Czechoslovakia
The Symbol of “Velvet Revolution” Died (VIDEO)
December 19, 2011By Diana Ungureanu/ Chisinau / Moldova.ORG/ -- Vaclav Havel, who was a fierce fighter against communism and left behind a free and developed Czech, left the European democracy orphan on the dawn of December 18. Moral principles on which he turned his...
No room for passivity in fight for free media
June 03, 2011At celebrations last night marking the 60th anniversary of RFE's broadcasts to Czechoslovakia, an expert panel discussed the role of a free media in promoting democracy and civil society around the world today. "From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg, from...
Lithuanian ex-president: Communism was never defeated (interview)
March 04, 2010In 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to proclaim independence, paving the way for the Soviet Union's collapse. Twenty years later, however, the Baltic state is still grappling with its communist legacy. Its first postcommunist head of...
Moldova keeps fighting for attention
November 11, 2009By Vlad Spânu The Republic of Moldova surprised many in April when youths took control of Chisinau’s main square, Piata Marii Adunari Nationale (or "PMAN", which became one of the most "wanted" words on Twitter during...
Berlin Wall's Lessons for Today
November 05, 2009Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin writes in today's USA Today about the vital need for "trustworthy information" in repressive societies By Jeffrey Gedmin First as a college student, then as a...
Vaclav Havel on U.S. relations with Central Europe
October 21, 2009As U.S. Vice President Joe Biden travels through Central Europe, Vaclav Havel was up front in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL about what he expects to hear when Biden visits Prague on Friday - a clear vision of American foreign policy in the region...
Molotov-Ribbentrop and Munich Not Equivalent Then or Now
September 02, 2009By Paul Goble Efforts by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials and commentators to justify the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Stalin’s ill-fated alliance with Hitler because of what British and French leaders had done in Munich...
23 August: The Night Stalin And Hitler Redrew The Map Of Europe
August 21, 2009By Robert Coalson A world slipping ever closer toward war awoke on the morning of August 24, 1939 to the shocking news that Adolf Hitler's Germany and Josef Stalin's Soviet Union had signed a nonaggression pact. Hitler was beaming when his foreign...
Molotov-Ribbentrop: Different Wikipedias Tell Different Stories
August 21, 2009By Robert Coalson It is the Internet age’s reference of first resort -- the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Millions of people every day turn to it to get “just the facts” on everything from beekeeping to the battle of Austerlitz...