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The Dark Side of Sochi Olympics by Vasily Slonov

“Exactly one year before the long awaited Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin went to Sochi personally to see how the construction is going. After receiving a report saying the ski jumps that were supposed to be ready in 2011, are not completed still, while their price has sky-rocketed from 1.2 billion to 8 billion roubles, he commented, “Good for you. Good job”, and then fired the vice president of the Olympic committee. Russian artist Vasily Slonov painted his view of the upcoming games, giving a new interpretation to the adored Russian mascot Cheburashka, and combining officially endorsed stereotypes of Russia with grimmer and less accepted ones”. – Ruskie.info. (Photo by Vasily Slonov)
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07 Jun 2013 10:24:00
Members of security forces secure Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, November 11, 2016. Egypt imposed a big security clampdown in its cities on Friday as mass demonstrations called to protest against austerity measures failed to take place. Riot police and armored vehicles filled the otherwise empty streets of central Cairo, but most people stayed at home. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged Egyptians not to protest and warned that there would be no going back on economic reforms, no matter how much pain they might cause. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

Members of security forces secure Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, November 11, 2016. Egypt imposed a big security clampdown in its cities on Friday as mass demonstrations called to protest against austerity measures failed to take place. Riot police and armored vehicles filled the otherwise empty streets of central Cairo, but most people stayed at home. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
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12 Nov 2016 10:06:00
An African migrant stranded in Costa Rica bathes at a makeshift camp at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in Penas Blancas, Costa Rica, July 14, 2016. (Photo by Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters)

An African migrant stranded in Costa Rica bathes at a makeshift camp at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in Penas Blancas, Costa Rica, July 14, 2016. Thousands of African migrants are currently stranded in Costa Rica after they were denied entry into neighbouring Nicaragua, which they have been using as a crossing point in order to reach the United States. According to the Costa Rican Red Cross, most of these people from Africa, Asia and Haiti. It has been reported that many of them paid smugglers to reach Central America. However, when they arrived at the border gates, they were denied entry and were left with nowhere to go. (Photo by Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters)
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16 Jul 2016 08:17:00
In this Wednesday, November 11, 2015 photo, one of the giant mechanical sharks that starred in the movie “Jaws” is seen at Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, also known as U Pick Parts, in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, November 11, 2015 photo, one of the giant mechanical sharks that starred in the movie “Jaws” is seen at Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, also known as U Pick Parts, in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles. It's not just a junkyard or even a really big junkyard, but a living, breathing monument to Los Angeles pop culture. But the family business is closing on New Year's Eve, and everything must go by then, the cars, the shark, the arches, even the giant car-crushing machine. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)
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25 Dec 2015 08:00:00
A fish jumps over a net as a boy works in a fish farm at Htantapin township, outside Yangon, Myanmar February 18, 2016. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

A fish jumps over a net as a boy works in a fish farm at Htantapin township, outside Yangon, Myanmar February 18, 2016. One in five children in Myanmar aged 10-17 go to work instead of school, according to figures from a census report on employment published last month, and the opening up of the economy since 2011 has triggered a spike in demand for labour. Many children work in fish farming and processing. At Yangon's San Pya fish market, the country's largest, girls and boys as young as nine clean and process fish and unload boats and trucks during 12-hour overnight shifts. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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20 Apr 2016 12:18:00
Afghan boys ride on donkey cart transporting plastic bottles for recycling, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on 16 September 2020. Nearly 19 years after the fall of the Taliban regime and the United States invasion, the Afghan government and insurgents on 12 September, began peace negotiations in Doha. Unlike the Taliban team, the 21-member negotiating group sent by Kabul includes four women, who – among other things – will look to safeguard the progress on women's rights since the fall of the Taliban regime that had prevented girls from going to schools and confined women to their homes. (Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA/EFE)

Afghan boys ride on donkey cart transporting plastic bottles for recycling, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, on 16 September 2020. Nearly 19 years after the fall of the Taliban regime and the United States invasion, the Afghan government and insurgents on 12 September, began peace negotiations in Doha. (Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA/EFE)
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14 Oct 2020 00:01:00
A Thai performer puts his head inside a crocodile's mouth during a media preview performance as part of preparation to reopen Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, 19 March 2024. Thailand's famous tourist attraction Samutprakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo is scheduled to reopen to welcome tourists on 01 April 2024 after a temporary closure in 2020 due to the loss of visitors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in the zoo suffering financial loss and going into liquidation. The Samutprakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo established in 1950 claims to be Thailand's first and the world's largest crocodile farm with more than 60,000 freshwater and marine crocodiles offering crocodile shows to attract tourists as well as housing various other animal showcases including tigers, chimpanzees, elephants. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

A Thai performer puts his head inside a crocodile's mouth during a media preview performance as part of preparation to reopen Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, 19 March 2024. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)
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06 Apr 2024 04:17:00
1924:  Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lying in state in the Kremlin

Photo: Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 – 1924) lying in state in the Kremlin. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1924

Important! For the same article in Russian language click here.

Something quite intriguing is happening within Russian-speaking internet during the last few – should you type a fully academic inquiry (at least, according to Russian academic requirements) in national search engines for "Lenin's mausoleum" – the first thing you get (even in top 10 searches) is website pages talking about black magic and occult. Website authors view this construction differently, but unconditionally agree on one thing: the mausoleum of the "leader of the world proletariat” – the essence of a magical artifact, a sort of “energy vampire”. It was built with a certain purpose: to drain the energy out of miserable Soviet citizens on one hand; and to poison the anthroposphere of one-sixth part of the earth with its vibes (the exact territory that was occupied by the former Soviet Union), depriving the Russian people of will to resist on the other hand. Complete nonsense? No doubt. Nevertheless, an intriguing one. Well, probably because some oddities do exist in mausoleum's history. These oddities are the thing we are going to discuss this time. First, let me refresh you memory on the subject.
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16 Oct 2011 11:27:00