Cold War Gadgets...

A collection of photos of Cold War KGB (Soviet) gadgets, like the listening device shown below, hidden inside a hollowed-out log:

Before and After...

Before and after the Soviet Union, that is.  Der Spiegel has a slide show of before-and-after photos of East Germany.  These could just as well have been taken in Estonia of 1991 vs. Estonia today...

Water Wings Won the Cold War...

Well, not directly.  But apparently the wily Mao used water wings (amongst other things) to humiliate Khrushchev during his state visit to China in 1958.  The fallout from this meeting changed the course of the Cold War by making the Sino-Soviet split permanent:

The results of the talks were felt almost immediately. Khrushchev ordered the removal of the USSR’s advisers, overruling aghast colleagues who suggested that they at least be allowed to see out their contracts. In retaliation, on Khrushchev’s next visit to Beijing, in 1959, Taubman relates, there was “no honor guard, no Chinese speeches, not even a microphone for the speech that Khrushchev insisted on giving, complete with accolades for Eisenhower that were sure to rile Mao.”

Suppose, just suppose, Mao had been welcoming to Khushchev in 1958.  How would our world be different today?

Soviet History, a Little Differently...

Six minutes of pure fun for anyone who enjoys Tetris or is a history buff: