Soviet Union

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  4/27/2020
  

  Inside the Mission to Perform Bone-Marrow Transplants on Survivors of the Chernobyl Disaster

  "Nevertheless, the next ten days demonstrated the value of international medical cooperation in moments of crisis, even when politics might make success seem impossible." writes Yair Reisner, an Israeli doctor whose help was requested by Russian officials after the disaster.

• 
• SOURCE: The American Interest
  4/11/2020
  

  The Forgotten Women of the Gulag

  A new book by Monika Zgustova brings the harrowing, heartbreaking history of the Soviet Gulag’s female prisoners to life.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  3/5/2020
  

  The Truth About Stalin’s Prison Camps

  Vera Golubeva spent more than six years in one of Joseph Stalin’s gulag camps. Her crime? “To this day, I still don’t know,” she says.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  3/3/2020
  

  Critics of Bernie Sanders’s trip to the Soviet Union are distorting it

  by Yana Skorobogatov, Yakov Feygin and Artemy M. Kalinovsky

  Historians Yana Skorobogatov and Yakov Feygin and Eastern European scholar Artemy M. Kalinovsky contextualize Sanders' opinions on the Soviet Union.

• 
• 2/9/20
  

  The Cold War New and Old: Architectural Exchanges Beyond the West

  by Łukasz Stanek

  Until today, many urban landscapes in West Africa bear witness to how local authorities and professionals drew on Soviet prefabrication technology, Hungarian and Polish planning methods, Yugoslav and Bulgarian construction materials, Romanian and East German standard designs, and manual laborers from across Eastern Europe.

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  2/4/20
  

  We’re Still Living in Stalin’s World

  by Diana Preston

  At the Yalta Conference 75 years ago, the Soviet leader got everything he wanted — and shaped global politics for decades.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/2/2019
  

  China Isn’t the Soviet Union. Confusing the Two Is Dangerous.

  by Melvyn P. Leffler

  An unusual confluence of events World War II led to America’s bitter rivalry with the U.S.S.R. That pattern is not repeating.

• 
• 11/24/19
  

  Russian Victories in the Post-Cold War Era

  by Albert M. Camarillo

  Putin’s Russia is winning battles to destabilize the U.S. that former USSR leaders such as Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Leonid Brezhnev had tried but failed.

• 
• 10/27/19
  

  1949: A Crucial Year for America, Russia, China and the World

  by Kevin M. Shanley

  It’s valuable to revisit three events of global importance from 70 years ago and reflect on how global events intertwine with personal histories.

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  September 27, 2019
  

  She's Rising from the Depths of Soviet Music History

  by Gabrielle Cornish

  Interest is building in Galina Ustvolskaya, the reclusive Russian composer born 100 years ago whose nickname was “the lady with the hammer.”

• 
• 9/29/19
  

  Betrayal in Berlin: Soviet Disinformation and the Berlin Crisis

  by Steve Vogel

  While Russian bots and fake Facebook accounts are relatively new, efforts to undercut Western values and democracy and sow division among allies have long been part of the playbook for Russian and Soviet intelligence.

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  9/24/19
  

  A Slain Jewish Girl’s Diary of Life Under the Soviets and the Nazis

  At a moment when basic agreement over simple truths has become a political battleground and history a weapon, the publication of the book, “Renia’s Diary,” offers a reminder of the power of bearing witness.

• 
• SOURCE: Time
  9/3/19
  

  World War II Launched a New Age of Global Power. 80 Years After the War Began, That Era Is Ending

  by David Kaiser

  The world order created after World War II has begun to collapse. 

• 
• SOURCE: National Security Archive
  9/9/19
  

  National Security Archive Publishes New Documents on the First Soviet Nuclear Test Offering New Information on Beginning of Nuclear Arms Race

  by William Burr

  The newly declassified documents reveal the Soviet atomic project posed a major challenge to U.S. intelligence and expands our knowledge of the role of German scientists in advancing the Soviet nuclear program.

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  Trump’s Wall and the Aggrandizement of Despots

  by Walter G. Moss

  Egotistical rulers like Trump often have grandiose architectural plans. Hitler had his “Germania," Mao had his “10 Great Buildings," and Stalin had his never-built Palace of Soviets. 

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Trollope Ploy Myth

  by Sheldon M. Stern

  What we often get wrong about the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  8/30/19
  

  Why Soviets Sent Dogs to Space While Americans Used Primates

  The goal for the Cold War rivals was the same: to prove that animals could survive in orbit so that people could, too. But why did the Soviets use dogs, while the Americans used primates?

• 
• 8/25/19
  

  Devil's Bargain: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact 80 Years Later

  by David Carlin

  Eighty years ago, two dictators agreed to divide up Eastern Europe. Their agreement would change the lives of millions.

• 
• SOURCE: National Security Archive
  8/15/19
  

  National Security Archive Releases New Briefing Book on Chernobyl through the Eyes of the Soviet Politburo, KGB, and U.S. Intelligence

  Declassified documents detail highest-level reactions, cover-ups, critiques using sources never before translated into English.

• 
• August 11, 2019
  

  Russian History Gives the United States an Ominous Warning

  by Laura Engelstein

  What can Russia's tumultuous history teach us about the brevity of stable governments.