CCCP-Soviet Power

My sister in Tajikistan

2009-09-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Children in Tajikstan.

It was during one of those days in January 2009. Life was a bit busy and thrilling. I had come up only in the morning(as usual) and I sat down with my computer to continue writing my article placed in drafts. I had been writing about Culture and Lifestyle of Indian States-an article still in drafts! I diverted to another topic and I was soon browsing about the Central Asian Republics Kazakhstan, Tajikstan-former Soviet republics. I collected some photos of food, lifestyle of people. I came across this pic(shown above). I stood amazed for sometime. The smiles on the two girl's face is amazing and speaks a lot about care, affection and innocence. I wish that if I had a sister she would be like one of them shown in the above pic. I showed it to my father later. My father liked it too. My mother liked it too. My father asked where I took this pic. I told that it was through Google Images while exploring about culture and dressing style of Central Asian Republics. My father said, "They look like Muslims". Yep! True. Who cares whether they are Muslims or Christians. A sister is a sister!

Many of my relatives use to say that I have a greater chance of living a peaceful life. Maybe true! But human relations are more valuable. Human relations, animals, plants are the greatest gifts to mankind. It wasn't until recently, some years back I did discover something called Universal Love-during one of train travels. But there wasn't any time to implement this and I am still discovering it. Universal love is all about showing love towards everything including plants and animals probably a better theory than Lenin and Marx's communism.

If you are reading this you must be one of my neighbourhood guys, school friends, teacher or lecturer or college friend. It's my guess that you should be one of them! The reason why I posted this post is to share my joy after seeing these two photos-while surfing the Internet long time back. I am posting after 6 months nearly, but still I feel it is worth sharing and its from my personal collections. I hope you too liked it.

Brother and sister relationship.

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 9

2009-06-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

Valentina Tereshkowa, photo taken in 2003.

Valentina Tereshkowa was the first woman Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space. At the time of dissolution of the Soviet Union she held the rank of Major General in the Soviet Airforce. She was born in a village in Western Russia on 6th March, 1937. Her parents migrated to Belarus at the beginning of 20th century. Her father was a tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. She began her schooling in 1945 at the age of eight, but left school in 1953 and continued her education by correspondence courses. She was interested in parachuting since her childhood. She did her first jump when she was 22.

After Gargarin’s flight, Sergei Korolyvov came with an idea of putting a woman in space. He wanted that the first women to be in space should be from the USSR. Valentina was selected amongst 400 applicants. She went intense training for her space journey. Training included weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, rocket theory, spacecraft engineering, 120 parachute jumps and pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet fighters. On the morning of 16 June 1963, Tereshkova and her back-up Solovyova were both dressed in spacesuits and taken to the launch pad by bus. After completing her communication and life support checks, she was sealed inside the Vostok. After a flawless two-hour countdown, Vostok 6 launched faultlessly and Tereshkova became the first woman to fly into space. Her call sign in this flight was Chaika. Although Tereshkova experienced nausea and physical discomfort for much of the flight, she orbited the earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space.

Sergei Korolyvov(Korolev)(Left in the picture) was the Chief Designer and the mastermind behind Soviet Space Programs.

Due to sudden changes in the environment, Valentina experience physical discomfort. This was the first time a woman was in space. She could have experienced the usual problems women face in her life. Sergei Korolyvov was said to have shouted from the space control station in the USSR to ask her not to panic or cry.
With a single flight, she logged more flight time than the combined times of all American astronauts who had flown before that date. Tereshkova also maintained a flight log and took photographs of the horizon, which were later used to identify aerosol layers within the atmosphere.

USSR stamp commerating Valentina Tereshkowa's space flight. First woman in space.

After her spaceflight, she married Andrian Nikolayev. She gave birth to Elena Andrianova who later graduated as a doctor. Valentina Tereshkowa later became a prominent member of the Soviet Government. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, she didn’t lose her prestige or fame. She is revered as a Russian hero her fame only surpassed by Yuri Gargarin and Leonov. Tereshkova was invited to President Vladimir Putin's residence in for the celebration of her 70th birthday. She said to Putin that she would like to fly to Mars, even if it meant that it was a one way trip.

My best wishes

2009-05-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

The purpose why I created this blog is to ensure the protection of human rights and to save the girl child. I am not doing any sort of Communist propaganda. Human suffering should be eliminated in this. All humans should work with a goal to ensure that there is a sustained growth in the standard of human beings in the motherland. We need not bother whether it is a communist rule or a democratic rule but humans and all other living beings should be happy. Poverty, hunger is an curse to humanity and should be removed at all costs.

I am thankful to all readers for the continued support. Thanks for the emails and comments.

Good luck :-)

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 8

2009-05-30T00:25:00.000-07:00

Yuri Gargarin-official portrait.

Yuri Gargarin was the first man to be in space. He travelled in Vostok 1 spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on April 12th, 1961. Yuri was born in a small village in Russia. His parents were Alexey Ivanovich Gargarin and Anna Timofeyevna Gargarina. Gargarin’s family suffered during the Nazi occupation of USSR in Second World War 2. Gargarin’s elder sister was primarily responsible in bringing up his brother as their parents worked and generated income for the family. Gargarin was the third child for their parents. They totally had 4 children. While a youth, Yuri became interested in space and planets and began to dream about his space tour which became true one day. Gargarin was noted for exceptional hard working character. After starting an apprenticeship in metalworks as a foundry man, Gargarin was selected for further training at a technical high school in Saratov, USSR. Gargarin performed well in training. He was trained in MiG-15. After post graduation, he was assigned to Luostari Airbase in Murmansk Oblast close to Norwegian border. He was married to Valentina Goryacheva. He became the Lieutenant of Soviet Air Force. Later, he was selected as a Soviet Cosmonaut. After his spaceflight, Yuri was popular in the world even in the US. He traveled to many places, countries promoting Soviet achievement.

Yuri in spacesuit. Note the "CCCP" emblem.

Yuri was launched on April 12th, 1961. The launch site was actually Tyuratam, south west of Baikonour, Kazakhstan. But the Soviet Union while filing the papers mentioned the location as Baikonour, instead of Tyuratam. This is to keep the launch site as a secret due to Cold War tensions.
Gargarin orbited the Earth once in 108 minutes. He returned unharmed, ejecting from the Vostok capsule 7 km above the ground and parachuting separately to the ground since the capsule's parachute landing was believed to be rough for cosmonauts. It is quite risky too.

The Reentry capsule of Vostok-1.

The spacecraft attitude control was run by an automated system. Medical staff and spacecraft engineers were unsure how a human being might react to weightlessness, and therefore the pilot's flight controls were locked out to prevent Gagarin from taking manual control. Codes to unlock the controls were placed in an onboard envelope, for Gagarin's use in case of emergency. The automatic system brought Vostok 1 into alignment for retro fire about 1 hour into the flight.

An image of Yuri inside Vostok-1 during the spaceflight in Vostok-1.

Retrofire took place off the west coast of Africa, near Angola, about 8,000 km from the desired landing place. The liquid-fueled retrorockets fired for about 42 seconds. Due to weight constraints there was no backup retrorocket engine. The spacecraft carried 10 days of provisions to allow for survival during the natural decay of the orbit in the event the retrorockets failed. Retro rockets are used to slow spacecrafts speed while they are in motion. When the speed is reduced, automatically the spacecraft would lose its altitude while re-entering the atmosphere, provided the natural decay of orbit takes place as the spaceflight progresses. If retro rockets aren’t there, there is a high chance that a spacecraft would be in orbit for days thus making unmanned flights difficult as you need to keep a lot of supplies for the cosmonaut/astronaut for his/her survival.

Control Panel of Vostok-1.

Mission Timeline [Courtesy: Wikipedia, taken from Wikipedia]

• Wednesday, April 12, 1961 Minutes before his launch, Yuri Gagarin recorded this statement, "Dear friends, known and unknown to me, my dear compatriots and all people of the world! Within minutes from now, a mighty Soviet rocket will boost my ship into the vastness of outer space. What I want to tell you is this. My whole life is now before me as a single breathtaking moment. I feel I can muster up my strength for successfully carrying out what is expected of me."

• Countdown begins Yuri Gagarin is in the Vostok 1 spacecraft on the launch pad. His television picture appears on television screens in the launch control room from an onboard television camera. Sergey Korolyov speaks into a microphone: "Zarya calling Kedr (Gagarin's call sign). The countdown is about to start." Gagarin replied, "Roger. Feeling fine, excellent spirits, ready to go."

• 06:07 UTC Launch occurs from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site No.1; after Gagarin's flight that launch pad became known as Gagarin's Start. At ignition and liftoff, Sergey Korolyov radios, "Preliminary stage..... Intermediate..... Main..... LIFT OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything is all right." Gagarin replies, "Poyekhali! (Off we go!)."

• 06:09 UTC Two minutes into the flight and the four strap-on booster sections of the Vostok rocket have used up the last of their propellant, they shut down and drop away from the core vehicle. (T+ 119 s)

• 06:10 UTC The payload shroud covering Vostok 1 is released; this uncovers the window at Gagarin's feet with the optical orientation device Vzor (lit. "Eye"). (T+ 156 s)

• 06:12 UTC Five minutes into the flight and the Vostok rocket core stage has used up its propellant, shuts down and falls away from the Vostok spacecraft and final rocket stage. The final rocket stage ignites to continue the journey to orbit. (T+ 300 s)

• 06:13 UTC The rocket is still firing, pushing Vostok 1 toward orbit. Gagarin reports, “... the flight is continuing well. I can see the Earth. The visibility is good. ... I almost see everything. There's a certain amount of space under cumulus cloud cover. I continue the flight, everything is good."

• 06:14 UTC The rocket continues to fire, starting to pass over central Russia now. Gagarin reports, "Everything is working very well. All systems are working. Let's keep going!"

Design of Vostok-1.

• 06:15 UTC Three minutes into the burn of the final rocket stage and Gagarin reports, "Zarya-1, Zarya-1, I can't hear you very well. I feel fine. I'm in good spirits. I'm continuing the flight..." Vostok 1 is moving further downrange from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. He is reporting back to Zarya-1 (the Baikonur ground station) and must be starting to move out of radio range of that station.

• 06:17 UTC The Vostok rocket final stage shuts down, ten seconds later the spacecraft separates and Vostok 1 reaches orbit. (T+ 676 s) Gagarin reports, "The craft is operating normally. I can see Earth in the view port of the Vzor. Everything is proceeding as planned". Vostok 1 passes over Russia and moves on over Siberia.

• 06:21 UTC Vostok 1 passes over the Kamchatka peninsula and out over the North Pacific Ocean. Gagarin radios, "...the lights are on the descent mode monitor. I'm feeling fine, and I'm in good spirits. Cockpit parameters: pressure 1; humidity 65; temperature 20; pressure in the compartment 1; first automatic 155; second automatic 155; pressure in the retro-rocket system 320 atmospheres..."

• 06:25 UTC As Vostok 1 begins its diagonal crossing of the Pacific Ocean from Kamchatka peninsula to the southern tip of South America, Gagarin asks, "What can you tell me about the flight? What can you tell me?” He is requesting information about his orbital parameters. The ground station at Khabarovsk reports back, "There are no instructions from No. 20 (Sergey Korolyov), and the flight is proceeding normally". They are telling Gagarin that they don't have his orbital parameters yet because the spacecraft has been in orbit for only 6 minutes, but the spacecraft systems are performing well.

• 06:31 UTC Gagarin transmits to the Khabarovsk ground station, "I feel splendid, very well, very well, very well. Give me some results on the flight!” Vostok 1 is nearing the VHF radio horizon for Khabarovsk and they respond, "Repeat. I can't hear you very well". Gagarin transmits again, "I feel very good. Give me your data on the flight!" Vostok 1 passes out of VHF range of the Khabarovsk ground station and contact is lost.

• 06:37 UTC Vostok 1 continues on its journey as the Sun sets over the North Pacific. Gagarin crosses into night, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. Out of VHF range with ground stations, communications must now take place via HF radio.

• 06:46 UTC Khabarovsk ground station sends the message "KK" via telegraph (on HF radio to Vostok 1). This message means, "Report the monitoring of commands." They were asking Gagarin to report when the spacecraft automated descent system had received its instructions from the ground control. Gagarin reported back at 06:48 UTC.

Orbit path of Vostok-1

• 06:48 UTC Vostok 1 crosses the equator at about 170° West, traveling in a south east direction and begins crossing the South Pacific. Gagarin transmits over HF radio, "I am transmitting the regular report message: 9 hours 48 minutes (Moscow Time), the flight is proceeding successfully. Spusk-1 is operating normally. The mobile index of the descent mode monitor is moving. Pressure in the cockpit is 1; humidity 65; temperature 20; pressure in the compartment 1.2 ... Manual 150; First automatic 155; second automatic 155; retro rocket system tanks 320 atmospheres. I feel fine..."

• 06:49 UTC Gagarin reports he is on the night side of the Earth.

• 06:51 UTC Gagarin reports the sun-seeking attitude control system had been switched on. The sun-seeking attitude control system is used to orient Vostok 1 for retrofire. The automated orientation system consisted of two redundant systems: an automatic/solar orientation system and a manual/visual orientation system. Either system could operate the two redundant cold nitrogen gas thruster systems, each with 10 kg (22 lb) of gas.

• 06:53 UTC The Khabarovsk ground station sends Gagarin the following message via HF radio, "By order of No.33 (General Nikolai Kamanin) the transmitters have been switched on, and we are transmitting this: the flight is proceeding as planned and the orbit is as calculated." They are telling Gagarin that Vostok 1 is in a stable orbit. He acknowledges the message.

• 06:57 UTC Vostok 1 is over the South Pacific between New Zealand and Chile when Gagarin sends this message, "...I'm continuing the flight, and I'm over America. I transmitted the telegraph signal "ON".

• 07:00 UTC Vostok 1 crosses the Strait of Magellan at the tip of South America. News of the Vostok 1 mission is broadcast on Radio Moscow.

• 07:09 UTC Gagarin sends spacecraft status message, the message are not received by ground stations.

• 07:10 UTC Passing over the South Atlantic, the Sun rises and Vostok 1 is in daylight again. Vostok 1 is 15 minutes from retrofire.

• 07:13 UTC Gagarin sends spacecraft status message, similar to the one sent at 06:48. Moscow picks up this partial message from Gagarin, "I read you well. The flight is going..."

• 07:18 UTC Gagarin sends spacecraft status message, the message are not received by ground stations.

Gargarin memorial in Kazakhstan, former USSR-now an independent country.

• 07:23 UTC Gagarin sends spacecraft status message, the message are not received by ground stations.

• 07:25 UTC Vostok 1 is in retrofire attitude. The retros are fired for about 42 seconds as the spacecraft nears Angola on the west coast of Africa. Retrofire takes place about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) from the planned landing point in Russia.

• 07:25 to 07:35 UTC Ten seconds after retrofire, commands are sent to separate the Vostok service module from the reentry module (sharik). One bundle of wires fails to release and the two sections of the spacecraft remain attached for another 10 minutes. Vostok 1 crosses the west coast of Africa and continues over central Africa heading towards Egypt.

• 07:35 UTC The two halves of the spacecraft begin reentry and go through wild gyrations as Vostok 1 nears Egypt. Finally, the wire bundle burns through and releases the reentry module. Gagarin telegraphs "Everything is OK" despite continuing gyrations; he later reported that he did not want to "make noise" as he had (correctly) reasoned that the gyrations did not endanger the mission (apparently due to the spherical shape of the reentry module).

• 07:35 to 07:55 UTC Reentry continues over Egypt and out over the Mediterranean, near the west coast of Cyprus and then central Turkey. Continuing to drop lower, Vostok 1 crosses back into the Soviet Union on the Black Sea coast near Krasnodar. Gagarin experiences 8 g's (Gagarin's own report states "over 10 g's") during reentry but remains conscious.

• 07:55 UTC Vostok 1 is still 7 km from the ground. The hatch is released and two seconds later Gagarin ejects from Vostok 1. At 2.5 km (8,200 ft) altitude, the main parachute is deployed from the Vostok spacecraft. The Vostok 1 lands at 07:55 UTC. Two schoolgirls witness the Vostok landing and described the scene: "It was a huge ball, about two or three meters high. It fell, then it bounced and then it fell again. There was a huge hole where it hit the first time."

United States honors the Soviet Union.

• 08:05 UTC Gagarin, because his parachute opened at a much higher altitude than Vostok 1 (7 km (23,000 ft) vs. 2.5 km), lands about 10 minutes after his spacecraft. A farmer and her daughter observed the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute. Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!

Design

Vostok translates as East in Russian. It was primarily designed for human spaceflight. It had a dual nature too. It was also used to launch numerous spy satellites in the 1960’s. The module had two basic designs. Reentry module and Equipment module. Equipment module controls the operations of the craft and transmits signals. Reentry module or the Descent module is used to return the cosmonaut to earth safely. After retro-firing takes place, the cosmonaut ejects at an altitude at a height of 7km and he would land separately in a parachute while the craft lands separately.

Reentry Module Specifications:-• Crew Size: 1
• Length: 5 m
• Diameter: 2.3 m
• Mass: 2,460 kg
• Heat Shield Mass: 837 kg
• Recovery equipment: 151 kg
• Parachute deploys at 2.5 km altitude
• Crew seat and provisions: 336 kg
• Crew ejects at 7 km altitude
• Ballistic reentry acceleration: 8 g (78 m/s²).

Equipment Module Specifications:-• Length: 2.25 m
• Diameter: 2.43 m
• Mass: 2,270 kg
• Main Engine: 397 kg
• Main Engine Thrust: 15.83 kN
• Main Engine Propellants: Nitrous oxide/amine
• Main Engine Propellants: 275 kg
• Electrical System: Batteries
• Electric System: 0.20 average kW
• Electric System: 24.0 kWh
• Total Mass:4,730 kg
• Endurance: Supplies for 10 days in orbit
• Launch Vehicle: Vostok 8K72K
• Typical orbit: 177 km x 471 km, 64.9 inclinaton

After the spaceflight, Gargarin became the Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base. At the same time, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot. On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight out of Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin (Seregin) died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. Gagarin and Seryogin were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.

In memory of Yuri Gargarin.

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 7

2009-02-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

Allied and Soviet Tanks stand facing each other during the Checkpoint Charlie Crisis.

Cold War in 1960’s

1960’s were a tensed period in Cold War history. Competition between USSR and USA was seen in space research, missile development, arms production, sports. It was a war between Socialism and Capitalism. The amount of nuclear arsenals increased. In case of a nuclear war, there was a possibility of an all-out war due to mutual assured destruction. During this period, USSR almost overtook USA in terms of weapons and armory. There was an atmosphere of suspicion everywhere as no one knew who could be a possible defector or a spy. Due to the strict military nature of USSR, even trespassing airspace was dealt severely. The Soviet Union often shot down even non-Soviet passenger plane trespassing into its airspace illegally. Protecting its airspace was a huge challenge to the Soviet Government. US frequently conducted reconnaissance missions by flying spy planes over the USSR and US pilots successfully escaped the missile fire of Soviet SAM’s(Surface-Air Missiles) and were able to return to their bases in Pakistan comfortably. India had good relations with the USSR. Taking advantage of the India-Pakistan rivalry in the Indian subcontinent, US developed good relations with Pakistan and also built many air bases to frequently fly spy planes over the Southern Central republics of USSR namely Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Krgyzhtan and Uzbekistan.

McNamara and Kennedy during the EXCOMM meeting.

Checkpoint Charlie Crisis

After the end of World War II in Europe, Nazi Germany was divided into four occupation zones per the Potsdam Agreement, each one controlled by the then Allied powers, Americans, British, French and the Soviets. Berlin was the seat of the Allied Control Council. It was also subdivided into four sectors despite the city lying deep inside the Soviet zone of occupation. Although the occupying powers originally intended to jointly govern Germany within its postwar borders, the advent of Cold War tensions caused the French, British and American zones to be formed into the Federal Republic of Germany (and West Berlin) in 1949, excluding the Soviet zone, which then formed the German Democratic Republic (East Berlin).

On 13th August 1961, East German Government started the construction of Berlin Wall. Anyone trying to defect or cross the border was shot. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. West Germany was ruled by a capitalist government while East Germany was a socialist state with a planned economy.

Tensions between USSR and USA grew again during Checkpoint Charlie Crisis. Checkpoint Charlie was a check post between the CCCP and USA since the partition of Germany. Shortly after the erection of the Berlin Wall, a standoff occurred between U.S. and Soviet tanks on either side of Checkpoint Charlie. It began on 22nd October due to a dispute over whether East German guards were authorized to examine the travel documents of a U.S. diplomat passing through to East Berlin. By October 27th, 10 Soviet and an equal number of American tanks stood 100 meters apart on either side of the checkpoint. The number of Allied tanks increased soon.

The Kennedy Administration gathers to discuss the next move as Soviet threat looms overhead.

Soviet Generals made an immediate response by sending more tanks to the checkpoint. Seeing the Soviet deployment, the Allied tanks backed up. For approximately 22 hours, the world was tensed as these two giants stood against each other waiting for a chance to start a war. The entire USSR was in red-alert for a possible nuclear war in case of an escalated crisis. The next day evening, an American tank backed a few meters. Immediately, a Soviet tank backed for a few meters. Likewise, all tanks backed up thus saving the day again.

Meanwhile a year later, US secretly installed Missile launchers in Turkey targeting Moscow. This alarmed the USSR considerably and the Soviet Union counteracted by installing nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba. The then Cuban leader Fidel Castro assisted the Soviet Government to counteract the US threat. The tensed moment was yet to come! The photographs taken by US spy planes over Cuba indicated Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles. The Cuban Missile crisis was taking shape. The remaining 14 days were a tensed period as USSR threatened to hit back strongly for US deployment of missiles in Turkey. Do you think anyone would be hatching eggs if someone tries to act smart?

President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Soviet ships carrying nuclear missiles were seen moving towards Cuba. The then President John F. Kennedy ordered for a blockade of Russian (Soviet) ships. Though Russia was a part of the USSR, Soviet Union was often considered as the synecdoche of Russia. Blockade is an act of war. Kennedy felt that the USSR might not retaliate if the ships were blocked. The news was given to the press about possible Soviet first strike on US. But the sad news is that US deployment of nuclear missiles in Turkey to hit USSR was kept low. When USSR claimed the fact, no one believed.

U-2 plan shot down by Cuban forces.

Meanwhile, different things were happening inside a Soviet submarine. On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of eleven United States Navy destroyers and the aircraft carrier USS Randolph trapped a nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot class submarine B-59 near Cuba and started dropping practice depth charges, explosives intended to force the submarine to come to the surface for identification. Allegedly, the captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believing that a war between USSR and USA might already have started, prepared to launch a retaliatory nuclear-tipped torpedo.

Three officers on board the submarine — Savitsky, Political Officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov and Second Captain Arkhipov — were authorized to launch the torpedo if they agreed unanimously in favour of doing so. An argument broke out among the three, in which only Arkhipov was against the launch, eventually persuading Savitsky to surface the submarine and await orders from Moscow. The nuclear warfare which presumably would have ensued was thus averted.

At the conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis held in Havana on 13 October 2002, Robert McNamara admitted that nuclear war had come much closer than people had thought. Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, said that "a guy called Vasili Arkhipov saved the world."

US forces landed in Cuba to overthrow the Fidel Castro government. US Airforce constantly bombarded Cuba, but failed to overthrow the Castro Government. US forces were defeated in the Bay of Pigs episode. After 14 tensed days, US agreed to withdraw the missiles in Turkey. But this was never exposed to the outside world. When USSR withdrew the missiles from Cuba, it again caused an embarrassment to the upper echelons of the Soviet Union as it was viewed as if the Russians were backing up after starting a crisis on their own. Nikita Khrushchev was blamed heavily of poor handling of the crisis and was later ousted. He was replaced by Leonid Breznev as the General Secretary.

NGO's donation and links

2009-01-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

Dear fellow blog readers,

With the help of friends, the free medicine scheme was implemented. All working professionals can directly or indirectly help poor students and the unfortunate people. If you earn around Rs.1000/- you can give around Rs. 50 for the orphanages. Considering the fact that we all are humans and we are committed to social justice, we need to work on sustainable development and human rights. Let's work hard for the progress of our Republic. It's not about spreading communism or socialism, it is just to learn from the past and create a better efficient system.

Kaakkum Karangal
Contact: 044-24617754
044-25232324
044-24405303

http://www.ngosindia.com/

As a republic we need to focus on a certain key issues. Human Rights, Forest Lands and Tribal rights, Child Rights, Women Empowerment, Food, Health, Labour rights, Peace and Animal welfare.

Generally, India is regarded as a third world country. We need not bother. Our way of life, traditions are different. We have 18 different local languages with more than 100 other languages and variety of cultures. Our way of life is receiving to share and not to compete on unimportant things. Our land belongs to us and we need to always remember that we share it with the tribes. We shouldn't forget the fact that they belong to our land and they have a right for living space. Simply by building IT parks, pubs, food courts, weekend parties we don't achieve progress. That type of progress isn't needed for our Republic. Let's retain our culture. Dhotis, Kurtas, Pants(Formals), Salwars, Sarees etc. Women and the present day younger girl generations should give a thought regarding their dressing style. They should take care of their own personal safety to avoid unnecessary problems.

We should take care of each other. Never mind whether we are a rich nation or not, but let's be a content nation. Let's be kind to animals. Afterall, animals are best friends to mankind. At one point of time, we all face family problems, breakup, at that time we would hate humans. During those times, animals are our best friends! They are also de-facto citizens of India. Let's share our food with fellow citizens. Let's share our clothes with them. Let's share our love with fellow Indians. Most of all Our Government would give us living space. Our Republic would protect us!

Petro Dollar Scam

2009-01-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Petro Dollar Scam.

Petro dollar is a term used to refer currency used to purchase petrol. But have you ever heard of Petro Dollar scam? Are you aware of the things which happenned just before you but you aren’t aware of it?

United States of America is a union of states and considered as a superpower. The only competitor was the USSR, which resulted in a period of mistrust, tensed period known as Cold War since 1945 till the end of USSR in 1991. Due to poor economy and also due to the ramifications of the Afghan war the USSR dissoluted into 15 countries. With the USSR gone, the USA emerged as the sole-superpower in a unipolar world dominating many foreign policies. The policies were aggressive, selfish, dominating and it resulted in many wars in Gulf and Afghanistan. The reason for all Iraq, Afghan wars is not because of terrorism or a nuke threat from Islamic states but just to protect the US dollar and propping up of Oil and Petrol prices. Read below to read more about the shocking story.

An Iraqi women pleads for freedom as an US soldier arrests her. US soldiers committed a lot of human violations against women in Iraq.

The story winds back to 1971 during the tensed Cold War period between the USSR and the USA, when US printed a lot of dollars in paper. When the French Government demanded Gold in return, the US government didn’t have enough gold for the money it has already printed. A deal was done with the OPEC or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and globally oil and natural gas were dealt in dollars. The US Government got oil just for printing dollars in paper. From that point on, every nation that needed to buy oil had to first hold US dollars, which meant that they exchanged their goods and services for dollars, for which the treasury of US just printed.

Huga Chavez was the Venezuelan President who criticized American policies and sold Oil and Petroleum in Euro instead of US dollar. As usual CIA played a crucial role in many attempts to overthrow his regime and wasn't successful.

Now how are the wars related to this scam? Saddam Hussein started selling Oil and Petroleum in Euros instead of dollars. This would affect the American economy. The US claimed that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction and entered into Iraq. The government was replaced by a puppet government within months which was nothing but US’s pet. In 2003, the leadership in the White House created a pretext to wage war and invade Iraq and the first thing they did in 2003 was revert sales of oil back to dollars. For a short time, a major financial crisis was averted.

What was the real purpose of Iraq War?

In 2006, Hugo Chavez the President of Venezuela started selling his country’s oil for currencies other than dollars and a number of attempts on his life and regime change were attempted which were traceable to our dearest CIA.

Next, the Iranian President Ahmadinejad decided to start selling oil for every currency except US dollars. The petrodollar scam is coming to an end. As the nations of the world find that they can buy oil with their own currencies instead of holding US dollars, more OPEC nations will abandon the dollar.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Soviet-Afghan war-The real war against terror!

2008-12-21T01:54:00.000-08:00

Twin towers destroyed in 2001.

Introduction

We are all aware of the sad events that took place in Mumbai several weeks back. Lots of innocent people died for absolutely no reason. Nowadays, no country is safe from terrorism. Mumbai train blasts, 9/11 attacks in United States, Ahmedabad blasts, Bangalore blasts are all examples of how powerful terrorism has grown. We clearly understand how Religion is used as a weapon to create clashes between the people. But where did all these people come from? Who exactly encouraged them? From where did they get all courage to fight against nations, which have powerful Navy, Air Force and Army? Is the world really moving towards destruction? What actually motivated the terrorists? The result could be traced back to 1979 during the heights of Cold War. All these problems took shape when United States assisted Mujahideen to fight against their bitter enemy USSR. It was during the September 11th attacks that United States realized that it had reaped what it had sown.

Soviets fight against Afghan Mujahideens. How the Hammer and the Sickle broke?

Background

Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shortly known as the Soviet Union was a socialist state that existed from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. USSR was the biggest country ever to exist on earth covering 11 time zones out of 12 world time zones, occupying almost one-sixth of the world area and one third of Asia. It was 7 times bigger than India and two and a half times bigger than the United States. Now how did such a great superpower collapse? Is Socialism bad?

United States assists Al-Qaeda in the Soviet-Afghan War. Pic shows CIA agents touring Taliban camps. CIA created terror training camps where Talibans were trained.

Life in the Soviet Union

Life in the Soviet Union was safe, secure and healthy provided you don’t go against the state. Most of all women were treated as humans. Soviet Union preferred an atheist attitude though it was officially secular. USSR was the only country to recover quickly after a devastating war to become an industrial superpower within a few years. Soviet Union was the first country to design the world’s first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile R-7-Semyorka and it was the first nation to launch the first artificial satellite. However, regular life was monitored in the Soviet Union.

Bin Laden assisted by the United States. Pic shows Bin Laden fighting against Soviets with American equipments.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan was under communist rule during the controversial Soviet-Afghan war (1979-1989). Afghanistan had problems within itself when the Mujahideens wanted to capture power. The Afghan government requested the USSR to assist them. The USSR refused to intervene initially as it was a tensed period of relations during the Cold War. However, decisions to invade Afghanistan was taken hastily in a few months.

Mujahideen leaders in White House. President Ronald Reagan promises assistance to Taliban to fight against the USSR, not knowing that his own country would be facing another bloody war.

The War begins…

In the midnight of December 24th, 1979, Soviet tanks and armoured divisions entered into Afghanistan to fight a war to remove the Taliban threat. The whole world was stunned, as it didn’t expect the Soviet Union to enter into a war given the already tensed situation of Cold War with United States. Soviet warplanes MiG’s, Sukhoi’s entered into Afghan Airspace in the early hours of Christmas. The whole world was brought to standstill as it knew it would be witnessing one of the key wars in human history. A superpower was in action against guerilla forces. No one knew that the Soviet Union was actually entering the last phase of its existence. The sad thing was that it disintegrated fighting for socialism. USSR had many reasons to fear. The southern republics of the USSR like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Krgyzistan were Islamic states. If terrorists captured Afghanistan, then there is a problem of “Jihad” or Holy war in all-Soviet republics. Soviet Union may not survice a Jihad.

The Soviet Union collapse was evident in the mid 1970's itself. Instead of restructuring its economy, the Soviet Union shouldn't have gone for war. Even if terrorists have captured Afghanistan, there is a chance of jihad in Islamic republics of USSR. This would again break the USSR into pieces. In the Soviet Union, Russia was considered as a major contributor and other republics were treated as unreliable sometimes. This led to discontent in the minds of other republics. Russian was made a compulsory language. For many people in Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh it was much more like Russianization.

Soviet Union withdraws officially after a devastating war in Afghanistan.

Soviet soldiers started rebuilding Afghanistan once they entered Afghanistan. They reconstructed houses, schools to promote education. Women were allowed to be without veil and were made to interact with men. Meanwhile, the United States continued to project the USSR as the evil empire and as an aggressor. The CIA offered to assist the guerilla forces to fight against Soviet troops. Stinger Anti-air missiles were secretly distributed to the Taliban to shoot down Soviet-Aircrafts. Ammunitions, walkie-talkies, guns were supplied by the United States to defeat the Soviet Union.

Soviet artillery guns captured by Taliban.

The Soviet Defeat

Soviet Union was considered as an aggressor. The morale of the Soviet troops went down as they were considered as an invader. The war stagnated the economy of the Soviet Union. It was a great loss and embarrassment to the USSR. The mighty Red Army was getting screwed by guerilla warriors. The citizens lost their faith in the Soviet system. There could be only one answer now. Withdrawal! Soviet Union made an embarrassing withdrawal. Few years later, it ceases to exist. On the evening of December 31st, 1991 the Soviet Red Hammer and the Sickle flag was lowered for one last time! The next day tri-color Russian flag was hoisted.

Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the Soviet President ending the most powerful empire in the history of mankind after 70 years of its existence. This was a huge victory for the United States at that time. It was not even 10 years. The same Taliban attacked the United States with the same weapons the United States gave to fight against the Soviets.

Soviet-Afghan War Timeline

Early 1979: The USSR is requested by Afghan Government to enter into war to fight against Taliban.

Mid-1979: Aleksei Kosygin, the then Soviet Premier rules out a possibility of Soviet intervention.

24th December 1979: Soviet Union enters war. The then General Secretary Leonid Breznev orders Soviet tanks to take on Afghanistan. India, longtime ally of the Soviet Union openly supports the Soviet-Afghan war in the International scenario. India was the only democratic country to support the USSR in this war.

25th December 1979: US President Jimmy Carter says, "Soviet invasion is a threat to world peace since the end of World War 2.

1981: Soviet soldiers organize coordinated attacks on terrorist camps. By now, CIA is giving a lot of assistance to terrorists. Signs of Soviet loss are slowly coming out.

1982: Soviet Aircrafts/Bombers bombard mountains and hills to kill terrorists.

1983: United States gives tremendous assistance to Taliban to fight against the USSR.

The President of United States Jimmy Carter and Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq promises Taliban a lot of assistance.

1984: Soviet Union faces huge casualities.

1985: Soviet Union fights alone. The President Gorbachev feels the war is a waste. It’s no using in being with people who are brain washed by stupid ideals. Fighting increases brutally. 1985 was the bloodiest year in Soviet history as it lost more than 1000 soldiers.

1986: Soviet Union is unable to achieve the result it aspired for.

1988: Unrest inside the USSR as citizens themselves feels uncomfortable. Majority of the troops have withdrawn.

1989: Boris Gromov, the Commander General and his regiment was the last regiment to withdraw. Boris Gromov got down from his jeep and walked the Soviet-Afghan border on foot. He was the last ‘Soviet soldier’ to walk out of Afghanistan.

A Soviet soldier looks back at Afghanistan for one last time. He has lost his comrades. Job unfinished! He knew that he was lucky to be fortunate.

1991: On the last day of the year December 31st, 1991, Soviet Union ceases to exist. The Red Flag is lowered and is replaced by the tri-color flag of the Imperial Russia. Russia is declared as the successor of the Soviet Union and all of Soviet nuclear arsenals comes under Russia.

1992-1993: Kabul falls. The Taliban comes to power.

11th September 2001: The same Taliban hits back at United States in the 9/11 attacks destroying the World Trade Center and a part of the Pentagon.

A Mujahideen with Hand Mounted Stinger Anti-Air Missile to shoot Soviet Aircraft.

Soviet Losses:

1. 15,000 Soviet soldiers
2. 333 Helicopters.
3. 147 tanks.
4. 1314 Passenger carriers.
5. 433 artillery guns.
6. 1,138 Communication vehicles.
7. 510 Engineering vehicles
8. 11,369 petrol tanks.

Soviet Spetsnaz soldiers prepare for a mission to eliminate terrorists.

The Spetsnaz Soldiers were quite successful in many missions. But that wasn't enough to win this bloody conflict. How did such a great superpower collapse? It could have easily won the war by sending half of police forces of Moscow. The USSR initiated its own dissolution by entering into Afghan war.

Taliban operating sophisticated radio equipments supplied by the United States(CIA).

Taliban fights Americans with the same Stinger Missile given to them during the Soviet-Afghan war.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 6

2008-12-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

The site after the explosion.

The Nedelin disaster occurred on 24th October 1960 at the Baikonour Cosmodrome during the development of R-16 Soviet ICBM. The prototype of the missile was being prepared for a test when the second stage ignited improperly and led to a blast killing around 100 people. Chief of Artillery Forces Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin was killed in the explosion. The official death toll was 90, but estimates are as high as 200, with 120 being the generally accepted figure. Despite the magnitude of the disaster, news of it was covered up for many years by the Soviet government and did not emerge until the 1990s. After the explosion, news was sent to all relatives of the deceased that they have died in a aircrash. The then General Secretary Nikita Khruschev ordered that the information shouldn’t be spread to the world and this news was made available only after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991.

Rocket exploding at site.

Unlike NASA, the Space Research in the Soviet Union had a lot of competition. There were three designers who competed amongst themselves to design ambitious Soviet space programs. Mikhail Yangel, Sergei Korylev were the popular ones, however Sergei Korylev was considered to be the most successful designer. This particular program was headed by Yangel.

Chief of Artillery Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin.

On 23 October, the R-16 rocket prototype was on the launching pad awaiting final tests before its firing. The rocket was filled with UDMH-Nitric acid which is used in rocketry despite the fact that it was an extremely corrosive and toxic binary fuel that produces poisonous gas when burned. These risks were accounted for in the safety procedures in preparing the rocket for launching, but, late that day, technicians accidentally ruptured the pyrotechnic membranes of the first-stage fuel lines and allowed the fuel in to the combustion chamber. The nitric acid component was so corrosive that it damaged the R-16 rocket. Thus, the rocket team had only a two options. It was to launch the rocket next day or drain the fuel from the rocket and then rebuild the engine and so delay the program several weeks. Morever, Yangel was much eager to complete the program before the 43rd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. He wanted to present the successful result to Nikita Khruschev.

R-16 ICBM before the explosion. Photo taken in the Soviet Union.

When the second stage blasted, Nedelin and 125 other rocket personnel were killed, but Yangel survived. He had left the area to smoke a cigarette, where he and the chief technicians discussed possibly abandoning the rocket launching. After inspecting the site, Nikita Khruschev asked Yangel, “But why have you survived?”. In a trembling voice, Yangel replied, “I went away for a smoke. It’s all my fault”. A memorial to the dead was erected near Baikonur and it is still visited by RKA(Russian Space Agency) officials before any manned launch.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 5

2008-11-26T01:47:00.000-08:00

U-2 spy plance wreckage kept at Moscow.

In July 1957, the U.S. established a secret U.S. intelligence facility in Pakistan. It was in Badaber, 16 km from Peshawar. Badaber was an excellent choice because of its proximity to Soviet Union’s Central Asia republics. This enabled monitoring of missile test sites, launch pads and other communications during the tensed cold war periods.

On 9 April 1960, the U-2 spy plane of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) crossed the South national boundary of Soviet Union in the area of Pamir Mountains and flew over four Soviet top secret military locations: the Semipalatinsk Test Site, the Tu-95 air base, the Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) test site of the Soviet Air Defense Forces near Saryshagan, and the Tyuratam missile range. The Soviet Air Defense Forces detected the plane at 04:47hrs when it flew away by more than 250 km from the Soviet national boundary and avoided several attempts of interception using MiG-19 and Su-9 during the flight. After U-2 left the Soviet air space, it was clear that U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had successfully performed an extraordinary intelligence operation. Soviets knew that their anti-aircraft systems weren’t effective. However, next time the Soviets hit back! Perhaps, in the best way possible.

Gary Powers undergoes trial in the Soviet Union.

The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on May 1, 1960 when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. At first, the United States government denied the plane's purpose and mission, but later it was forced to admit its role when the Soviet government produced the plane remains, photographs and the surviving pilot Gary Powers. The incident happened before two weeks of the scheduled opening of an East-West summit. The incident was a great embarrassment to the United States and prompted a marked deterioration in its relations with the Soviet Union. Eisenhower refused to apologize and Nikita Khrushchev, the then General Secretary of the USSR, boycotted the East-West summit.

What really happened?

On May 1, 1960, thirteen days before the scheduled opening of an East–West summit conference in Paris, a U.S. Lockheed U-2 spy plane left US base in Badaber on a mission to over fly the Soviet Union to photograph ICBM sites.
The Soviet missile system was not yet up to the mark! Fighter planes like MiG-19’s and Su-9’s were sent to intercept the aircraft. According to the reports, it is believed that the missile fired from a SAM (Surface to Air Missile) hit the spy plane first and it also destroyed a Soviet interceptor plane in the missile salvo. Due to secret policy of the Soviet Union, many such incidents and details still remain a mystery and still unanswered. The pilot Gary Powers was captured by the Soviets.

Four days after Powers disappeared, NASA issued a very detailed press release stating that an aircraft had "gone missing" north of Turkey. The press release speculated that the pilot might have fallen unconscious while the autopilot was still engaged, even falsely claiming that "the pilot reported over the emergency frequency that he was experiencing oxygen difficulties."

Nikita Khruschev inspects the wreckage.

Then the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev said that a "spy plane" had been shot down but intentionally made no reference to the pilot. As a result, the Eisenhower Administration, thinking the pilot had died in the crash, authorized the release of a cover story claiming that the plane was a "weather research aircraft" which had strayed into Soviet airspace. The White House gracefully acknowledged that this might be the same plane, but still proclaimed that "there was absolutely no deliberate attempt to violate Soviet airspace and never has been" and attempted to continue the facade by grounding all U-2 aircraft to check for "oxygen problems."

Newspapers in the 1960's describing the U-2 incident.

On May 7, Khrushchev sprang his trap and announced, ” I must tell you a secret. When I made my first report I deliberately did not say that the pilot was alive and well and now just look how many silly things [the Americans] are said.
Powers was actually still alive; unfortunately his plane was also essentially intact. The Soviets managed to recover the surveillance camera and even developed some of the photographs. Those photographs were taken over the USSR during the espionage mission. Powers’ survival pack, including 7500 rubles, jewels were recovered.

The SA-2 type missile used by the Soviet Union to shoot the aircraft.

The Paris Summit between president Dwight Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev collapsed in large part and the Cold War continued. Khrushchev left the talks on May 16. Powers pleaded guilty and was convicted of espionage. The incident severely compromised Pakistan security and worsened relations between the Soviet Union and Pakistan. Pakistani General Khalid Mahmood Arif while commenting on the incident stated that, "Pakistan felt deceived because the US had kept her in the dark about such clandestine spy operations launched from Pakistan’s territory." As Soviet Union launched satellites and designed missiles, cold war tensions also grew proportionately.

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 4

2008-11-12T04:29:00.000-08:00

Nikita Khruschev was the Soviet leader as USSR achieved great milestones.

Soviet Union designed world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile. It was known as R7 ‘Semyorka’ or as SS-7 Sapwood (as known in NATO). Using this Sputnik 1 was put on orbit. Sputnik 2 was launched on November 3rd, 1957, which carried a living being, a dog-named ‘Laika’. Laika was actually a street dog found in Moscow. It was selected because Moscow dogs would fare well in adverse conditions, as Moscow itself is very cold. It was a one-way trip. The mission provided scientists with the first data on the behavior of a living organism in the space environment.

Laika was the first dog in space.

Sputnik 3 was an automatic scientific laboratory spacecraft. It was conically shaped and was 3.57 m long and 1.73 m wide at its base. It weighed 1,327 kg. The scientific instrumentation (twelve instruments) provided data on pressure and composition of the upper atmosphere, concentration of charged particles, photons in cosmic rays, heavy nuclei in cosmic rays, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and meteoric particles. The outer radiation belts of the Earth were detected during the flight. Its tape recorder failed, so it could not map the Van Allen radiation belt.

Sputnik 2 which carried Laika.

Sputnik 4 was launched as a test-flight of the Vostok spacecraft that would be used for the first human space flight. This spacecraft, the first of a series of spacecraft used to investigate the means for manned space flight, contained scientific instruments, a television system, and a self-sustaining biological cabin with a dummy of a man. The spacecraft was designed to study the operation of the life support system and the stresses of flight.

Meanwhile, Khruschev continued with other reforms. During Nikita Khrushchev’s rule Soviet Union developed rapidly. Khrushchev was primarily responsible for introducing liberal reforms in agriculture and industry. He established Warsaw pact in response to NATO. Initiated talks and promoted peaceful co-existences. Soviet Union overtook US virtually as a superpower, only during Khrushchev’s era as it created progress in both space research and missile development. After Stalin’s death, there were a lot of differences with the Chinese republic’s, which even lead to Sino-Soviet split, which shocked the world as two communist countries became foes. Differences with People’s Republic of China grew more as Khrushchev refused to help Chinese Nuclear program. More action was yet to come as World moved closer to world war.

Sputnik 3.

The Virgin Lands Campaign was an initiative by Nikita Khrushchev to open up vast tracts of unseeded (virgin) steppe in the northern Kazakh SSR and the Altay region of the Russian SFSR(Soviet Federal Socialist Republics, a part of the Soviet Union), started in 1954. In the first year of the programme, 190,000 km² were ploughed; in 1955, an extra 140,000 km² were ploughed. With all this new land, a vast number of people were brought from all over the Soviet Union. The first harvest on the Virgin Lands, in 1956, was a stunning success. Of the 125 million tonnes of grain produced in the Soviet Union that year, more than half of it came from one eighth of the country. The Soviet Union was producing twice as the West. The scheme was therefore considered to be a huge success, as it enabled the USSR to feed its people. However, in the long run it didn’t help USSR much as the nutrients in the soil were used up and due to lack of proper storage system lots of grain were wasted.

-To be continued

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgottten-Part 3

2008-11-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

Sergei Korolyov was the Chief Architect of Soviet space programs. His sudden death in 1966, dampened Soviet dreams to land first on the moon.

The Cold war took a new dimension when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, the Sputnik 1 on October 4th, 1957. For a nation recovering from a devastating war, it was great news. The United States had believed itself to be the world leader in space technology and thus the leader in missile development. The surprise Sputnik launch and the failure of the first two U.S. launch attempts proved otherwise.

A photo of the R-7 ICBM similar to the one used for Sputnik launch.

Has the Soviet education surpassed the rest of the world? What did the “commies” do? The Soviet Union stunned the world by launching Sputnik. This could be due to the fact that education was free in the USSR. It was compulsory and child labor was strictly prohibited. Moreover, women were given equal opportunity. No wonder the first woman to be in space was a Soviet, Valentina Tereshkowa.

Sputnik on the launchpad before launch.

The control system of the Sputnik Rocket was tuned to provide an orbit with the following parameters: perigee height - 223 km, apogee height - 1450 km, orbital period - 101.5 min. The chief constructor of Sputnik 1 was M.S.Khomyakov. The satellite carried two antennas designed by the Antenna Laboratory of OKB-1 led by M.V.Krayushkin. Each antenna was made up of two whip-like parts: 2.4 and 2.9 meters in length and had an almost spherical radiation pattern, so that the satellite beeps were transmitted with equal power in all directions, making reception of the transmitted signal independent of the satellite's rotation. The whip-like pairs of antennas resembled four long "whiskers" pointing to one side, at equal 35 degrees angles with the longitudinal axis of the satellite.

Sputnik 1 launched using R-7 ICBM.

The satellite had one-watt supply and it used zinc-silver batteries. The satellite sent signals at 20.005 and 40.002MHz with pulse duration of 0.3 seconds under normal pressure and temperature conditions. Analysis of the radio signals was used to gather information about the electron density of the ionosphere. Temperature and pressure were encoded in the duration of radio beeps, which additionally indicated that the satellite had not been punctured by a meteorite. If the temperature inside the satellite exceeded 36 °C the fan was turned on and when it fell below 20 °C the dual thermal switch turned off the fan. If the temperature exceeded 50 °C or fell below 0 °C, another control thermal switch was activated, changing the duration of the of radio signal pulses. Sputnik 1 was filled with dry nitrogen, pressurized to 1.3 atmospheres. For the pressure control the satellite had a barometric switch, activated when the pressure inside the satellite fell below 0.35 kg/cm² (approx 0.34 atmospheres), changing the duration of radio signal impulse.

Sputnik 1 Image.

The designers, engineers and technicians who developed the rocket and satellite watched the launch from the range. After the launch they ran to the mobile radio station to listen to signals from the satellite. They waited about 90 minutes to ensure that the satellite had made one orbit and was transmitting, before Korolyov called Khrushchev, the then General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

Newspapers published in USA. Amateur radio operators having short wave receivers received the signals from Sputnik as it orbitted the earth.

As United States continued propaganda projecting the USSR as an evil empire, the Soviets continued to discover new things. The signal received from outer space was heard as “beep-beep”. Amateur radio operators having short wave receiver tuned the sets to 20 Mega hertz cycles to hear the Sputnik’s beep. The Sputnik’s beep was an intercontinental outer space raspberry to a decade of American pretensions that the American way of life was a gilt-edged guarantee of national superiority.

-To be continued.

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 2

2008-11-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

US tanks in operation fighting against North Korea.

Although the US and the Soviet Union were allied against the Axis powers during World War II, the two states disagreed sharply both during and after the conflict on many topics, particularly over the shape of the post-war world. The war had either exhausted or eliminated all of the pre-war great powers leaving the US and USSR as clear economic, technological and political superpowers.

Berlin Blockade was the first major International crisis of the Cold War. Soviet Union blocked access to Berlin. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet controlled regions to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving them nominal control over the entire city. However, American airplanes dropped food packets over Berlin in pre-arranged air corridors. This was humiliating to the Soviets and it strained US-Soviet relations. Later the Soviets lifted their blockade.

B-29 bombers of United States bombed Korean cities indiscriminately.

Korean war worsened Soviet-US relations. Korea had been a unified country since the 7th century. Unfortunately for the Koreans, one of the recurring themes in their history involves fending off both China and Japan, occasionally simultaneously. To Japan, a late arriving player in the game of great powers, Korea seemed a natural fit in their sphere of influence. The Japanese declared Korea was their protectorate and expanded their control over local institutions through over Korean opposition. At the close of World War II, forces of both the Soviet Union and the United States occupied the peninsula in accordance with an agreement put forth by the United States government to divide the Korean peninsula. Though the eventual division of Korea was considered at the Potsdam Conference, the wishes of the Korean people to be free of foreign interference were not considered.

B-29 in flight.

North Korea was under communist rule and it invaded South Korea in an attempt to unify Korea. North Korean army struck in the pre-dawn hours of June 25th, 1950. The North claimed Republic of Korea Army (ROK) troops under the “bandit traitor Syngman Rhee" had crossed the border first and that Rhee would be arrested and executed.

MiG-15 used by North Korean during the Korean war.

President Harry S.Truman had made a statement on June 27, 1950 ordering the United States air and sea forces to give the South Korean regime support. The Soviet Union's foreign minister accused the United States of starting armed intervention on behalf of the Republic of Korea before the Security Council was summoned to meet on June 27. The 38th parallel was the border between North and South Korea. North Korea rapidly invaded but it was stopped by Allied troops. Very soon they were chased back b allied troops. Soviet Union supplied ammunitions, aircrafts to fight against the invaders. US were very afraid of the communist expansion and to contain communism US created NATO. A ceasefire was later declared and Korean De-militarized zone was created.

105mm-Howitzer gun in operation. US troops firing at North Korean positions.

Soviet Union created Warsaw Pact in response to NATO treaty. The pact was a Soviet initiative aimed at countering NATO. East Germany, Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, and the Soviet Union were the founding members. The stage for Cold war was now set as these two great powers got ready to play dangerous games.

Why I like the USSR?

2008-10-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

USSR stamp commemorating the launch of the first satellite 'Sputnik'.

This is an interesting question asked by everyone. Why I like the Soviet Union? Born in a religious Brahmin family, leading a comfortable life, may not be a luxurious life with all riches but a good one. Yet, why would I like to support a communist country, which was popularly dubbed as the "Evil Empire" by the American President Ronald Reagan in 1983? I have a long answer for it.

Education was given a lot of importance and priority in the Soviet Union. Education was compulsory.

1. I have no brothers or sisters, so in life I was to consider my friends as brothers and sisters. That gradually erased all caste thoughts. Caste system wasn't there in the USSR. Racism was strictly prohibited. Everyone was considered to be equal. Even study of genetics was considered unlawful and against their theory.

Yuri Gargarin is the first human to travel in space. CCCP in Russian meant USSR.

2. I like women very much. It is not because that I am a man. It's because I don't have a sister. I have had successful moments in life. Sad moments too. I had no one to share my feelings. My opinion of women fluctuated all years, but the respect was still there even as I had numerous difference of opinions with women during my school/college days. Women were considered equal to men in the USSR. In World War 2, Soviet women pilots flew airplanes and fought against Germans. Women scientists assisted Men in all ambitious Soviet programs in space research, missile systems and technology.

Soviet women snipers during Second World War.

3. I hate to see people suffering. There should be no suffering, harassment of any human being in this world. People should have food, water, cloth to live comfortably, if not luxuriously. Both men and women should be given good education and moral values to preserve culture and originality. Sadly, in this world education is now being sold out to the person who is going to give the maximum money. Basic facilities are not available to a human being who is not wealthy.

March 8th, Women's day poster in the USSR asking all women to come out of household works to create a new world.

Poor people couldn't afford for medicines. People being discriminated in terms of color, religion, caste and appearance. A baby is sucking the breasts of its mother not knowing she is dead already. Things were different in the Soviet Union. I am not saying that the Soviet Union was a perfect state. At least, it was a good experiment. Medicine and Education were free to Soviet citizen, with food available at low cost. That's the reason why they developed quickly. After a devastating World War 2, they rebuilt quickly to launch the first artificial satellite, the Sputnik.

His Excellency Nikita Khruschev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union visits Integral Coach Factory(ICF), Perambur. Sergei Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union is also seen in the picture.

4. USSR had good relations with India. I am an Indian. I should be grateful to the Russians at least for that.

5. I like being self-reliant. This policy has backfired many times in my life. Even at times of difficulty, I resolve to manage things alone, but I have got good friends who always help me. The USSR was a self-reliant state, which designed and invented new things. It fought all its miseries alone. I like this character and hard working nature of this nation.

6. Pornography was prohibited in the USSR. Possessing such content would lead to a spot fine or even imprisonment. Any form of sexual harassment against women was dealt severely. Over here, we don't know what will happen and where? Schoolgirls, college girls are kidnapped and forced into pornography. Whatever, let's be with content with the USSR. Let's be happy that there was a nation, which strived for perfection. Soviet Union was a good experiment that failed due to various reasons.

The Red Army parade.

These 6 points could be my best possible answer. I still disapprove many of Soviet policies like Stalin's dictatorship rule, gulags, prisoner labor camps etc. But if there is something good it needs to be appreciated.

I got a lot of free time, so I thought of pouring all my thoughts on this Diwali day, the day Lord Krishna's consort Satyabama defeated evil demon 'Narakasuran'. So if by any chance anyone reads this article and if you are a girl/women commit yourself to improve your nation in any possible way you think and work hard to preserve Indian culture and originality. Remember that Russian women achieved it. Why can't you?

I have described the USSR without using words like Communism, Capitalism. Infact, I don't know the meaning of communism. I believe in God be it Vishnu, Jesus or Allah, I would be happy if anyone of them exists.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Soviet Union-Lost but not forgotten-Part 1

2008-10-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Portrait of Vladimir Lenin.

Vladimir Lenin was the founder of the Soviet Union also known as the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. Lenin's communist party overthrew Nicholas II of Imperialist Russia and created the USSR. However, USSR wasn't officially established till 1922. The famous Russian revolution took place in November, but it is referred to as October Revolution as the Tsar regime was following the Gregorian calendar. However, 1905 a revolution took place through entire Russia, but it failed. Later, there was a split between the parties resulting in the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Lenin led Bolsheviks and Julius Martov led Mensheviks. After the Tsarist rule ended, power struggle took place between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Allied forces assisted the Mensheviks. This later promoted to strained relations between the USSR and USA. This could have also been the initial cause of the Cold War. Russian Civil war devastated the entire economy. USSR was officially established during 1922 and Vladimir Illyich Lenin took over as its first General Secretary.

American troops in Vladivostok. These troops fought against Lenin's men. This led to a distrust amongst the minds of the Russians.

Lenin ruled the Soviet Union till his death in 1925. There was a brief power struggle. Joseph Stalin took over and very soon he seized total control. In the mid 1930's, anyone conspiring against the Soviet state was killed. Senior officers, military commanders, commissars were eliminated. Stalin took brutal and harsh steps to eliminate all enemies. Personally, in one-way I feel what Stalin did was right. However, taking the law in your own hand is right? As on date, I don't know to answer this question. During Stalin's period, regular life was monitored under the strict vigilance of the Red Army.

Bolsheviks march in the Red Square, Moscow.

Meanwhile, Hitler has been eyeing the USSR for his "lebensraum". He wanted more land for his German population. He felt the Slavics, baltics, Russians belonged to an inferior race. Moreover, he viewed the Soviet Union as a weak state. Stalin had other plans. He was determined to spread Communism across Europe. Soviet Union with a communist ideology believed that all people are equal. Nazi Germany with a fascist ideology believed that Germans were a part of a superior race, while the Russians, English, Slavics were an inferior race. With two opposite ideologies, a war was always eminent. Hitler had already opened up a front fighting the British. So he approached the USSR for a neutral pact popularly known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. German Foreign minister Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Molotov signed it.

Field Marshall Georgy Zhukov inspects captured German tank during the German Invasion of USSR.

On June 22nd, 1941 Hitler violated the pact and invaded the USSR in Operation Barborassa. German troops were better trained than the Soviets. German tanks proved to be a real threat. Italians assisted Germans, Romanians while the USSR fought alone. Russian women were brutally raped, mutilated and killed. Soviet Union suffered the most casualties in any fought over in history and lost majority of its population. Hitler hoped to wrap up things before the onset of the Russian winter. Hitler targeted Stalingrad though his Generals suggested that Stalingrad(Volgograd) was not important. Stalingrad had the name of Stalin and capturing it would lower Soviet morale. Battle of Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle in human history in which Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany, after which began the German retreat. German troops invaded rapidly but very soon ran out of supplies as the Russians were following scorched earth policy. They destroyed everything so that the Nazi's wouldn't use anything when they invade. Hitler took many wrong decisions despite his Generals giving him better decisions. Siege of Leningrad(now Petro grad) lasted for more than a year. Leningrad was cut off from outside world. Hitler ordered that Leningrad must die of starvation. Russian industries, small arms factory were shifted to Central Asian part of the USSR. Russian winter was too much for the Germans. Their tanks stopped working. But Soviet tanks designed for Russian winter proved to be too good for the Germans. Soviet women, children dug trenches, holes while men headed to the front lines. Unity was their strength. As the Germans retreated, Allied and Soviet leaders met at Yalta, Southern Ukraine(then USSR) to discuss about rebuilding Europe after German defeat. Joseph Stalin, Franklin Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill attended the meeting. Later, the Clement Atlee, Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman met at Potsdam to discuss about rebuilding Europe. On April 30th, 1945 Soviet flag was raised over the Reichstag. Horrible was over! After World War II, East Germany was controlled by the Soviets while the West was under Allied control. Soviet military was spread all over Europe. The Red Army was now feared. Britain and the United States were quite alarmed. This was known as the "Red Scare".

Soviet artillery division in operation during Second World War.

United States after dropping atomic bombs in Japan was regarded as a Super power. On the other hand, due to it's large size and military, Soviet Union was regarded as a major power. This led to a geopolitical tensed environment with each suspecting each other. This led to an arms race and both these nations spent heavily on military equipments.

Deepavali wishes

2008-10-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Comrades, friends of our groups and readers, I wish you all a very happy Deepavali. I hope you would be having a lot of fun. Also consider the fact that there are many unfortunate children, women in this world. Try to contribute to their happiness and be blessed by God. I wish you all good luck in all aspects.

-Krishna Kumar.S

High Risk Decisions-Stanislav Petrov

2008-08-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

We have seen rivalry everywhere. In the 12th century, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu fought proxy wars in South India to show their respective powers. Rather, their cult fought against each other. Then the world has seen many wars with people dying for their kings, nations. Let their souls rest in peace. Then we have seen two world wars which brutally took the lives of millions of men, women and children. The USA dropped Atomic Bombs on Japan to take revenge for Pearl Harbor incident. One should agree that these wars were deadly, lethal and what not.

But the ultimate disaster would have happened on 26th September, 1983. Thanks to Colonel. Stanislav Petrov, a major nuclear war was prevented.

Background:

The relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were always tensed ever since the end of World War 2. Both being different factions, of different ideologies each had its own way to reconstruct Europe. Both these powers fought a superiority race in all fields ranging from science, technology, research, sports. Berlin Wall incident, Cuban crisis, shooting of Korean Airliner (which entered Soviet Airspace) by the USSR only strained US-Soviet relations.

There was always a doubt. Who would strike first? A war was eminent all the time. Luckily for humanity, Stanislav Petrov was the officer in charge on that day. He was deployed on the Serphukov-15 bunker, near Moscow. He was to monitor the Radar and Satellite warning system and notify his superiors of any impending nuclear missile attack against the Soviet Union. If notification was received from the early-warning systems that inbound missiles had been detected, the Soviet Union's strategy was an immediate nuclear counter-attack against the United States (launch on warning), specified in the doctrine of mutual assured destruction.

Shortly after midnight, the bunker's computers reported that an intercontinental ballistic missile was heading toward the Soviet Union from the US. Petrov considered the detection, a computer error, since a United States first-strike nuclear attack would involve hundreds of simultaneous missile launches to disable any means of a counterattack. Petrov dismissed the warning as a false alarm.

Later, the computers identified four additional missiles in the air, all directed towards the Soviet Union. Petrov again suspected that the computer system was malfunctioning, despite having no other source of information to confirm his suspicions. The Soviet Union's land radar was incapable of detecting missiles beyond the horizon, and waiting for it to positively identify the threat would limit the Soviet Union's response time to minutes. Time was running out. Had Petrov reported about these warnings to his superiors, definitely they would have launched a counter attack based on a false alarm. Imagine the consequences? Britain would have been entirely destroyed. Europe and the US would be in shambles. And what about retaliation? Soviet Union would have been half destroyed. The world would have been destroyed even before Lord Vishnu came as Kalki in a horse to remove evil. Maybe, the fate of the world can't be changed. Maybe, the world is just waiting for Him to come? Or He made Stanislav Petrov to make a proper decision to save our humanity?

As a Soviet-fan, I'm not supposed to talk of religion. However, I am an Indian, I have got freedom of speech to talk of anything which impresses, be it the USSR or God.

Coming back to the Serphukov Bunker, Stanislav Petrov spent painful minutes. If a nuclear attach was underway, missiles must have hit? He waited for a few minutes. Thank God. Nothing happened. He has saved the world from a major catastrophe. But why were the computer's wrong? The computer's were receiving signal from Soviet-Molniya sateilites. The Satellites picked up the reflected sun rays from the clouds. These were mistook for missiles. The Soviet Union never revealed this incident to the outside world as a improper defence system would embarrass the upper echelons of the Soviet Army. Especially, during the early 1980's, when the Soviet-US relations were dangerously low.

Later, Stanislav Petrov underwent intense questioning. He deviated from standard doctrine of counter attack. Suppose, if really the missiles had it the USSR, what would have happened? The standard Army doctrine was to obey the system. Eventually, he received no reward. He lost his job and was forced to take up retirement. He is currently living in Moscow with a small pension. But the world should be grateful to this person, who saved the world. If you do anything good, people will never accept it.

-Krishna Kumar.S

Greatest son of India. Be proud to be an Indian.

2008-06-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born in Tirutani on September 5, 1888 into a poor brahmin family. The name of his father was Sarvepalli Veeraswami. His mother's name was Sitamma. He has held the posts of Professors, Vice-Chancellor, Chancellors of various universities. He was our second President after Independance. He also served as Vice-President since India became a republic state. There are many episodes in his life which one needs to know.

In 1949, Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan was appointed as an ambassador to USSR aka CCCP. He was personally invited by Joseph Stalin to meet him in Kremlin. It was an unexpected invitation because such a meeting was never scheduled earlier. The whole world was shocked. Stalin was an ardent communist. Radhakrishnan was a brahmin who had spiritual ideas. But Radha Krishnan boldly interacted with Stalin. Stalin was very much feared by everyone at that time. Radhakrishanan suggested a role model of Asoka to Stalin. Stalin listened to him and responded back with a smile. He was able to establish direct rapport with Stalin who was being feared by rest of the world at that time. When Radhakrishanan was called back to India in 1952, he met Stalin before leaving and had very intimate conversation with Stalin. It touched Stalin deeply.
Radhakrishnan said, "Even Emperor Ashoka was like that. After the battle of Kalinga, he quit fighting. You can also become like him". Joseph Stalin was amazed. Stalin said, "Everyone hates me. Everyone dislikes me and sees me like an animal. But you are the first person to treat me like a human. You are good. You should live a long life".

The political analysts believe that the role played by Radhakrishanan in Moscow had laid the grounds for better relation with USSR. Since the Indian-Soviet relations have reached peaks. India was USSR's all-time greatest ally, India-Soviet relations an epitome of friendship.

Many like Indians a lot. India never had territorial ambitions. Even at war, Indians had been very merciful. Even during Kargil war, Indians gave a decent burial to all Pakistani soldiers according to Muslim rites. Pakistan refused even to accept dead bodies of its soldiers claiming they weren't of Pakistan Army but terrorists.

Be proud to be an Indian if you are one. Our nation is one of the most respected nations in the world. Even dictators, tyrants, generals belonging to various superpowers have admired our nation. Though I am a fan of USSR, the fact is that I am an Indian and I love my nation, my men and women more.

Life inside the USSR

2008-05-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

CCCP! Life for a Soviet citizen differs greatly from any part of the world. Regular life is monitored and under constant vigilance. There are many advantages and disadvantages for any Soviet Citizen who lived in the Soviet Union. But protection was given to each and every Soviet Citizen. There were no human right violations, thefts, rapes. How did such a Super Power collapse? It is mainly due to its idealistic approach of Communism and being less adaptive to the ever changing world led to the downfall of the USSR. The Soviets were from the books. In one angle, they were innocent as they couldn't predict the flaws in their own system. They followed whatever they were taught by Lenin, rather than modifying their principles in accordance with the world. Privatisation and free market economy wasn't allowed. Similar reasons led to the failure of commmunism. Morever, US propaganda to project the Soviet Union as an Evil Empire resulted in Soviet Union's international isolation and this lowered the morale of Soviet citizens.

In the USSR, country's progress was given first preference. There is nothing more important than making your motherland powerful and protecting it. This was the primary goal of every Soviet Citizen. Food, education was given at free cost or at consolidated price. What more do you need? Soviet sciences, research and development, universities were very much superior. Any degree obtained in the Soviet Union was considered highly valid. The Government paid for the education. Any Soviet Citizen should work only for his nation. This is not the way we find in the present day world. Many people migrate to other developed nations and settle there to enjoy high standards of living. Maybe in India it is accepted as you pay for food and education. However, the Soviets can prevent their citizen from moving out. They had their own reason. The reason is they are paying for their food and education. As a result, it's the duty of any Soviet citizen to serve his own country. The Communists firmly believed that a country could develop only by their own citizens. The Soviet Union was definitely superior and it was proven in all fields like Miltary, Defence, Space expeditions, Missile system. However, due to the threat of US, Soviets spent a lot of money in military and defence. This made the nation poorer. Gradually this led to an unrest in other Soviet Republics which eventually led to the dissolution of the USSR.

About the Blog

2008-05-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

Photo taken in Russia after dissolution of USSR. Russian soldiers dressed in war-time World War II Soviet uniforms march on May 9th, 2005, Victory Parade to celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Though the USSR doesn't exist, all the former Soviet satellite states and republics appreciate Soviet sacrifices.

Dear Comrades/Friends,

It gives me immense pleasure to announce that we are going to have a blog dedicated to a nation which we admired during our school days very much. Purposely, I avoided the word "I" in the first line. This webpage is dedicated to anyone who is a fan of the former superpower USSR known as CCCP in Russian. I am not a communist, neither do I know much about communism, but there are lots of positives to be learnt from the former USSR. Everyone feels Communism is evil. But I am strongly against it. If there aren't power mad people, corrupted people, any system be it capitalism or communism would triumph. The Soviet system wasn't perfect which eventually led to its collapse in 1991. But there are many lessons to be learnt from the dissolution of the USSR.

I am not saying the USSR was the perfect nation and its citizens were the best of all people. But there are many things which I admire in that nation. Lenin, Stalin, Khruschev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gobrachev, Aleksei Kosygin, Nikolai Bulganin were popular Soviet Leaders.

Display of valor. Russian soldiers.

There are many reasons I liked in the CCCP. They were a night mare to the US. They made their own decisions, developed their own technologies and out of nowhere they developed and they competed with a wealthy nation like the US. They aimed only at their progress, but actually it was the USA which competed with the USSR. Soviets fought a war in their homeland during world wars, unlike the US. Of the total losses in World War 2, Soviet Union lost more than half of civilians, soldiers, though Soviets emerged as victors.

Sukhoi's and MiG's decorate the air in Russia during a parade.

Yet, within a few years, they transformed from an agrarian country into a heavy industrial nation. Science, Research, Engineering, technology was given importance. Education and food were given at a consolidated price. In return, the citizens needed to work for the progress of the country. However, stern rule of discipline and guidelines led to discomfort amidst people. But the USSR's rapid growth was possible only due to stern rule.

May Day Parade in Russia Federal Soviet Republic.

Tips, articles are written by many fellow "comrades" whom I know for a long time. The main essence of the web page is to make the world realize the positives of the Soviet Union. Sadly, the world map doesn't project the Soviet empire anymore. I will be writing only to myself and only for my satisfaction. And of course, only when I find time to write an article.

In 2005, Russian soldiers march in Soviet uniform to honor Soviet sacrifices.

The blog page will focus on military technology, life inside the USSR, positives and also negatives and also the collapse of the Soviet Union. Soviet sacrifices were plenty especially in World War-II and Afghanistan. Today, if the USSR had existed there would be no Taliban. It's the fact that the whole world needs to accept. Even the Americans knew it. But their self esteem issues prevents them accepting the fact.