19-Jan-2012 History Nowhere did Stalin’s hero status last longer than in his Georgian birth town Gori. His statue was only removed from the Central Town Square (still named after him) in June 2010 and his museum is still in full operation today. Comtourist visited the Stalin Museum in August 2011 and we were pleased to find out that nothing seems to have changed for the last 50 years here. The museum is a Soviet Time Capsule where even the guides seem to be imported from the USSR. More: Gori Stalin Museum
16-Jan-2012 News Parliamentary elections were held in Kazakhstan on January 16. The Nur Otan Party from President Nursultan Nazarbayev held all the seats in parliament but now has to share Parliament with two other parties. Nur Otan still managed to clinch more than 80% of the votes. Nazarbayev has been President since 1990 and brought stability and growth but also corruption and suppression of the opposition to Kazakhstan. More: Kazakhstan elections
15-Jan-2012 Media Pioneer One is a web Drama Series that revolves around a Soviet era space capsule with a Cosmonaut that crashes in present day America spreading radioactivity over a large area in Montana and Canada. The government team investigating the crash starts to believe that the capsule actually travelled to Earth from Mars. Pioneer One is free downloadable and funded trough donations by fans and distributed via BitTorrent. More: Pioneer One Drama series
13-Jan-2012 History The Mikoyan brothers are probably the most famous Soviet Armenians. Anastas Mikoyan was a revolutionary from the first hour who rose to the position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. Artem Mikoyan was one of the most famous aircraft designers of the USSR responsible for designing many famous MiG aircraft together with Mikhail Gurevich. The Mikoyan brothers were born in Sanahin Armenia and a small Soviet era museum is dedicated to their lives. More: Mikoyan Brothers Museum
06-Jan-2012 Media Democracy seems far away in Russia where Putin seems to become president again coming March with our without public support. Russia returning to an authoritarian state again is very regrettable, however there is one upside to these development, we get a full blown communist style dictator to enjoy in the media. Putin seems the ideal replacement for Kim Jong Il since he passed away in December 2011. So the question asked on one popular Blog is: Who is Mista Putin? More: Who is Mista Putin
02-Jan-2012 News Images of the funeral of Kim Jong Il were carefully scrutinized by bloggers and news papers around the world. One image caught the attention of some alert people, a giant was standing between a column of soldiers saluting Kim on his last journey. Speculation on who or what this man could be went wild with explanation varying from a trick photo, a genetically modified super soldier to some kind of dummy. More: Giant at Kim Jong Il funeral
25-Dec-2011 News Decorating the Christmas tree is the start of the holiday season for many people. Comtourist found a nice object to use as the tree topper. The hammer and sickle proofed to be a trough crowd pleaser and will top the Christmas tree for years to come (don’t tell the girlfriend). More: Soviet Christmas tree topper
24-Dec-2011 News The North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il died Saturday the 17th of December. The news broke two days later in the West where speculation on the future of the DPRK started directly. Familiar images of citizens crying in the Pyongyang streets started to pop up the following days. There were also images and video’s of Kim Jong Il lying at state in Kumsusan Memorial Palace where his father is also on display. More: Dear leader Kim Jong Il is dead
23-Dec-2011 News The French National Assembly passed a bill criminalizing public denial of the Armenian Genocide on December 22 2011. The Turkish government is outraged by this bills and threatens that the relation between the countries is at stake. Over 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in a planned and centrally coordinated operation by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. More: Armenian Genocide bill
23-Dec-2011 Media A couple of popular blogs have started threads called "Kim Jong Il looking at things". The North Korean leader is always wearing the same grey jacket, shades and Mao suit and looking at something for the camera. He tries to do his best to look interested but fails most of the time. Comtourist went on the web an tried to collect as much images of Kim Jong Il looking at things as possible, enjoy the collection! More: Kim Jong Il looking at things