MetaFilter posts tagged with ussr

Found: unused space shuttle

latkes — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:28:38 -0800

No big deal, just found an abandoned space shuttle.

The game that puts you on a first-name basis with third-world dictators

JHarris — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 03:29:52 -0800

"Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle [...]"
- John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address

TWILIGHT STRUGGLE is a card-driven board game simulation of the Cold War. It has been called a game of crisis management; dealing with them yourself, creating them for your opponent, and their proper timing. There is a extensive blog about the game, Twilight Strategy. This is that site's article on starting out play. This page could help you decide if it's for you. ("Do you enjoy games that are extremely tense and nerve-wracking?") Here's a YouTube video on how to play it. And, although I suggest learning to play with a physical set, the online multiplayer wargaming client Warroom has a Java Twilight Struggle client/server program available. There is also a VASSAL module, but it currently doesn't work with VASSAL 3.2 or later. There's a lot more on the game after the break.... Twilight Struggle is currently at the top of BoardGameGeek's massive rated list of over 60,000 games. One player plays the United States, the other the U.S.S.R. Through ten turns they play event cards, which represent various happenings in the world. Each turn, both players have a hand of cards, and they must play almost all of them, whether the event is good for them or bad. There is also a variable tracked by the game that measures world tensions called DEFCON (DEFense CONdition), that can go up and down between 5 (best) and 1 (extremely bad). If DEFCON ever drops to 1, the player whose turn it is sparks a nuclear war and immediately loses the game. The thing is, some cards give your opponent opportunity to act, and if he can drop DEFCON to 1 on your turn, you lose. This is called DEFCON suicide, and its causes are at times subtle. The board is a map of the world. Through their actions, each side tries to gain influence in various countries of the world. Their main objective in this is to gain control. A superpower has control of a country if they have X more Influence Points in that nation than the other side, where X is that country's stability value. The U.K. has the highest stability, of 5, while weak nations like Lebanon, Nicaragua or Nigeria have a value of 1. The higher the stability, the harder it is to gain control, but the easier it is to keep it. Some of those cards that players must play are scoring cards, one for each region of the world. In the Early War, the scored regions are Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In Mid-War, added to those is Africa, Central America, South America and a special card for Southeast Asia. When a scoring card comes up, each side earns victory points depending on how much of the region they control, most notably, of how many battlefield countries they have compared to the other side. Score is counted using a two-sided scoring track; at the start, the game score is 0, in the middle. When the US earns points the score marker is moved one way, and when the USSR earns points it goes the other way. Thus, every point earned by one side is a point lost by the other, the two players each pulling the scoring marker their way kind of like a tug-of-war. If one side ever gets to 20 points in its direction, it immediately wins the game. On their turn, players play one card less than they had at the start of the turn; if they start with eight, they must play seven. The last card is "held," kept for the next turn. There are three kinds of cards: US cards, USSR cards, and neutral cards. So, a player will frequently have all three kinds of cards in his hand at the start of the turn. If you play a card "for" your side, or a neutral card, then you either play it for the event, which is described on the card and is something good for you, or for its Operations Points, or "Ops." However, when you play a card belonging to the other side, both happen: you get to play the Ops points on the board, but the other player gets his event. Remember what I said above about DEFCON.... (Scoring cards are neutral, but have no operations value; they are always played for the event, and also must be played that turn, they cannot be "held.") Ops points can be used to buy Influence, to stage a Coup, or to make realignment rolls. Influence bought is simply placed, one Op per point, in any nation you have Influence in or adjacent to same, spread out however you like; however, if the other side already has control of that country, it costs 2 Ops to buy one point. A Coup involves a die roll, and can be staged in any nation your opponent has Influence in: roll the die, add the Ops value of the card, and compare to twice the nation's Stability, if you roll over remove the difference in enemy Influence, and any excess becomes your own Influence added in. But... Coups in Battleground Countries lower DEFCON by one level. Realignment rolls don't come up often, for they are even more random than Coups, never add Influence to a country, and also can result in you losing influence yourself, but you can make one roll per Operations point in any nation in which your opponent has influence. Further note: Low DEFCON levels also restrict the players from staging Coups or Realignments in some regions. Events are a variety of things, most of which are some way of placing your influence on the board or removing that of your opponent. Many cards, once played for their Event, are removed from the game, while others will come up again after the deck runs out and is reshuffled. There are 103 of these in a typical game. Here's a selection (all the cards are linked here): COMECON (3 Ops, USSR): Add 1 USSR Influence to each of 4 non-US-controlled countries of Eastern Europe. FIVE YEAR PLAN (3 Ops, US): USSR player chooses one card in his hand randomly; if it's a US event, it triggers immediately, if not it's simply discarded. FIDEL (2 Ops, USSR): US loses all Influence in Cuba, then USSR gains enough Influence for control. BLOCKADE (1 Op, USSR): Unless the US immediately discards a card with an Operations value of 3 or more, remove all US Influence from West Germany. Containment (3 Ops, US): All Operations Cards played by the US this turn receive +1 to their Operations value (up to 4). OLYMPIC GAMES (2 Ops, Neutral): The player who plays this is sponsoring the Olympics. The other player can choose to either participate or boycott. Participating means both players roll a die, with the sponsor getting +2 to his roll, and whoever rolls highest gets 2 VP. Boycotting lowers DEFCON by 1 and gives the sponsor 4 Ops to spend as he wishes. But really, Olympic Games is a fiendish trap: since they give your opponent the opportunity to raise tensions on your turn, playing this Event means losing the game if DEFCON is 2. DECOLONIZATION (2 Ops, USSR): Add 1 USSR Influence to any 4 countries in Africa and/or Southeast Asia. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (3 Ops, Neutral): DEFCON goes to 2, and any Coups by your opponent will lose them the game. But the event may be canceled at any time if the USSR removes 2 Influence from Cuba, or the US removes 2 Influence from West Germany or Turkey. QUAGMIRE (3 Ops, USSR): On the US's next Action Round, instead of playing it must discard a card worth at least 2 Ops and then roll 1-4 (on a six-sided die) to end the effect. If it fails, do it again the next round, again and again until 1-4 is rolled. If the US is out of cards worth at least 2 Ops it cannot play cards at all but must still roll each round until 1-4 comes up until the event ends. KITCHEN DEBATES (1 Op, US): If the US controls more Battleground Countries than the USSR, it gets 2 VP, and the US player gets to poke the USSR player in the chest. MISSILE ENVY: Your opponent must choose one of the cards from his hand that has the highest Ops value. If that card has your event or a neutral one, it occurs then and there; if it's an opponent's event, you get the Ops to play and the event doesn't happen. The opponent gets Missile Envy in return, but must play it for Ops in his next round. There is a slight danger for DEFCON suicide when playing it though. FLOWER POWER (4 Ops, USSR): The USSR gets 2 VP every time the US plays a "War" card. OPEC (3 Ops, USSR): The USSR gets 1 VP for controlling each of: Eqypt, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Gulf States or Venezuela. PANAMA CANAL RETURNED (1 Op, US): Add 1 US Influence to Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela. CHERNOBYL (3 Ops, US): The US designates one Region; for the rest of the turn, the USSR cannot buy Influence there. WARGAMES (4 Ops, Neutral): If DEFCON is 2, spot the opponent six Victory Points and end the game immediately. THE CHINA CARD (4 Ops, Neutral): A special card, this isn't part of anyone's hand but resides on the table in front of its owner. At the start of the game this is the USSR. On the posessor's turn, instead of a card from his hand he can choose to play The China Card instead; its Event text is to play it as a 4 Ops card, unless all the points are spent in Asia in which case the player gets 5 Ops. Then the card is given to the other player and put on the table face-down, unavailable for play; at the start of the next turn, it's turned face-up again. Not only is it a powerful play, but since it's used instead of a hand card it means the player can get away with holding an extra card at the end of the round, useful for delaying harmful events. In final scoring, having this card is worth 1 VP. Sometimes, while you're playing, you'll end up with a card you want to dump, not play at all. A scant few cards let you discard other cards, but the main way to do this is to SEND IT TO OUTER SPAAACE. That is, play it to the Space Race track. You're allowed to do this once per turn, if the card is worth 2 Ops or more (3 Ops later), and this prevents any enemy Event on the card from triggering. There are other benefits (and VPs) that come from advancing in the Space Race too, but they end once the other player catches up to you. Spaced cards get discarded, so they could turn up again later, "on reentry," once the deck gets reshuffled.... At the start of each turn, each player picks one card from his hand to "headline" the turn, and plays it face-down. Both players then turn the card over at once; the Event on the one with the higher Ops value happens first, then the other. Ideally you'll pick an Event that will happen over the whole turn, or creates a crisis your opponent must react to. One US card, Defectors, has as its only effect, if played as a headline, the cancelation of the USSR headline. Even if DEFCON is 3 at the start of the Headline phase, if both players play a DEFCON lowerer, it could still result in nuclear war. At the start of the game the deck consists of the "Early War" cards. After three turns, a much larger deck, the Mid War cards, are shuffled in. After turn seven a small set of Late War cards are added. These cards serve to modify the nature of the game as it continues, as well as the cards that get excluded from the deck due to Event play. To win the game: At the end of ten turns, each region is scored one more time, and the winner is the player with more points. Alternatively, when the Europe is scored, if a player controls all five European Battleground Countries, and more of Europe than the opponent, he immediately wins. This even applies during final scoring. You also win by causing DEFCON to drop to 1 during your opponent's turn, or by being ahead by seven points and playing Wargames for its Event. One interesting thing about the game is that it's far from perfectly symetrical. There are many US events that the US doesn't get, and vice versa. The USSR gets to go first in the Action Phases of every turn, while the US gets to go last. The USSR has a small advantage overall, especially in the first turns, and should try for an early win. The US, however, gets better events in the Late War, and had the advantage if the game goes to term. Twilight Strategy has two detailed, annotated playthroughs on the site, which make for surprisingly entertaining reading: #1 (Turn 10 win by USA from Wargames) #2 (Turn 8 win by USSR from 20-point lead)

When Nikita met Marilyn

madamjujujive — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:01:12 -0800

Khrushchev Tours America - His shoe banging incident at the UN and the the Kitchen Debates with Nixon are well known but less attention has been given to the time Nikita Khrushchev went to Hollywood. He met Marilyn Monroe and other film luminaries but he was denied a trip to Disneyland (previously). More: Photos from the trip Nikita Khrushchev: Between black & white - interesting biog video President Kennedy and Khrushchev - silent footage

"Scholars, however, have long known a very different story"

andoatnp — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:36:22 -0800

The Real Cuban Missile Crisis: Everything you think you know about those 13 days is wrong.

Sergei Parajanov: exploring the poetic potential of the cinema in the Soviet Union

filthy light thief — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:01:39 -0800

Georgian-born Armenian, Sergei Parajanov (1924-1990) was a controversial director in the Soviet era. At first he followed the state mandated style of Socialist Realism, but in 1964 he broke out into his own style with Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (YT), a dream-like film that combines expressionistic camera techniques, ethnography, and the logic of folktales. The film won almost every, award in sight on the 1964 film festival circuit, but it was also of the restrictive Soviet approach to the arts. The film was banned by authorities, but Parajanov did not return to realism, and instead paid tribute to the Armenian troubadour Sayat-Nova ("King of Songs" in Persian). The Color of Pomegranates (1968) is a film that sought to portray Sayat-Nova through images inspired by his life and poetry. Though Parajanov had fled Moscow and filmed Pomegranates in Armenia, he continued to face constant harassment by government officials, who finally forbade him from making films for the next 15 years. IMDb lists his next directorial credit as a documentary short called Return to Life in 1980, with scant additional information available there or elsewhere online. Wikipedia currently states that The Legend of Suram Fortress (1984, YT clip) was his first film after 15 years of Soviet censorship. In 1988, Parajanov released his final complete film, Ashik Kerib (YT, no subtitles). Sergei Parajanov died in 1990, at the age of 66. Shortly after his death, a short documentary was put together from clips and images: I am Sergei Parajanov! (24 minutes; Vimeo). There is a longer documentary released by Kino (possibly part of the 4 movie DVD set), in 6 parts on YouTube: 1, 2, 3, 4*, 5, 6 * I get a "blocked due to copyright" message, but I'm not sure if it's viewable elsewhere

The mines were frozen so they did not explode, while we walked for several kilometres along the [mine] fields.

infinite intimation — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:27:50 -0800

The history of the Russian-Chechen conflict spans two centuries. Images of Chechen enemies were mentioned even in a lullaby by Lermontov that put children to sleep in the 19th century. War correspondents Robert Parsons, Sofie Shehab, Petra Prohazkova and Andrey Babitsky tell about the war they saw with their own eyes in Nino Kirtadze’s film “The Chechen Lullaby”. A film by Anastasya Khonyakina: “War in Chechnya - People” Two military campaigns. 250,000 dead. What really happened in Chechnya? Many people know. Very few talk about it. Exclusive interviews with the Chechens from all over Europe. They tell the truth about their past, risking their future. A Documentary “Field Hospital” by Zurab Kodalashvili. Nobody sees any sense in this war. You can only rely on the heroism of the doctors, and the selflessness of the relatives. To save yourself, you must either get wounded, or become a deserter. A documentary by Anastasya Khonyakina: “War in Chechnya – Men in Uniforms”. 400,000 Russian officers vs 1 million Chechens. What was the fate of the resistance? Chechen officers, soldiers and victims of filtration camps. Exclusive interviews from all over Europe. A Documentary “The Deserters” by Zurab Kodalashvili. Nobody sees any sense in this war. You can only rely on the heroism of the doctors, and the selflessness of the relatives. To save yourself, you must either get wounded, or become a deserter.

Socialism Expo

k8t — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:37:32 -0800

Beautiful images from the USSR. Someone has scanned over 10,000 photos from the Soviet Union. Sources seem to be mainly the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Soviet Life magazine and catalogs and magazines. Some are mundane but beautiful, like these 1970s Azerbaijani schoolchildren and politicians hanging out with old men. Or just tomatoes. Early Soviet architecture. Soviet cars. Catalog shopping from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Vacation advertisements. And yes, there are cosmonauts.

Katyn

Hollywood Upstairs Medical College — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:17:59 -0800

Newly declassified documents show the United States had full knowledge of the Katyn massacre, the Soviet massacre of 22,000 Polish officers. The Soviets attempted to blame Nazi Germany. The scars of Katyn remain on Poland, after the Russian State Duma admitted and condemned Stalin's role in Katyn, a delegation of 130 prominent Poles including the President on their way to commemorate the 70th anniversary at the site died in a plane crash.

Punks-Back in the USSR

Isadorady — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 23:08:24 -0800

“The music and lyrics of punk rock provoke among the young fits of aimless rage, vandalism, and the urge to destroy everything they get their hands on. No matter how carefully they try to clean it up, it will remain the most reactionary offspring of the bourgeoisie mass culture.” Pravda Photographs and video of pre-Perestroika/Glasnost punks in the Soviet Union. [Some site images possibly NSFW]

They had a Carl Sagan, too

syntaxfree — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:28:40 -0800

Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa (1928-2012) , scientist, television personality, pacifist. The son of a Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, Kapitsa's research drifted from physics into demography and mathematical population modeling, having spoken alongside Sagan in the Club of Rome. Kapitsa is better known, however, as the host of Evident, but incredible, which catapulted him into the figure of a public ambassador of science and eventually the longest-running television host in the history of Russia. Kapitsa also left a minor mark as a filmmaker, with his "Sea of Japan" arriving second to Jacques Cousteau in Cannes.

"She hadn’t seen an orange in years"

the man of twists and turns — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:55:31 -0800

Our Man in Great Neck: 'In June 1982, my grandparents, Murray and Helene Cohen, traveled to the Soviet Union as part of a secret mission headed by the Great Neck chapter of the long island Committee for Soviet Jewry in order to pass information and contraband goods to Jews attempting to leave Russia.'

The FBI has a "Do Not Contact" List?

zarq — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:55:59 -0800

The Feynman Files. For the first time, FBI records for Dr Richard Feynman have been released to the public. They document the Bureau's apparent obsession in the 1950's with outing him as a communist sympathizer, and include notations from several background checks as well as interviews with his colleagues, friends and acquaintances.

RIP Эдуард Анатольевич Хиль

alexoscar — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 01:57:51 -0800

Eduard Anatolyevich Khil, aka Mr. Trololo, has died at the age of 77. Though best known today as the source of one of the Internet's most popular memes, Khil had a lengthy career, performing live until last year. His rich baritone voice and dramatic delivery made him a staple of Soviet and later Russian TV for decades. YouTube features many videos of Khil's performances.

He fell asleep, 31 years later.

Hollywood Upstairs Medical College — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:42:19 -0800

History of USSR for Children. (SLYT)

"Pure Cinema"

zarq — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:18:00 -0800

Человек с киноаппаратом ("Man with a Movie Camera") is a classic experimental documentary film that was released in 1929. Directed by pioneer Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov, this classic, silent documentary film has no story and no actors, and is actually three documentaries in one. Ostensibly it documents 24 hours of life in a single city in the Soviet Union. But it is also a documentary of the filming of that documentary and a depiction of an audience watching that documentary and their responses. "We see the cameraman and the editing of the film, but what we don't see is any of the film itself." Reviews: Old School Reviews and Roger Ebert: "Born in 1896 and coming of age during the Russian Revolution, Vertov considered himself a radical artist in a decade where modernism and surrealism were gaining stature in all the arts. He began by editing official newsreels, which he assembled into montages that must have appeared rather surprising to some audiences, and then started making his own films. He would invent an entirely new style."
Wikipedia on Vertov and Man with a Movie Camera: "This film is famous for the range of cinematic techniques Vertov invents, deploys or develops, such as double exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, Dutch angles, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, footage played backwards, stop motion animations and a self-reflexive style (at one point it features a split screen tracking shot; the sides have opposite Dutch angles)."
Version with an alternate soundtrack. (Alloy Orchestra) A number of other Dziga works are available in their entirety on Youtube, including A Sixth Part of the World, Soviet Toys, The Eleventh (1, 2, 3, 4), Kino-Glaz and some of his Kino Pravda newsreel series: 1, 5, 7 (in all, 23 were produced.) There is also a video with additional excerpts. At Ubu.com, Kino Eye and Three Songs About Lenin. Interpreting Vertov: Previously on MeFi

In Soviet Russia, Mars travels to you

Artw — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:31:53 -0800

The utopian Mars fiction of Soviet Russia

Gorbachev on the New World Order

empath — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:58:42 -0800

"In short, the world without the Soviet Union has not become safer, more just or more stable. Instead of a new world order—that is, enough global governance to prevent international affairs from becoming dangerously unpredictable—we have had global turmoil, a world drifting in uncharted waters." -- Mikhail Gorbachev writes about the world after the Cold War in The Nation.

15 Million Merits

Artw — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:30:14 -0800

Are you encourages in your place of work by the use of gamification? Congratulations, comrade, you are treading in the footsteps of Soviet Russia!

"You can’t regret your fate, although I do regret my mother didn’t marry a carpenter."

zarq — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:16:22 -0800

Growing up, she was a beloved celebrity in her home country. Thousands of girls were named after her. So was a bestselling perfume. But Josef Stalin's "Little Sparrow," his only daughter, (born Svetlana Stalina) defected to the United States in 1967. Upon arriving in New York, she promptly held a press conference that surprised the world, denouncing her father's regime. Svetlana became a naturalized US citizen, moved to Taliesin West, married an American, changed her name to Lana Peters, then returned to the Soviet Union in 1984, declaring that she had not been free "for one single day" in the U.S., only to once again return to America in 1986. She lived out her remaining days in a small town in Wisconsin. Mrs. Peters passed away from colon cancer on November 22nd, at the age of 85. Mentioned in several of the above links: the 2007 documentary film, Svetlana About Svetlana. Trailer. More. She wrote two bestselling autobiographies. The Wisconsin State Journal article included 3 images.

Jewish Problems

veedubya — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:56:11 -0800

This is a special collection of problems that were given to select applicants during oral entrance exams to the math department of Moscow State University. These problems were designed to prevent Jews and other undesirables from getting a passing grade. (via Hacker News)

The USSR's War and Peace

Bwithh — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:20:32 -0800

An 8 hour radio dramatization of Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman is being broadcast by the BBC. Kenneth Branagh and David Tennant star. Soviet writer Vasily Grossman's epic 1960 novel set during the Battle of Stalingrad (previously on MeFi) is considered a masterwork of Russian literature comparable to Tolstoy's War and Peace but was banned in the USSR until 1988. (The radio drama is also available as a series of free podcasts, each downloadable for 30 days both in the UK and anywhere else in the world).

Inhales hmmm, needs more horse...

codacorolla — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:44:23 -0800

"It begins with a freshly showered person riding naked for hours on a clean, washed horse inside a two-meter-high 'forest' of marijuana. Afterwards, the human body and that of the horse are covered with a thick layer of resin mixed with sweat. This produces a substance that is usually dark brown in color, which is then thoroughly scraped off the human and horse's bodies." The Chu (sometimes Chui or Chuy) valley produced much of the marijuana available in the Soviet Union, and continues its unique harvest to this day. Via The World on PRI (audio link). A slightly more in-depth article from 2009. and Kazakhstani rap about the crop.

Soviet Literature Summarized

a louis wain cat — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:43:28 -0800

Sovlit.com is a very large and comprehensive site dedicated to the literature of the Soviet Union (both official and dissident), with summaries (fans of the genres might find the examples of Soviet science fiction and spy novels to be particularly interesting), biographies, and even some full translations of short stories from authors such as Isaac Babel, Vasily Grossman, Yevgeny Zamyatin, and others.

A Bottomless Silo

Artw — Tue, 03 May 2011 00:18:57 -0800

The Rusty Technoporn Of Nuclear Russia - The Base Of Human Exterminators , The Place That Stalkers Would Love To Visit, from English Russia via Warren Ellis

What Have You Done For A Friend Today?

COD — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:25:33 -0800

In 1967, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov went up in a capsule he knew would never get back (NSFW gruesome image) to earth in one piece. He could have bowed out of the mission, but that would meant his good friend, Yuri Gagarin (the first man in space) would have drawn the mission instead. So Vladamir launched knowing it was a suicide mission. The CIA was listening in , and recorded what may have been Vladimir Komarov's last words, amid cries of rage. Adding to the tragedy, Yuri died in a plane crash the next year.