I’m in Vladikavkaz (“Lord of the Caucasus”), North Ossetia, Russian Federation, where Stalin lurks. I was visiting the fine WWII memorial park “Monument to Glory”. And there he was, posed casually in front of a giant historical mosaic. The most surprising part is that the bust is new, added in 2009 by the local Communist […]
Browsing Posts in Travel
Stalin in Vladikavkaz
September 29, 2011
Tskhinval, South Ossetia
September 28, 2011
The breakaway “Republic of South Ossetia” was a major focus of the 2008 Georgian-Russian war. The border with the rest of Georgia is closed to foreigners, but it’s possible to visit from Russia. You need advance permission from the South Ossetian authorities. They don’t issue a visa or even provide an authorization letter, but instead […]
Novorossiysk: Brezhnev
September 24, 2011
I’ve bagged Lenins by the dozen. And even a couple of Stalins. But a Brezhnev? In the wild? Now there’s a real rarity. But there he was, striding casually down the street in downtown Novorossiysk. So I nabbed him. This isn’t the doddering, geriatric Brezhnev of the 1980s. This is the rising apparatchik, posed with […]
Balaklava: Giant Secret Lair
September 20, 2011
In Balaklava, Ukraine, I visited one of the USSR’s super-secret bases, “Facility 825”. This is a giant semi-submerged underground lair, where submarines could enter, be refueled or repaired, and be entirely invisible from the air. Oh yes, and it was designed to survive a 100 kiloton direct hit. The base seems to have been conceived […]
Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet
September 18, 2011
I’m in Sevastopol, Ukraine. The city was formerly host to the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. After 1991, the fleet was partitioned between Ukraine and Russia and both halves are still based at Sevastopol, although most of the warships I spotted had Russian ensigns. Like Vladivostok, Sevastopol was a […]
Pyongyang: Kim Il Sung Mausoleum
August 4, 2011
I’ve been through the Lenin Mausoleum and the Mao Mausoleum. The Kim Il Sung Mausoleum is much, much, more intense than either. Definitely no loitering, chattering, or smirking. We were strongly encouraged by our guides to dress in our best clothes and to wear shirts and ties for our visit. The Mausoleum is a large […]
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