Life-size Lenin portrait among Soviet Union art up for auction
A life-size portrait of Soviet Union founder Vladimir Lenin and other paintings from the former state are going up for auction.Described as "monumental", they will be up for sale at Wotton Auction Rooms in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire on Tuesday and Wednesday after the collection was revealed in the Cotswolds.The auction house's managing director, Joseph Trinder said the paintings, which date from the 1920s to the early 1990s, "were essentially works of propaganda".The artworks are being auctioned as separate lots with estimates starting at hundreds of pounds depending on size.
As well as the life-size portrait of Lenin, there is a scene of 'Bolsheviks Storming the Winter Palace' in 1917 and a painting of Soviet troops having 'A rest after battle' during World War Two.Mr Trinder explained they came from a "rather remarkable" single-owner collection."They are essentially works of propaganda that were put together to communicate the ideas and principles of the Soviet era and to promote Lenin and his vision," he said.
Three of the paintings are from the Socialist Realist School, founded in the 1930s. Mr Trinder said they would have been displayed publicly as "essentially civic works". They were designed to show an audience "the ideals of the communist message".More Soviet Union paintings will also be auctioned in March.
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Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Explainer: What's behind Iran's long tussle with the United States?
June 12 (Reuters) - The United States has pulled some diplomatic staff and military families out of the Middle East, citing unspecified regional security risks. Its long-running rivalry with Iran may be part of the heightened tensions. This article shows what's behind the rivalry, how it has played out and why tensions are flaring again. Iran and the United States were friends for most of the 20th century. As the Cold War took hold in the 1950s, Washington relied on Iran's reigning Shah to help stem Soviet influence spreading in the oil-producing Middle East. The Shah was growing unpopular at home and in 1953 the CIA helped topple a populist Iranian prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, who had nationalised Iran's British-owned oil company and wanted a more neutral Cold War stance. When Iranians overthrew the Shah in 1979, the Islamic revolutionaries who took over accused the CIA of having trained the Shah's secret police and vowed to battle Western imperialism in the region, branding America "the Great Satan". Revolutionary students seized the American embassy and took dozens of diplomats and other staff hostage for more than a year, ending a strategic alliance that had shaped the region for decades. The new Iranian government wanted to export its Islamic Revolution to fellow Shi'ite Muslims and groups opposing Israel, which it saw as the chief avatar of a Western imperialist project oppressing Muslims in the Middle East. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps set up Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s and the United States accuses the group of bombing its embassy and marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing around 300 people, mostly Americans. Hezbollah, which went on to fight repeated wars with the main U.S. regional ally Israel, has said other groups were responsible. Iran had complaints too. Iraq invaded Iran in 1980 and started using chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and border villages from 1982 but Washington lent diplomatic backing in the war to Baghdad. A U.S. warship also mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger plane in 1988, killing 290 people. Tensions eased after 1990, as the U.S. focused on Iraq after Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait and as Iran in 1997 elected reformist President Mohammed Khatami, who sought better relations with the West. The rivalry heated up again in the early 2000s with U.S. President George W. Bush labelling Iran part of an "Axis of Evil" along with Iraq and North Korea, a tag that caused anger in Iran. Iran's secret nuclear programme was revealed in 2002, while the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 put the two countries on opposite sides of a struggle for control in the Shi'ite majority country. The U.S.-Iranian rivalry has often played out at arm's length in conflicts and political struggles between each side's proxies and allies around the Middle East. Besides Hezbollah, Iran backs armed Shi'ite factions in Iraq that have attacked U.S. forces there, the Houthi group in Yemen that has attacked international shipping in the Red Sea and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The United States is the main international backer of Israel, Iran's biggest regional foe. It is also a close ally of Sunni Gulf monarchies which for years pursued their own rivalry with the Islamic Republic, seeing it as their main regional threat. Although Saudi Arabia and other Sunni kingdoms have buried the hatchet with Tehran, they remain wary and fear that any U.S. strikes on Iran could prompt retaliation against them. The revelation that Iran was secretly enriching uranium - a process to generate fuel for an atomic power plant but that can also make more concentrated material needed for a bomb - put its nuclear programme in the U.S. crosshairs. Western countries ramped up pressure on Iran with sanctions as negotiations over its nuclear programme meandered for years. Iran says its programme is entirely civilian and that it has the right to enrich uranium. Washington and its allies say Iran has consistently hidden important elements of its programme and believe it wants to build a nuclear bomb. In 2015 Iran and six major powers including the United States agreed to curb Tehran's nuclear work in return for limited sanctions relief, but U.S. President Donald Trump ripped up the deal in 2018. The two sides are negotiating again but seem far apart and Trump has threatened to bomb if there is no new deal. Israel has often described Iran as its most dangerous enemy and has indicated it may strike the country's nuclear sites. Any such attack would likely need U.S. acquiescence, potentially dragging Washington into a conflict with Tehran. Israel is already widely seen as behind covert attacks on Iran's nuclear programme including the Stuxnet computer virus and assassinations of scientists. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied this. Tensions have increased since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and as war raged in Gaza. Last year Israel defeated Tehran's main regional ally Hezbollah and struck Iranian military targets in Syria and Iraq. Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen targeted Israel with strikes. Iran and Israel twice exchanged direct fire with missiles and drones, underscoring the possibility of a full-blown war.
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
US will take part in Putin's knock-off Eurovision song contest, Russia says… competing against Iran and China
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE US will compete against China and Iran in Putin's rip-off Eurovision song contest, according to Russian state media. Mad Vlad's mouthpiece media made the bizarre claim that Americans would sing in the Intervision 2025 Song Contest, Russia's bootleg version of the iconic competition. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Vladimir Putin mocked up as last year's Eurovision winner Nemo of Switzerland 6 Intervision ran between 1965 and 1968, and later between 1977 and 1980 Credit: East2West 6 Intervision is Putin's knock-off version of the iconic Eurovision Song Contest (pictured) Credit: The Mega Agency It comes after the bitter tyrant announced the revival of the Soviet answer to Eurovision in February this year. Putin's country was booted out of the official Eurovision Song Contest following his bloody invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Propaganda outlet Tass claimed "sources" had told them that "representatives from the United States" would take part in the knock-off event. Their so-called source said: "Indeed, the United States has confirmed its participation in the Intervision. READ MORE WORLD NEWS DRONE WARS Vladimir Putin starts using AI kamikaze drone that 'chooses its own target' "The names of the participants will be announced later." They gave no further details on American involvement in the competition. Earlier this year, Putin signed a decree for the Intervision Song Contest to be held in Moscow in September 2025. More than 25 of his ally countries are set to join his contest - including North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. Mad Vlad has already said his bizarre idea has been backed by his "Chinese friends". This sad attempt at recreating Eurovision will reportedly ban LGBT performers. Putin's Ukraine war toll tops 1 MILLION Russians dead & wounded 40 months into 'days-long operation'…with no end in sight, with Stephen Hall In Russia, rules now ban anything deemed to promote homosexuality, and the international LGBTQ movement is seen as an extremist organisation. Putin's move has been seen as an attempt to revive two similar flopped music contests from the Soviet era. Communist Russia tried to set up a competition also called Intervision in the 1960s. This was also aimed to bring together its allies in Eastern Europe and across the world, like Cuba. Intervision ran between 1965 and 1968, and later between 1977 and 1980. It is unclear if it will use its bizarre communist-era voting system when TV viewers turned their lights on or off to cast votes, with the results measured by electricity consumption. The 2025 version of the competition will reportedly showcase "traditional universal, spiritual and family values". This would be a sharp contrast to the flamboyance, art, and colour brought through Eurovision - like it's 2024 winner Nemo from Switzerland. 6 Putin's media said that Americans will compete in the contest Credit: AP 6 The Intervision Song Contest was the Eastern Bloc's version of Eurovision Credit: East2West 6 Russia was banned from Eurovision in 2022 after Putin invaded Ukraine Credit: Alamy It is believed that Putin wants to relaunch the competition to separate Russia from what he says is the West's continued lack of respect for religious values and moral attitudes. A Russian planning document said: "Artists may not perform songs that call for violence, humiliate the honour and dignity of society, and it is required that political themes in the lyrics are completely excluded." Intervision will also aim to be 'developing international cultural and humanitarian cooperation', according to his presidential decree. This decree also claimed "the contest will be open for participation of all countries that wish to do so". Intervision is reportedly set to give performers four minutes on stage to sing in whatever language they like, according to documents seen by Reuters. The winner will get prize money and go on tour. It is not known if Putin will seek to sing at the contest, as he famously did in 2010, performing Blueberry Hill at a live charity event in St Petersburg. The dictator's rendition went viral, as he sang in front of guests including Hollywood stars like Goldie Hawn, Kevin Costner, and Sharon Stone. Putin previously announced he wanted to stage the World Festival of Friendship in 2024 as an alternative to the Olympics - which Russia has also been excluded from. The tyrant postponed the competition by one year - and then indefinitely in a humiliating U-turn. The country has taken part in Eurovision 23 times since 1994. Russia was banned from Eurovision in 2022 after Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. The same year that Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine, an Austrian drag queen popularly known as "the bearded lady," won Eurovision in 2014. This is thought to have been a turning point in Putin's desire to fully separate his country from Western values.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin's war sees one million troops dead & wounded as death toll mounts
Russia has paid a high price for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine after Ukrainian officials revealed they have lost one million young men and women since the conflict began More than one million Russian servicemen and women have been killed as Vladimir Putin's gruelling war in Ukraine continues to roll on. Forty months of war have earned the despot just 20 per cent of Ukraine's total territory and one million battlefield casualties - which include slain troops and those too seriously injured to continue fighting. Thanks to Ukraine's defiant resistance to its eastern neighbour, Russia has paid a heavy price for its invasion - with the Ukrainian General Staff announcing that one million have been killed since February 24, 2022. The majority of those soldiers (628,000) were slaughtered in the past six months. Experts fear the huge losses are unlikely to deter Putin from his path due to the cult of human sacrifice that seems to run through Russian society. During the Second World War, Russia offered up between 27 and 42 million civilians and soldiers to defeat the invading Nazis. It's likely that Putin sees the current sacrifices as necessary to achieving greatness. University of Bath politics lecturer, Dr Stephen Hall, believes that Putin will continue sending young Russians to the slaughter as the conflict is heading in the right direction. Speaking to The Sun, he said: "Putin believes he's winning the war. The Russian army is moving forward like it or not. He believes that he can outlast the West, that the West is weak." Russia is using a strategy similar to the one used in World War Two - one of "meat assault" - which involves flooding the front line with overwhelming numbers, Dr Hall added. The strategy comes straight out of the playbook of his bloodthirsty Soviet predecessors, like Stalin, who believed in sending "ten men to every rifle" - meaning "you pick up the rifle of a fall soldier. You keep going, you get shot. You're next. Your buddy picks up your rifle." In time, the Soviet army would eventually breach their enemy's frontline. And because the Russian people "know how to suffer", it's easy for Putin to send them to the meat grinder, Dr Hall adds. In many countries, the loss of a million young men and women could cause a breakdown in civil society, but Russians are kept placid because the Kremlin lies to them, according to Dr Hall. He said: "They're simply not going to be told, especially in the poorer areas where Russia is recruiting - like Buryatia and Bashkortostan and elsewhere." It comes as Washington puts pressure on Kyiv and Moscow to bring about an end to the conflict, but Dr Hall says he thinks they're unlikely to build any lasting peace any time soon. Even in the event that Ukraine does concede some of its sovereign territory, Putin will not agree because he feels he's on a sacred mission to defend the motherland against the West. Dr Hall said: 'Putin has been very clear. They're not fighting Ukraine. Ukraine is the battleground. They're fighting the West.' "Ukraine has been forced to fight a war with two hands tied behind its back — a war that NATO would never fight." Putin hopes Ukraine will simply accept whatever Russia offers. This is because Russia is going to keep feeding the war machine with its citizens, and the West is becoming less invested in it. Just yesterday, more than 1,140 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded, which shows just how comfortable the warlord is with sacrificing his own troops. According to the Ukraine's General Staff, the lives of 1,000,340 Russian personnel have been lost since February 2022. As well as the dead, this number also includes those so seriously wounded they could not return to fight.
