Communism

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Domino Wall to Fall on Berlin Anniversary

'Domino-Aktion' to mark 20 years since Berlin Wall toppled

(Newser) - Twenty years after a domino effect of resistance toppled Communist regimes across Europe and brought down the Berlin Wall, the Germans are trying it again with actual dominoes. Volunteers have crafted almost 1,000 8-foot-tall Styrofoam dominoes and plan to assemble them along the path of the old Wall through...

Glenn Beck's Mormonism Is the Apocalyptic Kind

Ties to radical mid-century LDS thought could sully Romney 2012

(Newser) - Most of the media has been understandably wary of tying Glenn Beck’s Mormonism to his jeremiad against President Obama and the enemies of freedom, Adam Reilly writes. And yet, Beck is a clear inheritor of a particular strain of mid-century Mormon political ideology that espoused virulent anti-communism and the...

Early Castro Compatriot Almeida Dead at 82

Rebel leader coined revolutionary slogan 'Here, nobody surrenders!'

(Newser) - One of the original leaders of the Cuban Revolution and a general in Fidel Castro’s military has died, the BBC reports. Juan Almeida Bosque, 82, was the third most senior member in Raul Castro’s Council of State and the only black member of the Cuban leadership. Almeida met...

Thatcher Urged Gorbachev to Block German Reunification

British leader warned Soviets that the change would endanger security

(Newser) - Margaret Thatcher called on Mikhail Gorbachev to halt German reunification months before the Berlin Wall came down, newly unearthed Kremlin documents reveal. Thatcher—telling the Soviet leader he should disregard NATO pronouncements on the issue—said the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact wasn't in the interests of the West, the...

Right Revives Red Scare, Despite Lack of Reds

Fears of secret socialism prove a fertile ground for right-wing outrage

(Newser) - The right has been energized by a good old-fashioned Red hunt—never mind the fact that there are precious few old-style leftists around in America today, Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal. The centrist Democratic administration has been in power for well under a year, Frank writes, but...

E For Embargo, F For Fidel: Castro Dictionary Published

(Newser) - Fidel Castro usually likes to express his political views in rambling essays and hours-long speeches, but a new book now breaks down El Comandante's philosophy into a handy-dandy A-to-Z format. The Castro dictionary, containing entries such as "Unemployment" and "History," is targeted at Cuban academics, reports AP....

Poll: Half of East Germans Positive on Communism

Nostalgic Germans believe life was better before the Berlin Wall came down

(Newser) - They may not be pining for the Stasi or the Trabant, but half of people recently polled in the former East Germany are thinking, in hindsight, that Communism wasn't so bad after all, Der Speigel reports. Nearly 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, the poll finds  that 49% ...

German Tempers Heat Up Over Cold War Tourist Traps

'Snackpoint Charlie,' actors in military uniforms labeled disrespectful to dead

(Newser) - The Disneyfication of Cold War landmarks in Berlin has irked people with bad memories of East Germany, the Independent reports. Critics, including former Allied officers and those who suffered under oppressive rule, argue that the atmosphere around places like Checkpoint Charlie—where actors in military uniforms hustle tourists for coins...

As Capitalism Crumbles, Chinese Embrace Mao, Marx

(Newser) - The woes of international capitalism are fueling renewed interest in the ur-texts of Chinese Communism, MSNBC reports. Sales of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital and Mao’s “little red book” are skyrocketing in China, where the publisher of Kapital has seen a fivefold increase in sales since late last...

Vandals Rip Lenin a New One
 Vandals Rip Lenin a New One 
Apr 1, 2009 1:04 PM CDT

Vandals Rip Lenin a New One

(Newser) - A bomb exploded this morning at a St. Petersburg tribute to Vladimir Lenin, opening a gaping hole in the statue's backside, the BBC reports. “As a result of the explosion a crater of 31-39 inches appeared on the monument,” a Russian official said. The motive for the attack...

Hey Sean, Put Down Your Pen
 Hey Sean, 
 Put Down 
 Your Pen 



OPINION
Jan 5, 2009 10:36 AM CST

Hey Sean, Put Down Your Pen

Adoration of Cuban dictator is misguided, dangerous

(Newser) - Sean Penn may be “the finest character actor around,” but he's “no journalist,” writes Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Penn’s recent “fawning tributes” to Cuban president Raúl Castro show the actor has “delusional, dangerous” beliefs about the dictator—a fact...

Cuba Embargo Has Backfired: Time to End It

(Newser) - The Cuban embargo has failed to encourage democracy there, and the president-elect should do something about it, writes Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post. It's time to “bring five decades of counterproductive American policy toward Cuba to a definitive end.” While engagement with other Communist regimes has worked...

Cuban Players Ditch US Hotel, May Plan to Defect

Cuba's soccer prez denies the 2 men ever left for United States

(Newser) - Two Cuban soccer players fled a US hotel in Virginia yesterday and may plan to defect, the Washington Post reports. Pedro Faife, 24, and Reynier Alcantara, 26, are slated to play in a World Cup qualifier tonight and have not turned themselves in to Customs—but Cuba's coach doesn't expect...

Korean 'Mata Hari' Was More Likely a Patsy

1950 execution of 'spy,' seductress was result of witchhunt: inquiry

(Newser) - In the thick of Cold War suspicion in 1950, South Korean socialite Kim Soo-im was executed as a wily seductress who passed secrets from her US army lover to another in North Korea. But the hasty trial and execution of the 'Korean Mata Hari' was based on charges trumped up...

Posh Related to Marx Comrade

Revolutionary who fled to England is Victoria Beckham's great-great-great-grandfather

(Newser) - Victoria Beckham’s girl-power roots go a lot further back than her Spice Girls days: The pop icon is the great-great-great-granddaughter of a 19th-century communist who worked with Karl Marx, Reuters reports. A German historian discovered the link between Posh and revolutionary Carl Heinrich Pfaender who was chummy with Marx...

Cuban Youth Prefer Facebook to Revolution

They're resigned to small freedoms, not sweeping change

(Newser) - Cuba's youth are restless, but many are more concerned about access to Facebook, flat-screen TVs, and trips abroad than political change, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Young people say that they pressured Raul Castro to allow cell phone and computer ownership, but they remain disillusioned about the prospects for greater...

Sorry, Veterans, Vietnam Is Profitable Now
Sorry, Veterans, Vietnam Is Profitable Now
OPINION
Jul 9, 2008 1:44 PM CDT

Sorry, Veterans, Vietnam Is Profitable Now

American companies move to Hanoi, reap benefits of communism

(Newser) - More expensive Chinese labor has American enterprises heading to Vietnam, moving Harold Meyerson to wonder, in the Washington Post, why 58,000 US soldiers died trying to defend democracy there. "American business, backed by the American government, has realized that the problem with communism wasn't that it was undemocratic...

China's One-Child Policy Leads to Nation of Angry Men

Huge gender imbalance spurs skyrocketing crime rate

(Newser) - China’s got a big problem, one of its own making. The nation's one-child policy, now 30 years old, has resulted in a land of angry, testosterone-filled young men unable to find wives, writes Mara Hvistendahl in the New Republic. Finally worried about the world's biggest gender imbalance and its...

Ailing Fidel Appears on TV
Ailing Fidel Appears on TV
Jun 18, 2008 5:58 AM CDT

Ailing Fidel Appears on TV

Former Cuban president chats with Hugo Chavez about food, fuel crises

(Newser) - An animated Fidel Castro appeared on state-run Cuban TV yesterday, in the first such broadcast of the ailing revolutionary since January. Castro, standing in some parts of the video, was seen chatting in a garden with his brother Raul, the current Cuban president, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the AP...

Book Reawakens Doubts About Polish Hero Walesa

Did the country's democratic pioneer collaborate with Poland's secret police?

(Newser) - A new book is stirring up an old debate in Poland: Did democratic hero Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity union and former president, collaborate with the secret police? Walesa has successfully defended himself against the claim for 15 years, in and out of court. But historians working with police...

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