#2001:soviet

[2001fallenstar]

[taxi-davis]

Monodrone — Somewhere Dark

[chungkong-nl]

Bring your walls to life. Visit the webshop chungkong.nl today!

A joint U.S.-Soviet expedition is sent to Jupiter to learn what happened to the Discovery.

Director: Peter Hyams Stars: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren

[ramesseum]

A Bruce Lee stamp made by Tajikistan in 2001

[pedroam-bang]

Enemy At The Gates (2001)

[spinelessdemsandwhinyrepublicans]

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

- Charles Pierce

[mariacallous]

When Jews gathered this week for the anniversary of a World War II massacre in the Polish town of Jedwabne, they saw a new installation — one that denied a historical consensus about the grievous events that unfolded there.

At the same time, a far-right lawmaker interrupted the memorial gathering — and triggered a police investigation by calling the gas chambers at Auschwitz “fake.”

Thursday marked 84 years since the crimes in Jedwabne, a town of less than 2,000 people northeast of Warsaw. In 1941, local residents killed hundreds of their Jewish neighbors, most of them in a barn where they were burned alive.

The story gained recognition through “Neighbors,” a 2000 book by historian Jan Tomasz Gross. It became a symbol of Polish collaboration in the Holocaust and prompted a presidential apology in 2001.

An official investigation by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance confirmed in 2002 that the murder was carried out by Poles. But Jedwabne has become a flashpoint in Polish politics, with some far-right politicians claiming it was Germans who perpetrated the massacre and characterizing research on Polish complicity as part of an effort to slander their nation.

Shortly before the anniversary ceremony in Jedwabne, an installation appeared with an alternative version of history. Near the monument that marks the site of the barn where Jews were killed, seven boulders with metal signs in Polish and English detailed a series of false claims, according to the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

One of these plaques dismissed the evidence of Polish perpetrators, saying, “In reality, the crime was committed by a German pacification unit.”

Another cited the partition of Poland in 1795 as “an unimaginable tragedy for Poles” that “turns out to be a source of satisfaction for many Jews.” This narrative continued with the interwar period, when “many Jews openly sympathized with communism” and “identified with the Soviets, who were hostile to Poland,” which “did not help Poles and Jews to come closer together.”

Wojciech Sumlinski, a right-wing activist, has taken credit for the installation, saying on X that he had built it with the help of crowdfunding. Despite standing some 100 feet from the official memorial, the signs are on private property.

This alternate memorial was not the only disruption to Thursday’s commemoration, hosted by Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and the board of the Jewish Community of Warsaw. After the ceremony, groups of nationalist activists stopped Schudrich and other visitors from leaving by blocking their cars.

Far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun, who recently ran an openly antisemitic presidential campaign, was among the protesters denying Polish responsibility and demanding exhumations of Jedwabne. Earlier attempts to exhume the site were stopped because Jewish law forbids disturbing the dead.

[2001fallenstar]

[naxalbari1967]

Burqas and Bombs: How the U.S. Used Women to Justify War

The U.S. said it went into Afghanistan in 2001 to save women. That was the story they sold to the public. That they were going to stop the Taliban from abusing women, bring freedom, let girls go to school, and give Afghan women rights. It was bullshit. It was a lie wrapped in just enough truth to look like a moral cause. The U.S. didn’t liberate those women. It bombed them. It tore their homes apart. It backed warlords who raped them. It destroyed their country and called it peace. And when it was all said and done, it walked away and left them right where they started. Actually, worse.

Let’s be clear. The Taliban were monsters. No one’s defending them. They banned girls from school. They beat women in the street for showing skin. They executed women in public. But they didn’t fall from the sky. The U.S. helped create the very mess it claimed to clean up. Back in the 80s, during the Cold War, the U.S. was pumping billions into the mujahideen, the holy warriors fighting the Soviets. These weren’t freedom fighters. They were fanatics. Guys like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who threw acid in women’s faces, were getting CIA cash and weapons. Why? Because they hated the Soviets. That was enough for Washington. They didn’t care what these men did to women. They only cared about beating communism. Afghanistan was just a chessboard.

Fast forward to 2001. After 9/11, the U.S. wanted revenge. They wanted to hit back, and Afghanistan was the easiest target. They said they were going after al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But to make it palatable to Americans, they threw in the “saving women” angle. They showed pictures of women in burqas and said, “This is what we’re fighting.” Laura Bush got on the radio and talked about dignity and rights. It was a PR move. It was war with a feminist face. But it was still war.

So what did that war actually look like for Afghan women? It looked like bombs dropping on villages. It looked like drone strikes hitting weddings and killing kids. It looked like night raids where U.S. soldiers kicked down doors and dragged people away. It looked like mothers picking body parts out of rubble. It looked like girls going to school one day and coming home to find their house blown up. It looked like rape. Not just by the Taliban. By U.S.-backed warlords and police. By men who were on America’s payroll. The U.S. called it liberation. Afghan women called it hell.

People love to point to the schools that were built. Yes, some girls got to go to school. Especially in cities like Kabul. But the rural areas, where most Afghans live, didn’t see much change. They were still stuck between Taliban terror and corrupt government forces. And even in cities, that so-called progress was fragile. It depended on foreign aid and foreign troops. It wasn’t built to last. The U.S. threw money at NGOs and called it development. But the system was rotten. Warlords and politicians stole most of it. The ones who spoke up—especially women—were silenced, jailed, or killed.

And let’s talk about the people the U.S. propped up. Men like Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was accused of torturing and killing prisoners, raping rivals, and disappearing critics. This guy wasn’t hiding in the shadows. He was vice president at one point. And he was a close ally of the U.S. military. These were the “good guys.” They were just as brutal as the Taliban, just in suits and with American funding. Afghan women were stuck between war criminals and extremists. No matter who was in charge, they were abused.

In detention centers like Bagram, women were locked up without charges. Some were tortured. Some were raped. Their names were forgotten. No justice. No press. No outrage. And when U.S. soldiers or contractors abused Afghan women, the cases were buried. Covered up. Maybe a slap on the wrist, if that. Because the mission wasn’t really about justice. It was about control. About looking good on CNN. About “winning hearts and minds” while destroying lives.

Then came 2021. The withdrawal. After 20 years of occupation, trillions of dollars spent, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, the U.S. just bailed. Left in the middle of the night. Left Afghan women behind. The same women they claimed to save. The ones who had become judges, journalists, activists, teachers—now they were targets. The Taliban took over in days. And the U.S.? They had no plan. They didn’t evacuate most of the women at risk. They didn’t protect them. They left them to die or flee or vanish. Some tried to cling to planes. Some were beaten in the streets. The U.S. government just shrugged and moved on.

This wasn’t a mistake. This was how empire works. It uses people. It sells stories. It wraps bombs in the language of human rights. And when it’s done, it leaves. Afghanistan was never about Afghan women. It was about power. About revenge. About controlling a region rich in resources and strategically valuable. Women were a cover story. A distraction. A talking point.

Real liberation doesn’t come from foreign troops. It doesn’t come from airstrikes or occupation. It comes from people fighting for their own freedom, on their own terms. And Afghan women were doing that long before the U.S. showed up. They were organizing in secret, running underground schools, resisting both the Taliban and the warlords. The U.S. didn’t help them. It used them. And then it left them in the rubble.

So next time someone talks about “saving women” as a reason to go to war, remember Afghanistan. Remember the lies. The bodies. The silence that came after. And don’t fall for it again.

[komsomolka]

The endurance of anti-Russian propaganda therefore requires the creation of a Russian threat when it is insufficient or absent. In Italy, the US pursued clandestine stay-behind operations after the Second World War under the codename Operation Gladio lasting until 1990, in which the CIA and NATO conducted false-flag terrorist attacks that could be blamed on red brigades (Ganser, 2005). Such stay-behind operations also existed in other Western European states, and the European Community (1990) acknowledged that Western intelligence agencies in collaboration with NATO “were involved in serious cases of terrorism and crime” against the populations of Western Europe. The US planned similar false-flag operations within its own territory. Case in point, the US Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed Operation Northwoods in 1962, in which the US government would commit acts of terrorism against American civilian and military targets to blame them on the Cuban government (Nelson, 2001). Declassified documents also reveal that the US sought to acquire an authentic Soviet aircraft or manufacture a replica to stage “a provocation operation in which Soviet aircraft would appear to attack US or friendly installations to provide an excuse for US intervention” (US National Archives, 1962: 2).

Russophobia: Propaganda in International Politics by Glenn Diesen.

[black-fist-order]

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

- Charles Pierce

[urbanrelics]

KRAFTWERK V

This monumental power station, originally a former brown coal power station, but later converted into a gas turbine power station, was built in 1937. It was active for over 60 years and was closed in 1998. The four large chimneys of the now closed brown coal power station, which were characteristic of the area for decades, were blown up in 2001.

The first half of the brown coal plant (6 x 35 MW) was built between 1937 and 1940. After World War II, the power plant's systems and equipment were dismantled between 1945 and 1947 as reparations to the Soviet Union.

From 1953 to 1959, the power plant was rebuilt and expanded with the second half of the plant (12 x 32 MW) in the west and high bunkers in the north. Gradual recommissioning took place from 10 October 1954 with the first trial operation after dismantling and expansion.

The power plant was declared an industrial monument in 1996. In March 2006, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeology removed the power plant from the list of monuments without the owner having submitted an application. The reason for this was that the characteristic chimneys were being demolished.

Despite the loss of its monument status, the power plant is still considered a monument.

[sillygoose343]

A Makayuri Timeline

Okay, so I was really bored and I decided to go onto the COD wiki (and Villains and Heroes wiki) and from the information given and drawing up some of my own conclusions, I have created a little timeline that I did not beta whatsoever so it's probably filled with grammatical errors but actually had some fun w/ it.

Now lets get started!

October 4th 1970 - Makarov was born in Ivanovo Russia, during the Soviet era

1988 - Makarov would have presumably graduated from the Frunze Military academy as a Captain

1988-1994 - Makarov would have presumably served as a Captain in the Russian Army by serving as a paratrooper for the 98th Guards Airborne Division of the VDV

1989-1990 - Makarov was stationed in Berlin during the collapse of the Berlin wall. It was stated that Yuri had joined the Spetsnaz in the early 1990s

1990 - Presumably, Makarov would have joined the Spetsnaz at this time with the rank of Captain. It is reasonable to suggest that Makarov and Yuri would have first met in 1990 in the Spetsnaz

1991 - Both Yuri and Makarov are no longer Soviet (rip USSR) and are now Russian

1994-1996 - Makarov would have served in the First Chechen War as a Captain and partake in brutal cleansing raids. It is likely that Yuri would have been either under Makarov’s command or if not, because he was in the Spetsnaz, it is still likely he would have served in the First Chechen War in Chechnya and at least know about Makarov's cleansing raids (and he's still into Makarov).

1996 - Makarov opted for discharge out of the armed forces due to the U.N. holding an inquiry to investigate human rights violation charges where he was at the top of the list presented by the EU investigations panel.  

Around this time, he would have used his military training for terrorist enterprises, likely for the crimes, human trafficking, money laundering, drug smuggling, bombings of military/civilian targets and assassinations

Due to these crimes, around this point of time, he had been noticed by Imran Zakhaev and offered a position in his anti-Western movement, the Ultranationalist Party

Yuri would have had to follow Makarov’s lead as they are literally together in Pripyat and the Middle East later on. Thus it can be safely said that Yuri had also left the Spetsnaz during 1996, following Makarov’s discharge. He is also noticed by Imran Zakhaev, as stated by the wiki. This actually sort of indicates that he had been complacent to the crimes of Makarov that caught Zakhaev’s attentions (what a simp).

1996 - Makarov monologues to Yuri during Zakhaev’s attempted arms deal exchange in Pripyat but the attempted assassination by Lieutenant John Price happens. Yuri says that Zakhaev never forgot what he and Makarov had done for them that day and awarded them with power

2001 - Imran Zakhaev ordered Makarov to bomb a Moscow city bus and succeeded leaving 29 people killed and 19 injured

Makarov bombed of Piccadilly Circus using a modified London Underground train filled with explosives, killing and wounding 407 people

Committed a massacre at the GUM department store in Moscow, 87 wounded or dead

Considering the fact that Makarov and Yuri are fairly inseparable and they’re together during the 2011 nuclear detonation event, it can be safe to assume that Yuri would have been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2002 - Makarov hijacked a Greek oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea Hellenic Navy with two crew members killed or wounded before the $3mill ransom was paid

Murdered three Russian infantry solders

Stole $1.5mill from ZBV bank

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2003 - Repression of North Caucasus-based and pro-Western nationalist groups

Makarov assassinated political leaders, arson and bombing of opposition parties

Murdered Moscow-based journalist Ilya Lovitch who was investigating political crimes

Bombed several government buildings in Kazakhstan, 245 dead or wounded

Hijacked two Kreigler Airliners, 378 are dead and wounded, eight were his own men

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2004 - Makarov robbed a HBS bank in Istanbul

Abducted 15 college students from Russia, 5 are killed or wounded

Bombed two embassies in Africa, 28 are dead and 48 injured

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for this (simp).

2005 - Makarov held up an armoured truck in Moscow and stole three million rubles (100K), three security guards were dead or wounded

Hijacked a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea and tortured U.S passengers until the $5mill ransom was paid

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2006 - Makarov robbed Russian State Postal and Banking Service Depot of 32 million rubles ($1.2mill)

Murdered of famous British designer, Rob Millington

Murdered three U.S airmen based in Turkmenistan

Helped coordinate attacks by Janjaweed militias and Sudanese military against rebels. Was implicated in human rights abuse

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2007 - Makarov captured and beheaded Mossad attache to Ukraine who was investigating Makarov’s links to Islamic extremists

Assassinated Pakistani politician Hasni Al’Bura

Bombed a Russia-Germany gas pipeline in Belarus because Gasneft refused to pay a fee to prevent “disruption to service.”

Robbed $15 million worth of diamonds and other gemstones from a Siberian mining company

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2008 - Makarov committed ambush of an FSB vehicle, 5 agents dead or wounded

Abducted and murdered a SibGaz owner’s wife and daughter

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2008-2009 - Makarov committed the bombing  of a Swedish furniture store in a shopping mall that was located in St. Petersburg 100 people killed or wounded

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for this (simp).

2009 - Makarov bombed Baku-located U.S oil company offices, 3 people dead or wounded

He was unsuccessful at his bomb plot against English-speaking school in Moscow

Unsuccessful in rigging explosives in a Moscow-located soccer stadium. Authorities burst a pipe to halt the match and denied publicity to Makarov

Trafficked over $2.1mill worth of weapons, drugs and people

Yuri would have likely been present at Makarov’s side for these (simp).

2011 - Makarov gave Al-Asad the order of detonating nuclear device, killing or wounding approximately 30k U.S Marines, Air Force, Navy SEALs and NEST team and unknown OpFor (Al-Asad’s men). Yuri JUST grew some balls as THIS was the moment that planted seeds of doubt in his head regarding his affiliation with the Ultranationalists. 

Soap killed Imran Zakhaev in 2011 with the help of U.S Marines (Griggs, notably), Loyalists (Kamarov, notably) and SAS Forces at the climax of the Second Russian Civil War causing the Ultranationalist Party to Splinter, Makarov’s resources and contacts due to his terrorist enterprises, allowed him to assume control of a large portion of the dissolved Ultranationalist Party known as the ‘Inner Circle.’ Yuri is still with him for all of this, albeit probably not as stoked.

2015 - Makarov became the CIA’s most wanted terrorist. Yuri is still with him but not as pussy-whipped.

August 10th 2016 - Makarov played some part in the new Ultranationalist Russia under the mainstream party’s newly elected leader and President Boris Vorshevsky after the Ultranationalist victory of the Second Russian Civil War, though he was pushed out of the Inner Circle and became unaffiliated with the Ultranationalists politically, he has taken control of some of the rogue military forces and began to extend the party’s activities more towards terrorism. Yuri is still presumably following Makarov’s orders around this time. 

August 12th 2016 - Makarov had planned for a massacre in  Zakhaev International Airport in Moscow this is to frame CIA agent Joseph Allen and instigate a war which works. Yuri had betrayed Makarov by informing the FSB of his plans (he did it!!! He reached post-nut clarity after 26 years!!!) Makarov knew of his betrayal so he shot Yuri in the Zakhaev International Airport parking lot and let him bleed out. Yuri attempted to pursue Makarov by using the elevator but he passed out from blood loss and was treated by paramedics who had arrived during the aftermath. Makarov had fully succeeded in his plans. 234 civilians with unknown security personnel and FSB members killed or wounded. 

August 15th 2016 - Makarov was present at the Airplane Graveyard and unlikely to evade Shepherd without his forces or safehouse, he was contacted by Captain Price for intel and escaped

August 17th 2016 - Yuri, now a Loyalist and somehow healed from that gunshot after just 5 days? Is sent to assist Captain Price, other Task Force members and the Loyalists in protecting Soap from the Ultranationalists in Himachal Pradesh, India (poor Soap, I really thought he was a goner when I first played MW3, which he was in the end but still). Yuri facilitated the extraction out of the country and helped Nikolai in treating Soap.

October 3rd 2016 - Makarov committed the abduction of Russian President Vorshevsky. An unknown number of FSO agents are dead or wounded. In the absence of President Vorshevsky (because he is kidnapped) Makarov became the de-facto leader of the Ultranationalists

October 5th 2016 - Yuri, who is knowledgeable on Makarov’s patterns had pointed out possible locations he would go to and the location of an arms deal in Sierra Leone as well as speculating his security detail. Yuri, Price and Soap are unable to intercept the cargo shipments and the helicopter flies off with the precious cargo

October 6th 2016 - Makarov launched the detonation of unknown chemical weapons as prelude to Russian invasion of Europe 35k deaths in Paris and an unknown number of military and civilian deaths throughout the rest of Europe

October 8th 2016 - Price gains intel on an African warlord in Somalia, Waraabe who should have intel on Makarov via Macmillan. Yuri, Price and Soap breach Waraabe’s office and releases the gas used in the Europe attacks of the 6th of October. They gain intel on Volk and his location. Nikolai’s helicopter crashes and Yuri carries him to the emergency exfil

October 10th 2016 - Volk gives up intel on Makarov, regarding him going to a meeting with his top advisors in Hotel Lustig in Prague to Sandman who relays this information to Price. Yuri, Soap and Price evade the Russians and help the Resistance and eventually make it to the Church tower to establish a sniper position.

October 11th 2016 - Yuri and Soap set up a sniper position at the top of the church tower where they plan to assassinate Makarov. Makarov, who was already prepared for this event, addresses Yuri directly and Price too I guess. He detonates the explosives within Hotel Lustig and the Church Tower, killing Kamarov. Yuri and Price manage to bring Soap into the Resistance building but he dies, his last words revealing Yuri’s relationship to Makarov. Price gets pissed. The Russians attack the building so Price punches Yuri into the basement and Yuri tells Price about his relationship to Makarov, why he defected from the Inner Circle (he was fr young and patriotic). Price is convinced about his revelations.

October 12th 2016 - Yuri informs Price about the Karlstejn Castle which Makarov uses to cache weapons. Price then asks MacMillan if the place sounds familiar and UAV surveillance was done in the area so the location had been confirmed. MacMillan states that if Makarov is at the Karlstejn Castle, he will be at the control centre. The main objective is to determine Makarov’s location. Yuri and Price infiltrate the castle, climbing up a narrow passage, they gain a visual of the control room and they witness a video call between Makarov and Alexi, President Vorshevsky is being interrogated from nuclear launch codes and it is revealed that Makarov’s men are after the President’s daughter. Yuri and Price then escape after Alexi had been notified that the castle had been breached.

October 13th 2016 - Makarov’s men abducted Alena Vorshevsky from her safehouse in Berlin, unknown number of her bodyguards are dead

October 14th 2016 - After Alena Vorshevsky was kidnapped, the helicopter had taken her to a diamond mine in Siberia. Yuri, and the team manage to find Alena Vorshevsky and she reveals that her father had been taken deeper into the mines. The team manage to rescue President Vorshevsky however the mine shakes as a result of explosions, Sandman calls for air evacuation, a Black Hawk and a Little Bird arrive but the Little Bird crashes and Yuri is hit by it but is helped by Truck who moves him into the Black Hawk. Price gets onto the helicopter. RIP Sandman, Grinch and Truck. The news reports that President Vorshevsky is returned to Russia, Moscow, “peace talks between Russia and the U.S” occur but “Ultranationalist leader, Vladimir Makarov is still at large.” Makarov had tried to nuke Europe by coercing nuclear launch codes out of President Vorshevsky but he failed hard. Sucks to suck.  

January 21st 2017 - It is the end of the war, Yuri accompanied Price to the Arabian Peninsula after successfully tracking down Makarov in the Hotel Oasis in Dubai. Yuri got impaled by a piece of debris when a helicopter destroyed a part of the hotel, yet he encourages Price to go after Makarov. Yuri manages to gather his bearings and saves Price from Makarov. Yuri shoots Makarov’s left shoulder but Makarov shoots him twice in the chest and a third time at the head. Price took advantage of Makarov pausing and killed Makarov via hanging.

I just find it so funny that if Yuri had been around until 2011, it means that he was totally okay with 29 acts of terrorism until they screwed over 30k marines because that was the specific point in time in which he really began to doubt Makarov and the Ultranationalists. I also find it funny that he definitely probably left the Spetsnaz after Makarov left, we stan a supportive husband!!! Though, Yuri isn't the only one that's pussy-whipped, Makarov had multiple chances to kill Yuri and he just didn't (until in Dust to Dust, I guess) but that's a story for another day.

[amielbjacobs]

Queer/LGBTQ History in the Soviet Union

Since I started working on my novel, I’ve done a lot of research on LGBTQ history in the Soviet Union, which became a special interest for me. Since I always love to spread my special interests, here’s a bibliography of useful sources about queer history in the USSR. I believe this to be reasonably complete (I scoured JSTOR for articles and books) but I’d love to hear if I forgot anything. I’m also down to answer questions or help people access these resources if you DM me. 

Books

Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia - Dan Healey (2001)

Focuses on 1917-1940s. If you only read one book off this list, make it this one. Despite some outdated terminology, this remains the most central and accessible text on this topic, and it’s a good choice to read first to get a basic grasp. It combines a good sense of the broader context with a lot of fascinating details. 

Russian Homophobia: From Stalin to Sochi - Dan Healey (2017)

Effectively a sequel to the above book, a series of historical anecdotes which cover 1945-2017. 

Regulating Homosexuality in Soviet Russia, 1956-91: A Different History - Rustam Alexander (2021)

This book examines Soviet queer history through the lens of official discourse, i.e., the police, Gulag officials, the secret police, and doctors. This is useful both for understanding people in these professions, and for understanding people who were subjected to official control. 

Gay Lives and ‘Aversion Therapy’ In Brezhnev’s Russia, 1964-1982 - Rustam Alexander (2023)

Red Closet: The Hidden History of Gay Oppression in the USSR - Rustam Alexander (2023)

This book attempts to bridge popular history and academic history, and doesn’t quite succeed - it has a lot of interesting information in it, but if you can, read Alexander’s other work (including the articles below) first. 

Lesbian Lives in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia - Francesca Stella (2014)

Chapter Two, “Lesbian Relationships in Late Soviet Russia,” contains a lot of valuable information. I admit I found the writing style rather dry. 

Out of the Blue: Russia's Hidden Gay Literature: An Anthology - Kevin Moss (1996)

This anthology of literature in translation mostly features pre-Revolutionary and post-Soviet fiction, but it’s the only source for English translations of several valuable Soviet artistic works and primary sources, including Mikhail Kuzmin’s diaries and works by Gennady Trifonov. 

Soviet and Post-­Soviet Sexualities - Edited by Richard C.M. Mole (2019)

Queer History of Belarus in the second half of the 20th century: a preliminary study - Uladzimir Valodzin (2016)

Forced underground: homosexuals in Soviet Latvia - Rita Ruduša (2014)

Moscow - Yevgeny Fiks

Not an academic research book, but photographs of "gay cruising sites in Soviet Moscow, from the early 1920s to the USSR's dissolution in the early 1990s."

Articles

The Queer Life of Lieutenant Petrenko: The KGB and Male Homosexuality in the Ukrainian SSR of the 1960s - Rustam Alexander (2023)

"With a Shade of Disgust": Affective Politics of Sexuality and Class in Memoirs of the Stalinist Gulag - Adi Kuntsman, Slavic Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Summer, 2009), pp. 308-328

“Not a Personal Matter”: Soviet Conservative Discourse on Homosexuality in the 1960s and 1970s - Irina Roldugina (2024)

An inconspicuous sexual dissident in the Georgian Soviet republic: Subjectification, social classes and the culture of suspicion in the late Soviet period - Arthur Clech (2021)

Gay in the Gulag - Yaroslav Mogutin (1995)

Using the Past to Save the Present: Soviet Transgender History and Its Implications for Present-Day Trans Rights in Russia - Yana Kirey-Sitnikova (2025)

Transsexual and intersex individuals in Soviet medicine and jurisprudence - Yana Kirey-Sitnikova (Date of release unclear - recent)

The Trans Man Whose Pioneering Surgery Was A State Secret For Decades - Daniil Turovsky, Buzzfeed News (2018)

Documenting the queer self: Kaspars Aleksandrs Irbe (1906-1996) in between unofficial sexual knowledge and medical-legal regulation in Soviet Latvia - Ineta Lipša (2021)

Taming the desire: Pavel Krotov’s “bisexual” closet - Rustam Alexander (2021)

The inner lives of queer comrades in early Soviet Russia - Artem Langenburg interviewing Irina Roldugina, openDemocracy.net (15 December 2017)

‘Why are we the people we are?’ Early Soviet homosexuals from the first-­person perspective: New sources on the history of homosexual identities in Russia - Ira Roldugina in Soviet and Post-Soviet Sexualities (2019)

Criminal Prosecution of Homosexuals in the Soviet Union (1946-1991): Numbers and Discourses - Uladzimir Valodzin (2020)

"With a Shade of Disgust": Affective Politics of Sexuality and Class in Memoirs of the Stalinist Gulag - Adi Kuntsman (2009)

“Not a Personal Matter”: Soviet Conservative Discourse on Homosexuality in the 1960s and 1970s - Irina Roldugina (2023)

Political Homophobia in Soviet Lithuania Revisited: The Case of the Dissident Viktoras Petkus - Rasa Navickaitė (2024)

Translating queer texts in Soviet Russia: A case study in productive censorship - Brian James Baer (2010)

Usto Mumin: The Life and Work of a Great Artist as Seen in Recent Books - Eleonora Shafranskaya and Boris Chukhovich

An interview with two authors about their books, which cover the history of Usto Mumin, a queer artist in the early Soviet period. Their books do not appear to exist in English, so I present this interview in their stead.

Dissertations

The Queer Legacy of Ivan the Terrible - Maya Garcia (2023)

A book analyzing multiple depictions of Ivan the Terrible that depict queer characters; the first depiction analyzed is a pre-Revolutionary opera by Tchaikovsky, but the dissertation then moves on to discuss several Soviet works.

Fifty Shades of Vice: Decolonizing the Soviet Homophobic Legacy - Feruza Aripova (2023)

Contains some very useful research on queer history in Uzbekistan specifically

[bestiarium]

Nocnitsa, the night hag [Slavic mythology]:

Nocnitsa is a hag or witch from Slavic folklore who inhabits woods and forests. She is heavily associated with night and darkness, and as such, she mainly targets sleeping children at night. A deeply evil creature, Nocnitsa usually bestows nightmares onto her victims, but she other ways of inflicting suffering: sometimes she shows up at night to breastfeed infants, but her milk is highly poisonous and will cause the child to fall ill.

In this aspect, she is associated with the Rusalka, another supernatural female monster that kills with her breasts. Sometimes, the breasts of a Rusalka were said to be made of iron or stone, and she would crush her victims to death with them.

To appease Nocnitsa, people would make offerings of bread (sometimes also salt), which would then be rubbed on the child. There are also certain charms or rituals to ward off the witch and cure a child’s insomnia. Alternatively, young children could be protected against Nocnitsa with a protective circle or by simply placing a knife under the cradle.

She is also called Nochnitsy (or a variation), Kriksy (meaning “scream”) and Plaksy (“the sniveler”, “one who snivels”), sometimes combined into the name ‘Kriksa-Plaksa’. In Belarus, Nochnitsy were a group of tiny spirits instead of a witch, but the principle remained the same. The Nochnitsy caused children to sleep badly, but they were deeply afraid of fire. To cure an infant cursed by the Nochnitsy, parents would make them sleep in front of the fireplace, or sometimes put onto a large tray or shovel and put in an oven for a short while (note: a smoldering warm oven, not a burning one. Please do not put babies in burning ovens).

Interestingly, Nochnitsa (if it is indeed the same character) plays a minor role in the Slavic story of Pizamar, a mortal woman who fell in love with the god Svarozhich. Unfortunately, the gods forbade love between mortals and deities, so Pizamar tried to take her own life. She walked towards a cliff at night, but right before she could jump off, Nochnitsa cast a sleep spell on her.

Every time she tried to commit suicide, Nochnitsa put her to sleep. Lada and Chors, two goddesses, watched this scenario unfold several times before taking pity on Pizamar. They stole divine mead of immortality from the other gods and gave it to her, turning her immortal. Pizamar then became the entertainer of the gods, dancing and singing for them, which she did with such passion and talent that she eventually became the goddess of the arts.

Sources: Rose, C., 1996, Spirits, Fairies, Gnomes and Goblins: An Encyclopedia of the Little People, Bloomsbury Academic, 370 pp., p. 130, p. 186. Bane, T., 2013, Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology, McFarland, 428 pp., p. 277. Kliauz, V., 2001, Video-Recording Ritual Incantations and Folk Cures (1), Institute of World Literature, Moscow, SEEFA Journal, VI (2), 28-34. Bane, T., 2016, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, McFarland, 428 pp., p. 241. Valodzina Tatyana, 2006, ‘Unchristened Flesh’: the Woman’s Breast and Breastfeeding in Traditional Slavic Culture, with Especial Reference to Belorussian, Forum for Antropology and Culture, No3, 168-192. Monaghan, P., 2014, Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, New World Library, 448 pp., p. 306. Min’ko, L. I., 1973, Magical Curing (Its Sources and Character and the Causes of its Prevalence, Soviet Anthropology and Archeology, 12:1, 3-33. (image source 1: Vasilyna Holod on Artstation) (image source 2: Alexandru Munteanu on Artstation)

[2001fallenstar]