Tag - soviet

 
 

SOVIET

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and other Baltic politicians placed on Russia's wanted list risk arrest if they cross the Russian border, but otherwise declaring them as "wanted" is unlikely to have any practical consequence.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Moscow puts Estonia PM on wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Baltic governments demolished the monuments they considered their former imperial overlords' propaganda tools.
Ukrainian police and military experts collect fragments of a downed Russian drone near residential buildings in Kyiv on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 25, 2023
Russia launches huge drone attack as Kyiv marks historic famine
Ukraine’s air defense said it shot down 71 of 75 drones aimed mainly toward the capital region.
Under President Vladimir Putin rule, reason, logic, and humanity appear to have been systematically eroded from Russian life, similar to the era of Stalin and his gulags. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2023
Russian life imitates dystopian art
The state in Russia has always tended toward absolutism and its coercive and penal arms have rarely wielded as much power as they do now.
A woman cleans a portrait displayed on a tree to mark the Day of Victims of Political Repressions, who were buried during the Stalin era in the woods on the outskirts of St. Petersburg on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2023
Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to suppress attempts to evaluate Josef Stalin critically.
Polish Ambassador to Japan Pawel Milewski (left), Polish development bank BGK President Beata Daszynska-Muzyczka (second from left), Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and member of the Japan-Poland Parliamentary Friendship Association Hirobumi Niki (second from right), and social welfare corporation Fukudenkai President Takaaki Ota attend a ceremony at the Polish Embassy in Tokyo on Oct. 19.
JAPAN / History
Oct 26, 2023
Japan and Poland mark centennial of orphans' rescue from Siberia
The Japanese Red Cross Society conducted rescue and relief missions from 1920 to 1922 for a total of 765 Polish children.
Masashi Yamaguchi teaches at the cram school he runs in Nara in August.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 8, 2023
Man who lost father in downing of Korean passenger jet recalls struggle
Four decades later, he still feels the weight of gratitude for his now-deceased mother, who had to raise him and his sisters alone.
A new Russian textbook for high school students on general world and national history
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2023
Putin’s history lessons fail to heed the lessons of history
Putin seems to have forgotten is that rewriting history to serve the interests of those in power tends to invite dissent and often backfires.
Russian businessman and co-founder of Alfa Group Mikhail Fridman (left) attends a conference in Moscow in September 2019.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2023
Sympathy for the oligarch
As private actors sought to navigate the collapse of the Soviet economy, they ended up shaping it into something far more functional and prosperous.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 29, 2023
Animated Polish-Japanese story wins top prize at Asia short film fest
Izumi Yoshida takes the George Lucas Award for her short based on the so-called Siberian Children who were rescued by the Japanese Red Cross Society following the Russian Revolution.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jun 18, 2023
Former Japanese soldier held in Soviet labor camp gives talks to children
Close to 600,000 Japanese soldiers are believed to have been held in Soviet labor camps in the wake of Japan's defeat in the war, with about 55,000 dying as a result of the conditions.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 16, 2023
China’s spying in Cuba picks up where the Soviet Union left off
Beijing’s reported efforts at surveillance from Cuba are reminiscent of Lourdes, a Soviet-built listening post just south of Havana.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 6, 2023
Robert Hanssen, FBI agent exposed as spy for Moscow, dies at 79
Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison in 2002, bringing to a close one of the most lurid and damaging espionage cases in American history.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 30, 2023
What Japan can learn from a leader's diplomacy four decades ago
At a G7 summit, Yasuhiro Nakasone took the lead and helped to heal a growing rift between France and the United States.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 23, 2023
Hell is a crab cannery ship in industrial Japan. The way out? Russia.
Stories of brutality from the era of industrialization are testament to the sacrifice of former generations, sacrifices that resulted in what we take for granted today.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 23, 2023
Chinese envoy questions sovereignty of post-Soviet nations
The comments cast doubt not just on Ukraine, but all former Soviet republics, including many members of the European Union.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2023
Putin’s paranoia deviates from its Soviet roots
Russia has yet to resort to the drastic reprisals of the Stalinist years, but the regime’s opponents still face some deepening perils.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2023
Russia and a return to Soviet-style central planning
With Russia's economy crumbling, some of the country's leading economists are advocating for a return to Soviet-style central planning.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Jan 7, 2023
Is today’s China yesterday’s Soviet Union?
When Soviet-style totalitarianism ultimately collapsed under the weight of its economic failures, China decided to stay the course. But can China's totalitarian experiment last?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2023
Russian Muppets or American puppets?
The experience in the 1990s of trying to introduce “Sesame Street” to Russia offers valuable insights into the Russian mind.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2023
Japan was among the first to confirm Gorbachev alive after 1991 coup attempt
The United States and many other countries were rushing to confirm the safety of Gorbachev following the coup, which failed within three days.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?