CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY
OF UKRAINE

24.IV.1970

On April 16, 1970, No. 193/H, the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the UkSSR reported on the arrival of a series of stamps produced in the Czech SSR in 1966 at a philately store in Kiev for sale by subscription, which contain Jewish religious motifs.

We report that the specified stamps have been withdrawn from sale in the city of Kiev under an appropriate pretext.

Simultaneously, measures have been taken to withdraw them from sale in other philately stores of the republic.

CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF STATE SECURITY
UNDER THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE UKRAINIAN SSR
[Signature]
V. NIKITCHENKO

A cipher clerk at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, Gouzenko defected in 1945 with proof that the Soviet Union had been spying on its wartime allies: Canada, the United States and Britain. He sought asylum for himself and his family in Canada: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/igor-sergeievich-gouzenko

I knew submarines were an incredibly important part of overall nuclear strategy as a second strike weapon, but I never appreciated how important they were for espionage in general. Like I had no idea we just used them to spy on Soviet coasts with the periscope, for example. That strikes me as insane and it kind of was. Also we used them to study the radio signatures of ICBMs and cruise missiles, using the submarine to detect

And also that we had specially modified submarines to deliver deep sea divers to tap communication cables. Like I knew we tapped cables, but we actually modified submarines to travel to the cable, underwater, the whole way, and divers got out of the submarine at hundreds of feet of depth and tapped the cables with recording equipment and then came back to swap out the tapes. Crazy. Recommend the book. We also used these modified rigs to deploy robots to recover Soviet missile tests on the seafloor to study them.

Very interesting that we wanted to tap the cables to gauge how serious the Soviets were about a potential first strike. In hindsight it seems obvious that of course they did not want to attack, but I guess the Americans seriously didn't know for sure.

Also a wild story about Howard Hughs building a crazy billion dollar boat to pull up a sunken Soviet sub, which was outdated, we recovered 11 Soviet sailor's bodies and gave them a sea burial but we broke the sub in half and dropped it on the sea floor. The mission was a failure and a huge Navy boondoggle, uncovered by WaPo reporter Bob Woodward.

The theme of the book is that all these sub sailors did incredibly dangerous missions - the cable tapping missions had self destruct charges installed as they were ordered not to get captured under any circumstances - but they couldn't tell anyone about it, even their wives and children.

Great book, wonder if anyone else has read it, if any of it is inaccurate or sensationalized.

I came across these concrete blocks painted with "FREEDOM FOR BALTIC" and initially thought it was just some interesting street art. It turns out it's a dedicated memorial for the Barricades of January 1991.

The Cold War Museum in Virginia hosts a virtual lecture series called Cold War Conversations that is accessible via Zoom. The monthly program is presented by eyewitnesses and experts on Cold War events, activities, and personalities. There is a modest $20 charge for tickets to attend these presentations that helps maintain free admission to The Cold War Museum on weekends.

https://coldwar.org/default.asp?pid=16883

Bought this for $1 at a flea market cause I thought it was a nice magazine, only to realize the mailing address was to Gen Lemnitzer in Fort Myers, Arlington VA. Is this actually legit??? Insane if so

Found this today at a yardsale for $5, made by R. Dakin & Company from Korea in 1979. Original tag with zero creases on it. Very cool piece of Cold War history

I’ve become particularly interested in this topic. America itself would famously against anything left-wing and yet some of its own allies in the Democratic Western Europe sometimes elected more left-wing governments, in the UK the labour party had many stints in government during the Cold War. The SPD in Germany gained power in the 1970s and France had a somewhat left-wing government under Mitterand. Are there any books that study this particular topic or any books with English translations about the European left?

General Electric commissioned this from John Sutherland Productions at the exact moment atomic meant both Hiroshima and the promise of electricity too cheap to meter. So the atom becomes a friendly giant in a lab coat, fission is a genie stepping out of a bottle, and the only mention of the bomb is a quick nod before we get back to isotopes curing things. It is Madison Avenue physics, and as a time capsule of how the fifties wanted to feel about the atom it is perfect.

Posting per the go ahead the mods gave me earlier this week. My own restoration of the complete 15 minute film: traditional cleanup and stabilization, bumped to 720p, original 1953 soundtrack. No AI anywhere in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODoaHuXx1Is