoul, China, South Korea, Europe, Washington, russia, ukraine

☆ Opinion: Putin’s team of tyrants
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Sheena Mckenzie | Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Already last year North Korea was providing artillery shells and rockets to Russia, according to US officials. North Korea leader Kim Jong Un waves from his armoured train in Pyongyang as he leaves for Russia on September 10. For North Korea, the growing links with the Kremlin afford the opportunity to tacitly pressure Beijing — its one other friend — for more support. Just a few weeks ago, North Korea said it had launched a “scorched earth” simulation of a nuclear attack and was rehearsing an occupation of South Korea. Sullivan said North Korea will “pay a price” if it makes an arms deal with Moscow.

Persons: Frida Ghitis, Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Putin, It’s, vaingloriously, Peter the Great, Kim, Kim Jong, —, Sergei Shoigu, ”, Shoigu, Stalin, Jake Sullivan, Sullivan, Facebook Kim Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Politics, North, Ukraine, Frida Ghitis CNN, Putin, Kremlin, UN, Russia, Washington, Twitter, Facebook Locations: North Korean, Russia’s Far, Russia, Ukraine, Korea, North Korea, Pyongyang, Iran, China, Moscow, Beijing, Russian, South Korea, United States, East Asia

Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin delivers a speech during a ceremony unveiling the monument to founder of the Soviet secret police Felix Dzerzhinsky at the service's headquarters in Moscow, Russia, September 11, 2023. Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A bronze statue of "Iron Felix" Dzerzhinsky, the ruthless founder of the Soviet secret police and architect of the Red Terror which followed the 1917 revolution, was unveiled on Monday at the headquarters of Russia's foreign spy service. Sergei Naryshkin, the chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), successor to the KGB's famed First Chief Directorate, marked the unveiling of the statue outside its Yasenevo headquarters in southern Moscow. Dzerzhinsky towered above Naryshkin, Putin's 68-year-old spy master, who stood with a group of other men - many of them unknown. The statue at the SVR looks remarkably similar to the one that once stood on Lubyanka Square.

Persons: Sergei Naryshkin, Felix Dzerzhinsky, Felix, Dzerzhinsky, Josef Stalin, Vladimir Putin's, Naryshkin, Nikita Petrov, Vladimir Lenin's, Lenin's, Putin, Guy Faulconbridge, Gareth Jones, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Foreign Intelligence Service, Russian Federation, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Reuters, Russian, Commission, Cheka, State Political Directorate, State Political, NKVD, Internal Affairs, KGB, Federal Security Service, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, Vladimir Putin's Russia, Poland, Soviet Union, Dzerzhinsky, Soviet

☆ Opinion | The Subtlety of J.R.R. Tolkien
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

The devil appears to some people as Lucifer the light-bringer, yes — but his darker visage finds worshipers as well. Ours is no longer the world in which Tolkien grew up, nor even the one in which he spent his last years. Tolkien himself was very careful to note that the Shire is not self-sustaining, dependent as it is on outsiders for security. I obviously endorse this point, but I think the last line undersells how much Tolkien subjected his own pastoral nostalgia to critique. Because Tolkien is a reactionary, the solution to that sickness is the return of a king of ancient lineage.

Persons: Tolkien, Soviet Union didn’t, Adolf Hitler’s, Joseph Stalin, Hitler, Lucifer, unrealism —, Tolkien’s, Philip Larkin, “, King Charles III’s, Niall Gooch, Hobbitism, Bilbo, It’s, Gondor, Anárion, that’s Organizations: Gorgoroth, Jackson Locations: Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, England, Tolkien’s, Isengard, Shire, Britain

☆ The war in Ukraine is pushing Russia away from its WWII-style artillery strategy, and experts say it's 'a concerning trend'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russia and Ukraine have relied heavily on artillery to batter each other's forces. AdvertisementAdvertisement"This is a concerning trend, as over time it will likely significantly improve Russian artillery," write the report's authors, Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds. Russian artillery doctrine is still largely based on extensive analysis of World War II data to determine how many shells were needed to achieve a specific effect. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev"First, Russian forces lack the ammunition to sustain this volume of fire," the RUSI report said. According to the RUSI report, Russia continues "to rely heavily" on multiple-launch rockets, 120-mm mortars, and "other imprecise systems," and "corner-cutting in the production of its munitions is becoming apparent."

Persons: Jack Watling, Nick Reynolds, ANDREY KRONBERG, —, Stalin, Operation Bagration, Maxim Zmeyev, Andrey Rusov, Katyusha, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Britain's Royal United Services Institute, Getty, REUTERS, Russian Defense Ministry, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Western, Moscow, Volgograd, AFP, Berlin, Russian, Saratov, US, Soviet, Forbes

Search resuls for: "Stalin"

25 mentions found