The diaries of the journalist who helped expose the Soviet Terror Famine in the Ukraine are now on display in Cambridge.  At the time of his writings he was denounced as a liar by Soviet sympathizers including Walter Duranty of the New York Times.  Had he not died in suspicious circumstances he would no doubt [...]

Audio of the entire speech available here. Unlike Obama speeches it is full of interesting and perspicacious observations. Made, remember, just over two years before the Wall came down this speech discusses peace, freedom, security, fortitude, hope: each made specific by the context. It still never fails to send tingles up my spine.

Freedom:

In West Germany [...]

1992, Mean Real Gross Income in Euros:
West Germany: 26,408
East Germany: 15,928
Source: 20 Years of German Unification: Evidence on Income Convergence and Heterogeneity by Tilman Brück & Heiko Peters
Meanwhile, income inequality across Germany as a whole actually decreased after reunification because of Easterners getting richer:
While income inequality in West Germany has generally not altered in an [...]

I was just browsing the Tate website (I’m a frequent visitor to the London galleries) when I came across this (highlighting mine):

Generation Berlin Wall
Escape from the Real
Iron Curtains and Dark Fantasies
Saturday 7 November 2009, 19.00
In Escape from the Real, the tense condition of a capitalised and militarised world on one side and the repressive atmosphere of [...]