Author Archives: ryandellinger

The Chernobyl disaster was part human error, part mechanical failure. However, given those facts, it surprises me that Japan was allowed to build nuclear power plants and not be adequately prepared for a tsunami, which caused the Fukushima disaster. … Continue reading →

Why was everything the Americans said fabricated? I don’t understand entirely how the Russians blamed the United States for anything every chance they got. I understand that the Cold War was tense at the time, and this was to be expected, but surely they had to concede truth at some point… Continue reading →

Curious that the Russians would blacklist entire bands instead of individual songs… Not all of AC/DC is violence and neofascism, and not all of Tina Turner’s songs are about sex. I wonder if this is still an attempt to control what people listen to but in a roundabout, indirect manner. Continue reading →

Sometimes I wonder what people were thinking at the time, especially the Russian political leaders. It only seems logical that with the increased flow of Western goods into the bloc that the people would soon crave democracy and communism would fall. … Continue reading →

It surprises me that the Russians did not learn from the American Prohibition. Americans brewed their own alcohol at home, organized crime rose, etc. It seems like there needs to be a grassroots temperance movement, instead of outlawing alcohol, in order to get people to stop drinking. Convince people drinking is bad, they’ll stop. Take their alcohol away, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it. Continue reading →

Given the effects of the explosion, both immediate and long term, which did more damage overall, the Japanese bombings, or the Chernobyl accident? One could argue that the Japanese bombings killed equally as much if not much more than Chernobyl did, but Hiroshima and Nagasaki are habitable and their bombings brought about the end of WWII and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. However, the Chernobyl disaster killed less, but the land is still irradiated and dangerous, and the disaster struck an enormous blow to Gorbachev’s credibility, which was already weak, and contributed to the ultimate downfall of the Soviet Union. So the question remains… did the Chernobyl disaster or the bombings of Japan do more damage? Continue reading →

Given the effects of the explosion, both immediate and long term, which did more damage overall, the Japanese bombings, or the Chernobyl accident? One could argue that the Japanese bombings killed equally as much if not much more than Chernobyl did, but Hiroshima and Nagasaki are habitable and their bombings brought about the end of WWII and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. However, the Chernobyl disaster killed less, but the land is still irradiated and dangerous, and the disaster struck an enormous blow to Gorbachev’s credibility, which was already weak, and contributed to the ultimate downfall of the Soviet Union. So the question remains… did the Chernobyl disaster or the bombings of Japan do more damage? Continue reading →

I wonder why, despite their efforts to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed, they still have a reputation to be heavy drinkers. Is it the fault of the few? Or could it be a long standing stereotype that would be impossible to trace the origins of? The fact that four prior attempts at sobriety failed probably doesn’t help their case any… Continue reading →

I find it especially interesting to find pictures of what life used to be prior to the accident, especially the image of the abandoned amusement park in Pripyiat. Unrelated but amazing to me nonetheless is the fact that the reactor was only just recently resealed. Why had it taken so long to get people in to build a new housing over it? How weren’t there people outraged at the further contamination that was just allowed to spread? Personally, I understand that the area is already highly contaminated, so a bit more won’t make much difference, but still. How long was this extra radiation allowed to leak? Continue reading →