REVEALED: 3 | Vintage Vibes

I was in Georgia in the late 1980s: I observed how tradition survived harsh Sovietisation and rapid transformation

When Soviet president and Communist party secretary Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the policies of perestroika (reconstruction) and glasnost (openness) in the mid-1980s, it marked the beginning of cautious reforms of the Soviet Union. Georgia, or the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, to give it its full name at the time, was on…

The Conversation · Apr 10

Belarus passes bill to crack down on LGBTQ+ rights echoing similar law in Russia

Belarus decriminalised homosexuality in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but it doesn’t recognise same-sex marriages and lacks protection for LGBTQ+ rights.

Euronews · Apr 2

Russia aims to reclaim Soviet space glory with 2036 launch of ambitious Venus mission

Russia plans to launch the Venera-D mission to Venus in 2036, continuing the Soviet Union's legacy of exploring there in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Space · Mar 13

An epic border: Finland’s poetic masterpiece, the Kalevala, has roots in 2 cultures and 2 countries

At the outset of the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, a singer bemoans his separation from a beloved friend who grew up beside him. Today, the friends rarely meet “näillä raukoilla rajoilla, poloisilla Pohjan mailla” – lines which translator Keith Bosley renders “on these poor borders, the luckless lands of the…

The Conversation · Feb 4

Long Before Astronauts, These Animals Took the Ultimate Space Risk

When we think of space exploration names like Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong dominate the narrative. But long before humans ever strapped themselves into rockets animals were sent into space as living test subjects. Their missions were risky, one way and driven by a simple question scientists could not answer…

Times Pets · Feb 2

What is Nato – explained in 30 seconds

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization began in 1949 as a bulwark against the Soviet Union, but has expanded in size in the decades since

The Guardian - AU · Jan 21

American farmers, who once fed the world, face a volatile global market with diminishing federal backing

President Donald Trump appears to have upended an 85-year relationship between American farmers and the United States’ global exercise of power. But that link has been fraying since the end of the Cold War, and Trump’s moves are just another big step.

The Conversation · Jan 16

Aldrich Ames obituary

CIA officer who betrayed western intelligence assets and espionage operations to the Soviet Union and Russia

The Guardian - UK · Jan 8

CIA spy who sold US secrets to Russia dies in prison aged 84

Aldrich Ames confessed to being paid over $2.5 million from Moscow for CIA secrets

The Independent UK · Jan 7

‘After almost destroying the world, our families are friends’: the thrilling podcast from JFK and Khrushchev’s relatives

Their relatives might have been on opposite sides of near-nuclear war, but the US and Soviet leader’s descendants have teamed up for an intimate BBC podcast. They talk humanity, hate – and why Trump is a ‘very limited’ man

The Guardian - UK · Dec 9, 2025