Cold War

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Berlin Wall Turning Into Kitschy Tourist Trap
 Berlin Wall Turning Into 
 Kitschy Tourist Trap 
50th anniversary
Aug 13, 2011 9:15 AM CDT

Berlin Wall Turning Into Kitschy Tourist Trap

Many fear a 'Cold War Disneyland': Der Spiegel

(Newser) - Today marks the 50th anniversary of the start of construction on the Berlin Wall, prompting Der Spiegel to assess how Germany is handling its Cold War legacy. Answer: With kitsch, and lots of it. Entrepreneurs have found ways to capitalize, primarily in irreverent ways. They're trying everything from guided...

Soviets Lied About Flawed '61 Space Flight

Yuri Gagarin's flight did not go perfectly, new book claims

(Newser) - When Yuri Gagarin took the first manned flight into space in 1961, the Soviet Union touted it as a major Cold War triumph for Communist ideology. But the flight wasn’t as perfect as Soviet officials claimed, a new book asserts. In truth, due to two miscalculations by scientists, Gagarin...

Islamophobia Is the New McCarthyism
 Islamophobia Is the 
 New McCarthyism 
OPINION
Sep 13, 2010 12:21 PM CDT

Islamophobia Is the New McCarthyism

We're going after the 'enemy within'

(Newser) - With anti-Muslim sentiment and racist fears about President Obama at an all-time high, America is experiencing “the worst spasm of paranoia and bigotry of the post-Cold War age,” Peter Beinart writes in the Daily Beast . And we can look to the “red scares” of the last century...

In Spy Swap, US Got the Pros
 In Spy Swap, US Got the Pros 
Jul 9, 2010 7:36 AM CDT

In Spy Swap, US Got the Pros

Russia gives up aging Cold War turncoat

(Newser) - The four spies Russia handed over to the US last night didn’t have much in common with the 10 spies they got back. The so-called “sleeper” agents that the US nabbed were mainly in the business of looking for government and think-tank contacts that Russia’s “professional”...

US, Russian Experts Chuckle at Feckless 'Spies'

Operation viewed as 'nutty' throwback

(Newser) - To espionage experts, the 11 alleged secret agents busted as members of a Russian spy ring look like something straight out of the spy spoof Burn After Reading: inept amateurs relying on outdated, cliched methods and delivering very little useful intelligence. One former CIA boss called the operation "nutty"...

Earth to Russia: Skip the Spies, Surf the Internet

Agents were after info any student could find

(Newser) - The most baffling thing about the arrest of 11 alleged Russian deep-cover spies is why Moscow went to all that trouble in the first place. The coded messages, bag drops, and the rest of the Boris-and-Natasha schtick appears to have been part of an effort to gather information about American...

Obama's Nuke Plan Is 'Insane'
 Obama's Nuke Plan Is 'Insane' 
charles krauthammer
Apr 9, 2010 8:28 AM CDT

Obama's Nuke Plan Is 'Insane'

The president's approach is 'strategically loopy' and 'morally bankrupt,' too

(Newser) - Obama's new approach to nukes is fundamentally flawed, writes Charles Krauthammer. Under the old doctrine, would-be aggressors faced the threat of a cataclysmic nuclear response. Now, even if America is attacked by bio-weapons, we can't use nukes unless the attacker failed to comply with treaty obligations. The plan is "...

Obama, Medvedev Sign Off on Nuclear Treaty

Move a step toward repairing US-Russian relations

(Newser) - President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed today to sharp cuts in the nuclear arsenals of both nations in the most comprehensive arms control treaty in two decades. "We have turned words into action," Obama declared. He said the pact, to be signed April 8 in Prague,...

U2 Spy Plane Soars Again in Afghanistan
 U2 Spy Plane Soars 
 Again in Afghanistan 
PULLED FROM SCRAP HEAP
Mar 22, 2010 9:51 AM CDT

U2 Spy Plane Soars Again in Afghanistan

With technology old and new, plane provides valuable intel

(Newser) - A relic of the Cold War era is nothing of the kind, as the US military increasingly uses its aging fleet of high altitude U2 spy planes to conduct real-time surveillance in Afghanistan. Retrofitted with modern electronics, the U2 and its pilot can monitor the battlefield, provide crucial communications to...

Why Scandinavia Stinks at Figure Skating
 Why Scandinavia Stinks 
 at Figure Skating 
VANCOUVER OLYMPICS
Feb 18, 2010 8:39 PM CST

Why Scandinavia Stinks at Figure Skating

Fault the Soviets, and other reasons for no medals since 1936

(Newser) - Though the Scandinavian nations generally fare well in the Winter Olympics, there’s a gaping hole in their success when it comes to figure skating (no medals since 1936), leading some bloggers to try to figure why. Some theories:
  • Blame the Soviets. During the Cold War, the Eastern Bloc sunk
...

Obama Revives Cold War Liberalism

 Obama Revives  
 Cold War Liberalism  
DAVID BROOKS
Dec 15, 2009 5:33 AM CST

Obama Revives Cold War Liberalism

In Nobel speech, a 'Christian realist' Obama Doctrine

(Newser) - President Obama's Oslo speech showed a spirit of Christian realism that most liberals abandoned after Vietnam but that would have been very familiar to Harry Truman, writes David Brooks. Obama, by acknowledging that evil exists and stressing that power needs to be constrained within institutions like NATO, is applying the...

Cancer May Have Killed FDR
 Cancer May Have Killed FDR 
NEW BOOK
Nov 24, 2009 2:11 PM CST

Cancer May Have Killed FDR

Possible deception in 1944 election raises lots of what-if questions

(Newser) - Speculating about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s real cause of death has been a popular sport for years, and now two authors have a provocative theory: brain cancer. The shifting opinions are well documented: FDR’s own doctor, who at first likened the deadly brain hemorrhage to a “bolt of...

The Best of Cold War Cinema
 The Best of 
 Cold War Cinema 
OLD RELEASES
Nov 9, 2009 2:30 PM CST

The Best of Cold War Cinema

With the Evil Empire as the bad guy, Hollywood made some great flicks

(Newser) - Maybe the reason Betsy Sharkey is feeling nostalgic about Cold War flicks is that the era offered a clear, if flawed, idea that we were the good guys. Regardless, it made for some good movies. The Los Angeles Times critic's faves, by "capricious category":
  • Aliens: With "subtexts rich
...

'Tear Down This Wall' Not So Confrontational

Reagan 'defeated' Soviets with diplomacy, not bravado

(Newser) - Prepare to see a lot of clips in the coming days of Ronald Reagan declaring, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall’s fall is days away, and in our collective memory, Reagan brought it down with sheer bravado. But that’s...

Shame on Obama for Skipping Berlin Festivities

(Newser) - Skipping the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall is a bad choice by President Obama, Rick Richman writes, for several reasons:
  • It’s a snub of a personal invitation from German Chancellor Angela Merkel—a key ally and one going all out for the festivities.
  • It’s
...

Stone Takes on 'Secret History of America'

Director will look at 'under-reported' events in Showtime series

(Newser) - Oliver Stone is nothing if not ambitious. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the director is prepping a 10-part documentary series entitled Secret History of America, which promises to examine important but under-reported events from the past 60 years. Stone, who will provide the narration himself, calls the Showtime project “...

20 Years Later, Berlin Starts Saving Wall

(Newser) - After many years of indifference, Berliners have started getting serious about saving what's left of the most famous symbol of the Cold War, Der Spiegel reports. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, locals viewed it as merely an unfortunate reminder of  a bad past and little thought was given...

Berlin Pols Target 'Disneyland' Soldiers

They're turning serious monument into 'Disneyland:' officials

(Newser) - German politicians want the fake Cold War soldiers who pose near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate gone, because they’re turning a somber symbol of the nation’s unification into “Disneyland,” Der Spiegel reports. The performers don American, East German, and Soviet military gear and snap photos with tourists...

Obama, Medvedev Agree to New Nuclear Arms Talks

President will visit Moscow in July

(Newser) - Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev pledged to "move beyond Cold War mentalities" at their first ever meeting, at the American ambassador's residence in London. The two presidents agreed to negotiate a new weapons treaty that would see both countries reduce their nuclear stockpiles—the first such...

Crash Reminds Us of Dangers of Nuke-Armed Subs
Crash Reminds Us of Dangers of Nuke-Armed Subs
OPINION
Feb 26, 2009 4:59 PM CST

Crash Reminds Us of Dangers of Nuke-Armed Subs

Cold War is over, but dangerous machines still stalk the oceans

(Newser) - The Cold War is over, and the threats of terrorism and economic collapse have made it easy to forget about the possibility of sudden, total annihilation by nuclear weapons. Until, that is, last week’s collision between French and British nuclear submarines, Clemens Höges writes for Der Spiegel. It's...

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