WORLD WAR II HEATS UP AGAIN (YES, TWO): RUSSIA & JAPAN AT ODDS OVER THE KURILS/NORTHERN TERRITORIES

RUSSIA & JAPAN

QUARREL OVER

THE KURIL ISLANDS/

NORTHERN TERRITORIES

SAKHALIN MUSEUM

YUZHNOSAKHALINSK, RUSSIA

(FORMER GOVERNOR'S MANSION

UNDER THE JAPANESE)

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a stepped-up military presence on the Kuril Islands, once ruled by the Japanese and claimed by Tokyo as the "Northern Territories." These islands and islets north of Japan's Hokkaido island and east of Russia's Sakhalin island have kept Russia and Tokyo from ever signing a treaty ending World War II between them. [to be continued]

For more on the history and the politics, see Chapter II of "RUSSIA REDUX."

"POWER HUG": THE FOUR-HUNDREDTH POST

"POWER HUG" 

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN & 

CHINESE PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN 

MEET & GREET 

IN THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE 

BEIJING, CHINA 

NOVEMBER 10, 1997 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

TOM RUSH b. February 8, 1941: "WHAT I KNOW"

TOM RUSH 

b. February 8, 1941 

"WHAT I KNOW" 

THE ALBUM COVERS 

AND 

THE REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHS 

BY 

GWENDOLYN STEWART 

RONALD REAGAN'S CENTENNIAL II

RONALD REAGAN'S

CENTENNIAL II

PRESIDENT REAGAN

MAKES A POINT

AT A WHITE HOUSE

PRESS CONFERENCE

Making a point? Yes, I am pretty sure that is the case. But it could also be interpreted as making an appeal.

The appeal of the "Great Communicator"? I was in the hall in the RenCen (the Renaissance Center) in Detroit, Michigan, for the 1980 Republican National Convention, when Ronald Reagan delivered his acceptance speech. No Great Communication. I was in the Capitol when he came as president-elect to pay a courtesy call on Speaker Tip O'Neill.

RONALD REAGAN'S CENTENNIAL I

RONALD REAGAN 

February 6, 1911-June 5, 2004 

PRESIDENT REAGAN 

CHAIRS A CABINET MEETING 

Somebody's hands seemed to have cranked up the centennial myth-making machine.... 

(Continued in the February 7, 2011, post, here) 

AL KOOPER IS SIXTY-SEVEN

AL KOOPER

b. February 5, 1944

AL KOOPER ROCKIN'

AT HARVARD'S SANDERS THEATRE

"Now that I'm almost 67 and see photos like this from around 1971 [check it out! here], my feelings are pretty much summed up by the expression on my face as I gaze over from the cover of the WHITE CHOCOLATE album." – Al Kooper

For another view ("Channeling Beethoven?"), see here.

BETTY FRIEDAN, b. February 4, 1921; d. February 4, 2006

BETTY FRIEDAN

February 4, 1921-February 4, 2006

AUTHOR

THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE

Betty Friedan died on her eighty-fifth birthday, five years ago today; the New York Times obituary can be found here. Louis Menand has a lively and thoughtful appreciation of Friedan and The Feminine Mystique in the January 24, 2011, issue of The New Yorker ("Books as Bombs"), also available here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

YEAR OF

THE RABBIT

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

BEIJING, CHINA, 1981

Today in Beijing there was a re-enactment at the Temple of Heaven of the imperial rites of praying for a good harvest during the lunar new year celebrations.

THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD ENDS, February 2, 1943

THE BATTLE OF 

STALINGRAD ENDS 

February 2, 1943 

STALINGRAD BATTLE PANORAMIC MUSEUM 

VOLGOGRAD (STALINGRAD), RUSSIA 

BORIS YELTSIN b. February 1, 1931

BORIS YELTSIN

February 1, 1931-April 23, 2007

HARBIN, CHINA, NOVEMBER 1997

A MORE HUMAN SIDE OF

THE FIRST RUSSIAN PRESIDENT,

WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN EIGHTY TODAY

Born in Butka (Russia), USSR

"RUSSIA REDUX"