Soviet Union

North Korea’s Kim dynasty is following the example of Joseph Stalin and the British Raj in India

Most of the chaperoned tours to North Korea each year include a walk through some well-tended gardens in Pyongyang, where Korean men in nondescript uniforms tend flower beds and manicure lawns without even briefly acknowledging a rare group of foreigners. As my group walked around, we approached a …

North Korea

'Cannibal family' admit to killing and eating 'at least 30 people' in gruesome murder spree

A family accused of being cannibals have admitted to killing and eating at least 30 people.<p>The gruesome killings are said to have taken place over 18 …

Crime

MiG-23 Flogger: One of the First Swing-Wing Fighters

Russian MiGs are often a punchline for a joke.<p>In fact, the U.S. Air Force’s 555th Fighter Squadron, now based at Aviano Air Base and part of the 31st …

Aerospace

Link About It: McLaren's "Project Invincible" Human Armor

It may comes as a surprise to some that McLaren does more than release supercars and dominate Formula 1. Their fast-growing McLaren Applied Technologies sector tackles health and wellness, and the division's team of doctors and engineers have done something remarkable under the bannister of …

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Russia Committed ‘Multiple and Grave’ Rights Abuses in Crimea, U.N. Says

GENEVA — Russia has committed “multiple and grave” human rights abuses in Crimea since reclaiming the territory three years ago, the United Nations said on Monday, including arbitrary arrests, torture and the imposition of Russian citizenship on residents of the former Ukrainian region.<p>United …

News

Macadamia and Academia, They’re Both Nuts

Posted: Sep 26, 2017 12:01 AM<p>Both are dangerous, and while a Macadamia may pose a threat to the health of those people who experience severe allergic …

Conservative View

Catalans And Kurds Are At The Forefront Of True Local Democracy

Small, autonomous states are shaping their own futures without interference from capitals.<p>BERLIN — The referendums for independence in Kurdistan and Catalonia are a reminder that devolution — not democracy — remains the most powerful political force of our age.<p>Woodrow Wilson’s support for the …

World News

Shengavit

The Shengavit archaeological site is an ancient settlement occupied from c. 3500 - c. 2200 BCE and is located in a southern suburb of what is …

Bronze Age

Rare Footage Shows Russia Detonating Nuclear Weapon To Create A New Lake

This rare footage from the former Soviet Union shows the detonation of a nuclear bomb to create what is now called the “Atomic Lake.”<p>The Soviet nuclear test, called Chagan, was conducted in January 1965 at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan. The footage shows the largest detonation of 124 …

Nuclear

Sputnik-1 replica used to test the real thing goes under the hammer

A replica of Sputnik-1 used to test the real thing's performance goes to auction this week.<p>Auction house Bonhams has listed the proto-satellite for …

Russia

Ken Burns Says the Vietnam War Was “Begun in Good Faith.” So Was Every Other Lousy War.

At the start of the American plunge into the Vietnam War, the State Department circulated an optimistic cable about Nguyen Van Thieu, the South …

Russia

Park problematical people on podiums

Weddings | Online shopping | Statue parks | Lawrence of Arabia | Bearded tits<p>The important thing about weddings (Lose the wedding butterflies, 22 September) is not to confuse them with marriage. The latter is when two people (of whatever gender) show their love and commitment to each other by …

Trump Went to Alabama for a Rally — But the Crowd's Reaction to a Different Speech Stole the Show

On Friday night, President Donald Trump spoke at a rally for Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), where he unloaded on his haters in classic Trump style. All …

United Nations

Madmen Theories

In 1969, Richard Nixon, about eight months into his Presidency, grew frustrated with the North Vietnamese leadership. The President wanted to negotiate an exit from the Vietnam War, but his adversary’s terms were unyielding. Nixon thought that he needed the Soviet Union to pressure North Vietnam; …

North Korea

Big wars have powerful and long-lasting effects on a country's foreign policy

How to explain — and, if possible, predict — a great power’s foreign policy is a perennial question for scholars of international politics.<p>Although a lot of scholarly writing in international relations focuses on the broader <i>system</i> of states (bipolar, multipolar, open, closed, norm-driven, …

Foreign Policy

Trump's Russia probe legal defense is funded in part by at least one guy with Russian oligarch ties

Who's paying for the attorneys representing President Donald Trump in the federal probe of Russian election interference? His legal defense is in …

Russia

North And South Korea: A Quick History

Either way though, understanding both versions is key to understanding this most unusual of countries: its quirks, its people, its politics and its …

Korean Peninsula

Bernie Sanders sketches out a new foreign policy for the Democratic Party

<i>Jacob Heilbrunn is the editor of the National Interest.</i><p>When Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered his foreign policy address on Thursday in Fulton, Mo. – the site of Winston Churchill’s famous Iron Curtain address in 1946 – he seemed to be trying to reanimate a progressive tradition based on global peace …

Foreign Policy

'Cold War-light' policy toward North Korea not a sure-fire win

Almost by default, inside-the-Beltway pundits are advocating a Cold War approach to North Korea’s accelerating nuclear-missile threat. Nothing seems …

North Korea

Lyin’ Brian Williams Wins Dan Rather Memorial Award for the Stupidest Analysis at MRC Gala 2017

Not surprisingly on Thursday, Lyin’ Brian Williams prevailed during the Media Research Center’s 30th Anniversary Gala featuring the 2017 DisHonors …

Conservative View

Fantastic Fest Review: ‘The Line’ Is the Gangster Tale Made (Un)Familiar

A lifetime of gangster movies may have taught us to anticipate the twists and turns of ‘The Line,’ but the Ukrainian film has a voice all its own.<p>For …

Filmmaking

Elizabeth Warren confronted over ‘one percenter’ status, says ‘it’s not hypocrisy’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren was forced to defend her wealth despite her frequent attacks on the rich after she was confronted by a Boston radio host …

Elizabeth Warren

Woman Protests New Stalin Bust in Moscow With Poetry

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday he was unaware of the new additions to the Alley of Rulers.

European News

Stalin's bust unveiled in Moscow as part of "Rulers' Alley"

A Russian government-sponsored association has unveiled a series of busts of the nation's Soviet-era leaders, including Josef Stalin, in a move that …

Entertainment

Interview: Vitaly Mansky

Though the Ukrainian-born Vitaly Mansky has been making documentary films for two decades, it’s only in recent years that his work has traveled …

Movies

Nazi gun removed from statue of AK-47 founder Mikhail Kalashnikov in Moscow

Russian authorities have corrected a mistake in part of a statue that honors the developer of one of Russia's most famous exports. Muscovites noticed …

World News

Read: Bernie Sanders's big foreign policy speech

“In my view, the United States must seek partnerships not just between governments, but between peoples.”<p>Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was invited to give a big foreign policy speech at Westminster College, a distinguished venue where former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1946 gave his …

Foreign Policy

Wall Street’s Best-Kept Secret Is a 72-Year-Old Russian Chess Expert

On East 83rd Street there’s a squat brick walk-up that’s a viable contender for the least fancy apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. …

Russia

Prospect of Atmospheric Nuclear Test by North Korea Raises Specter of Danger

WASHINGTON — If North Korea follows through on its threat to conduct an atmospheric nuclear test, it would be a far more dangerous step than anything Kim Jong-un, its leader, has attempted — and poses a host of hard decisions for the Trump administration because attempting to stop the test could be …

North Korea

Gorbachev: a tragic hero

By autumn of 1988, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev had been in power for three riveting years as general secretary of the Communist Party. He had taken …

Russia