100 million dead

If you haven't read Matt Welch on The Unknown War, do so today.

20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

A man waves to his relatives on the other side of the Berlin Wall, August 1967.

November 9th marks the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Built with barbed wire and concrete in August of 1961 by the Communist East, the 30-mile Berlin Wall was a Cold War symbol separating East and West Berlin, preventing people from leaving East Germany. According to the “August 13 Association” which specialises in the wall's history, at least 938 people died, shot by East German border guards, attempting to flee to West Berlin or West Germany. The wall stood for 28 years as a division between the Soviets and the Allies. During the summer of 1989, tens of thousands of East Germans fled the communist regime.



A man hammers away at the Berlin Wall, 12 November 1989.



Thousands of young East Berliners gather at the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate, 11 November 1989.



Peoples from East and West Germany greet each other, 22 December 1989.

(Source with more photos)

Anti-communism propaganda from 1948

(via Ordinary Jamelle)

Quote of the day

"Cuba represents everything we're against: It's a totalitarian, repressive, Communist state that, unlike China, can't lend us money."

—Stephen Colbert

Trip down memory lane

TMV:

Do we in the outside world have it wrong about Kim Jong-il? While most of the planet regards him as a ruthless totalitarian who rules the equivalent of a nation-sized concentration camp, North Korea’s fanatically controlled state press tells a different story. On the occasion of the his 67th birthday, the Korean Central News Agency published this article lauding the historic achievements of the ‘Dear Leader,’ who it says miraculously protected the nation from the evil imperialists led by the United States.

Take a stroll back to the radical ideology of the Cold War by reading this article, which says in part:

“The Korean people and the world’s progressives are today lauding Kim Jong-il, who demonstrates the dignity and national power of socialist Korea around the world and guides the cause of victory and freedom from imperialism, as the greatest leader of the present era.

“Every step of the way, the Korean people have smashed the hostile and desperate moves of the reactionary U.S.-led imperialist forces. In the decisive battle in defense of the country, they have thereby wrought a historic miracle and achieved the greatest victory ever won by the Songun revolutionary strategy of General Secretary Kim Jong-il.”

It's like a living mini souvenir of the Cold War, for nostalgia sake.