Latest news with #JosephStalin
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This German town wants to lure new residents with free accommodation
A town in eastern Germany is offering two weeks free accommodation to encourage people to relocate there in a bid to boost its population. Eisenhüttenstadt, which sits on the border with Poland around 60 miles from the German capital Berlin, is offering a 14-day trial stay for potential new residents, according to a statement from the local council on May 13. 'The project is aimed at anyone interested in moving to Eisenhüttenstadt—such as commuters, those interested in returning to the town, skilled workers, or self-employed individuals seeking a change of scenery,' it said, with applications open until the beginning of July. Selected participants will live for free in a furnished apartment from September 6-20 as part of an 'innovative immigration project' named 'Make Plans Now,' said the council. They 'will have the opportunity to get to know the life, work and community of (Eisenhüttenstadt) in a 14-day living trial — for free and in the middle of the town,' reads the statement. In order to help participants get a feel for the town, the council will lay on a number of activities including a tour, a factory tour and various outings. The council will also encourage participants to stay permanently, with local businesses offering internships, job shadowing and interview opportunities. Founded in 1950, Eisenhüttenstadt, which can be translated as Steel Mill Town, was the first fully planned town built under the socialist government of the former East Germany. Sitting on the banks of the Oder River, socialist planners built the town around a huge steelworks. Previously known as Stalinstadt, or Stalin Town, after former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, it was renamed after East and West Germany reunified following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Like many towns and cities in the former East Germany, it has seen its population decline since reunification, from a peak of more than 50,000 to the current level of around 24,000, local official Julia Basan told local media outlet RBB24. The scheme aims to attract more permanent residents, particularly skilled workers, said Basan. Today, Eisenhüttenstadt is home to the largest integrated steelworks in eastern Germany, which employs 2,500 people, as well as being a hub for metals processing. Many of the socialist-era buildings are listed as historical monuments and the openness of the town's layout is striking, attracting visitors interested in architecture. One recent new arrival said that the architecture was responsible for his decision to move to the town. It was 'a complete coincidence,' the man said in a video posted on the town hall Instagram account. 'We were travelling to Ratzdorf with friends and drove through Karl-Marx-Straße. And I saw these houses, this architecture that completely blew me away and I said to my wife, 'I'm going to move here,'' he said. The man later organized a tour of the town with a local historian to learn more. 'After the tour we were so blown away by this architecture, that was actually the trigger,' he said.
CNN
29-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
This German town wants to lure new residents with free accommodation
A town in eastern Germany is offering two weeks free accommodation to encourage people to relocate there in a bid to boost its population. Eisenhüttenstadt, which sits on the border with Poland around 60 miles from the German capital Berlin, is offering a 14-day trial stay for potential new residents, according to a statement from the local council on May 13. 'The project is aimed at anyone interested in moving to Eisenhüttenstadt—such as commuters, those interested in returning to the town, skilled workers, or self-employed individuals seeking a change of scenery,' it said, with applications open until the beginning of July. Selected participants will live for free in a furnished apartment from September 6-20 as part of an 'innovative immigration project' named 'Make Plans Now,' said the council. They 'will have the opportunity to get to know the life, work and community of (Eisenhüttenstadt) in a 14-day living trial — for free and in the middle of the town,' reads the statement. In order to help participants get a feel for the town, the council will lay on a number of activities including a tour, a factory tour and various outings. The council will also encourage participants to stay permanently, with local businesses offering internships, job shadowing and interview opportunities. Founded in 1950, Eisenhüttenstadt, which can be translated as Steel Mill Town, was the first fully planned town built under the socialist government of the former East Germany. Sitting on the banks of the Oder River, socialist planners built the town around a huge steelworks. Previously known as Stalinstadt, or Stalin Town, after former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, it was renamed after East and West Germany reunified following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Like many towns and cities in the former East Germany, it has seen its population decline since reunification, from a peak of more than 50,000 to the current level of around 24,000, local official Julia Basan told local media outlet RBB24. The scheme aims to attract more permanent residents, particularly skilled workers, said Basan. Today, Eisenhüttenstadt is home to the largest integrated steelworks in eastern Germany, which employs 2,500 people, as well as being a hub for metals processing. Many of the socialist-era buildings are listed as historical monuments and the openness of the town's layout is striking, attracting visitors interested in architecture. One recent new arrival said that the architecture was responsible for his decision to move to the town. It was 'a complete coincidence,' the man said in a video posted on the town hall Instagram account. 'We were travelling to Ratzdorf with friends and drove through Karl-Marx-Straße. And I saw these houses, this architecture that completely blew me away and I said to my wife, 'I'm going to move here,'' he said. The man later organized a tour of the town with a local historian to learn more. 'After the tour we were so blown away by this architecture, that was actually the trigger,' he said.
CNN
29-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
This German town wants to lure new residents with free accommodation
A town in eastern Germany is offering two weeks free accommodation to encourage people to relocate there in a bid to boost its population. Eisenhüttenstadt, which sits on the border with Poland around 60 miles from the German capital Berlin, is offering a 14-day trial stay for potential new residents, according to a statement from the local council on May 13. 'The project is aimed at anyone interested in moving to Eisenhüttenstadt—such as commuters, those interested in returning to the town, skilled workers, or self-employed individuals seeking a change of scenery,' it said, with applications open until the beginning of July. Selected participants will live for free in a furnished apartment from September 6-20 as part of an 'innovative immigration project' named 'Make Plans Now,' said the council. They 'will have the opportunity to get to know the life, work and community of (Eisenhüttenstadt) in a 14-day living trial — for free and in the middle of the town,' reads the statement. In order to help participants get a feel for the town, the council will lay on a number of activities including a tour, a factory tour and various outings. The council will also encourage participants to stay permanently, with local businesses offering internships, job shadowing and interview opportunities. Founded in 1950, Eisenhüttenstadt, which can be translated as Steel Mill Town, was the first fully planned town built under the socialist government of the former East Germany. Sitting on the banks of the Oder River, socialist planners built the town around a huge steelworks. Previously known as Stalinstadt, or Stalin Town, after former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, it was renamed after East and West Germany reunified following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Like many towns and cities in the former East Germany, it has seen its population decline since reunification, from a peak of more than 50,000 to the current level of around 24,000, local official Julia Basan told local media outlet RBB24. The scheme aims to attract more permanent residents, particularly skilled workers, said Basan. Today, Eisenhüttenstadt is home to the largest integrated steelworks in eastern Germany, which employs 2,500 people, as well as being a hub for metals processing. Many of the socialist-era buildings are listed as historical monuments and the openness of the town's layout is striking, attracting visitors interested in architecture. One recent new arrival said that the architecture was responsible for his decision to move to the town. It was 'a complete coincidence,' the man said in a video posted on the town hall Instagram account. 'We were travelling to Ratzdorf with friends and drove through Karl-Marx-Straße. And I saw these houses, this architecture that completely blew me away and I said to my wife, 'I'm going to move here,'' he said. The man later organized a tour of the town with a local historian to learn more. 'After the tour we were so blown away by this architecture, that was actually the trigger,' he said.
Toronto Sun
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Moscow installs replica of historical Stalin monument in metro
President Vladimir Putin has said he has mixed feelings about Stalin Published May 22, 2025 • 1 minute read Commuters pause walking past the newly unveiled high relief depicting Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in a passage at Taganskaya metro station in Moscow on May 15, 2025. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images) Moscow's famed metro system has unveiled a Soviet-era monument to Josef Stalin in one of its central stations, as part of a gradual reappraisal of the dictator's legacy in Russia. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The life-sized wall sculpture in the Taganskaya metro station is called 'Gratitude of the People to the Leader-Commander' and dedicated to the victory in the Second World War, according to a statement from the transportation system. It depicts Stalin surrounded by a crowd of adoring civilians. The work is a replica of the original that was at the station through 1996, but lost during the construction of a transfer between metro lines. The architects recreated the monument based on archival photographs and drawings. Commuters pause walking past the newly unveiled high relief depicting Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in a passage at Taganskaya metro station in Moscow on May 15, 2025. Stalin, who led the country during World War II, presided over an era of mass repression where almost 2 million people are estimated to have died in the Gulag system, a network of forced labor camps. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has mixed feelings about Stalin, telling American film director Oliver Stone in a 2017 interview that he was a 'complex figure,' according to the state-run Ria Novosti news agency. When asked if he admired the former war-era leader, Putin responded 'of course,' but also said during the interview that 'this does not mean that we should forget all the horrors of Stalinism, connected with concentration camps and the extermination of millions of our compatriots.' Sunshine Girls Columnists Sunshine Girls World Sports
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Contributor: Does American soft power have a future?
Power is the ability to get others to do what you want. That can be accomplished by coercion ('sticks'), payment ('carrots') or attraction ('honey'). The first two methods are forms of hard power; attraction is soft power. Soft power grows out of a country's culture, its political values and its foreign policies. In the short term, hard power usually trumps soft power. But over the long term, soft power often prevails. Joseph Stalin once mockingly asked, 'How many divisions does the pope have?' But the papacy continues today, while Stalin's Soviet Union is long gone. When a nation is attractive, it can economize on carrots and sticks. If allies see the United States as benign and trustworthy, they are more likely to be open to persuasion and to following our lead. If they see us as an unreliable bully, they are more likely to drag their feet and reduce their interdependence when they can. Cold War Europe is a good example. A Norwegian historian described Europe as divided into a Soviet and an American empire. But there was a crucial difference: The American side was 'an empire by invitation' rather than coercion. The Soviets had to deploy troops to Budapest in 1956, and to Prague in 1968. In contrast, NATO has voluntarily increased its membership. Read more: Calmes: The 'USA' brand was 250 years in the making. It took just 100 days to trash it Nations need both hard and soft power. Machiavelli said it was better for a prince to be feared than to be loved. But it is best to be both. Because soft power is rarely sufficient by itself, and because its effects take longer to realize, political leaders are often tempted to resort to the hard power of coercion or payment. When wielded alone, however, hard power is an unnecessarily high-cost proposition. The Berlin Wall did not succumb to an artillery barrage; it was felled by hammers and bulldozers wielded by people who had lost faith in communism and were drawn to Western values. After World War II, the United States was by far the most powerful country because of its hard and soft power. It attempted to enshrine its values in what became known as the liberal international order — a soft power framework made up of the United Nations, economic and trade institutions, and other multilateral bodies. Of course, the U.S. did not always live up to its liberal values, and Cold War bipolarity limited the order it led to only half the world's people. Donald Trump is the first American president to reject the idea that soft power has any value in foreign policy. Among his first actions upon returning to office were withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, despite the obvious threats that global warming and pandemics pose. Read more: Contributor: Trump's ever-widening sadism will undermine his movement The effects of the Trump administration's surrendering soft power are all too predictable. Trying to coerce democratic allies such as Denmark or Canada weakens trust in the U.S. among all our alliances. Threatening Panama reawakens fears of imperialism throughout Latin America. Crippling the U.S. Agency for International Development — created by President Kennedy in 1961 — undercuts our reputation for benevolence. Silencing Voice of America is a gift to authoritarian rivals. Slapping tariffs on friends makes us appear unreliable. Trying to chill free speech at home undermines our credibility. This list could go on. China, which Trump defines as America's great challenge, itself has been investing in soft power since 2007, when then-Chinese President Hu Jintao told the Chinese Communist Party that the country needed to make itself more attractive to others. But China has long faced two major obstacles in this respect. First, it maintains territorial disputes with multiple neighbors. Second, the communists insist on maintaining tight control over civil society. When public opinion polls ask people around the world which countries they find attractive, China doesn't shine. But one can only wonder what these surveys will show in future years if Trump keeps undercutting American soft power. Of course American soft power has had its ups and downs. The U.S. was unpopular in many countries during the Vietnam and Iraq wars. But soft power derives from a country's society and culture as well as from government actions. When crowds marched through streets around the world in freedom protests, they sang the American civil rights anthem 'We Shall Overcome.' An open society that allows protest can be a soft-power asset. But will America's cultural soft power survive a downturn in the government's soft power over the next four years? Read more: Column: The inescapable answer to America's problems? Fix Congress American democracy is likely to survive the next four years of Trump. The country has a resilient political culture and the Constitution encourages checks and balances, whatever their weaknesses. In 2026, there is a reasonable chance that Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives. Moreover, American civil society remains strong, and the courts independent. Many organizations have launched lawsuits to challenge Trump's actions, and markets have signaled dissatisfaction with his economic policies. American soft power recovered after low points during the Vietnam and Iraq wars, as well as during Trump's first term. But once trust is lost, it is not easily restored. After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia lost most of what soft power it had. Right now, China is striving to fill any soft power gaps that Trump creates. The way Chinese President Xi Jinping tells it, the East is rising over the West. If Trump thinks he can compete with China while weakening trust among American allies, asserting imperial aspirations, destroying USAID, silencing Voice of America, challenging laws at home and withdrawing from U.N. agencies, he is likely to fail. Restoring what he has destroyed will not be impossible, but it will be costly. Joseph S. Nye Jr. was dean of the Harvard Kennedy School and a U.S. assistant secretary of Defense. His memoir "A Life in the American Century" was published last year. Nye died earlier this month. If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
