io9: ussr

Abandoned Ruins of the Soviet Empire

Lauren Davis — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:45:00 PST

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many Soviet bases and monuments were left to crumble, never repurposed or reused. These memorials to the USSR stretch across Eastern Europe and Asia, a more global view of a modern nation's ruins.

Eric Lusito took these images and more for his book After the Wall - Traces of the Soviet Empire.

[After the Wall via Nerdcore]

Mig-21, Mongolia
Area 120, Mongolia. Military building constructed 1982. The slogan reads: Glory to Communist Party of Soviet Union.
Area 3D, Kazakhstan. Built in in 1956 as a ground station to track Sputnik, the first manned satellite.
During the Soviet era, many military personnel, support staff and their families were stationed in and around Choibalsan, Mongolia.
Base situated close to the northern edge of the Gobi desert, Mongolia.
The oath of allegiance of the Soviet soldier, Germany.
‘To our Motherand'. Soviet Navy base, Latvia.
‘Victory starts here!'. Sports hall, Latvia.

This Could Have Been Our Future

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:45:00 PDT

Imagine spending months locked in this Latvian bomb shelter. The banner reads "Without Communciations, There Is No Authority. Without Authority, There Is No Victory!" The shelter, now a museum, has a nuclear-blast-absorbing wall and a huge facility for filtering radiation.

Not that all that equipment you're seeing in the top photo is for communication with the outside world, of course. The shelter in Ligatne, Latvia, has separate rooms for the KGB, and they include direct phone lines to Moscow but also rows and rows of gray electronic devices that allow you to listen in on conversations taking place anywhere in the shelter. So even once you were entombed in the ground, hiding from an uninhabitable world, you still would have been under the thumb of the surveillance state at all times.

Somehow that single vase with its drooping flowers is the saddest thing of all.

My favorite part: the huge, monstrous facility only had enough food and supplies to last three months, meaning after months of claustrophobic repression, you still would have had to venture out into an atomic wasteland. Images by AP.

Soviets Lost Cold War, Won Pulp Scifi Sweepstakes

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:26:00 PDT

In the heady days before Sputnik, the Soviet Union was bursting with enthusiasm for space travel and the conquest of big-headed aliens with tentacles coming off their faces. Dark Roasted Blend has posted a gallery of pulpy Soviet scifi art that's full of speed lines, light rays, spaceships, giant robots and killer aliens. Click through for our favorite Soviet futuristic art blasts.

[Dark Roasted Blend]

Happy Soviets Dance on the Moon, 1961

Lynn Peril — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:08:38 PDT

Three cartoon cosmonauts (one of them a woman) celebrate their lunar landing in this Soviet-era postcard. The fact that the Russkis have yet to walk on the moon makes it all the more adorable. Click through for a closer look.

You can view more Soviet graphics pertaining to lunar conquest here, including a swell bunch of xmas cards.

Nuclear Missiles Are Rock Stars In Moscow

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:40:23 PDT

Russians prepare to parade nuclear missiles through Red Square as part of the annual Victory Day celebrations. The procession of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, a scary Cold War tradition, ended after the Soviet Union fell, but now Russia is reviving it. Call it apocalyptic retro-futurist nostalgia. Or maybe just overcompensation. Either way, Russians will be screaming and maybe throwing their underwear at these shiny gray WMDs. A gallery of weapon-porn, after the jump.

Image from Getty Images