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Havok's Commodore Tidbits 10/2/2018
][avok
Hello and welcome back to this weeks edition of the Tidbits!
There's been quite a lot going on in our Commodore 64/128 world over the last couple of years. The retro craze has reached us and there has been renewed interest in everything from the Internet's precursor, Commodore BBS scene, to new hardware production of Commodore compatible devices and development of new applications and games. Marry that with current technologies such as telnet BBS's, websites and social media and people of all age groups and curiosities now have access to the entire world of Commodore.
For our part we have relaunched The Oasis BBS in May of 2017 on it's original hardware as a telnet bbs. Concurrently we launched a website to support the BBS and created a presence on the major social media platforms. Recently we moved to a new dedicated server and have added forums to help with the exchange of new ideas and answer questions.
Going forward we plan to produce more featured content in the future and that will appear in the form of long form stories, videos and well as regular columns, reviews etc. We're looking for interested parties to join us and you're excited about 30 year old hardware in the modern age and have a voice to contribute please reach out to us here.
The Foenix Is Sizzling
Here is the latest update on the desktop of the Foenix. Now the Text mode of the C256 Foenix includes colors, 16 For Foreground, 16 for Background. All of those, can be changed since they are part of a lookup table.
ZZap! 64 Annual 2019 Arriving
The ZZap! 64 Annual 2019 has started to arrive if you pre-ordered. This is the first ZZap! 64 since the 1990's and it chock full of game reviews, columns and artwork for content that's been created since ZZap! last issue. You can get your copy now by clicking here.
Commodore The Inside Story
Commodore The Inside Story by David Pleasance, former Managing Director of Commodore UK.
The Untold Tale Of A Computer Giant
There have been rumours about how Commodore – once a billion-dollar company at the cutting edge of computing technology – could go bankrupt.
In this book David Pleasance, former MD of Commodore UK gathers his personal stories and experiences from over twelve years at the company, along with viewpoints from other senior management and engineering employees, suppliers and fans of this former giant of home computing, to expose the naked truth.
This is the book that bares it all…
Hardback fully bound book with colour photos and containing many NO HOLDS BARRED stories (all true) about David's 12+ years career at Commodore:
June 1983 to 1990 at CBM UK LTD as Sales & Marketing Director
From 1990 – January 1992 Commodore Electronics Ltd Basle Switzerland General Manager – responsible for 37 countries.
January 1992 – December 1992 Commodore Inc. (USA Sales company) Vice President Consumer products.
January 1993 – August 30th 1995 Managing Director CBM UK Ltd.
The Untold Tale of a Computer Giant with never before revealed true stories of how a huge corporation was mismanaged from Hero to Zero.
Get your copy now from AmigaKit's store.
Reformation 2 by Matt Gray
Reformation 2 is the follow up album to the highly successful Reformation Last Ninja 2 album. It features 25 full production remakes of classic C64 game soundtracks including Ocean Loader 1, International Karate, IK+, Trap, Green Beret Loader, The Wilderness and The Wastelands from Last Ninja, Delta, Master Of Magic, Stormlord and more. Available to buy and download now at this link.
Soft Machine Demo by TRIAD
Soft Machine is the latest demo from the TRIAD group via the ChrisDarkTV channel on Youtube. If you're into the demo scene you'll want to take a look at the channel and TRIAD's page for more content.
The Tidbits are curated from stories around the web. If you enjoy the weekly Tidbits consider a Like, Share or Subscribe to our social media. To submit news items for the Tidbits or any other feedback about the BBS or website send your inquires to theoasisbbs@gmail.com.
https://www.theoasisbbs.com
Tech Junkie, Pit Bull Rescuer & Advocate, Pizza Connoisseur, Brewer of Beer, Lover of Music, Gardener, Traveler, Strategy War Gamer, Veteran.


At least 900 Google full-time employees (FTEs) have reportedly sided the company's temps, vendors, and contractors (TVCs) following its decision to cut short contracts of as many as 34 workers responsible for helping Google Assistant develop its 'personality'. The team of temp workers was more directly responsible for building out the human side of the AI across more than 50 languages, including adding jokes and adjusting the tone and delivery of other content.
Google's initial response to the outcry from its FTEs was to insist that temporary workers had been given a standard four-week notice that their terms would be shortened and that TVCs are free to apply for full-time employment. It also says that it has tools and resources in place to help workers make that transition.
Google is now said to be working to institute new standards for TVCs to address the issue.
What exactly are the demands that Google is responding to?
In the above-mentioned letter, TVCs and FTEs joined to list three demands centered around respect and empathy. Namely, the workers demanded that Google respect contracts and work by paying TVCs for the full term of the original contracts and by converting TVCs fired to full-time status.
It also asked that Google treat TVCs more humanely, by not effectively cutting of FTEs from empathizing with temporary workers, resulting in what one unnamed worker described as an exceptionally agonizing and stressful situation.
While it may seem that the demands have already been met to a certain degree, in terms of Google's current offering to convert at least some TVCs to full-time employees, that process is still not well understood. Google hasn't offered any insight into what resources it offers and there's really no way to guarantee that work can be found for every temporary employee. Its current policies don't appear to address either of the other two demands at all.
Google has attempted to address the matter further by laying out a plan to offer benefits and better working circumstances to TVCs but, according to now-fired temp workers, that doesn't meet the demands either. Worse, the change wouldn't have any impact on those employees whose early termination spurred the demands to be made, to begin with.
Under the new standards, Google would begin by offering TVCs a minimum wage of $15 per hour starting on January 1 of next year but other benefits wouldn't kick in until January 1 of 2022. At that time, Google has said its new minimum standards will include comprehensive health insurance, a minimum of eight days of paid sick time, and twelve weeks of paid parental leave.
As much as $5,000 per year in tuition reimbursement is included as well, potentially helping some TVCs gain skills to assist their pursuit of a full-time job at Google.
That wouldn't necessarily help address matters either, however, and that only becomes more pertinent as it concerns employees who may not be able to stay at the company for the full term of their contract. Those temporary workers may simply not have enough time to build up the skills required to apply for and obtain full-time work. Recent moves by the company that appear to adjust employees into temporary positions from more stable ones don't improve the outlook their either.


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Q: Time it takes to square in python I was wondering whether x**2 or x*x is faster
def sqr(x):
    for i in range (20):
        x = x**2
    return x
def sqr_(x):
    for i in range (20):
        x = x*x
    return x

When I time it, this is what I get:
The time it takes for x**2: 101230500
The time it takes for x*x: 201469200

I have tried it many many times, they are either equal, or x ** 2 is faster than x * x. But x*x is never faster than x**2.
So I dissembled the code:
For x**2:
  5          12 LOAD_FAST                0 (x)
             14 LOAD_CONST               2 (2)
             16 BINARY_POWER
             18 STORE_FAST               0 (x)
             20 JUMP_ABSOLUTE            8

For x*x:
  9          12 LOAD_FAST                0 (x)
             14 LOAD_FAST                0 (x)
             16 BINARY_MULTIPLY
             18 STORE_FAST               0 (x)
             20 JUMP_ABSOLUTE            8

Is it about load_const being slightly faster than load_fast?

LOAD_CONST: takes the literal value at index 1 of co_consts and pushes it

LOAD_FAST is accessing the value in an array by index

Or binary_power is faster than binary_multiply (I actually don't know the binary_power algorithm)?

A: For small integers, x*x is significantly faster than x**2 since CPython does a lot more operation internally to compute a**b. Actually, on my machine x*x is 4 times faster (processor i5-9600KF, CPython 3.8.1, on Windows). That being said, in you code, numbers grows very quickly and Python integers are unbounded. In fact, each exponentiation cause the binary representation to be twice bigger. The exponents are multiplied together resulting in the computation of x**(2*2*2*...*2) = x**(2**20) = x**1048576. For big x=2, the number takes 128 KiB in memory and for x=100 it takes 850 KiB. This is pretty big. Each iteration of your loop is bounded by the computation of such huge numbers in memory. As a result, for large numbers, x*x and x**2 are as fast because the same internal computation is done for both cases and the overhead of the CPython interpreter becomes negligible compared to the computation of the huge integers.

Under the hood
Internally, CPython appears to use _PyNumber_PowerNoMod which calls PyNumber_Power which calls ternary_op, and PyNumber_Multiply which calls binary_op1. Note that CPython is not optimized to compute x**2: internally CPython compute pow(x, 2, None) which is the function to compute a modular exponentiation (though the call to pow is a bit less efficient way as CPython has to check pow has not been overwritten). This modular exponentiation function is much more expensive since it is a very generic function compared to x * x.
In the end, it appears long_mul and long_pow are called in your case (note that long_pow calls long_mul internally so long_pow actually need to compute more instructions).
For large numbers, CPython uses the Karatsuba multiplication (see: k_mul).
Note that CPython is actually very slow in both cases since it takes several nanoseconds (at least on my machine) and performs dozens of checks and many function calls just to multiply two integers. This can be done natively in only 1 cycle for 64-bit integers on mainstream x86-64 processors. Large integers cannot be natively computed by mainstream processor and require a much more expensive computation.

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"Fuller House" — Netflix's reboot of the 90s sitcom "Full House" — has received some hilariously derisive reviews from critics.
But in BJ Novak's mind, the show hits its mark perfectly.
As part of our Guilty Pleasure series, Novak defends the show and his love for it.


Before I share todays project with you, please can I remind everyone that I have a wonderful set of stamps from Polkadoodles as a blog candy giveaway.
The poinsettia stamp is a large stamp and creates a beautiful mutli-layered flower - if that is what you are after. My card blank for this project is 8" x 8" and as you can see from the photo below, the flower still 'holds it's own'.
I have distressed 2 papers from the Holly Jolly paper pad and once added to my card created faux stitching using Nikky's favourite stitching tool. To break up the papers, I have used a piece of decortive hessian - which I have had for eons - with another ribbon added on top. The sentiment you see is also from the same paper pad.
The poinsettia has been stamped 3 times and inbetween the layers, I have added some diffrent flourish die cuts and a few extra leaves. A decorative button finishes off the flower perfectly.
On one of the papers, you can find these adorable 'lickle' number tags and they are perfect for that 'small but needed' finishing touch. In this instance I have added a button with hesssian strands attached.
The decorative border you can see by the tag and also under the hessian, (see below), is the top of the Elegant Gate die - doesn't it make a 'cool' border? Sadly this die set is 'out of stock' at the mo but I'm sure if you nag Nikky a little ... who knows ...! As a final embellishment, I have added some clear dewdrops and a very lickle mitten button.
Many thanks for popping over and don't forget to enter my blog candy for the chance to win a fabulous Polkadoodles clear stamp set.
gorgeous Lou love christmas cards Wish you put them in my facebookgroup christmas.
This is stunning Thank you for sharing with us over here today at the Classic Open Design Team Challenge and best of luck with your entry.
Great card. I love this little mitten. Thank you very much for joining our challenge at Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper. Hope to see you next time.


Where you are at in your relationship with Christ is where He has brought you.
It is your journey, not a standard for others.
I often see Christians sit in the seat of the scornful when they see someone who they feel doesn't measure up to their standards. I am not saying all Christians do this, but I do see it often. If the other person is comitting a sin then God requires us to try to restore that person rather than talk about them and look on them with scorn.
However, if the matter is not a sin but rather just a different standard, then we are not to judge that person.
Some people think they have higher standards than others and those who don't have the same standards are lesser Christians. However, standards are not higher or lower – they are just different standards. Read Romans 14. There are things that are perfectly acceptable for one Christian but not for another. It is not our place to force our standards on others or to measure others' spirituality by our standards.
Let's remove ourselves from the seat of the scornful and remember that where we are is where God has brought us. God is conforming us all to the image of Christ. Some need more work than others. Some have been on that journey longer than others. Let us not judge God's servants.
Where are the faithful? Are you faithful to what God has given you to do? You should be.
Has God given you a ministry? Then be faithful at it. Don't be faithful most of the time or only when you feel like it. Don't skip out on ministering so you can go out to eat with the family – or for any other reason. If you are in some type of ministry, then God requires you to be faithful. If for some reason you are unable, then find a substitute to take your place – don't just leave the others in the ministry with you to pick up your slack. Find someone to fill in. It doesn't matter how big or how small your part is. If people cannot depend upon you to be faithful in the little things, certainly they will not depend upon you to be faithful in the big things.
Are you faithful? Those to whom you minister will notice if you are not.
You are browsing the A Voice Crying in the Wilderness weblog archives for July, 2008.


Do you have a neighbor who goes the extra mile for the residents of your street, your neighborhood, or for the community? The Neighbor of the Month recognition program gives you the opportunity to recognize those individuals for their acts of good will and call attention in a positive way to the benefits of being a good neighbor.
Your neighbor can be any age or background; he or she may be a youth, a teenager, a senior citizen, a longtime resident, or a newcomer that makes a positive difference in your neighborhood. Whether known by everyone in the neighborhood or an unsung hero, your good neighbor is a person who does special things to make your neighborhood a better place.
1) Must be a resident of the City of St Cloud.
2) May not be employed by the City of St Cloud.
3) Nominated activity may not be part of any paid employment.
Nominations must be received by the third Monday of the month for recognition during the following month.
Addresses, phone numbers and email addresses are for the City of St. Cloud's use only and will not be published or announced.
Please give a description of why you believe this person exemplifies the qualities of a good neighbor. Specific examples and details are appreciated. Please explain "What makes this person a Good Neighbor?"
The Neighbor of the Month will be recognized on the first Monday of each month.


Do you want to know how to get the greatest single pair of sunglasses for your face (or at least a couple of to rotate based on your mood and xuumilagros622219.wikidot.com your outfit)? How to discover the ideal eyeglasses for you, your face and your prescription. We all know that wearing sunglasses indoors is bit ridiculous (we're hunting at you Snoop Dogg and Justin Bieber circa 2013) and when it comes to rocking a pair of shades in the winter months, the dilemma can be the same.A thrilling synthesis of sophisticated technology and style aesthetics. Diligent readers, and those with considerably significantly less crow's feet, will have only stored their sunglasses away for a few months (the rainy ones when you objectively appear like a tool for wearing them). But whilst UV is year-round, it really is summer time when frames become a daily essential. 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Championship round-up: Nottingham Forest win seven-goal thriller, Newcastle secure second victory and QPR suffer defeat
20th August 2016, 4:05 pm
Updated: 20th August 2016, 4:53 pm
It was an anxious afternoon for Forest manager Philippe Montanier
Birmingham City 1-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves came from behind to seal three points at St Andrew's, with Joe Mason, Danny Batth and Jón Daði Böðvarsson cancelling out Che Adams' opening goal for the Blues.
Adams got the ball rolling in the 24th minute, on his home debut, but the vistors hit back after the break.
Mason equalised just two minutes into the second half before Batth put his side ahead with just over an hour on the clock.
Birmingham substitute Jack Storer was sent off for a headbutt on Kortney Hause with seven minutes remaining, and Böðvarsson went on to confirm victory with Wolves' third.
Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Burton Albion
Owen Coyle's wait for his first win with Rovers goes on, as a late header from Tom Naylor secured a vital away point.
Craig Conway opened the scoring for the hosts before Jackson Irvine sent his side into the dressing room level at half time.
Sam Gallagher, on loan from Southampton, looked to have secured the three points but an 88th minute header from Naylor denied their opponents the victory.
Bristol City 0-1 Newcastle United
The Magpies followed on from their 4-1 victory over Reading mid-week by sealing a second successive win.
Dwight Gayle, with his fourth goal in his third Championship game, was the match-winner, latching on to a ball over the top from Mohamed Diame.
It's their first away victory since the end of last year, December 2015.
Fulham 2-2 Cardiff City
An 86th minute strike from Kevin McDonald secured a point for Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Ryan Sessegnon, at the end of the first half, put the hosts in front. Joe Ralls and Anthony Pilkington looked to have won it for the visitors, before McDonald equalised late on.
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Barnsley
An injury-time goal from Jonathan Hogg saw Huddersfield maintain their unbeaten record to go two points clear at the top of the Championship table.
Chris Lowe was the first to get his name on the scoresheet, giving the home side the lead.
Alfie Mawson headed in the equaliser in the 47th minute, and it looked as though both would have to settle for a point, before Hogg spoiled the party to seal victory.
Nottingham Forest 4-3 Wigan Athletic
Forest edged a seven-goal thriller at City Ground, but they left it late to seal victory, with Thomas Lam's winning strike arriving in the 93rd minute.
It was already 1-1 after 11 minutes, as Britt Assombalonga and Michael Jacobs started the affair. Oliver Burke and Will Griggs each bagged a brace, but it was defender Lam who settled the contest.
Queens Park Rangers 0-2 Preston North End
Preston got their first win of the campaign under their belt, easing to victory over the Hoops.
Jermaine Beckford got the ball rolling in the 21st minute, poking home Paul Gallagher's effort on goal, and an own goal from Nedum Onuoha saw the visitors get their first points on the board.
Reading 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
The Seagulls failed to cement their place at the top of the table, dropping to second after drawing with Reading.
A free kick from John Swift put the hosts ahead in the second minute, before an own goal from Joey van den Berg cancelled out his side's opener.
Anthony Knockaert then gave Brighton the lead early on in the first half, but Paul McShane saw the contest end level, meeting Garath McCleary's pull back.
Reading, though, will be without van den Berg, who was sent off in the final few seconds of the clash.
Rotherham United 1-0 Brentford
It was a first win of the season for Rotherham, who narrowly beat Brentford at The New York Stadium, courtesy of a 32nd minute strike from Danny Ward.
Ward did appear to be in an offside position, but that won't bother the hosts, who secure the three points.

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BlogHome » Blog » Aged Care · Centrelink · Estate Planning · Family · Property Strategies » How Can An Aged Care Specialist Adviser Help?
How Can An Aged Care Specialist Adviser Help?
Transitioning a loved one into aged care is an emotional and stressful time for all. It is important to be proactive and not reactive in these situations. Being proactive gives you more choice for the care of your loved one. A fall or sudden decline in health usually triggers the move into aged care which can often lead to rushed, not considered, financial decision making. It is a time of many questions. Should we sell the house? How can we afford care? What is a RAD and ACAT? How should we pay for the care? Where is the best place for my loved one? How do I complete an income and asset test?
An Aged Care Specialist Adviser helps step the family and enduring powers of attorney (EPA) of loved ones through the process. They help ensure that appropriate and considered financial decisions are made for the care of your loved one and their estate. They help you navigate the process, present you with options for types of care for your loved one and protect the estate through maximizing Centrelink or DVA and decreasing fees. Through making informed decisions, it is not uncommon that client's finances can be improved by around $5,000 per year.
How Do Aged Care Specialist Advisers Help?
How are you going to pay the aged care fees? You need an effective strategy that protects your loved one and their estate. An aged cared specialist adviser can provide you with modelling on how structure the funding of the RAD, daily care and extra service fees.
An important and sometimes emotional decision is deciding what to do with your loved one's home. We will help you consider all the influencing factors and help you make the decision that suits the circumstances and your family.
An aged care specialist adviser can help you deal with the complexities of Centrelink including completing the assessment and checking results. They help make this an easier process for you, eliminating the need for you to be on hold with Centrelink for hours. They will look at the circumstances and develop strategies to reduce aged care fees. This helps cover ongoing bills and financially protect the estate.
Making informed decisions helps avoid costly mistakes. Aged care is a complicated financial area. Even small mistakes over the course of few years can add up at a substantial amount.
Are there investments purchased months ago or decades ago? Only an experienced adviser will understand these investments and how Centrelink will assess each investment. An aged care specialise adviser will help you structure the estate to protect for future generations.
What Are the Benefits Of Using An Aged Care Specialist Adviser?
Provide peace of mind – giving you confidence in your decisions, knowing you made informed decisions for your loved one.
Maximise funding – they can develop a plan which will help maximise the funds available to provide the best care for your loved one.
Deal with Centrelink – Centrelink can be a confusing and frustrating network to navigate. An aged care specialize adviser can help remove this hassle by handling this process for you.
Provide guidance – an aged care specialist adviser can help guide you on your fiscal responsibilities as on Enduring Power of Attorney.
If it looks like you will need to transition a loved one into aged care within the next 12 months contact Aged Care Specialist Adviser Gary Watson at Elliot Watson Financial Planning 02 4038 1623.
The information within, including tax, does not consider your personal circumstances and is general advice only. It has been prepared without taking into account any of your individual objectives, financial solutions or needs. Before acting on this information you should consider its appropriateness, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs. You should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statements and seek personal advice from a qualified financial adviser. The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author; they are not reflective or indicative of licensee's position, and are not to be attributed to the licensee. They cannot be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the author. Elliot Watson Financial Planning Pty Ltd and its advisers are Authorised Representatives of RI Advice Group Pty Ltd, ABN 23 001 774 AFSL 238429.
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Roughly 600,000 individuals populate the 33.4 square miles that make up Copenhagen. It's the capital of Denmark, as well as its financial center. Commerce and services make up most of Copenhagen's economy, with significant contributions from tourism as well. Copenhagen is one of Europe's fastest-growing metropolitan destinations. River cruises are a favorite pasttime here; last year, 680,000 passengers took rides.
Statens Museum for Kunst: In addition to housing impressive collections from Rembrandt, Breughel, and Rubens, Statens Museum for Kunst also contains Renaissance and medieval works. It is also, reportedly, home to the world's finest collection of 19th century Danish artwork. On display are lithographs, engravings, and drawings. After roaming the displays, visitors can take a break in the geometric café.
Tivoli Gardens: Visitors are often surprised upon arriving at Tivoli Gardens. Despite its name, Tivoli Gardens has actually been an amusement park since 1843. Patrons may spend time enjoying the storybook atmosphere, taking in the thrilling Saturday-night fireworks, or go for a ride on the century-old roller coaster. Other attractions include open-air stage shows, carnival games, twinkling pavilions, and a whirlwind of park rides. Friday nights in the summer offer free Danish rock concerts. As is typical with most amusement parks, evening hours feature colors, lights, and sounds at full capacity.
Coffee Collective Torvehallerne KBH: Those in need of rejuvenation needn't look further than the most respected micro-roastery in all of Copenhagen. The coffee here is made with beans sourced directly from local farmers. Whether visitors prefer acidic espresso or a full-bodied blend, Coffee Collective Torvehallerne KBH has it. Those looking for something more can enjoy a cup from the Kalita Wave dripper, a hand-brewed option.
Ved Stranden 10: Wine-lovers can skip over the coffee and go directly to the Ved Stranden 10. Biodynamic wines, classic European vintages, and more obscure varieties are all available at this wine cellar. Add in its civilized atmosphere, a string of secluded rooms and a friendly staff, and you have yourself a full-service spot. Danish design and decor are alluring to the patrons who find themselves in the no-kids zone.Small snacks including smoked meats, cheeses, and olives are available.
Rosenborg Slot: Typical of a fairytale setting, the former summer home of King Christian lV comes with early 17th century moats, gables, and turrets. Portraits and furnishings from past monarchs decorate the 24 rooms upstairs. A jewel-studded sword and a few dazzling crown jewels, also belonging to past royalty, are secured in the basement.
Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup (CPH): Located 5 miles away from downtown Copenhagen, Copenhagen Airport is the main international airport in Denmark and serves Copenhagen and other cities in Denmark, Zealand, Southwest Sweden and the Øresund Region. It has a passenger turnover of over 26 million a year, making it the busiest airport in Scandinavia. Øresund Region sits at an elevation of 17 feet above sea level, and has three runways. Two of these are made of concrete and are 11,000 and 10,000 feet in length. They are designated in the 04L/22R and 04R/22L direction respectively. It also has a 9,100 asphalt/concrete runway designated in the 12/30 direction.
Halmstad Airport (HAD): Halmstad Airport is also known as the Halmstad City Airport. It is located one mile northwest of Halmstad, and 70 miles away from Copenhagen. The airport stands at an altitude of 101 feet above sea level and has a single asphalt runway measuring 7,400 feet in length. The runway is designated in the 01/19 direction. Halmstad Airport records a passenger turnover of around 92,000 passengers annually. Commercial airlines including Jet Time and Sparrow Aviation use the airport when connecting to other destinations including Palma de Mallorca, Stockholm and Antalya. Most of this traffic is due to the use of chartered aircraft.
Kristianstad Airport (KID): Kristianstad Airport is just outside of Kristianstad in Sweden, and 61 miles from Copenhagen. The public airport was built in the 1940s but has undergone a lot of modification and renovation. Kristianstad Airport has a single asphalt runway measuring 7,267 feet in length, and stands at an elevation of 76 feet above sea level. Kristianstad Airport mainly serves commercial carriers en route to Stockholm-Arland.
Ängelholm–Helsingborg Airport (AGH): This airport is located in Sweden and is 44 miles away from Copenhagen. The public airport sits at an elevation of 68 feet above sea level and has a passenger turnover of around half a million passengers annually. The airport has a single asphalt runway measuring 6,381 feet in length, and designated in the direction 14,32.
Malmö Sturup Airport (MMX): Malmö Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Sweden, as it has a passenger turnover of more than 2.1 million per year. The airport is located in the Svedala Municipality, 17 miles east of Malmo and 33 miles away from Copenhagen. Passenger numbers to the airport are increasing for both tourism and business. Malmö Airport serves as a hub for Malmo Aviation as well as Primera Air. It stands at an altitude of 236 feet above sea level and has two asphalt runways. These are 2,600 feet and 9,100 feet long, designated in the 11/29 and 17/35 directions respectively.
Interested in a Private Jet Charter to Copenhagen?


Rosa Maria Sastre Castilla, 46, (left), her mother Carmen Castilla, 77, and her sister Carmen Aurora, 49, (right) are now homeless and living on the streets after being evicted from their rental apartment. Rosa, the sole breadwinner, lost her job and couldn't pay the rent.
Carmen Aurora Sastre Castilla, along with her family's belongings and her dog Tony, have been on the streets for two weeks.
Rosa Maria Sastre Castilla said, "The people in this neighbourhood are very nice. Many bring us food and try to make us more comfortable here."
Social services provided them temporary lodging for 15 days - after that they found themselves on the street.
The family survives on their mother's widow's pension, a small amount of money they get from their visually impaired sister Antonia's welfare allowance, and whatever Carmen Aurora can scrape together by working as a concierge in a nearby building.
Carmen Castilla sleeps on the street.
The family sleeps together in a tiny space outside a store. "If I could find a job and we could get social rent, I'm sure we could make it work again," says Rosa.


text:
Leicester selected
Reindeer escapes from Christmas tree farm in Market Bosworth
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-30274583
Image copyright Toby Ryley
Image caption Tinsel (right) arrived at the farm on Friday and went missing shortly afterwards
A reindeer is on the loose after escaping from a Christmas tree farm.
The albino reindeer, named Tinsel, went missing after "sneaking out" of the Leicestershire farm on Friday.
Toby Ryley, who owns the business at Friezeland Farm, Market Bosworth, with family members, hopes Tinsel will be spotted nearby.
He had just bought Tinsel and a brown reindeer, named Holly, for £1,500 each. Tinsel escaped, within 20 minutes, through a gap under a gate.
"I had a brand new pen and enclosure built especially for them and there was a tiny gap underneath the main gate and Tinsel, the white one, I don't know how it managed to do it, but it literally snuck out," said Mr Ryley.
The farm is part of the Bosworth Water Trust, which is on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border.
Mr Ryley said he bought the reindeer so they could be seen by visitors in the run-up to Christmas and was hoping they could later be trained to wear harnesses for sleigh rides.
Image caption The Christmas tree farm is part the Bosworth Water Trust
He believed the reindeer, which eats barley straw and special pellets in the enclosure, would be eating grass in the fields and would be found.
"It came from Finland so it should be warm for it," he said.
"I mean it is a wild animal and I think it is having the life of Riley."
The animal's disappearance was reported to Leicestershire Police on Friday evening, although Mr Ryley did not believe it had been stolen.
"The only thing I'm worried about is that it could be shot if someone is out there stalking," he said.


text:
The Chilton County Commission agreed to sign a timber license agreement, which is the next step in the process of clearing the land designated for the Alabama Farm Center. (File photo)
By Anthony Richards
The Chilton County Commission agreed to have the chairman and administrator sign a timber license agreement prepared by the Chilton County Industrial Development Authority and its attorney during its meeting on Jan. 12.
Commissioner Matt Mims presented the agreement to the Commission, and it was unanimously passed.
The agreement gives the IDA the ability to sell any timber cut while clearing the property of the future site of the Alabama Farm Center at Alfa Centennial Park.
Timber sold by the IDA will be on behalf of the commission.
Now that the agreement is finalized, the next step will be the process of accepting bids from companies to do the work associated with clearing the land.
Regarding the pandemic, Commission Chairman Joseph Parnell informed his fellow commissioners that the next wave of money the county was expecting to further help with measures against COVID-19 has been redirected by Gov. Kay Ivey to the state's department of labor.
"That money is no longer available," Parnell said.
Parnell stated that although the future looks promising with vaccines now being produced, he believes it is also important to realize that the virus has not yet been beaten and assistance with funding is still vital for counties across the state.
In other news from the meeting:
County engineer Tony Wearren estimates debris cleanup around the county is 70% complete.
Road department truck driver Jasper Little's resignation was accepted, and a resolution was passed to hire a replacement.
Jonathan Goggins was approved to transfer from a laborer with the litter department to a truck driver with the road department. It is a separate position and does not fill Little's vacancy.
The litter department will advertise to hire a laborer to fill the vacancy left by Goggins.
County-owned Chapel Chase subdivision was approved to be liquidated and sold on the market.
Jeffery Brown was reclassified as a full-time deputy, and Nathan Bland was reclassified as a part-time deputy with the Sheriff's Office.
Nominations were closed and Billy Singleton and Glenn Pencoe were approved to fill the two vacant positions on the Chilton County Airport Authority. They were the only nominations received.
Terry Hinton received a 3% pay increase.
Terry Sims's contract was renewed as a part-time accountant.
Tiffanee Edwards received a 2.99% pay increase.
According to Parks Director Gerald Arrington, the new bathhouse at Minooka Park is near completion.
The Commission went into executive session to discuss land offers connected to the county's projects. No action was taken.
The next Commission meeting will be Jan. 26 with a work session at 5 p.m. followed by a voting session at 6 p.m. It will take place in the upstairs courtroom of the courthouse.


1 inch x 1 inch plug of the species Utricularia sandersonii. This is the blue form of this plant. This species is famous for the flowers which resemble bunny faces (see the image). The blue form has flowers which are a little bluer in color, and they are slightly wider in appearance than the typical form. Also the leaves of this variety are smaller. Growing natively in southern Africa, this is one of the easiest Utricularia to grow. Keep it warm and give it pure water and plenty of indirect light, and it should reward you with frequent flowers.


The City of Fairfax Fire Department offers free home safety checks to all City residents. A home safety check can help you identify potential fire and life safety hazards in your home and provide you with valuable advice on how to mitigate those hazards. A detailed Home Safety Survey is also available for your convenience.
If you live in the City of Fairfax and would like to schedule a home safety check, please call 703.385.7830 or complete the following online form. A representative of the Fire Department will contact you and schedule an appointment to conduct your free home safety check.


text:
Сабик — посёлок в Шалинском городском округе Свердловской области, Россия.

География
Посёлок Сабик муниципального образования «Шалинского городского округа» Свердловской области расположен в 31 километрах (по автотрассе в 38 километрах) к востоку-юго-востоку от посёлка Шаля, в 107 километрах от Екатеринбурга, в лесной местности, по обоим берегам реки Талая (левый приток реки Утка (средний приток Чусовой)). В посёлке расположена железнодорожная станция Сабик Свердловской железной дороги. В севере-восточной части посёлка имеется небольшой пруд, обустроенный родник Жар-птица с фигурой глухаря на деревянном срубе.

История
Посёлок Сабик основан в 1907—1908 годах в связи со строительством железной дороги. Станция Сабик появилась в 1909 году, когда была построена ветка Пермь-Кунгур-Кузино-Екатеринбург. Участок от Кунгура до Кузино строился частным подрядчиком Половинкиным. В 1909 году были пущены первые рабочие поезда. В окрестностях посёлка располагались Северные, Становские, Васильевские и Баские углепечи, которые снабжали углём уральские заводы.

Первичным считают название горы Сабик — самой значительной вершины этих мест. Топоним может восходить к обско-угорским языкам (сравни хантыйское сапык, сапек, сопек, мансийское сопак — «сапог» — слово это является старым заимствованием из русского). По другой версии, в переводе с башкирского название горы значит «Рубленная» (башкиское сабыу — «рубить», -ык — суффикс), так ее могли поименовать по «рубленным», скошенным склонам.

В конце 1930-х годов население бесперспективных деревень Шаня, Берлога, Хутора, Головановский, Затесовский, Серковский, Кабанка переселились в посёлок Сабик.

В 1937 году в пристанционном посёлке Сабик открываются изба-читальня, школа, медпункт и клуб, в который на общественные деньги была куплена киноустановка. В 1935 году была организована комсомольская организация (первыми комсомольцами были Феденёв Николай Михайлович и Ярин Александр Петрович). В 1956 году был организован Сабиковским сельский совет.

Школа
Сабиковская школа была основана в 1938—1939 годах как «Школа № 67 станции Сабик Свердловской железной дороги» и до 1957 года оставалась начальной, в 1957—1960 годах — семилетняя, в 1960—1967 годах — восьмилетняя, в 1967—1970 годах — средняя, в 1970—1991 годах — опять восьмилетняя, в 1991—2011 годах — девятилетняя. С ноября 2011 года школа в результате реорганизации была присоединена к «Шалинской СОШ № 90», став филиалом МКОУ ШГО «Шалинская СОШ № 90» — «Сабиковская ООШ».

Инфраструктура
На территории посёлка Сабик расположены: Сабиковское лесничество, детский сад № 21, фельдшерско-акушерский пункт, аптечный пункт второй категории на базе Сабиковского ФАПа, Сабиковское почтовое отделение связи, участок Кузинской дистанции службы пути, тяговая подстанция, Сабиковская сельская библиотека, Сабиковский сельский дом культуры, четыре магазина.

Население

Национальный состав населения поселка составляют русские и татары, в соотношении примерно 3:1, башкиры, украинцы, мордва, марийцы, литовцы, карело-финны, белорусы, поляки, болгары, удмурты, чуваши, ханты, корейцы.

Примечания

Населённые пункты Шалинского городского округа

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I would like to teach my preschool how to read, but I don't know where to start. What do I do?
If you have resources then you can go to the teacher help section of this website. You will find pages there that will go through each letter of the alphabet and has ideas for each subject for you to be able to teach phonics, sight words, beginning math and more.
If you don't have many resources such as children's books, then go to the ABC units on this website. Each unit has everything you will need to teach a specific letter. It has books to download, worksheets, audio, teacher helps etc. You can spend about a week on each letter, and by the end of the year your child will have the basics to start kindergarten.
Books are expensive, yours seem to be pretty cheap, why?
Beginning books are usually eight pages long. My books match that format, but mine are designed to be printed double sided, then cut down the center and across the center, put a staple in the corner, and you have a book for a child to read. They are cheaper because you don't have to pay a publisher for the printing and binding. I also deliberately want the books to be read by as many children as possible. I kept the prices down so that that can happen.
What is the difference from your stories and books?
Books are designed to introduce vocabulary, the stories us the words from the book that the child learned in sentence form to make a story. The stories add in sight words to the phonics patterns that will be learned in the books.
I know my child is missing phonics skills, but I don't know which ones.
In the teacher help section, are some free downloads that will help with this. The sheets have make believe words for each of the phonics skills, if your child can read those words, then they know that concept. If they can't read the make believe words for "ai" for example, so go to the long vowels section and find "ai" activities. There will be a book with "ai" words, and a story based on those words, a word list game, and worksheet to help teach that word chunk.
What about consonants, blends, and digraphs?
In the teacher help section is the free download test for you to learn what your student knows, and what you need to teach. These tests are based on make believe words, if your student can read these words, then they know that consonant. The child may know p and pr, but not ph. Download the "ph" activities and you will have all you need to teach that concept. It will have a book, story, word list game, worksheet etc.
Sight words are important, but what are they and how do I teach them?
Sight words are color words, and number words etc. Some of these can be sounded out, but often that doesn't work, like the word one. These activities can be found under reading in sight words. They have books, stories, worksheets and more to help you teach them.
My child has trouble listening, how can I help that?
Listening is difficult for most children, so make it fun. Under the reading section is listening skills. These are about 1 ½ page stories for the teacher to read, or you can use the audio that comes with the unit. The stories are about two fairies, Giggle and Sparkle, and the adventures they have together. They are fun, and children love the imaginative situations that the fairies get into. They come with a worksheet that helps the child to listen. The child circles words that they hear in the story. The stories are letter stories, so they have a lot of words that begin with specific letters, so they teach beginning sounds at the same time. These stories also have a story for the child to read that is the same general ideas, but at their reading level.
How do I teach numbers?
The concept of numbers can be very abstract. Under the math section on the website, you can download worksheets, books, and stories that can help teach number recognition. These will match one with 1, and other activities to help the child realize what the word one means. The worksheets work through the numbers 1-20.
Do you have anything to teach addition and subtraction?
Under the math section you will find worksheets to teach beginning addition and subtraction. There are also advanced worksheets to increase speed by timing the speed a child can do the problems. The timed worksheets should start at 5 minutes, then work their way down to eventually be able to do the worksheet in 1 minute. I suggest that the child does the worksheet once, then timed again doing the same sheet. It helps the child to start thinking math, so they can do the worksheet faster.
My child knows the letters, now what do I teach them.
When the child knows the basic phonics sounds for each letter, they need to start putting the letters together to make words. I would start with short vowels, then do vowel teams. These are easiest for the child to learn in patterns, i.e.: cat, hat, bat. Under reading and short vowels you will find units to teach the basic word chunks. These include books, stories, worksheets, and word list games. There are also activities on r-controlled vowels, vowel teams, consonants, consonant blends, diagraphs and more. Everything to teach phonics and sight words.
Please submit your question below, and a team member will reply shortly.


text:
Cold War, by CNN Perspectives (1999) CNN
Episode Ten: Cuba, 1959-1962 (1/5)
F ← Video 10 of 120 → L
1: Episode One: Comrades, 1917-1945 (1/5) 2: Episode Two: The Iron Curtain, 1945-1947 (1/5) 3: Episode Three: The Marshall Plan, 1947-1952 (1/5) 4: Episode Four: Berlin, 1948-1949 (1/5) 5: Episode Five: Korea, 1949-1953 (1/5) 6: Episode Six: Reds, 1947-1953 (1/5) 7: Episode Seven: After Stalin, 1953-1956 (1/5) 8: Episode Eight: Sputnik, 1949-1961 (1/5) 9: Episode Nine: The Wall, 1958-1963 (1/5) 10: Episode Ten: Cuba, 1959-1962 (1/5) 11: Episode Eleven: Vietnam, 1954-1968 (1/5) 12: Episode Twelve: MAD, 1960-1972 (1/5) 13: Episode Thirteen: Make Love, Not War - The Sixties (1/5) 14: Episode Fourteen: Red Spring - The Sixties (1/5) 15: Episode Fifteen: China, 1949-1972 (1/5) 16: Episode Sixteen: Detente, 1969-1975 (1/5) 17: Episode Seventeen: Good Guys, Bad Guys, 1967-1978 (1/5) 18: Episode Eighteen: Backyard, 1954-1990 (1/5) 19: Episode Nineteen: Freeze, 1977-1981 (1/5) 20: Episode Twenty: Soldiers of God, 1975-1988 (1/5) 21: Episode Twenty One: Spies, 1944-1994 (1/5) 22: Episode Twenty Two: Star Wars, 1981-1988 (1/5) 23: Episode Twenty Three: The Wall Comes Down, 1989 (1/5) 24: Episode Twenty Four: Conclusions, 1989-1991 (1/5)
Added: 12 years ago.
Watch Part Number: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
Episode Ten: Cuba (1959-1962)
Khrushchev decides, with Castro's agreement, to install short and medium-range missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles from the U.S. The U.S. detects missiles sites and blockades the island. The superpowers confront each other; rather than embark on nuclear war, they each step back. It was close.
Cold War, by CNN Perspectives
This 24-episode series, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, is a comprehensive history that examines the key events of the arc of the Soviet Union, from its birth to its fall, and provides a thorough analysis of what was going on behind closed doors. Informed by the stories of 500 eyewitnesses--from citizens and soldiers to historians and statesmen--and strengthened by painstaking reconstruction of archival historical film footage, CNN's Cold War is a heroic undertaking and a sweeping chronicle of the world's most fragile decades.
The Cold War over CNN's Cold War
By Richard Pipes, Robert Conquest and John Lewis Gaddis
Earlier this year [1999], CNN broadcast a twenty-four-hour television documentary on the Cold War, supplementing the documentary by publishing a companion book. The series created a furor. Critics charged that the series was inaccurate and—to use a phrase from the Cold War itself—soft on communism.
Herewith a debate among three historians. Richard Pipes explains what the television documentary got wrong. Hoover fellow Robert Conquest takes apart the companion book. Then John Lewis Gaddis, who served as an adviser to CNN, explains what CNN got right.
Richard Pipes explains what CNN's television documentary got wrong.
Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the producer of the ambitious CNN series on the Cold War, has proven his ability to turn out first-rate documentary films with a previous series on World War II. The war films were relatively easy to make and relatively noncontroversial in that they depicted an armed conflict pitting young men, most of them draftees, risking their lives, for better or worse causes, but in fair combat. The battlefield is a contest of skill and courage, not an arena of ethics; its objective is clear—to crush the enemy. In this sense, the adversaries are comparable whether in terms of manpower, commanding staffs, weapons, or strategies. Because warfare is physical, not unlike an athletic contest, it lends itself eminently to pictorial presentation.
The Cold War, by definition (primarily) a nonmilitary conflict, was something else entirely. It pitted against each other two very different conceptions of life: one that stressed human rights and the rule of law, and another that subordinated human rights and law entirely to the interests of the state. In this contest, the rivals, even if they sometimes employed the same means, were not comparable. To render the Cold War properly, one must grasp and convey in unequivocal terms the difference between the aims as well as the methods of each side. No one will have any difficulty conceding this point in respect to World War II, when one of the adversaries represented pure evil in word as well as deed. It is somewhat more difficult in the case of the Cold War because the Soviet regime, although in deeds not much different from the Nazi one, in rhetoric liked to flaunt Western ideals.
Unfortunately, the producers of the CNN series have chosen to ignore the fundamental disparities between the two camps, treating the conflict as if it were essentially a trial of strength and ruthlessness.
The failure of the producers to come to grips with the nature of communism and the Cold War becomes evident in the very first installment. Here, nearly thirty years of Russian history—from the Bolshevik power seizure in 1917 to the end of World War II—are encapsulated in a single hour. This foreshortening of the early history of the Soviet Union is not accidental. It is necessary in order to present the Cold War as an "ideological struggle between East and West for world domination," the main responsibility for which, in various subtle ways, is placed on the West.
In fact the Cold War began long before nuclear weapons were developed, on October 25–26, 1917, when the Bolshevik Party seized power in the Russian capital and proclaimed its intention of launching civil wars in every corner of the globe to usher in a new era of "proletarian dictatorship." The ultimate objective of the revolution, in the words of Leon Trotsky, Lenin's comrade in arms, was nothing less than "overturning the world." In its official proclamations, the new regime declared war on all existing states by calling on their citizens to emulate the Russians by overthrowing them. This was not mere bluster. The Bolsheviks felt convinced they could not hang on to power in their own country unless they promptly secured the help of Communists in the industrialized as well as colonial countries. Even if they did manage to hold on to power by sheer terror, they feared they would have to abandon their socialist program under the pressure of an antisocialist, "petty-bourgeois" peasantry that happened to constitute 80 percent of Russia's population. In this spirit, Grigorii Zinoviev, the head of the Communist International, boasted in 1919:
The movement advances with such dizzying speed that one can confidently say: in a year we shall already forget that Europe had to fight a war for Communism because in a year all Europe shall be Communist. And the struggle for Communism shall be transferred to America, and perhaps also to Asia and other parts of the world.
On coming to power, the Bolsheviks immediately proceeded to subvert neighboring countries. They staged a coup in Finland that the Finns managed to suppress with German military assistance. In Hungary they actually held on to power for half a year until they were overthrown. In January 1919 they staged a revolution in Germany; it failed, but failure did not stop them from trying again two years later. They also attempted, without success, to establish a communist regime in Persia. In the summer of 1920 they invaded Poland with the view to sovietizing it and using it as a base for the conquest of western Europe. None of these facts is reported in the CNN series. The omission could not have been due to lack of time, for time is found to depict, in harrowing detail, an eyewitness account of the slow death in the electric chair of Ethel Rosenberg.
The unwillingness to confront the fundamental causes of the Cold War by contrasting the long-term objectives and methods of the combatants inevitably leads to judgments reflecting "moral equivalence" under which Soviet aggression and Western responses to it are treated as basically identical. This propensity assumes bizarre dimensions in the sixth episode, called "Reds."
To say that Joseph McCarthy was a vicious demagogue and a political opportunist is not to negate the fact that communist subversion was a real threat to America's national security in the postwar years.
Here we are treated to a lengthy account of the Red scare of the 1950s, epitomized by McCarthyism. Senator Joseph McCarthy was, without doubt, a vicious demagogue who exploited widespread fear of communist subversion for his own political ends. But to say this is not to deny that communist subversion existed and was largely ignored by U.S. administrations. Classified documents released in the past few years from both Russian and American archives have revealed the extent to which Soviet agents had penetrated the highest levels of the U.S. government since the 1930s. This evidence is readily available, having been collected and edited by Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes in The Secret World of American Communism as well as by Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev in The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America. Additional evidence to this effect comes from the ultrasecret "Venona Papers," texts of exchanges between Moscow and its U.S. agents intercepted by U.S. intelligence and recently released. Alger Hiss is now known incontrovertibly to have been a Soviet spy rather than the handsome WASP victim of Red hysteria depicted in the CNN film. Paul Robeson, whose harassment is emotionally recounted by his son, was not simply a communist idealist but a Stalinist. The Rosenbergs did betray U.S. atomic secrets to Moscow. The viewer of the CNN series is given no inkling of these facts.
Episode 16—called by the acronym "MAD," for the doctrine of mutual assured destruction formulated in the 1960s by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara—suffers from the same insidious flaw. It describes accurately the main phases in the evolution of nuclear weapons on both sides, but its recurrent depictions of nuclear mushrooms surging to the sky, bombers taking off, and submarines diving fail to address the fundamental difference in the way the two sides approached nuclear weaponry.
Once the Soviet Union had acquired an arsenal of atomic and hydrogen bombs and the means of delivering them, the U.S. leadership under President Lyndon Johnson concluded that these weapons had no utility other than deterrence and abandoned any notion of using them in combat, as dictated by the earlier strategy of "massive retaliation."
This was not the case with the Soviet leadership. In developing nuclear missiles, Moscow proceeded on the assumption that, although they threatened unprecedented destructiveness and for that reason war should be avoided, if, nevertheless, war did break out, they would be an intrinsic component of the military arsenal. Soviet military theorists insisted that technical innovations in weaponry, even of the most revolutionary kind, did not change the nature of warfare: in other words, the more, the better. It is hard to know what accounts for the disregard of discussion of Soviet nuclear strategy unless it is the principles of parallelism and equivalence that dog the whole series.
The misunderstanding of Soviet motives resurfaces in the account of the invasion of Afghanistan, which is incorrectly described in the press materials for the series as "the USSR's Vietnam." In Vietnam, the United States sent half a million men halfway across the world to save a sovereign country from a communist takeover. In Afghanistan, the Soviet Union sent one hundred thousand men to a neighboring sovereign country to impose on it a communist government. Quite a difference.
The treatment in episode 17 of the two Middle Eastern wars—1967 and 1973—similarly suffers from the failure to discriminate. The Six-Day War is depicted as a conflict between Egypt and Israel. The fact that it was an integrated Arab effort involving, in addition to Egypt, Syria and Jordan, is passed over in silence. So is the fact that it was a war to annihilate the young Jewish state and evict if not slaughter its Jewish population a mere quarter of a century after the Holocaust. The Israeli surprise raid on Egyptian airfields, which in a matter of hours wiped out the Egyptian air force, is labeled a "preemptive strike," although Egypt's closing of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli navigation on May 23, 1967, was, by international law, an act of war. The low-intensity but costly in human lives "war of attrition" that followed and in which Soviet pilots directly participated in combat on Egypt's side against Israel goes unmentioned as well. The rest of the reel, dealing with U.S.-Soviet competition in Africa, also fails to discriminate between aggression and response. Its concluding message is, "In the hunt of Cold War gains, the superpowers spawned an arms race in the developing world. Their solemn promises of restraint were thrown to the winds."
There is worse to come. Ever sympathetic to Soviet sensitivities to the security of their borders and fears of "encirclement," the CNN series shows no such understanding for U.S. concerns about Soviet penetration south of its border. The reel on the Cold War in Central America (episode 18) is one long tale of U.S. bestiality. Left-wing governments and left-wing guerrilla movements in this area are represented as inspired by nothing else than the quest for social justice. They had to struggle against their own right-wing governments and armies loyally backed by Washington and the great corporations with interests in the region (United Fruit, ITT, etc.). They always carried the people with them. If they did not win, it was because, enjoying only feeble Soviet and Cuban support, they confronted the unflinching enmity of the United States. (Fidel Castro adds a comic touch when he says that if the Communists had had a common strategy they would have won the Cold War.) Thus the narrator intones, "The American dollar and the failures of the armed left crushed Latin American revolutionary dreams."
These are fairy tales. The CNN series misses no opportunity to show mutilated corpses of guerrillas and to talk to survivors of the massacres. The deeper reasons for the struggles elude them. The Communists have everywhere and at all times, beginning with the Russian Revolution of 1917, exploited social injustice and national frustrations to come to power and then, on coming to power, promptly restored social injustice and repressed national aspirations. There are brief hints here that the Chileans were miserable under Allende's socialism, but his overthrow and suicide are squarely blamed on native right wingers and foreign "imperialists." No explanation is provided as to why the Nicaraguan Sandanistas lost power in an election, which, in their overconfidence they had foolishly staged, other than that the U.S. government had allocated $10 million to their opponents. What remains unsaid is that, by virtue of their complete control of the Nicaraguan economy, the Sandanistas disposed of vastly larger sums. Nor is any explanation provided as to why, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the alleged "revolutionary dreams" of the people of Latin America evaporated and the guerrilla forces, allegedly fighting for them, laid down their arms.
Astonishing lapses of judgment occur in the treatment of the two administrations of Ronald Reagan. Reagan came into office with a clear program. Although not a learned man, he had the true statesman's intuition. He understood the nature of the conflict with the communist bloc and he had a sound grasp of the balance of power; instead of allowing himself to be mesmerized by Moscow's military arsenal and paralyzed by the fear of nuclear war, he grasped that the ideological poverty of the USSR and its desperate economic straits made it a weak if blustering opponent. This understanding led him to disregard most of the advice he was receiving. Instead, he formulated an offensive strategy based on the premise that the Soviet system, being incurably sick, could be forced in the direction of reform and possible collapse by a determined military buildup and measures of economic denial, both reinforced by bold rhetoric. He was the first U.S. president to challenge not just Soviet aggression but the communist system itself as its direct cause. None of these historic facts find reflection in the CNN series.
The final installment in the series, called "Conclusions," offers no conclusions. Instead, it shows the last stages of the collapse of communism in Russia and ends with President Bush announcing the Cold War over. No insights are given into the nature of the conflict that had kept the world in a state of tension for nearly half a century, and no inferences are drawn from its outcome: Why did the West emerge triumphant? What does its triumph teach us about the limits of efforts to refashion human beings and create an entirely new kind of society—efforts that cost between 85 and 100 million lives? None of these questions is addressed. It is as if the Cold War had been nothing more than an athletic contest. And the viewer is left wondering: So what?
The CNN series ultimately panders to the natural propensity of people, especially young people, removed by the passage of time from great historic events, to see these events as meaningless happenings in which the protagonists pretended they were struggling for noble ideals while in fact they were merely pursuing their own selfish aims. This message is utterly false. For just as it did matter that the Athenians defeated the Persians, so it mattered that the West defeated the East in the Cold War. And it is a pity that, with the immense resources available to the producers of Cold War, they failed to make this obvious but most important point.
Robert Conquest examines the companion book to the recent television documentary, Cold War—and doesn't like what he sees.
Let us examine the way in which the CNN companion book, The Cold War: An Illustrated History, treats individuals. Its view of Lenin, and others of his persuasion, in fact contrasts markedly with its treatment of Western leaders. Although it is not denied that the regime Lenin imposed on Russia led to tyranny, he is nevertheless given humanitarian motives: "His socialist principles were meant to ensure decent education, free health care, common ownership of the land, and fairness for all under the tough guidance of the Bolsheviks." Lenin's real attitude to humanity, except in the abstract, is well illustrated by his comment on the 1891–92 famine in Russia, that "psychologically, this talk of feeding the starving masses is nothing but the expression of saccharine-sweet sentimentality characteristic of the intelligentsia." Maxim Gorky was to note that "Lenin has no pity for the mass of the people" and that even "the working class are to Lenin what minerals are to a metallurgist." Many documents are now available in which Lenin insists on mass shootings and hangings. And Bertrand Russell, who met him when he was in power, reports that "his guffaw at the thought of those massacred made my blood run cold."
It might be added that what is wrong is not only the inadequacy of the book's assessment but its simplification of motive beyond the complexities and contradictions inherent in human character. It may, perhaps, also help us to gain a broader view of Lenin if we quote a comment of his on religion (in a letter of November 13, 1913):
Every religious idea, every idea of God, even flirting with the idea of God, is unutterable vileness . . . of the most dangerous kind, "contagion" of the most abominable kind. Millions of sins, filthy deeds, acts of violence and physical contagions . . . are far less dangerous than the subtle, spiritual idea of God decked out in the smartest "ideological" costumes. . . . Every defence or justification of God, even the most refined, the best intentioned, is a justification of reaction.
Again, when it comes to the Soviet spies Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Kim Philby, we are told that "they acted from political conviction. They believed what they were doing was right." The same could be said of agents of Nazism like John Amery. But, in any case, this is (again) a simplistic point. As Albert Camus long since pointed out, French sympathizers with communism did not love the Soviets so much as they "heartily detested part of the French." On a different point, but again less simplistic, the poet Stephen Spender, who knew the three British spies (and to some extent sympathized with them), noted in his Journals, 1939–1983,
what they all had was the arrogance of manipulators. . . . Perhaps this was in part because they had voluntarily put themselves at the service of their Russian manipulators . . . their faith in a creed whose mixture of sanctity, bloodiness and snobbery gave them a sense of great personal superiority.
When the book deals with Western political figures, we are on different ground. Richard Nixon is shown (in the Hiss case) as motivated solely by ambition. No doubt such ambition played a role, but only an adversarial assessment could fail to consider that he might have had good motives too.
Ronald Reagan is treated in less hostile, but still hostile fashion, as a simpleton: "Reagan's world was like an old Hollywood movie: he saw things in simple terms of right and wrong, with the Communists as the bad guys." Now regardless of party or political views, this is at the level of caricature and would not be taken as adequate by any serious historian. The opinion of the Soviet ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Dobrynin, is much more positive, and, which is more important, not only more positive but more nuanced. Indeed, Reagan emerges from recent research on his papers (by Kiron Skinner, for instance) as incomparably less shallow than the more or less hostile caricature.
On a further point, whether Reagan is justified, in effect, for seeing the confrontation in "black and white," the CNN writers may disagree with the idea that, when it came down to essentials, the Soviet system was fundamentally hostile to, and concerned to procure the end of, what is usually called the Western demo-cratic culture. But in any case, agree or no, this is, give or take a nuance, the view not merely of simpletons but of major historians in the field. And, we should note, not only Reagan, but also Harry Truman and George Marshall are treated in the same uninformedly patronizing way.
In the reasons the book offers for the confrontation we call the Cold War, the main omission is a vital one. That is, the conception that the Marxist-Leninist creed saw the world as a scene of essential antagonisms and insisted that the conflict must be pursued until the overthrow of the noncommunist order the world over. This motivation has been confirmed by the memoirs of former Politburo members, by post-Soviet foreign ministers and others and was only abandoned by the last Soviet foreign minister, Edvard Shevardnadze, in 1990.
Cold War's presentation of what is after all its central theme is notably different from that advanced in its leading U.S. historical adviser's book on the subject, We Now Know, by John Lewis Gaddis, in which he describes the attempts by prominent Soviet officials to persuade Stalin to initiate at least a period of comparative cooperation with the West. Gaddis quotes Maxim Litvinov, the former Soviet deputy foreign minister, who was asked by the American envoy Averell Harriman, in November 1945, what the West could do to satisfy Stalin and answered, "Nothing." In June 1946, still in that post, he warned a Western journalist that the "root cause" of the confrontation then reached was "the ideological conception prevailing here that conflict between the Communist and capitalist worlds is inevitable"—that is, no more than the doctrine long since announced by Lenin that "a series of frightful clashes" were bound to occur between the two systems, leading finally to world victory of communism. When the correspondent asked Litvinov, "Suppose the West would suddenly give in and grant all Moscow's demands? . . . would that lead to goodwill and the easing of the present tension?" Litvinov answered, "It would lead to the West being faced, after a more or less short time, with the next series of demands." The book simply implies, and that in a shallow and superficial fashion, that all Stalin wanted was a buffer area between him and the West.
In a long book supposedly exploring every aspect of the Cold War we may conclude by noting it is strange to find one phenomenon of some significance in covering American attitudes to the Cold War and to the Soviet Union not treated here. That is, the position of the American media. One has only to note that a recent Nexis search of American newspapers in the postwar period reveals the word "bellicose" applied to Reagan 211 times, to Margaret Thatcher 41 times, and to Brezhnev 5 times—this in a period covering the launching of the Afghan war. This attitude seems to have some application to this book and, of course, to its media sponsor.
John Lewis Gaddis defends the CNN series against its critics, asserting that truth exists, to a considerable extent, in the eye of the beholder.
Cold War historians have seen many apparent "truths" overthrown. "Orthodox" scholars insisted, during the 1950s and the early 1960s, that the Soviet Union had been solely responsible for that conflict. "Revisionists" reversed that interpretation over the next decade, holding the United States chiefly to blame. "Postrevisionists" then tried to find a middle ground between these extremes, with only limited success. Despite such striking differences, all of these interpretations of Cold War history had two things in common: Their advocates did not know the outcome of the event they were attempting to chronicle, and—because Soviet, East European, and Chinese sources were closed to them—they had access to the archival record of only one side. They were writing history from within their subject, rather as if Jonah had attempted to characterize the whale that swallowed him from the limited perspective of its gullet.
By the end of the 1980s, though, the Soviet Union was going belly-up, the Cold War was winding down, and historians could begin to see, for the first time, the possibility of representing that subject in the way that most history is represented: with knowledge of how it all came out, and with access to the archives—and the memories—of all the major participants. There arose during the early 1990s, as a consequence, a "new" Cold War history that was, in its relationship to the "old," something like what Einstein had been to Newton. Everything required reconsideration, and the conclusions that followed—which even now are highly preliminary—were bound to be controversial.
The "truth" about the Cold War, therefore, has shifted with time. Even today no one can claim to have pinned it down without starting an argument. The subject looms too large in the consciousness of those who lived through it to allow the detachment that is possible for the more distant past. The historians are nowhere near agreement on how to represent it. Any television documentary on the Cold War, therefore, would have had the critics ready to pounce.
When the word got out, though, that Ted Turner had conceived, financed, and—at least in the United States—would be broadcasting a new Cold War documentary, the fur really began to fly. Turner is not exactly known for shyness. He expresses his views openly, frequently, and at times imprudently. The possibility that the "Mouth of the South" might use his particular representation of Cold War history, not just as a mouthpiece but as a loud and obnoxious trumpet, set all kinds of alarm bells ringing.
The "truth" about the Cold War is inherently controversial. Historians are nowhere near agreement on how to represent it. Any television documentary on the Cold War, therefore, would have had the critics ready to pounce.
I myself worried about this when I was asked to serve as a historical consultant on the project. It was reassuring to learn, however, that Turner had asked Sir Jeremy Isaacs, whose classic World War II documentary, World at War, set the standard for the responsible portrayal of history on television, to produce the series. I was also relieved to hear that Turner had requested of Isaacs only two things: that Cold War tell its story from an international, not just an American perspective, and that its tone not be triumphalist. These guidelines posed no problems for me or for my British and Russian colleagues, Lawrence Freedman and Vladislav Zubok; we would have insisted on them even if Turner had not.
For with the availability of new Soviet, East European, and Chinese sources, our fellow Cold War historians would never have taken the series seriously had it sought only to perpetuate an Americocentric view. Avoiding triumphalism also made sense because self-congratulatory history is rarely very good history: Winners as well as losers have their shortcomings and need to know about them. Beyond these instructions Turner did not go. In three years of working on this project I know of no other significant effort by him to shape editorial content.
Turner's critics have it badly wrong, therefore, when they claim that the series reflects his political views: We were never even told what those might be. All we saw was a remarkable willingness to foot the bill for whatever it would take to make this project a contribution to Cold War scholarship as well as to television entertainment. We were therefore able to document the footage we used more thoroughly than has ever been done for a series of this kind. We archived and have made available on-line the complete transcripts of each of the some five hundred interviews featured in it—something else that is unprecedented. And when we decided that the originally planned twenty episodes would not be enough—that we needed more coverage of the Cold War in Central America and Africa, of Sino-Soviet relations, and of espionage—Turner agreed instantly.
So what about the consultants? Did we impose our views? We certainly suggested topics to be covered and people to be interviewed. We reviewed the scripts of each episode three times: in outline, as rough-cut video, and in broadcast-ready form. We gave advice freely, and most of the time we got our way. We were, though, still a committee, which meant that disagreements did occur among us. None of us got everything we wanted, nor did we have final editorial control. That authority rested, as was clearly understood from the outset, with Jeremy Isaacs and his production team. Within these ground rules, we obviously sought to influence the series: That was our job. Our critics have differed, though, as to just what the nature of our influence was.
Lloyd Gardner, for example, finds that we emphasized "systemic Soviet weaknesses while faulting the United States mainly for miscalculations." Bruce Cumings goes further, complaining that Cold War presents its subject "as an open-and-shut case. When you open it, there is Soviet aggression. And when you close it, there is the aggressor collapsing, courtesy of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and the heroic Mikhail Gorbachev. . . . The good guys defeated the bad guys, even if the cost was often excessive." This perspective, Cumings maintains, "is closely identified with the one American who played an important role in making the film, John Lewis Gaddis."
But Jacob Heilbrunn insists that the series "retrospectively accords a patina of legitimacy to a Soviet system that was utterly illegitimate." Charles Krauthammer sees in it "a relentless attempt to find moral equivalence between the two sides." And then there is Gabriel Schoenfeld, who writes, "It beggars the imagination that John Lewis Gaddis, a historian who has shown he knows better, should have lent his name to such an exercise."
As someone committed to a mushy middle in most historiographical disputations, I will admit to a certain satisfaction in having displeased both Cumings on the left and Schoenfeld on the right. Avoiding extremes is generally better than embracing them. The fact that these two critics came away with such diametrically opposed impressions of the role I am alleged to have played, however, reflects an important point about historical "truth": that it exists, to a considerable extent, in the eye of the beholder.
In making Cold War, we had to remember that we were working in a visual medium. That meant that we could do certain topics better than others: It was easier to represent the Berlin Wall, for example, than it was the Bretton Woods system; we had far more footage on the Hungarian Revolution than on the Great Leap Forward. We had to fit what we included within rigid time constraints: Even twenty-four hours is too little to recount in detail a history that extended over twice that many years. And we had to hold the attention of our audience.
We chose to do so by respecting their judgment. We imposed no single interpretive framework, but rather allowed multiple voices to be heard. Each episode had its own writer and its own distinctive viewpoint. Each of our interviewees participated in or observed the events recounted; no retrospectively pontificating talking-head historians appear anywhere in the series. No doubt we sacrificed clarity by handling things in this way; but we captured more than we otherwise could have of the complexity of events and the ambiguity of human responses to them.
It's clear now that in doing so we made our critics uncomfortable—especially the neoconservatives. Our refusal to tell our audience what to think, together with Turner's injunction to avoid triumphalism, has convinced several of them that we had set out from the start to present the Cold War as a "morally equivalent" contest.
As someone who has himself condemned "moral equivalency" in no uncertain terms, I find it odd to be on the receiving end of such a charge. Cold War is full of implied and often explicit judgments of both sides. Yet no one who sees all its episodes can doubt that the struggle it documents ended in a clear-cut victory for the West, that the illegitimacy of Marxist-Leninist systems brought about that result, and that there are profound moral implications in all of this.
I can only conclude that Heilbrunn, Krauthammer, Schoenfeld, and others like them lack confidence that viewers, if allowed to make up their own minds, will reach conclusions similar to theirs. They regard Turner as a left-leaning Pied Piper, seeking to rehabilitate the reputation of old Cold War adversaries while beguiling a new generation of students who have no direct experience of that conflict. The only remedy, they seem to be saying, is a rigidly enforced historical orthodoxy.
This is particularly ironic in light of what the neoconservatives were saying—all too accurately—about the Soviet Union during the 1970s and early 1980s. For it was they who then criticized a system that insisted on single truths, dogmatically presented—a system that lacked the self-confidence to allow people to view the evidence and make up their own minds. It is almost as if, with the end of the Cold War, a kind of panic has set in on the right; there has to be an adversary, and if the Soviet Union is no longer available, then Ted Turner will have to do.
All I can say is, relax, guys. After having now taught this television series to over six hundred Yale undergraduates, I can testify that the last thing they take from it is a belief in moral equivalency. What they do get is an exposure to historical complexity: a sense of how things looked at the time, an awareness of how people who did not know the future attempted to anticipate it, perhaps even the ability to imagine themselves in their place and to ask the tough question: What would I, in similar circumstances, have done? In short, they gain historical maturity.
The role of history should not just be to convey information or impose orthodoxies: It should cultivate critical minds. That requires presenting students with various points of view. It requires leaving them as often disturbed as complacent. It requires asking them to question their values as much as it does congratulating them for holding such values. Indeed it was precisely the absence of that critical perspective that, in the end, proved fatal for Marxist-Leninist regimes in the Cold War. It is strange that so many critics of Cold War expected of it a similar ideological rigidity.
Adapted and excerpted from the new book CNN's Cold War Documentary: Issues and Controversy, edited by Arnold Beichman and published by the Hoover Press.
CNN's Cold War Documentary: Issues and Controversy, edited by Arnold Beichman, is available from the Hoover Press. Also available is the Hoover Essay The Cold War: End and Aftermath, by Peter Duignan and L. H. Gann. To order, call 800-935-2882.
Richard Pipes is Baird Research Professor of History and former director of the Russian Research Center at Harvard University.
Robert Conquest is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
John Lewis Gaddis is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University.
Copyright © 2009 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University
Source: http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3522116.html
CNN Perspectives series explores the Cold War experience from many different angles. Included are interactive maps, rare video footage, declassified documents, biographies, picture galleries, timelines, interactive activities, a search function, book excerpts, an educator's guide, and more. ( Highlights from episodes:
Episode One: Comrades (1917-1945)
Though ideological enemies, the Soviet Union and the U.S. are allies against Hitler during WWII. At the end of the war, Europe is divided, and the one-time allies now confront each other. The U.S. has the atomic bomb.
Episode Two: The Iron Curtain (1945-1947)
The Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe. Churchill warns of the consequences. Stalin insists that the governments of the Soviet Union's clients states be pro-communist. Impoverished after the war, Great Britain opts out as a world power. The U.S. assumes the mantle of world leadership.
Episode Three: The Marshall Plan (1947-1952)
The U.S. adopts the Truman doctrine, pledging to defend freedom worldwide. Secretary of State George Marshall plans to bolster economic recovery in Europe. Seeing this as a threat, Stalin forbids his satellites to participate. The world effectively divides.
Episode Four: Berlin (1948-1949)
In Berlin, the American, British and French sectors form a Western enclave in the Soviet zone of divided Germany. In June 1948, the Soviets blockade the city, but the Western allies successfully airlift in supplies. In August 1949, Soviet scientists explode an atomic bomb, establishing nuclear parity between the two superpowers .
Episode Five: Korea (1949-1953)
In June1950, North Korea invades the South, with Stalin's blessing. The United States, backed by the United Nations, defends South Korea, and then is confronted by communist China. In mid-1951, the war grinds to a bloody stalemate but eventually an armistice is signed. Aggression has contained.
Episode Six: Reds (1947-1953)
Following Stalin's domination of Eastern Europe and the loss of China, American democracy falls victim to anti-communist hysteria, but survives it. Eisenhower is elected President. In the Soviet Union, Stalin reinforces the climate of terror on which his rule is based. When he dies, in 1953, the Soviet people mourn the end of an era.
Episode Seven: After Stalin (1953-1956)
Thaw is conceivable with Stalin's death. Khrushchev outmaneuvers Malenkov for power and visits the West. Germans, Poles and Hungarians attempt to rise against Soviet rule. In 1956, an uprising in Hungary is ruthlessly crushed by Soviet tanks. The U.S., pledged to contain rather than overthrow communism, does nothing.
Episode Eight: Sputnik (1949-1961)
In the mid-50's the Soviet Union seems to be forging ahead. In October 1957, the first Soviet satellite Sputnik orbits the earth-to the dismay and fear of the U.S., frustrated by its own ineffectual space program. In 1961, the Soviets launch Yuri Gagarin into space. America will have to meet the challenge.
Episode Nine: The Wall (1959-1963)
The fate of Germany remains unresolved. West Germany has been admitted to NATO. Within East Germany, Berlin is divided between East and West by an open border. Thousands seize the chance to flee the communist system. To keep their people in, the East Germans, with Soviet backing, build The Wall.
Episode Eleven: Vietnam (1954-1968)
Vietnam has been divided since the end of French colonial rule. The North is run by communists, the South by anti-Communists. Ignoring warnings against involvement in a nationalist struggle, the United States commits its armed forces. American protests against the war mount. The U.S. realizes this is not a war it can win.
Episode Twelve: MAD (1960-1972)
Throughout the 60's, the U.S. and the Soviet Union are locked in a nuclear stand-off; each realizes that bombings the enemy could provoke retaliation and self-destruction. Nuclear strategy evolves into Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD, in which both sides are guaranteed certain annihilation in the event of nuclear war.
Episode Thirteen: Make Love, Not War (The Sixties)
Western economies grow and prosper, fueled partly by armaments production. Rejecting their parents' affluence and the Cold War, many of the young protest and rebel. There is racial violence in U.S. inner cities. Rock music expresses the mood of a disenchanted generation.
Episode Fourteen: Red Spring: (The Sixties)
In the Soviet bloc, communist rule stifles ambition and achievement. Soviet defense expenditure cripples economic growth. The young lust for totems of America's youth culture - blue jeans and rock 'n roll. In Czechoslovakia, Dubcek attempts limited reform, but in 1968, Soviet force crushes the Prague Spring.
Episode Fifteen: China (1949-1972)
Chinese communists win the longest civil war in 20th century history. Mao's land reforms are popular but in 1958, he embarks on a series of catastrophic changes. China maintains an increasingly uneasy relationship with the Soviet Union. In 1960, the Sino-Soviet split paves the way for President Nixon's historic visit to Beijing.
Episode Sixteen: Detente (1969-1975)
North Vietnam launches a new offensive against the Sot. The U.S. steps up its bombing campaign but seeks peace through diplomacy. Nixon and Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The U.S. finally withdraws from Vietnam. Détente culminates in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.
Episode Seventeen: Good Guys, Bad Guys (1967-1978)
The superpowers use surrogates to wage ideological and often physical conflict. In 1967 and 1973, American-backed Israel triumphs over Soviet-backed Egypt and Syria. In Africa, the Soviets exploit nationalist, anti-colonial struggles. The U.S. supports South Africa in its battle against communism.
Episode Eighteen: Backyard (1954-1990)
The United States has always regarded Latin America as its own backyard. Fearing the spread of communism, it seeks to destabilize leftist governments. In 1973, the CIA helps overthrow the Chilean president Salvador Allende; in the 1980's it support right wing extremists in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Episode Nineteen: Freeze (1977-1981)
Concern for human rights in the East grows; détente ebbs. The Soviets arm Eastern Europe; the U.S. threaten to site missiles in Western Europe. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ends détente. Promising tougher measures against Moscow; Reagan defeats Carter for the presidency. In Poland, martial law is imposed.
Episode Twenty: Soldiers of God (1975-1988)
Afghanistan is a war that costs the lives of almost 15,000 Soviet conscripts and an estimated one million Afghans. The United States supplies billions of dollars of weapons to unlike allies-Islamic fundamentalists. The result is a Vietnam-style conflict which takes its toll on the Soviets and hastens the end of the Cold War.
Episode Twenty One: Spies (1944-1994)
Early CIA attempts to penetrate the Iron Curtain are thwarted. The U.S. reacts with increasingly sophisticated technological intelligence - the U-2 spy-plane, satellite reconnaissance and electronic eavesdropping. Yet human spies remain important. Sometimes betrayers, sometimes betrayed, many spies pay with their lives.
Episode Twenty Two: Star Wars (1981-1988)
Reagan boosts U.S. defense spending and proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, an anti-missile system in space. New premier Gorbachev knows the Soviets can't match the U.S., and wants to liberalize and reconstruct the economy. After summits in Geneva, Reykjavik and Washington, the leaders agree to drastic arms cuts.
Episode Twenty Three: The Wall Comes Down (1989)
The dominoes fall: incredibly quickly, the Soviet bloc is breaking up, virtually without bloodshed. First Poland, then Hungary, the East Germany slip away from communist control. Gorbachev makes no effort to hold them back with force. Amid scenes of jubilation, the hated Berlin Wall comes down.
Episode Twenty Four: Conclusions (1989-1991)
The U.S. proves the stronger, the Soviet Union implodes. Germany is reunified. Shorn of its empire and communist domination, Russia faces its future with its economy in chaos. The balance of terror that has kept the peace for more than 40 years vanishes. The Cold War has ended without the use of nuclear weapons.


HAMBANTOTA: Sri Lanka has won the toss in the second one-day International held between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, whereas they have opt to bat first, Aaj News reported.
According to the reports, captain of Pakistan Cricket team, Misbah-ul-Haq said that they would have chosen to bat first, if they had won the toss. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Cricket team Captain, Angelo Mathews revealed that the pitch if favorable for batting.
It is pertinent to know that Younis Khan has been replaced by Sharjeel Khan, whereas Misbah-ul-Haq has been made responsible for the captaincy of the Pakistan Cricket team.