Today in history

[Calgary1966]

I watch the history channel alot and decided to look up what happened on 20th of August in years past. Here are some things that happened:

1940 - Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice axe. He dies the next day.

1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

1968 - 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization

1975 - Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

1977 - Voyager Program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

1991 - Estonia secedes from the Soviet Union.

1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.

1998 - U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.


Birthdays:

1948 - Robert Plant, British Musician (Led Zeppelin)

1952 - Doug Fieger, American musician (The Knack)

1966 - Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (d. 2004)

Deaths:

1959 - William Halsey, Jr, American admiral (b. 1882)

2007 - Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)

2008 - Hua Guofeng, former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, succeeding Mao Zedong in 1976 and being replaced by Hu Yaobang in 1981 (b. 1921) Died this morning...was the final surviving member of Mao's inner circle

[Neilikka]

August 20

1932 The Russian novelist Vasily Aksyonov was born in Kazan this day. He is known in the West as the author of The Burn (1975) and the critically acclaimed Ge*ne*rations of Winter (1992), a family saga de*picting three generations of the Gradov family between 1925 and 1953.

After the end of the Khrushchev Thaw and the relaxation of censorship that accompanied it, Aksyonov's work was kept from publication. He was criticized for exhibiting "unsoviet" qualities. At the same time, in 1978, Aksyonov's work was leaked and published abroad. In 1980 Aksyonov and his wife Maya traveled to the U.S. on an invitation and were subsequently stripped of their Soviet citizenship.

Aksyonov currently lives in a Moscow apartment with his wife, Maya Zmeul, and has a second home in Biarritz, France.

:yo:

[Hoopy]

1920 - Preliminary meeting in Akron to form American Pro Football League:eek:

[Neilikka]

August 21

1940 Lev Davidovich Trotsky, Russian revolutionary and Marxist theorist was killed on this day by the agent of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs in Mexico City. He was one of the leaders of the Russian October Revolution, second only to Lenin. During the early days of the Soviet Union, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army and the People's Commissar of War. He was also among the first members of the Politburo.
But he was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union at the end of the 1920s. As the head of the International Left Opposition and then of the Fourth International, he continued in exile to oppose the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and was eventually assassinated.

[Calgary1966]

1928 - WRNY began regularly scheduled television broadcasts in New York City.

1942 - World War II: the Battle of Stalingrad begins.

1942 - World War II: a Nazi flag is installed atop the Mount Elbrus.

1944 - Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.

1968 - Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring; on the same day, Nicolae Ceauşescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet maneuver, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1991 - Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.

1991 - Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

2001 - NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

2001 - The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Births:

1936 - Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (d. 1999)

1963 - Richmond Arquette, American actor (part of the large acting family)

1967 - Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress

1973 - Sergey Brin, Co-founder of Google

Deaths:
1940 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)

1997 - Yuri Nikulin, Russian clown and actor (b. 1921)

2007 - Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American Brigadier General (b. 1918)

2007 - Haley Paige, American pornographic actress (b. 1981)

[Gabbibo]

today i watched on tv how people from Chezk und Slovakia selebrate freedom

20 years ago russian army came with tanks to "protect":mad: them

[Neilikka]

Seventeen years ago this day, August 22, the course of history changed for the country we now know as Russia. When all was said and done, seven decades of Communist rule came to a close and the country began a new future as a democratic society.
Boris Yeltsin, then President of the Russian Federation, became world famous when he stood atop a military tank to protest an August 19, 1991 coup attempt by various members of the Soviet government who disliked Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's move toward more democratic policies. The coup was crushed on the 22nd of August, but the Soviet Union itself ceased to exist by the end of 1991.
Since 1991, the 146 million people in Russia have witnessed incredible political and economic changes. But what has changed? Are the people of the former Soviet Union better off?
Seventeen years after the coup attempt, people in Russia do have things they never had before. People can elect their leaders, practice freedom of religion, buy almost anything they want from the West, as well as switch jobs when necessary. Travel in and out of the country is easier, and some say their quality of life has improved.
For others, though, not much has changed at all. Most rural communities haven't felt the effects of the economic reforms and live just the same as they did before the coup. Jobs are low-paying and food comes mostly from backyard gardens instead of grocery stores. Luxury items, if available, are much too expensive.
The euphoria that seized the residents of the new countries seventeen years ago has long gone. Independence turned out a much heavier burden than we thought.

[Neilikka]

August 23
1935 This day the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union decided to replace the double-headed eagles topping the towers of the Moscow Kremlin with five-pointed stars. Thus the tsar symbols of the country were replaced with those of the new government. The ruby stars shine day and night. The weight and the size of the stars are different, as the towers differ in height. But the one that adorns the Spasskaya Tower is the biggest at 3.75 m.

[Neilikka]

August 24

1845 Lev Sergeyevich Golitsin, a prominent Russian wine-maker, was born this day. He was the first person in Russia who managed to organize the industrial production of champagne wines.
His career began while studying winemaking in France; later, bought a manor in Novi Svet in the Crimea. His task was rather complicated: breeding European grapes in the Crimea. But he successfully did it, and in 1890 caves for wine storing were dug in the Koba-Kaya mountain. Golitsin's main aim was to create a wonderful Russian champagne that could compete compete with the best French labels. Among the myriad varieties he chose five: Chardonnay, Aligoté, Riesling, Pino-Fran and Mourvedre.
His first lots, "Paradise" and "Novi Svet" soon became far-famed. At the 1900 World Fair in Paris, his champagne received the grad prix and was said to be the best one of all the world. Since that time Russian wine obtained the recognition of such wine-powers as France, Italy and Germany.

[Gabbibo]

today are 69 years since was signed Ribbentrop-Molotov documents

:mad:

[Calgary1966]

1992 Montreal Quebec - Valery Fabrikant shoots to death four fellow professors at Concordia University, Matthew Douglass, Michael Hogden, Aaron (Jaan) Saber, and Phoivos Ziogas; angry at the corruption that he perceived to be in the Engineering department; University Rector blames handgun permit laws.


1949 Brussels Belgium - North Atlantic Treaty goes into effect, with the parties agreeing that an armed attack against one country would be considered 'an attack against them all.' NATO created by Canada, the US and 10 European countries.

1944 Normandy France - The Battle of Normandy closes; cost the Canadian Army 18,444 casualties including over 5,021 dead. The 3rd Canadian Army Division also suffered greater losses than any other division within the 21st army Group. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division suffered the next highest, even though it did not arrive in France until July 7th. Canadian battle casualties slightly exceeded 3,000 in June, 5,500 in July, and 7,400 for the period 1-23 August.

August 24, 79AD

Vesuvius erupts
After centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating the prosperous Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing thousands. The cities, buried under a thick layer of volcanic material and mud, were never rebuilt and largely forgotten in the course of history. In the 18th century, Pompeii and Herculaneum were rediscovered and excavated, providing an unprecedented archaeological record of the everyday life of an ancient civilization, startlingly preserved in sudden death.

August 24, 1954

Congress passes Communist Control Act
Congress passes the Communist Control Act in response to the growing anticommunist hysteria in the United States. Though full of ominous language, many found the purpose of the act unclear.

In 1954, the Red Scare still raged in the United States. Although Senator Joseph McCarthy, the most famous of the "red hunters" in America, had been disgraced earlier in the summer of 1954 when he tried to prove that communists were in the U.S. Army, most Americans still believed that communists were at work in their country. Responding to this fear, Congress passed the Communist Control Act in August 1954. The act declared that, "The Communist Party of the United States, though purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States." The act went on to charge that the party's "role as the agency of a hostile foreign power renders its existence a clear and continuing danger to the security of the United States." The conclusion seemed inescapable: "The Communist Party should be outlawed." Indeed, that is what many people at the time believed the Communist Control Act accomplished.

August 24, 1970

B-52s conduct heavy raids along the DMZ
U.S. B-52s carry out heavy bombing raids along the DMZ. In the United States, a radical protest group calling themselves the New Year's Gang blew up in the Army Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin Army Mathematics Research Center in Madison. A graduate student who was working late was killed in the blast. The center, which reportedly was involved in war research, had been a focus for protest in the past, but previously protests had all been nonviolent.

[Calgary1966]

August 24, 1814

British capture and burn Washington
During the War of 1812, British forces under General Robert Ross overwhelm American militiamen at the Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland, and march unopposed into Washington, D.C. Most congressmen and officials fled the nation's capital as soon as word came of the American defeat, but President James Madison and his wife, Dolley, escaped just before the invaders arrived. Earlier in the day, President Madison had been present at the Battle of Bladensburg and had at one point actually taken command of one of the few remaining American batteries, thus becoming the first and only president to exercise in actual battle his authority as commander in chief.

The British army entered Washington in the late afternoon, and General Ross and British officers dined that night at the deserted White House. Meanwhile, the British troops, ecstatic that they had captured their enemy's capital, began setting the city aflame in revenge for the burning of Canadian government buildings by U.S. troops earlier in the war. The White House, a number of federal buildings, and several private homes were destroyed. The still uncompleted Capitol building was also set on fire, and the House of Representatives and the Library of Congress were gutted before a torrential downpour doused the flames.

On August 26, General Ross, realizing his untenable hold on the capital area, ordered a withdrawal from Washington. The next day, President Madison returned to a smoking and charred Washington and vowed to rebuild the city. James Hoban, the original architect of the White House, completed reconstruction of the executive mansion in 1817


Both replies are copies of posts from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do

[Neilikka]

August 25
1905
Eight sailors of the Russian rebel battleship Potem¬kin were sentenced to death on this day.

[Calgary1966]

August 25, 1944

Paris liberated
After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris' landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d'Elysees.

August 25, 1985

Samantha Smith dies in plane crash
Samantha Smith, the 13-year-old "ambassador" to the Soviet Union, dies in a plane crash. Smith was best known for writing to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1982 and visiting the Soviet Union as Andropov's guest in 1983.

In late 1982, Smith, a fifth-grader at Manchester Elementary School in Manchester, Maine, wrote a plaintive letter to Soviet leader Andropov. She said that she was "worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to have a war or not?" A few months later, Smith's letter was reprinted in Russia and it was announced that Andropov was writing a response. Smith received his letter in April 1983. Andropov assured Smith that he did not want a nuclear war with the United States or any other country. Calling Smith a "courageous and honest" little girl, Andropov closed the letter with an invitation for her to visit the Soviet Union. In July, accompanied by her parents, Smith embarked on a two-week trip. She was a hit in the Soviet Union, and although she did not get to meet with Andropov, she traveled widely and spoke to numerous groups and people. In the United States, some people branded her as a patsy for the communists and claimed that Soviet propagandists were merely using her for their own purposes, but Samantha's enthusiasm and contagious optimism charmed most Americans and millions of other people around the world. During the next two years, Smith became an unofficial U.S. goodwill ambassador, speaking to groups throughout the United States and in foreign nations such as Japan. On August 25, 1985, while traveling with her father, their small plane crashed and both were killed

[Calgary1966]

August 25, 1914

Germans burn Belgian town of Louvain
Over the course of five days, beginning August 25, 1914, German troops stationed in the Belgian village of Louvain during the opening month of World War I burn and loot much of the town, executing hundreds of civilians

August 25, 1945

The first casualty of the Cold War
On this day in 1945, John Birch, an American missionary to China before the war and a captain in the Army during the war, is killed by Chinese communists days after the surrender of Japan, for no apparent reason.

After America had entered the war, Birch, a Baptist missionary already in China, was made a liaison between American and Chinese forces fighting the Japanese. But on August 25, Birch, commanding an American Special Services team, was ordered to halt by Chinese communist troops. A scuffle ensued, and Birch was shot dead.

In the 1950s, Robert Welch would create a right-wing, anticommunist organization called the John Birch Society. For Welch, Birch was "the first casualty in the Third World War between Communists and the ever-shrinking Free World."

[Neilikka]

August 26

1395
The Icon Our Lady of Vladimir was transferred to Moscow from Vladimir. This icon has always been one of the most revered in Russia. According to legend, Andrey Bogo¬lubskiy took the icon with him as he left to govern in the Vla¬dimiro-Suzdalsky re¬gion in 1155.
Since that time the icon ‘defended the city' many times, showing its wonders. During a fire in Moscow in 1547, people tried to take the icon out from a burning Dormition Cathedral, but it turned out to be impossible to remove it. Soon the fire stopped, and the Dormition Cathedral remained untouched, as did the icon inside.

[alpine-frolic]

A day i have to mark in black.:girl_werewolf:

[alpine-frolic]

Was not allways a bad day, thinking positive, even a very good one:

:)

[alpine-frolic]

Déclaration des Droits de l'homme et du citoyen du 26 août 1789

[Neilikka]

August 27
2000
The Ostankino Tower caught fire this day. The fire was extinguished only on August 28. All the television and radio signals were disrupted around Moscow, plus three people died. The tower was constructed in 1967 . It is 540 meters tall and held the record for the tallest free-standing structure in the world for eight years, until the CN Tower was built in Toronto, Canada in 1976.
The reconstruction of the tower after that fire was completed in 2004 .

[Neilikka]

August 28


1941
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR established a decree over the resettlement of the Povolzhye Germans. This measure was implemented due to the threat of diversion or any other act of sabotage. To prevent it, the authorities made the residents move to the desert regions of Siberia, Kazakhstan and Asia. All their property was confiscated, as they could take only the stuff they were able to carry in their hands. The rehabilitation of this Soviet government's brazen move took lots of time and lasted up to the end of the 20th century.

[Neilikka]

August, 29

1949
This day the test of the Soviet Union's first atom bomb took place. The test signified the success of the special committee created after the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 20th of August, 1945

[Neilikka]

August, 30

1860
Isaac Ilyich Levitan, Russian landscape painter, was born this day. At the beginning of 1870 his poor Jewish family moved to Moscow. Here in 1873 the young painter entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. For the first time his works were exhibited in 1877. His works became popular and one of them ‘Autumn day. Sokolniki' was bought by Pavel Mi¬khailovich Tretyakov. In 1891 he joined the Peredvizhniki partnership. All the works by Levitan depicted the lyrical charm of Russian landscape. In 1898 he was named the head of the Landscape Studio. http://www.belygorod.ru/img2/RusskieKartinki/Used/0Levitan_Zolotaya_Osen.jpg

[Neilikka]

August, 31

1941
This day an outstanding Russian poet Marina Ivanovna Tsvetae­va committed a suicide. Her poetry became a natural result of her uncommon eccentric personality. Tsvetayeva was a wild genius that could not fit into the frames of any school. She was born on the 8th of October, 1892 in Moscow, and travelled a lot during her childhood. That is why at the age of 16 she started writing her lyrics in Russian, French and German. The first book of lyrics ‘Evening Album' was published in 1910. In adolescence she also predicted: ‘...my poems, like a precious wine, will have their time.' It was very true: only after her death her lyrics could have been freely published. But under the Soviet regime all her friends and family were arrested; her poetry wasn't published - she was a rebellious author and always expressed everything she felt. The poet's destiny was sad and tragic, with many obstacles, but her poetry is a sort of outstanding treasure of the Silver Century.

[Neilikka]

September, 1

1714
Thanks to Peter the Great's edict of Russia's the first public library was opened in Saint Petersburg on this day.

[Neilikka]

September, 2

1913
First All-Russian Sport Olympiad started in Kiev on this day.

[Neilikka]

September, 13

1999
At 5 a.m. a block of flats on Kashirskoye highway was bombed by terrorists. As a result the eight storey building was entirely ruined and 124 inhabitants were killed. The blast knocked out windows of neighbouring buildings. Four days before the terrorists had blasted a block of flats on Gurianova street and on the 16th of September - one more in Volgodonsk.

[brown-raider]

August, 29

1949
This day the test of the Soviet Union's first atom bomb took place. The test signified the success of the special committee created after the tragedy in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 20th of August, 1945what fookin tragedy the japsinese asked for it.. they got it thats all......... so is what the soviets did to the Germans also a tragedy? no the Germans got what they fookin deserved from the soviets..:plane:

[Neilikka]

I think Brown-raider can't read. I will repeat my previous post. It's about great trageies for Russian people. Is it hard to understand?
September, 13

1999
At 5 a.m. a block of flats on Kashirskoye highway was bombed by terrorists. As a result the eight storey building was entirely ruined and 124 inhabitants were killed. The blast knocked out windows of neighbouring buildings. Four days before the terrorists had blasted a block of flats on Gurianova street and on the 16th of September - one more in Volgodonsk.

[Calgary1966]

1759 - September 13 - French and Indian War - British General James Wolfe's army defeats the Marquis de Montcalm's French forces at the Battle of Québec on the Plains of Abraham. "Measured by the numbers engaged, the Battle of Quebec was but a heavy skirmish", wrote historian Francis Parkman; "measured by results, it was one of the great battles of the world". Four years later, the Treaty of Paris gave England ownership over most of New France, from Cape Breton Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Quebec, Quebec

[Calgary1966]

Laura Secord 1775-1868


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
loyalist, heroine of Upper Canada, born Laura Ingersoll in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, September 13, 1775; died in Chippawa, Ontario October 17, 1868. On the night of June 22, 1813, Secord heard two American officers billeted in her house talking about a surprise attack on the British post at Beaver Dams. She walked 30 km through American lines to warn Lt. Fitzgibbon, sometimes leading her cow as a decoy, and the US soldiers were ambushed by Fitzgibbon and some loyal Iroquois.

[Neilikka]

September, 20

1999
Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva, the First Lady of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev's wife died this day after a bout with leukemia. She was one of few women of the Soviet Union who caught the attention of the Western media. Her public appearance beside her husband was a novelty at home and went a long way in humanizing the country's image.

She married Mikhail Gorbachev in 1953 while studying at Moscow State University. The couple soon moved to Stavropol Krai, where they spent 23 years. In 1978, as Gorbachev was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, they moved to Moscow. Raisa Gorbacheva was an active social actor and did a lot for culture and charity in the country.

Everything in her appearance and activity differed from traditional Soviet image: she dressed beautiful dresses, received several awards and was known abroad. She was a ‘peace envoy' to the West, the witness and participant of significant events that changed the country.

[Neilikka]

http://www.beenergy.ru/uploads/posts/2008-03/1205864588_03-1a.gif

[Lucker]

Bella
I often wonder if the day that Russia "fell in love" with Yeltsin wasn't one of your worst ever days .
It increasingly appears that being the number one man soon produces character and personality changes which almost guarantee huge personal changes for the worst .
But Yeltsin was a chronic alcoholic before even really starting .
Putting so called Politics to one side , it was his years that bankrupted Russia . It had nothing to do with him being a Liberal and advocate of Democratic principles .
But it had everything to do with him drunkenly agreeing to anything that apparently gave him simple answers and lots of wealth for his family and dubious associates --- I am being polite .
Without that tragic and ghastly figure , who knows what more measured and considered path you could have achieved . Then the need for a Putin type figure might never have arisen with all its later madnesses as he himself succumbed to the Power Virus . Incidentally , if you have not noticed , this virus ruins anybody and everybody --- Bush , Blair , Thatcher and Mugabe all spring readily to mind .

[Neilikka]

What's the use to cry over the spilt milk? The Subjunctive Mood again!

[Lucker]

Bella ,
Let's have a few words about this subjunctive mood which occupies so much of your waking life !!
Firstly , that tense is really the only one remaining for Historians and people getting old -- the "What if " syndrome .
Secondly , it causes far less friction if reality is left behind for a little while and a game of imagination is played .
Lastly , it means that for me personally I am seen as writing in a less assertive way . That should please you and particularly the YWRF who , thankfully , seem to have sustained considerable Forum damage which might keep them quiet for a few days .
Why don't they spend more time making babies ?

[Neilikka]

September, 24


1801
Eastern Georgia affiliated with Russia.

[Neilikka]

October 7

1952

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the second President of Russia and the current Prime Minister of Russia, was born in Leningrad this day.
In 1975, he graduated from the Law Department of the Leningrad State University. Shortly thereafter he was recruited into the KGB. From 1985 to 1990 he served in Dresden, East Germany.
His political career got its start in 1990, when he was appointed Mayor Sobchak's advisor on international affairs. A year later he took the lead of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office.
Anatoly Sobchak lost the Saint Petersburg mayoral election in 1996, and Putin was called to Moscow where he became Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department. On March 26, 1997, former President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Pre¬sidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Mana¬gement. Within a year Putin became the head of the FSB. In August 1999, Putin became one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers. Yeltsin retired on New Years Eve, 1999, handing over power to Putin, who served as president for two consecutive years.

[Neilikka]

http://fixx.ru/images/2008/05/putin_medved.jpg

[Neilikka]

http://www.ovvakul.ru/photo/383.jpg

[Neilikka]

http://floart.ru/upload/price/extphoto1/big/1199983327.jpg

[Hoopy]

Bella is it those roses anniversary too?do they have something to do with this day in history?If not why have you posted them?

[Sveta's Hero]

October 7

1952

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the second President of Russia and the current Prime Minister of Russia, was born in Leningrad this day.
In 1975, he graduated from the Law Department of the Leningrad State University. Shortly thereafter he was recruited into the KGB. From 1985 to 1990 he served in Dresden, East Germany.
His political career got its start in 1990, when he was appointed Mayor Sobchak's advisor on international affairs. A year later he took the lead of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office.
Anatoly Sobchak lost the Saint Petersburg mayoral election in 1996, and Putin was called to Moscow where he became Deputy Chief of the Presidential Property Management Department. On March 26, 1997, former President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin deputy chief of Pre¬sidential Staff and chief of the Main Control Directorate of the Presidential Property Mana¬gement. Within a year Putin became the head of the FSB. In August 1999, Putin became one of three First Deputy Prime Ministers. Yeltsin retired on New Years Eve, 1999, handing over power to Putin, who served as president for two consecutive years.


My older sister Debra has the same birthday as Putin.:becky:

[Neilikka]

Of course, they do. Can you think from time to time? And I am not Bella for you! I am Neilikka. What's wrong with your head? Can't you remember this simple name?

[Lucker]

Just updating his biography.
Despite desperately trying to hide the evidence , ( his ghosted auto biography for a start ), we know he was not born in St Leningrad and --- what a terrible shame -- just as he was about to become President , and when even Russians wanted to know all about the grey man , both of his alleged parents suddenly and separately died within a very short time , of Cancer . How convenient , a nasty minded cynic might say . Except that his real Mum is still alive and kicking --- see NTV footage .

Next . His time with the Committeee for External Relations was remarkably interesting . His sudden and inexplicable personal wealth coincided with a period when many millions of dollars went missing as St Petersburg sold Russian resources for food to feed its people . Amazingly a lot of food and basic goods never arrived !! A certain Mr Putin was Chairman of the CER .
Lastly , his call to Moscow has another explanation . Putin was in serious trouble with the State Prosecuter , let alone regional authorities , who were preparing to prosecute him and others on matters of fraud . He escaped by appealing to his protectors in Moscow , and not the least , some senior figures within the State Security Service .
It's always nice to get the important details right .
Haqppy Birthday Vlad the Bad and Mad .Big male Kiss from Raymond

[Neilikka]

J4B9JmTfY-o

[Neilikka]

Vladimir Putin presented his first DVD titled “Let’s Learn Judo with Vladimir Putin” on October 7 to celebrate his 56th birthday.
The documentary, the fragments of which were originally presented at the press center of the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg, is a follow up to the text book on judo, which was released in 12 countries of the world in 2000.
Both the text book and the documentary were created by Putin in cooperation with deputy Vasily Shestakov and professor of the University of Physical Culture and Sports, Aleksey Levitsky.
“The title of the film is tricky because everyone, who is going to watch it, will learn not from your humble servant, but from real leaders: Japanese athletes - the true masters - and Russian world champions, and that’s what is most important,” Putin said during the presentation.
Anatoly Rakhlin, who taught judo to the would-be national leader during his childhood, said that the incumbent prime minister had great perspectives to become a professional athlete due to his combatant character.
Europe’s judo champion Ruslan Gasymov, highly estimated Putin’s skills in the sport. “This is a good old Soviet school. Putin is very precise in his movements,” the athlete said.
After the presentation a reporter asked Putin what he preferred most – mountain skis or judo. “Skiing is a relaxation, but judo is my whole life, I have been doing this since I was 13,” the prime minister replied.
The film consists of four parts. Putin appears in the first part with an opening speech in which he tells of the history of judo. “The name of this sport, “gentle way”, contains a philosophy, an opportunity to achieve something with small but effective efforts,” he says.
“The practice of a fight allows compromises and concessions, but they are possible only if they imply a way to the victory,” Putin adds.
In the second part of the film Putin demonstrates basic grips that have been previously pictured in his book on judo.
“Judo is a sport that came form Japan, but became a global sport. It is a manifestation of contemporary times, the post-globalization and the interpenetration of cultures,” Putin said during the press conference. “The fact that judo has been gaining more popularity in Russia is a good sign,” he added.
“When a child, I was lucky to find myself in the wonderful world of courage, sincerity and nobleness, the world, where human qualities are the highest value. The school of judo teaches lessons of mutual aid and collaboration. Self-reliance, determination, firmness of purpose, patience and respect are highly appreciated there. Judo is a philosophy,” Putin said.

[saprosky]

EzG4SifYl_U

A tribute to VeePee, the Man


PS: look at face of girl at 0:04:eek:

[Lucker]

I have written before of judo having saved him from becoming just another teenage thug and I have a feeling this general point is at least hinted in his autobiography.
It therefore amazes me that Putin is not obviously profiled and handled by Western and US politicians as someone whose whole infrastructure lies on Judo and KGB training as character determination points .
Once a small man knows how to maim and kill someone much bigger , he will resort to those practises if he is a loner , competitive and hungry .
QED

[saprosky]

Judo is a defense martial art. Is the first rule you learn at first day.

Never (should be) used to attack.


PS: His videos remember me Jane Fonda videos :D

[Hoopy]

Of course, they do. Can you think from time to time? And I am not Bella for you! I am Neilikka. What's wrong with your head? Can't you remember this simple name?
OK Bella I'll try to remember. :lol:

[Neilikka]

Saprosky,
Thank you so very much for this video. Really, thank you. He is as he is and we love him. Not all of us, but many. He is a MAN, a man as he is with his strong and weak points, and Russia nowadays needs HIM.