“There used to be the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. There used to be Soviet troops in the GDR. And we must honestly admit that they were occupation troops, which remained in Germany after WWII under the guise of allied troops. Now these occupation troops are gone, the Soviet Union has collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact is no more. There is no Soviet threat, but NATO and U.S. troops are still in Europe. What for?” StillsUsedGoneEuropeUnionsThreatHonestlyUsed To BeGermanyOccupationSovietTroopsSoviet UnionWwiiNatoGuisePactWarsawWarsaw Pact Author:Vladimir Putin
“Over the course of the year 1990, the then Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher had many conversations with President [Mikhail] Gorbachev and other Soviet officials.” YearsCoursesPresidentConversationMinistersOfficialsSovietGorbachev Author:Vladimir Putin
“NATO and the USA wanted a complete victory over the Soviet Union. They wanted to sit on the throne in Europe alone.” WantedVictoryEuropeUnionsUsaSovietThronesSoviet UnionNato Author:Vladimir Putin
“After the demise of the Soviet Union, we had many problems of our own for which no one was responsible but ourselves: the economic downfall, the collapse of the welfare system, the separatism, and of course the terror attacks that shook our country. In this respect, we do not have to look for guilty parties abroad.” LooksCountryProblemCoursesPartyEconomicResponsibleUnionsTerrorGuiltyOur CountryWelfareSovietCollapseSoviet UnionDownfallDemiseTerror Attacks Author:Vladimir Putin
“Back in 1956, we signed a treaty and surprisingly it was ratified both by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the Japanese Parliament. But then Japan refused to implement it and after that the Soviet Union also, so to say, nullified all the agreements reached within the framework of the treaty.” UnionsSupremeJapanAgreementSovietSoviet UnionParliamentFrameworkTreaties Author:Vladimir Putin
“It was life under the Soviet system - we were struggling with every big problem. Publicly, my parents had to queue up to buy food, but were able to live secret lives in their private rooms. With the TV set in the living room, we were able to see Western pop culture -a different reality from what we were living. For me, it was like two different universes existed at the same time, and we got used to being in these parallel universes.” TwoDifferentProblemBigsRealityAbleUsedCultureUniverseParentRoomsSecretStruggleTvsWesternPopsSovietParallelsPop CultureLiving RoomBig ProblemsSecret LifeQueuesParallel UniverseDifferent RealitiesDifferent Universes Author:Jaak Kilmi
“The Soviet Union wasn't so closed - it wasn't North Korea. It was a practical system. People were creative and industrious, so if they wanted to see Western TV programs, they would invent a way to do so. It's strange in a way. There was an official truth, and there was daily life.” PeopleIfsWayWantedCreativeStrangeTvsProgramUnionsWesternPracticalsOfficialsDaily LifeSovietSoviet UnionKoreaNorth KoreaIndustrious Author:Jaak Kilmi
“In Northern Estonia, the Soviet authorities didn't have a recipe on how to fight against the popularity of Finnish TV. Audiences didn't want to watch hardcore Soviet propaganda.” WantFightingWatchesAudienceTvsAuthorityPropagandaSovietPopularityRecipesHardcoreFinnishEstoniaSoviet Propaganda Author:Jaak Kilmi
“My childhood in the Soviet Union was not terrible, it was very joyful.” ChildhoodTerribleUnionsSovietJoyfulSoviet Union Author:Jaak Kilmi
“Life under the Soviet system was often funny, absurd really, especially for children.” ChildrenAbsurdSoviet Author:Jaak Kilmi
“Working under the Soviet system made you very paranoid - people were afraid of everything - and this paranoia is still in people's minds.” PeopleMindMadeStillsSovietParanoiaParanoid Author:Jaak Kilmi
“That the existence of the Soviet Union has an international revolutionary significance is a commonplace equally recognized by friends and foes.” ExistenceUnionsInternationalRevolutionarySignificanceSovietSoviet UnionFoeCommonplace Author:Leon Trotsky
“In spite of the existence of the Soviet Union, however, the proletarian revolution during the past years has not recorded a victory in any other country.” YearsCountryPastExistenceRevolutionVictoryUnionsSpiteSovietOther CountriesSoviet Union Author:Leon Trotsky
“In Russia itself the proletariat conquered in spite of the fact that there was no Soviet State in existence at the time elsewhere. For the victory are necessary, not only certain objective conditions, internal as well as external, but also certain subjective factors - the Party, the leadership, the strategy.” WellsStatesFactsCertainPartyExistenceConditionsVictoryStrategyRussiaObjectivesFactorsSpiteInternalsSovietElsewhereSubjectiveProletariat Author:Leon Trotsky
“It is therefore not true that the mere existence of the Soviet Union is capable of assuring the victory of the revolution in other countries.” CountryExistenceRevolutionVictoryCapableUnionsMereSovietOther CountriesSoviet Union Author:Leon Trotsky
“The initiative of the Five Year Plan and of the accelerated collectivization belongs entirely to the Left Opposition, in uninterrupted and sharp struggles with the Stalinists. Not having the possibility of occupying myself here with long historical researches, I will limit myself to a single illustration. The Dnieprostroy is considered with right as the highest achievement of Soviet industrialization. Yet [Joseph] Stalin and his followers ([Clim] Voroshilov and others) a few months before the beginning of the work were decided opponents of the Dnieprostroy plan.” YearsLongLeftStruggleFivePlansPossibilityMonthsLimitsAchievementHighestResearchDecidedHistoricalOpponentsFive YearsOppositionFollowersSovietInitiativeIllustrationIndustrializationHistorical ResearchFive Year Plans Author:Leon Trotsky
“The Soviet State does not need either illusions or camouflage. It can claim only that world authority which is confirmed by the facts.” WorldNeedsDoeStatesFactsAuthorityIllusionClaimsSovietCamouflage Author:Leon Trotsky
“The clearer and deeper the public opinion of the world, in the first instance the opinion of the working masses, will understand the contradictions and the difficulties of the socialist development of an isolated country, the higher will it appreciate the results achieved. The less it identifies the fundamental methods of Socialism with the zigzags and errors of the Soviet bureaucracy, the less will be the danger that, by the inevitable revelation of these errors and of their consequences, the authority, not only of the present ruling group, but of the workers' State itself, may decline.” WorldFirstsMayCountryStatesResultsOpinionGroupsDangerDevelopmentHigherAuthorityMassConsequenceAppreciateDifficultyMethodFundamentalsErrorsWorkersDeeperSocialismInstanceInevitableRevelationsContradictionSovietIsolatedDeclineSocialistBureaucracyRulingPublic Opinion Author:Leon Trotsky
“The Soviet Union needs thinking and critical friends, such as are capable not only of singing hymns in the hours of success, but of not shrinking in the hour of defeat and danger.” ThinkingNeedsHoursDangerCapableSingingUnionsDefeatCriticalSovietSoviet UnionHymnsShrinking Author:Leon Trotsky
“In the era of Khruschev the Soviet Union had publicly declared itself a supporter of the Indian stand on Kashmir. In 1962 a Russian veto had defeated a Security Council resolution on the plebiscite issue. By 1965, and after the fall of the Kruschev regime, Russian attitudes were significantly modified.” FallAttitudeIssuesSecurityUnionsErasIndianResolutionSovietRegimesDefeatedSupporterSoviet UnionCouncilKashmirVetoSecurity Council Author:Nyla Ali Khan
“As I came through medical school, it was very exciting because physicians were reaching out to each other, between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and sort of helping to build bridges among, you know, people, people who were not allowing our government to pit us against each other and to actually take us to the brink of nuclear war. And Physicians for Social Responsibility wound up getting a Peace Prize, a Nobel Peace Prize, which they shared with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.” PeopleKnowsWarHelpingGovernmentSchoolSocialResponsibilityExcitingUnionsInternationalMedicalNuclearWoundsBridgesReachingPrizeAllowingSovietReach OutPhysiciansSocial ResponsibilitySoviet UnionPitsNobelNuclear WarPreventionMedical SchoolNobel Peace Prize Author:Jill Stein
“It was probably one of the things that gave me a sense of possibility and allowed for me to see beyond the small community that I existed within. You know, I was making friends with young Soviet kids. this is during perestroika. You know, there's bread lines and vodka lines. The entire social structure of what was then the Soviet Union was radically different from what we know today.” KnowsDifferentKidsTodayYoungSocialCommunityLinesPossibilityStructureUnionsBreadSovietWithin YouSoviet UnionVodkaMaking FriendsSocial StructureSmall Communities Author:Kehinde Wiley
“The Russian revolution did not occur until a generation after Marx's death. He was not involved with it, or with what came after it. His works do not describe post-capitalist society, and a fortiori they do not recommend any part of what the Soviet Union did.” GenerationsRevolutionInvolvedUnionsPostsSovietCapitalistSoviet UnionRussian Revolution Author:Allen W. Wood
“It is absurd for anyone to think that Soviet "Marxism" is a correct application of the thought of Karl Marx. No doubt Soviet propaganda represented it this way. But who believes Soviet propaganda? It is remarkable (but maybe not so remarkable after all, when you consider their motives) that apologists for capitalism, who would not accept Soviet propaganda on any other point, are eager to agree with it on this point.” ThinkingWayBelieveAcceptingDoubtCapitalismAgreeAbsurdPropagandaMotiveNo DoubtRemarkableApplicationSovietMarxismSoviet Propaganda Author:Allen W. Wood
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States.” StatesNationsUnitedUnited StatesPolicyRegardUnionsNuclearSovietSoviet UnionCubaMissilesNuclear Missiles Author:John F. Kennedy
“When Cuba lost their fossil fuel pipeline when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990. Overnight they had no choice, they had to transition to clean energy, they didn't have any fuel to burn, and they also had to transition to a healthy food system, an organic system - their economy is crashing, this was not a planned transition. This was a crisis, but a crisis nonetheless, in which pollution went away. And it's very instructive to see what happened to their health.” ChoicesEnergyLostEconomyHappenedHealthyCrisisUnionsCleanFuelTransitionSovietPollutionSoviet UnionFossilsCubaFossil FuelClean EnergyPipelineHealthy Food Author:Jill Stein
“You know, terrorism in Afghanistan had everything to do with the support for the mujahidin by Saudi Arabia and by the CIA that sought to create an international religious extremist group to fight the Soviet Union.” KnowsFightingReligiousSupportGroupsUnionsInternationalTerrorismAfghanistanSovietSoviet UnionCiaExtremistArabiaSaudi ArabiaSaudisExtremist Groups Author:Jill Stein
“I spent the '80s in the Soviet Union and when I came to America it was '89 and I was in an immigrant bubble and we didn't have MTV or cable, so I kind of discovered the '80s when I was already older, maybe in college. And I continued to have this romantic obsession with all those films and there's this sound I hear in my head and it's kind of this bittersweet romantic, dark sound.” KindAmericaFilmSoundDarkCollegeUnionsObsessionImmigrantsSovietBubblesSoviet Union80sCablesBittersweetMtv Author:Regina Spektor
“Here I was in Estonia, doing a concert for 5,000 people, and not many people know the song My Way - Gorbachev in the 80s, My Way had just become a famous song, and [Mikhail] Gorbachev in a satirical, kind of cynical manner coined the term the Sinatra Doctrine and My Way was the song because the Baltic states in the Warsaw Pact wanted to go their own way and secede from the Soviet Union, so joking he says," Yeah, we've got the Sinatra Doctrine now."” PeopleKnowsWayKindStatesWantedSongTermYeahUnionsDoctrineMy WayConcertsSovietCynicalSoviet Union80sSatiricalPactGorbachevEstoniaWarsawWarsaw Pact Author:Robert Davi
“I wanted to write about Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history.” WritingWarWantedModernPeriodsForgottenAfghanistanSovietAfghan Author:Khaled Hosseini
“For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades, that the history of the Afghans in the twentieth century has been largely pacific and harmonious.” PeopleHas BeensWarWantedCenturyWestDecadesPeacefulAfghanistanSovietTwentieth CenturyHarmoniousPacificTalibanAnonymity Author:Khaled Hosseini
“My family left Afghanistan in 1976, well before the Communist coup and the Soviet invasion. We certainly thought we would be going back. But when we saw those Soviet tanks rolling into Afghanistan, the prospect for return looked very dim. Few of us, I have to say, envisioned that nearly a quarter century of bloodletting would follow.” WellsWould BeLeftSawsCenturyReturnMy FamilyCommunistAfghanistanQuartersSovietRollingInvasionTanksCoupsBloodletting Author:Khaled Hosseini
“I think Putin wants to recreate as much of the Soviet Union as he can through a variety of different means. He's invaded parts of Georgia, took Crimea, southeastern Ukraine, bases in other countries.” ThinkingWantMeanDifferentCountryBasesUnionsVarietySovietOther CountriesSoviet UnionPutinUkraineGeorgiaCrimea Author:David Petraeus
“They said Reagan was too dangerous. It was Reagan who ended the Soviet Union without firing a shot.” SaidDangerousShotsUnionsSovietThey SaidSoviet UnionFiring Author:Rush Limbaugh
“It didn't take long to recognise the shortcomings of the Soviet regime and to see the values of the free world.” WorldLongValuesSovietRegimesRecogniseShortcomingsFree World Author:Garry Kasparov
“What does nonalignment mean? It means we don't belong to any military bloc and that we reserve the right to be friends with any country, independently of the influence of any country. All this has remained unchanged after the signing of the Indo-Soviet treaty, and others can say or think what they like - our policy won't change because of the Soviet Union.” ThinkingMeanDoeCountryInfluenceMilitaryPolicyUnionsSovietReservesSoviet UnionTreatiesSigning Author:Indira Gandhi
“However, the treaty exists and it puts us in a different position toward the Soviet Union than the one we have toward other countries. Yes, the treaty exists. Nor does it exist on only one side. Look how w3e're situated geographically and you'll see that India is very important for the Soviet Union.” LooksDoeImportantDifferentCountrySidesPositionIndiaUnionsSovietOther CountriesSoviet UnionTreaties Author:Indira Gandhi
“I assure you we'll go on making our decisions without worrying whether it pleases or displeases the Soviet Union, China, America, France, or anyone else.” AmericaDecisionWorryGoes OnPleaseUnionsChinaFranceSovietSoviet Union Author:Indira Gandhi
“It's a war to control our children. State control through drugs, just as practiced in the Soviet Union. With Hillary [Clinton] and Tipper [Gore] leading the charge!” ChildrenWarStatesDrugOur ChildrenUnionsClintonSovietSoviet UnionGore Author:Michael Savage
“Wherever you go, whether it be a college campus or the New York Times or ABC News or Venezuela or Cuba or the former Soviet Union, it's amazing how the speech codes and the trying to shut up dissent is a defining aspect of the left because they believe so firmly in their utopian ideals that anyone who would disagree with that utopia is an enemy of the state, and they treat them as such.” TryingBelieveStatesLeftEnemyNew YorkCollegeSpeechNewsAspectIdealsTreatsUnionsFormerCodeDisagreeSovietShut UpSoviet UnionDefiningDissentUtopiaCubaNew York TimesCampusUtopianVenezuelaCollege Campus Author:Andrew Breitbart
“The Soviet Union was pretty much what Lenin and Trotsky said it was.” SaidUnionsSovietSoviet UnionTrotsky Author:Noam Chomsky
“The Bolshevik revolution was a counter-revolution. Its first moves were to destroy and eliminate every socialist tendency that had developed in the pre-revolutionary period. Their goal was as they said; it wasn't a big secret. They regarded the Soviet Union as sort a backwater. They were orthodox Marxists, expecting a revolution in Germany. They moved toward what they themselves called "state capitalism," then they moved on to Stalinism. They called it democracy and called it socialism. The one claim was as ludicrous as the other.” FirstsSaidStatesBigsMovingGoalSecretDemocracyRevolutionPeriodsCapitalismClaimsMovedUnionsSocialismTendenciesRevolutionaryGermanyOrthodoxSovietExpectingSocialistThey SaidSoviet UnionMarxistMoved OnStalinismBolsheviks Author:Noam Chomsky
“When you read about the end of the Soviet Union, it's always about the "death of socialism." They never say "the death of democracy." But it makes about the same sense.” EndsDemocracyUnionsSocialismSovietSoviet Union Author:Noam Chomsky
“I'm working on a novel about a girl who grows up in the circus and her relationship with her father, who grew up in Hungary when it was under Soviet control and left during the 1956 revolution. It is told from both of their perspectives, and has been a joy (and very frustrating) to research and write. Needless to say, I am very excited about my next project!” WritingHas BeensJoyGirlNextFatherLeftGrowsNovelGrowing UpRevolutionPerspectiveGrewProjectsGrew UpResearchExcitedSovietFrustratingCircusHungary Author:Liza Campbell
“If they were going to go to London or to the UK to find out how health care is, national health care doesn't work, all they have to do is go to the Soviet Union to find out how communism and socialism didn't work, but it hasn't dissuaded them from trying it here because they think the only thing that hasn't happened is the right people haven't tried it with the proper funding.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingCareHappenedHavensUnionsLondonSocialismCommunismHealth CareSovietSoviet UnionFundingCommunism And Socialism Author:Rush Limbaugh
“From our perspective now, there is a not a huge understanding about the totalitarian Communism that Soviet Russia practiced during the 1950s - it was an atrocious system.” UnderstandingHugePerspectiveRussiaCommunismSovietSoviet Russia Author:Jay Roach
“The collapse of the Soviet bloc ended the massive subsidies that had kept the Cuban economy afloat. The once-vaunted education and health care systems fell into disrepair. Fidel Castro's stubbornness, meanwhile, made political and economic change difficult in Cuba.” MadeCarePoliticalDifficultEconomyEconomicHealth CareMassiveSovietCollapseCubaCubanStubbornnessCastroSubsidiesHealth Care SystemEconomic Change Author:Tom Gjelten
“The naive thing I suppose is simply that we thought, in the words of Francis Fukuyama, that we had reached the end of history and we were entering a brave new world minus the Soviet Union where everything was going to be peaches and cream.” WorldEndsBraveUnionsNew WorldSovietCreamEnteringSoviet UnionNaivePeachesMinusBrave New World Author:Nicholas Meyer
“We were extremely prescient in that we predicted the Soviet coup before it happened. That was kind of amazing.” KindHappenedSovietCoups Author:Nicholas Meyer
“It is now well-known that the Taliban's creation was facilitated by the CIA and the ISI as part of the 1980s anti-Soviet war.” WellsWarKnownCreationSovietWell KnownCiaTaliban Author:Noam Chomsky