query: President of the United States Ronald Reagan publicly describe the Soviet Union as an "evil empire."

pos: Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( -LSB- ˈrɒnəld_ˈwɪlsən_ˈreɪɡən -RSB- ) ( February 6 , 1911 -- June 5 , 2004 ) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 . Before his presidency , he was the 33rd Governor of California , from 1967 to 1975 , after a career as a Hollywood actor and union leader .   Raised in a poor family in small towns of northern Illinois , Reagan graduated from Eureka College in 1932 and worked as a sports announcer on several regional radio stations . After moving to Hollywood in 1937 , he became an actor and starred in a few major productions . Reagan was twice elected President of the Screen Actors Guild , the labor union for actors , where he worked to root out Communist influence . In the 1950s , he moved into television and was a motivational speaker at General Electric factories . Having been a lifelong Democrat , his views changed . He became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party . In 1964 , Reagan 's speech , `` A Time for Choosing '' , in support of Barry Goldwater 's foundering presidential campaign , earned him national attention as a new conservative spokesman . Building a network of supporters , he was elected Governor of California in 1966 . As governor , Reagan raised taxes , turned a state budget deficit to a surplus , challenged the protesters at the University of California , ordered National Guard troops in during a period of protest movements in 1969 , and was re-elected in 1970 . He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency in 1968 and 1976 ; four years later , he easily won the nomination outright , becoming the oldest elected U.S. president up to that time , defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980 .   Entering the presidency in 1981 , Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives . His supply-side economic policies , dubbed `` Reaganomics '' , advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth , control of the money supply to curb inflation , economic deregulation , and reduction in government spending . In his first term he survived an assassination attempt , spurred the War on Drugs , and fought public sector labor . Over his two terms , the economy saw a reduction of inflation from 12.5 % to 4.4 % , and an average annual growth of real GDP of 3.4 ; while Reagan did enact cuts in domestic discretionary spending , tax cuts and increased military spending contributed to increased federal outlays overall , even after adjustment for inflation . During his re-election bid , Reagan campaigned on the notion that it was `` Morning in America '' , winning a landslide in 1984 with the largest electoral college victory in American history . Foreign affairs dominated his second term , including ending of the Cold War , the bombing of Libya , and the Iran -- Contra affair . Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an `` evil empire '' , and during his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate , President Reagan challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to `` tear down this wall ! '' . He transitioned Cold War policy from détente to rollback , by escalating an arms race with the USSR while engaging in talks with Gorbachev , which culminated in the INF Treaty , shrinking both countries ' nuclear arsenals . Reagan 's presidency came during the decline of the Soviet Union and just ten months after the end of his term , the Berlin Wall fell , and on December 26 , 1991 , nearly three years after he left office , the Soviet Union collapsed .   Leaving office in 1989 , Reagan held an approval rating of sixty-eight percent , matching those of Franklin D. Roosevelt , and later Bill Clinton , as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era . He was the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve two full terms , after a succession of five prior presidents failed to do so . While having planned an active post-presidency , in 1994 Reagan disclosed his diagnosis with Alzheimer 's disease earlier that year , appearing publicly for the last time at the funeral of Richard Nixon ; he died ten years later in 2004 at the age of 93 ; Reagan had the second-longest life out of all the presidents ; the current longest lifespan of a president is held by Gerald Ford , who died two years after Reagan . An icon among Republicans , he is viewed favorably in historian rankings of U.S. presidents , and his tenure constituted a realignment toward conservative policies in the U.S.

neg: Dictator A dictator is a political leader who wields absolute power . A state ruled by a dictator is called a dictatorship . The word originated as the title of a magistrate in the Roman Republic appointed by the Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency ( see Roman dictator and justitium ) .   Like the term `` tyrant '' ( which was originally a respectable Ancient Greek title ) , and to a lesser degree `` autocrat '' , `` dictator '' came to be used almost exclusively as a non-titular term for oppressive , even abusive rule , yet had rare modern titular use .   In modern usage , the term `` dictator '' is generally used to describe a leader who holds and/or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power , especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly . Dictatorships are often characterised by some of the following traits : suspension of elections and of civil liberties ; proclamation of a state of emergency ; rule by decree ; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures ; these include one-party state , and cult of personality .   The term `` dictator '' is comparable to but not synonymous with the ancient concept of a tyrant ; initially `` tyrant '' , like `` dictator '' , did not carry negative connotations . A wide variety of leaders coming to power in a number of different kinds of regimes , such as military juntas , one-party states and civilian governments under personal rule , have been described as dictators . They may hold left or right-wing views , or may be apolitical .

neg: The Red Decade The Red Decade is a term coined by journalist and historian Eugene Lyons to describe a period in American history in the 1930s characterized by a widespread infatuation with communism in general and Stalinism in particular . Lyons believed this idolization of Joseph Stalin and exultation of Bolshevik achievements to have reached its high point in 1938 , running deepest amongst liberals , intellectuals , and journalists and even some government and federal officials .   Lyons argues that American intellectuals gave the then-Stalinist Soviet Union ( and by extension , Stalinism ) a certain international goodwill and respectability that it did not deserve .

neg: We begin bombing in five minutes On August 11 , 1984 , United States President Ronald Reagan , while running for re-election , was preparing to make his weekly Saturday radio address on National Public Radio . During a sound check before the address , Reagan made the following joke to the radio technicians : `` My fellow Americans , I 'm pleased to tell you today that I 've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever . We begin bombing in five minutes . '' The joke was a parody of the opening line of that day 's speech : `` My fellow Americans , I 'm pleased to tell you that today I signed legislation that will allow student religious groups to begin enjoying a right they 've too long been denied -- the freedom to meet in public high schools during nonschool hours , just as other student groups are allowed to do . ''   Contrary to popular misconception , this microphone gaffe was not broadcast over the air , but rather leaked later to the general populace . But the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported in October 1984 that the Soviet Far East Army was placed on alert after word of the statement got out and that the alert was not withdrawn until 30 minutes later . An unnamed aide to US Representative Michael Barnes ( D-Md . ) confirmed that the Pentagon was aware of the alert . There was no report of any change in the DEFCON level for the United States . The Soviet reaction , and mild confusion it created , was covered by NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw .   This was not the first time Reagan had joked before giving a speech or address . The Soviet official news agency , TASS , condemned the joke , declaring that `` The USSR condemns this unprecedented and hostile attack by the US President '' and that `` this kind of behavior is incompatible with the great responsibility borne by heads of nuclear states for the destinies of their own people and mankind '' .

neg: Axis of evil The term axis of evil was used by U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on January 29 , 2002 , and often repeated throughout his presidency , to describe governments that his administration accused of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction . Iran , Iraq , and North Korea were portrayed by Bush during the State of the Union as building nuclear weapons . The notion of such an axis was used to pinpoint these common enemies of the United States and rally the American populace in support of the War on Terror .

neg: Origins of the Cold War The Origins of the Cold War are widely regarded to lie most directly in the relations between the Soviet Union and the allies ( the United States , Great Britain and France ) in the years 1945 -- 1947 . Those events led to the Cold War that endured for just under half a century .   Events preceding the Second World War , and even the Russian Revolution of 1917 , underlay pre -- World War II tensions between the Soviet Union , western European countries and the United States . A series of events during and after World War II exacerbated tensions , including the Soviet-German pact during the first two years of the war leading to subsequent invasions , the perceived delay of an amphibious invasion of German-occupied Europe , the western allies ' support of the Atlantic Charter , disagreement in wartime conferences over the fate of Eastern Europe , the Soviets ' creation of an Eastern Bloc of Soviet satellite states , western allies scrapping the Morgenthau Plan to support the rebuilding of German industry , and the Marshall Plan .

neg: Mutual Defense Assistance Act The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949 . For US Foreign policy , it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era , and initially to Europe . The Act followed Truman 's signing of the Economic Cooperation Act ( the Marshall Plan ) , on April 3 , 1948 , which provided non-military , economic reconstruction and development aid to Europe . The Act was reauthorized in 1950 , but in 1951 , it and the Economic Cooperation Act were succeeded by the Mutual Security Act , and its newly created independent agency , the Mutual Security Administration , to supervise all foreign aid programs , including both military assistance programs and non-military , economic assistance programs that bolstered the defense capability of U.S. allies .   About the same time , the Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951 , also known or referred to as the Battle Act , ( 65 Stat . 644 ; 22 U.S.C. 1611 et seq. ) was also passed ; it banned U.S. assistance to countries doing business with the Soviet Union and was so-named after its sponsor , Representative Laurie C. Battle of Alabama . Strong motivation for this ` control ' act also came from export control concerns , following their tightening by the Export control Act of 1949 over Soviet advances ; export controls were used for both domestic policy and later as an instrument of foreign policy . This is exemplified by the restrictions on export of certain strategic or military items to the Soviet bloc or to other countries which it felt , if permitted , would be detrimental to the foreign policy program of the US . This latter motive became so strong that it brought legislation directing the President to enlist the cooperation of other nations in enacting controls on trade with the Soviet block to parallel those of the United States . The benefits of the various economic and military aid programs were to be withheld from non-cooperating nations . The act covered a wide range of materials needed for the production of weapons , and was especially focused on anything that could aid atomic weapons research and construction .   As the Cold War developed , these acts were part of the American policy of containment of Communism . They importantly provided defense assistance to any ally that might be attacked by the Soviet Union or one of its allies , while other programs provided non-military economic assistance . In Asia the programs expanded with the newly established Maoist People 's Republic of China , and other areas , with the development of specific country missions , including ones in Austria ( 1947 -- 50 ) , China ( 1946 -- 48 ) , Ireland ( 1948 -- 51 ) , and Trieste ( 1947 -- 52 ) .

neg: Iran crisis of 1946 The Iran crisis of 1946 , also known as the Iran-Azerbaijan Crisis ( Qaʾilih Âzarbâyjân , `` Azerbaijan crisis '' ) , followed the end of World War II and stemmed from the Soviet Union 's refusal to relinquish occupied Iranian territory , despite repeated assurances . In 1941 , Iran had been jointly invaded and occupied by the Allied powers of the Soviet Red Army in the north and by the British in the centre and south . Iran was used by the Americans and the British as a transportation route to provide vital supplies to the Soviet Union 's war efforts .   As of August 1941 , the United States was a neutral nation and had not yet entered as a belligerent in World War II . Therefore , the bloc known as ` The Allies ' were principally ( with Poland and France occupied by Germany in 1939 and 1940 , respectively ) the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union , recently forming their alliance after the German invasion of territories of the Western Soviet Union in June 1941 . In the aftermath of the occupation of Iran , those Allied forces agreed to withdraw from Iran within six months after the cessation of hostilities . However , when this deadline came in early 1946 , the Soviets , under Joseph Stalin , remained in Iran and local pro-Soviet Iranians proclaimed a separatist People 's Republic of Azerbaijan .   In late 1945 , in addition to the People 's Republic of Azerbaijan , the Republic of Mahabad also came into existence . Soon , the alliance of the Kurdish and People 's Azerbaijani forces , supported in arms and training by the Soviet Union , engaged in fighting with Iranian forces , resulting in a total of 2,000 casualties . Negotiation by Iranian premier Ahmad Qavam and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets by the United States eventually led to Soviet withdrawal . The crisis is seen as one of the early conflicts in the growing Cold War at the time .

neg: Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ; -LSB- Содружество Независимых Государств , СНГ , r = Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv , SNG -RSB- ) , also called the Russian Commonwealth ( to distinguish it from the British Commonwealth of Nations ) , is a regional organization formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union . Nine out of the 15 former Soviet Republics are member states , and two are associate members ( Ukraine and Turkmenistan ) . Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008 , while the Baltic states , which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation , ( Estonia , Lithuania and Latvia ) chose not to participate .   The CIS has few supranational powers but aims to be more than a purely symbolic organization , nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realms of trade , finance , lawmaking , and security . It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention . Furthermore , eight of the nine CIS member states participate in the CIS Free Trade Area . Three organizations are under the overview of the CIS , namely the Collective Security Treaty Organization , the Eurasian Economic Union ( alongside subdivisions , the Eurasian Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Space , which comprises territory inhabited by over 180 million people ) , and the Union State . While the first and the second are military and economic alliances , the third aims to reach a confederation of Russia and Belarus with a common government , flag , currency , etc. .

neg: Un-American Un-American is a pejorative term of U.S. political discourse which is applied to ideas , people or institutions in the United States seen as deviating from what are widely perceived to be fundamental American cultural and political values .   The most famous use is in the title of the House Un-American Activities Committee which was started to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens , public employees , and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties . By 1959 , former President Harry S. Truman had denounced the Committee as the `` most un-American thing in the country today '' . The Committee lost considerable prestige as the 1960s progressed , and it was abolished by the House of Representatives in 1975 .   The use and meaning of the term is by no means uniform in the US . Due in part to these historical associations with political abuses and jingoism , the attitudes of Americans toward the pejorative use of `` Un-American '' are often critical or suspicious . Moreover , Americans may vary widely in what they believe to be un-American .

neg: Surrender of Japan The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2 , 1945 , bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close . By the end of July 1945 , the Imperial Japanese Navy ( IJN ) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent . Together with the British Empire and China , the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26 , 1945 -- the alternative being `` prompt and utter destruction '' . While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end , Japan 's leaders ( the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War , also known as the `` Big Six '' ) were privately making entreaties to the still-neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese . Meanwhile , the Soviets were preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea ( in addition to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands ) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the United States and the United Kingdom at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences .   On August 6 , 1945 , at 8:15 AM local time , the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima . Sixteen hours later , American President Harry S. Truman called again for Japan 's surrender , warning them to `` expect a rain of ruin from the air , the like of which has never been seen on this earth . '' Late in the evening of August 8 , 1945 , in accordance with the Yalta agreements , but in violation of the Soviet -- Japanese Neutrality Pact , the Soviet Union declared war on Japan , and soon after midnight on August 9 , 1945 , the Soviet Union invaded the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo . Later in the day , the United States dropped a second atomic bomb , this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki . Following these events , Emperor Hirohito intervened and ordered the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration for ending the war . After several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and a failed coup d'état , Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on August 15 . In the radio address , called the , he announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies .   On August 28 , the occupation of Japan by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers began . The surrender ceremony was held on September 2 , aboard the United States Navy battleship , at which officials from the Japanese government signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender , thereby ending the hostilities . Allied civilians and military personnel alike celebrated V-J Day , the end of the war ; however , some isolated soldiers and personnel from Imperial Japan 's far-flung forces throughout Asia and the Pacific islands refused to surrender for months and years afterwards , some even refusing into the 1970s . The role of the atomic bombings in Japan 's unconditional surrender , and the ethics of the two attacks , is still debated . The state of war formally ended when the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on April 28 , 1952 . Four more years passed before Japan and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet -- Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which formally brought an end to their state of war .

neg: German–Soviet Axis talks In October and November 1940 , German -- Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union 's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power in World War II . The negotiations , which occurred during the era of the Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact and the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement , included a two-day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov , Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop , followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements . After two days of negotiations from 12 to 14 November 1940 , Germany presented the Soviets with a draft written Axis pact agreement defining the world spheres of influence of the four proposed Axis powers ( Japan , Germany , Soviet Union , Italy ) . Hitler , Ribbentrop and Molotov tried to set German and Soviet spheres of influence ; Hitler encouraged Molotov to look south to Iran and eventually India while preserving German access to Finland 's resources , and to remove Soviet influence in the Balkans . Molotov remained firm , seeking to remove German troops from Finland and gain a warm water port in the Balkans . Soviet foreign policy calculations were predicated by the idea that the war would be a long - term struggle and therefore German claims that Britain would be defeated swiftly were treated with scepticism . In addition Stalin sought to remain influential in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia . These factors resulted in Molotov taking a firm line . According to a Columbia University academical source , on 25 November 1940 , the Soviets presented a Stalin-drafted written counterproposal where they would accept the four power pact , but it included Soviet rights to Bulgaria and a world sphere of influence centered on the area around modern Iraq and Iran . Germany did not respond , leaving the negotiations unresolved . Regarding the counterproposal , Hitler remarked to his top military chiefs that Stalin `` demands more and more '' , `` he 's a cold-blooded blackmailer '' and that `` a German victory has become unbearable for Russia '' so that `` she must be brought to her knees as soon as possible . '' Germany ended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941 by invading the Soviet Union .

neg: Sino-Russian relations since 1991 Diplomatic relations between the People 's Republic of China and the Russian Federation dramatically improved after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Russian Federation in 1991 . American scholar Joseph Nye argues :  With the collapse of the Soviet Union , that de facto US-China alliance ended , and a China-Russia rapprochement began . In 1992 , the two countries declared that they were pursuing a `` constructive partnership '' ; in 1996 , they progressed toward a `` strategic partnership '' ; and in 2001 , they signed a treaty of `` friendship and cooperation . ''   The two countries share a long land border which was demarcated in 1991 , and they signed a Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001 . On the eve of a 2013 state visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping , Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that the two nations were forging a special relationship .

neg: Old Bolshevik Old Bolshevik ( ста́рый большеви́к , stary bolshevik ) , also Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard , became an unofficial designation for those who were members of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917 . Many of the Old Guard were either tried and executed by the NKVD during the Great Purge of 1936 -- 38 or died under suspicious circumstances .   Vladimir Lenin expressed the opinion that what one could call the `` old party guard '' , a `` thinnest layer '' , had a `` huge , unshared prestige '' .   According to a 1972 Soviet book by D.A. Chygayev , in 1922 there were 44,148 Old Bolsheviks . Vadim Rogovin cites the statistics published by the 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party ( Bolsheviks ) , that in 1924 , of 600,000 Party members , 0.6 % joined before 1905 , 2 % joined in 1906 -- 1916 and < 9 % joined in 1917 .   Joseph Stalin removed many of the Old Bolsheviks from power during the Great Purge of the 1930s . ( The most prominent survivors in the Communist Party were Lazar Kaganovich , Vyacheslav Molotov , Kliment Voroshilov , Anastas Mikoyan , and Stalin himself . ) Some were executed for treason ; some were sent to labor camps ( the Gulag ) ; and a few , such as Alexandra Kollontai , went abroad as ambassadors , preventing them from participating in the central government . Many communist opponents of Stalin , most notably the Trotskyists , cite this fact in support of their argument that Stalin betrayed the aims of the revolution ; they believed in Permanent Revolution , while Stalin and his supporters believed in Socialism in One Country .   Various things in the Soviet Union , such as a publishing house , several steamships , motorboats , kolkhozes and settlements , gained the name Old Bolshevik .   The first prominent Old Bolshevik to die was Yakov Sverdlov in 1919 ; the last was Lazar Kaganovich in 1991 who also reached the greatest age .

neg: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Throughout the history of the Soviet Union ( 1922 -- 1991 ) , there were periods where Soviet authorities suppressed and persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents depending on State interests . Soviet Marxist-Leninism policy consistently advocated the control , suppression , and ultimately , the elimination of religious beliefs , and actively encouraged atheism in the Soviet Union . Most religions were never outlawed .   The state advocated the destruction of religion , and it officially pronounced religious beliefs to be superstitious and backward . The Communist Party destroyed churches , mosques and temples , ridiculed , harassed , incarcerated and executed religious leaders , flooded the schools and media with anti-religious teachings , and it introduced a belief system called `` scientific atheism , '' with its own rituals , promises and proselytizers . In 1925 the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the persecution . The total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range between 12-20 million .   Religious beliefs and practices persisted among the majority of the population , in the domestic and private spheres but also in the scattered public spaces allowed by a state that recognized its failure to eradicate religion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture war .

neg: 2006 Russian ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines The 2006 Russian import ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines began in late March 2006 and created a diplomatic conflict between the Republic of Moldova and Georgia on the one hand and Russia on the other . Wine trade with Russia is responsible for 80-90 % of the total wine exports in both countries .   The Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia Gennadiy Onishchenko claimed that heavy metals and pesticides had been found in Georgian and Moldovan wines and that they were falsified alcoholic products labeled as wines . The Russian Consumer Agency claimed that it had examined 21 sorts of Georgian wine sold in Moscow and concluded that 85.7 % did not comply with sanitary requirements . Pesticides were discovered in 60 % samples of Moldovan and 44 % samples of Georgian wine . However , the Moldovans claimed that no proof was provided by the Russians and that dozens of countries across the world imported Moldovan wines without any reported problems . Moldova argued that the ban amounted to economic blackmail . Seven Georgian wineries were later closed down after the government revision revealed that they had produced falsified wine .   In May 2005 , Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili stated that `` many -LSB- Georgian -RSB- wine producers exported falsified wine to Russia , because Russia is a market where you can sell even turds '' . Okruashvili thought that Russia 's decision to ban the import of Georgian wines `` was not a surprise '' for Tbilisi .   Russia accounted for 80 % of Georgian wine sales , and the ban became a `` big blow '' to the industry . Georgian producers swiftly admitted that wines were regularly faked . Prior to the ban , the Georgian government closed down several testing laboratories in Georgia , and several wineries were made to dump their product . Seven Georgian wineries were closed down after the government revision revealed that they had produced falsified wine . Production of falsified wine in Georgia for the rapidly expanding Russian market had been `` big business for the last decade '' according to the Western press .   The ban on wine imports came at a time of worsening relations between the countries . The differences involved the Rose Revolution and pro-NATO/pro-EU moves in Georgia and a divergence of the Russian and Moldovan positions regarding the future of Transnistria . A year earlier , the Russian Duma had demanded a ban on Moldovan wine imports , because Moldova was considered to pursue anti-Russian policies .   EU 's external relations commissioner , Benita Ferrero-Waldner stated that the EU was worried about what she called an `` embargo '' against Moldova , but the EU could n't take any measures since Russia was not a member of the World Trade Organization .  The president of NATO Parliamentary Assembly Pierre Lellouche also said , on May 5 , he was deeply concerned about the Russian ban on Georgian products .   From 5 May to 6 May 2006 , the Russian government also banned the import of Borjomi and Nabeglavi , two popular brands of Georgian mineral water .  The government claimed that it was a health hazard since it failed to meet water purity standards . The Georgian government responded by stating that the action was an expansion of the wine embargo and a part of a political campaign to punish the country for pro-Western policies , a claim President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia reiterated at the Conference on Common Vision for Common Neighborhood held in Vilnius , Lithuania , from May 1 to 4 , and attended also by the presidents of the three Baltic states , Poland , Ukraine , Moldova , Romania , Bulgaria and the United States Vice-President Richard Cheney .   Neither the Georgian or Moldovan wines , nor the Borjomi or Nabeglavi mineral waters had been banned nor restricted in any other country besides Russia . One Russian expert has also criticized the Russian ban on `` Borjomi '' .   The drink ban appeared to exacerbate tensions between Russia and the Government of Georgia . The 2008 South Ossetia war would occur later that year . Following the conflict , Georgia also withdrew from the Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ) , a bloc of several post-Soviet countries .   Georgian wines are currently ( 2013 ) sold in over 50 countries , including Ukraine , which became the key market after the Russian ban . However , sales fell sharply , to about one third of what Georgia exported prior to the ban .

neg: Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union which occurred from 1936 to 1938 . It involved a large-scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials , repression of peasants and the Red Army leadership , and widespread police surveillance , suspicion of `` saboteurs '' , `` counter-revolutionaries '' , imprisonment , and arbitrary executions . In Russian historiography , the period of the most intense purge , 1937 -- 1938 , is called Yezhovshchina ( Ежовщина literally , `` Yezhov phenomenon '' , According to the dictionary , the suffix - shchina in this case produces a word which refers to some kind of phenomenon associated with the word to which the suffix is attached . Quote : `` 1 . Словообразовательная единица , образующая имена существительные женского рода , которые обозначают бытовое или общественное явление , идейное или политическое течение , характеризующееся признаком , названным < ... > ''  Juraj Sipko ( Sipko J. Etnopsyholingvisticke predpoklady slovensko-ruskych a rusko-slovenskych porovnavani , Presov , 2003 ) comparing Russian and Slovak languages , points out that in Russian the suffix - shchina ( in meaning 1 given by Efremova ) most commonly bears openly negative or derisive connotations . commonly translated as `` times of Yezhov '' or `` doings of Yezhov '' ) , after Nikolai Yezhov , the head of the Soviet secret police , NKVD . Mobile gas vans were invented to kill people . It has been estimated between 600,000 and 3 million people died at the hands of the Soviet government during the Purge .   In the Western world , Robert Conquest 's 1968 book The Great Terror popularized that phrase . Conquest 's title was in turn an allusion to the period called the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution ( French : la Terreur , and , from June to July 1794 , la Grande Terreur , the Great Terror ) .

neg: Superstate A superstate is defined as `` a large and powerful State formed when several smaller countries unite '' , `` A large and powerful state formed from a federation or union of nations '' .  This is distinct from the concept of superpower , although these are frequently seen together . It is also distinct from the concept of empire , where one nation dominates other nations through military , political , and economic power , although an empire may also be a superstate .   In the early 20th century , `` superstate '' had a similar definition as today 's supranational organisations . In a 1927 article by Edward A. Harriman on the League of Nations , a superstate was defined as merely `` an organisation , of which a state is a member , which is superior to the member themselves '' , in that '' -LSB- a -RSB- complete superstate has legislative , executive and judicial organs to make , to execute and to interpret its laws '' . According to this definition , Harriman saw the League of Nations as a `` rudimentary superstate '' , and the United States as `` an example of a complete and perfect superstate '' .   In World Order of Bahá ` u 'll áh , first published in 1938 , Shoghi Effendi , the Guardian of the Bahá ' í Faith , described the anticipated world government of that religion as the `` world 's future super-state '' with the Bahá ' í Faith as the `` State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power . ''   In the 1970s , academic literature used the term `` superstate '' to indicate a particularly rich and powerful state , in a similar fashion to the term superpower .   In contemporary political debate , especially the one centred on the European Union , the term `` superstate '' is used to indicate a ( usually deemed unwelcome ) development in which the Union takes over the character of a State ( including the monopoly on violence ) thus abolishing the sovereignty and independence of its member states .  For instance , Glyn Morgan opposes the perspective of a `` European superstate '' to the ones of `` a Europe of nation-states '' and of `` a post-sovereign European polity '' . In her definition , a `` European superstate is nothing more than a sovereign state - a tried and tested type of polity that predominates in the modern world - operating on a European wide scale '' , i.e. , `` a unitary European state ''   The term was famously used by Margaret Thatcher in her 1988 Bruges speech , when she decried the perspective of `` a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels '' , and has since entered the eurosceptic lexicon .  Tony Blair argued in 2000 that he welcomed an EU as a `` superpower , not a superstate ''

neg: Russian mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia , sometimes referred to as Bratva ( : `` brotherhood '' ) , is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union .   Organized crime in Russia began in the imperial period of the Tsars , but it was not until the Soviet era that vory v zakone ( `` thieves-in-law '' ) emerged as leaders of prison groups in gulags ( Soviet prison labor camps ) , and their honor code became more defined . After World War II , the death of Joseph Stalin , and the fall of the Soviet Union , more gangs emerged in a flourishing black market , exploiting the unstable governments of the former Republics , and at its highest point , even controlling as much as two-thirds of the Russian economy . Louis Freeh , former director of the FBI , said that the Russian mafia posed the greatest threat to U.S. national security in the mid-1990s .   In modern times , there are as many as 6,000 different groups , with more than 200 of them having a global reach . Criminals of these various groups are either former prison members , corrupt officials and business leaders , people with ethnic ties , or people from the same region with shared criminal experiences and leaders . However , the existence of such groups has been debated . In December 2009 , Timur Lakhonin , the head of the Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol , stated `` Certainly , there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad , but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad '' , while in August 2010 , Alain Bauer , a French criminologist , said that it `` is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe , with a quasi-military operation . ''

neg: Terentii Shtykov Terentii Fomich Shtykov ( Russian : Терентий Штыков ; Korean : 테렌티 스티코프 ; -- 25 October 1964 ) was effectively the first supreme leader of North Korea , as the de facto head of its 1945-1951 military occupation and the first Soviet Ambassador to North Korea from 1948 until 1950 . Shtykov 's support for Kim Il-sung was crucial in Kim 's rise to power , and the two persuaded Stalin to allow the Korean War to begin in June 1950 .   A protégé of the influential politician Andrei Zhdanov , General Shtykov served as a political commissar during World War II , ending up on the Military Council of the Primorskiy Military District . Through direct access to Joseph Stalin , Shtykov became the `` real supreme ruler of North Korea , the principal supervisor of both the Soviet military and the local authorities . '' Shtykov conceived of the Soviet Civil Administration , supported Kim 's appointment as head of the North Korean provisional government , and assisted Stalin with editing the first North Korean constitution .   As the preeminent representative of the Soviet Union 's political authority over the nascent North Korea from October 1945 until December 1950 , Shtykov 's legacy was to aid the Kim family 's rise to power . The war they started freed Kim from Soviet domination ; China intervened following North Korea 's poor military performance in the early autumn . Shtykov was fired as ambassador in December and demoted to major general the following month . He later served as the Soviet ambassador to Hungary from 1959 to 1960 .   Andrei Lankov asserts that Shtykov made more impact on Korean history than any foreigner other than Japanese colonial politicians , and that he was `` the actual architect of the North Korean state as it emerged in 1945-50 . '' Several of Shtykov 's policies , most notably North Korean land reform , are today credited to Kim Il-sung by official North Korean media .

neg: Media portrayal of the Ukrainian crisis Media portrayals of the Ukrainian crisis , including 2014 unrest and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution following the Euromaidan movement , differed widely between Ukrainian , western and Russian media . In particular , the Russian media was accused of propagandizing , and of waging an information war during its coverage of the events . Russian channels were repeatedly criticized for the use of misleading images , false narratives , misrepresentation , suppression , and fabricated news stories , such as a child 's crucifixion and the death of a 10-year-old in shelling . The BBC reported that Russian state television `` appears to employ techniques of psychological conditioning designed to excite extreme emotions of aggression and hatred in the viewer '' , which , according to The Guardian , is part of a coordinated `` informational-psychological war operation '' .   A regular theme in the Russian media was that the Ukrainian army , which has many Russian-speaking members , was committing `` genocide '' against Russian-speakers and that they strongly desired Russia to `` protect '' them against Kiev . This presentation contradicted a poll showing that less than 20 % of eastern residents wanted Russia 's protection . There was also no refugee exodus from Kiev , which has a large Russian-speaking population . While asserting that Ukraine was overrun by fascists whom the western media was `` ignoring '' , Russia has forged close relationships with far-right politicians in the West . Its claims about Ukraine were contradicted by Ukrainian election results . Russian media have also denied the Holodomor , a Soviet-organised famine that killed millions of Ukrainians . They supported Russia 's denials of involvement in the Crimean crisis , until Vladimir Putin boasted about the key role of Russian soldiers , and continue denying its involvement in the war in Donbass , despite evidence that Russia regularly shelled across the border .


query: Joseph Stalin was involved in the Soviet Union.

pos: Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin ( -LSB- ˈstɑːlɪn -RSB- 18 December 1878 -- 5 March 1953 ) was a Soviet revolutionary , politician and political theorist . He governed the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953 . In this capacity , he served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1953 and as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952 . Ideologically a Marxist and a Leninist , he helped to formalise these ideas as Marxism-Leninism while his own policies and theories became known as Stalinism .   Stalin was born to a poor Georgian family in Gori , Russian Empire . After an education at Tiflis Spiritual Seminary , he joined the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party . Affiliated with Vladimir Lenin 's Bolshevik faction , he raised funds via underground activities such as the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery . After the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917 and established a one-party state , Stalin sat on the Politburo during the Russian Civil War . In 1922 Stalin became General Secretary and established the Soviet Union . Despite Lenin 's objection , power consolidated around Stalin and opposition removed following Lenin 's death in 1924 . During Stalin 's tenure the concept of `` Socialism in One Country '' became a central tenet of Soviet society , and a cult of personality developed around Stalin . Lenin 's New Economic Policy was replaced with a centralised command economy , industrialisation and collectivisation . These rapidly transformed the country from an agrarian society into an industrial power , but disrupted food production and contributed to the famine of 1933 -- 34 . Between 1934 and 1939 , Stalin organised the `` Great Purge '' , in which millions of so-called `` enemies of the working class '' , including senior political and military figures , were interned in Gulag-run prisons , exiled or executed , often without due process .   In August 1939 Stalin entered a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany , resulting in their invasion of Poland in September of that year . Germany ended the pact by invading the Soviet Union in 1941 . Despite initial setbacks , the Soviet Red Army halted the German incursion and captured Berlin in May 1945 , ending World War II in Europe . The Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states and backed the establishment of pro-Soviet Marxist governments both throughout Eastern Europe and in China , North Korea , and North Vietnam . The Soviet Union and United States emerged as the two world superpowers , and a period of tensions began between the Soviet-backed Eastern Bloc and U.S.-backed Western Bloc known as the Cold War . Stalin led the Soviet Union through its post-war reconstruction phase , during which it became the second country to develop a nuclear weapon , as well as launching the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature in response to another major famine and the Great Construction Projects of Communism . Stalin died in 1953 and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev , who denounced Stalin and initiated a de-Stalinisation process .   Stalin is widely considered one of the most significant and influential figures of the 20th century . Stalinism influenced various Marxist-Leninist groups and governments across the world , for whom Stalin was a champion of socialism and the working class . After the fall of the Soviet Union , Stalin has been praised by supporters for his role in defeating Nazi Germany and establishing the Soviet Union as a major world power . Critics emphasise his role in causing millions of deaths and numerous political , religious and ethnic repressions .

neg: Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference , sometimes called the Crimea conference and code named the Argonaut Conference , held from February 4 to 11 , 1945 , was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States , the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union for the purpose of discussing Europe 's postwar reorganization . The three states were represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt , Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin , respectively . The conference convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea , Soviet Union .   The goal of the conference was to shape a post-war peace that represented not just a collective security order but a plan to give self-determination to the liberated peoples of post-Nazi Europe .   The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe . Within a few years , with the Cold War dividing the continent , Yalta became a subject of intense controversy . To a degree , it has remained controversial .   Yalta was the second of three wartime conferences among the Big Three . It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943 , and was followed by the Potsdam Conference in July 1945 , which was attended by Stalin , Churchill ( who was replaced halfway through by the newly elected British Prime Minister Clement Attlee ) and Harry S. Truman , Roosevelt 's successor .

neg: Avel Enukidze Avel Safronovich Enukidze ( Georgian : აბელ ენუქიძე , Abel Enukiʒe , -LSB- ˈɑbɛl.ˈɛnukʰid͜zɛ -RSB- ; Russian : А́вель Сафронович Енуки́дзе ; -- October 30 , 1937 ) was a prominent `` Old Bolshevik '' and , at one point , a member of the Soviet Central Committee in Moscow . In 1932 , along with Mikhail Kalinin and Vyacheslav Molotov , Enukidze co-signed the infamous `` Law of Spikelets '' .   Enukidze had written a book on the history of a famous Bolshevik printing press in the Caucasus which had distributed , throughout Russia , Vladimir Lenin 's revolutionary theses during the Czarist period . Soon he was accused of having deliberately diminished Joseph Stalin 's contributions to the printing press and the Bolshevik movement in Baku . In fact , Stalin had little to do with these things ; it was Enukidze himself who had played the major role . But revolutionary contributions were important to a Bolshevik 's prestige , and Stalin did not like Enukidze outshining him . In July 1935 , after suggesting to Stalin that he give up power , Enukidze was called to account before a Central Committee Plenum in Moscow , expelled from the Party immediately , and two years later , arrested , tried , and shot .   Enukidze was rehabilitated as a victim of Stalin 's purges .   NB . His family name in Russian is transliterated incorrectly as Ienukidze ( should be Enukidze ) , and his given name as Avel ( should be Abel ) in Alan Bullock 's Hitler and Stalin : Parallel Lives ( 1993 ) . Bullock also transliterates Enukidze as Yenukidze ( since it is pronounced Ienukidze in Russian ) .

neg: Christian Rakovsky Christian Rakovsky ( -- September 11 , 1941 ) was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary , a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat ; he was also noted as a journalist , physician , and essayist . Rakovsky 's political career took him throughout the Balkans and into France and Imperial Russia ; for part of his life , he was also a Romanian citizen .   A lifelong collaborator of Leon Trotsky , he was a prominent activist of the Second International , involved in politics with the Bulgarian Social Democratic Union , Romanian Social Democratic Party , and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party . Rakovsky was expelled at different times from various countries as a result of his activities , and , during World War I , became a founding member of the Revolutionary Balkan Social Democratic Labor Federation while helping to organize the Zimmerwald Conference . Imprisoned by Romanian authorities , he made his way to Russia , where he joined the Bolshevik Party after the October Revolution , and , as head of the Rumcherod , unsuccessfully attempted to generate a communist revolution in the Kingdom of Romania . Subsequently , he was a founding member of the Comintern , served as head of government in the Ukrainian SSR , and took part in negotiations at the Genoa Conference .   He came to oppose Joseph Stalin and rallied with the Left Opposition , being marginalized inside the government and sent as Soviet ambassador to London and Paris , where he was involved in renegotiating financial settlements . He was ultimately recalled from France in autumn 1927 , after signing his name to a controversial Trotskyist platform which endorsed world revolution . Credited with having developed the Trotskyist critique of Stalinism as `` bureaucratic centrism '' , Rakovsky was subject to internal exile . Submitting to Stalin 's leadership in 1934 and being briefly reinstated , he was nonetheless implicated in the Trial of the Twenty One ( part of the Moscow Trials ) , imprisoned , and executed by the NKVD during World War II . He was rehabilitated in 1988 , during the Soviet Glasnost period .

neg: German–Soviet Axis talks In October and November 1940 , German -- Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union 's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power in World War II . The negotiations , which occurred during the era of the Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact and the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement , included a two-day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov , Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop , followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements . After two days of negotiations from 12 to 14 November 1940 , Germany presented the Soviets with a draft written Axis pact agreement defining the world spheres of influence of the four proposed Axis powers ( Japan , Germany , Soviet Union , Italy ) . Hitler , Ribbentrop and Molotov tried to set German and Soviet spheres of influence ; Hitler encouraged Molotov to look south to Iran and eventually India while preserving German access to Finland 's resources , and to remove Soviet influence in the Balkans . Molotov remained firm , seeking to remove German troops from Finland and gain a warm water port in the Balkans . Soviet foreign policy calculations were predicated by the idea that the war would be a long - term struggle and therefore German claims that Britain would be defeated swiftly were treated with scepticism . In addition Stalin sought to remain influential in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia . These factors resulted in Molotov taking a firm line . According to a Columbia University academical source , on 25 November 1940 , the Soviets presented a Stalin-drafted written counterproposal where they would accept the four power pact , but it included Soviet rights to Bulgaria and a world sphere of influence centered on the area around modern Iraq and Iran . Germany did not respond , leaving the negotiations unresolved . Regarding the counterproposal , Hitler remarked to his top military chiefs that Stalin `` demands more and more '' , `` he 's a cold-blooded blackmailer '' and that `` a German victory has become unbearable for Russia '' so that `` she must be brought to her knees as soon as possible . '' Germany ended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in June 1941 by invading the Soviet Union .

neg: Russian mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia , sometimes referred to as Bratva ( : `` brotherhood '' ) , is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union .   Organized crime in Russia began in the imperial period of the Tsars , but it was not until the Soviet era that vory v zakone ( `` thieves-in-law '' ) emerged as leaders of prison groups in gulags ( Soviet prison labor camps ) , and their honor code became more defined . After World War II , the death of Joseph Stalin , and the fall of the Soviet Union , more gangs emerged in a flourishing black market , exploiting the unstable governments of the former Republics , and at its highest point , even controlling as much as two-thirds of the Russian economy . Louis Freeh , former director of the FBI , said that the Russian mafia posed the greatest threat to U.S. national security in the mid-1990s .   In modern times , there are as many as 6,000 different groups , with more than 200 of them having a global reach . Criminals of these various groups are either former prison members , corrupt officials and business leaders , people with ethnic ties , or people from the same region with shared criminal experiences and leaders . However , the existence of such groups has been debated . In December 2009 , Timur Lakhonin , the head of the Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol , stated `` Certainly , there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad , but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad '' , while in August 2010 , Alain Bauer , a French criminologist , said that it `` is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe , with a quasi-military operation . ''

neg: Ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states After the dissolution of the Soviet Union ( USSR ) in December 1991 , about 25 million ethnic Russians in post-Soviet states found themselves living outside the Russian Federation .   All former Soviet citizens had a time window within which they could transfer their former Soviet citizenship to Russian citizenship . Where they did not exercise that choice , their resulting citizenship status outside Russia varied by state : from no perceivable change in status - as in Belarus - to becoming permanently resident `` non-citizens '' - as in Estonia and Latvia , which restricted citizenship to their pre-World War II citizens and their offspring ( regardless of ethnic group ) upon restoration of their independence in continuity with their sovereign identities prior to June 1940 .   However , most people in practice found the `` time window '' concept not feasible , as the citizenship issue linked closely to the issue of owning property owned by the state before privatization . For many people , a change of citizenship would actually mean relocating and leaving behind everything - or most of what they had previously owned or been able to access .   the largest ethnic Russian diaspora populations outside Russia live in the United States and in the `` near abroad '' countries . The populations involved include those in : Ukraine ( about 8 million ) , Kazakhstan ( about 3.8 million ) , the United States ( about 3 million ) , Belarus ( about 780,000 ) , Uzbekistan ( about 650,000 ) Kyrgyzstan ( about 360,000 ) and Latvia ( about 556,422 ) .   In June 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to introduce national policy aiming at encouraging ethnic Russian immigration to Russia .   Does not include Abkhazia ( 2011 census : 22,077 Russians or 9.1 % of the population ) or South Ossetia ( 2007 estimate : 2,100 Russians or 3.0 % of the population ) .   In Turkmenistan , there were estimated to be at most 150,000 ethnic Russians as of 2007 , or under 2 % of the population . In Uzbekistan the same year , the Russian population stood at some 800,000 people or under 4 % of the country .

neg: Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Throughout the history of the Soviet Union ( 1922 -- 1991 ) , there were periods where Soviet authorities suppressed and persecuted various forms of Christianity to different extents depending on State interests . Soviet Marxist-Leninism policy consistently advocated the control , suppression , and ultimately , the elimination of religious beliefs , and actively encouraged atheism in the Soviet Union . Most religions were never outlawed .   The state advocated the destruction of religion , and it officially pronounced religious beliefs to be superstitious and backward . The Communist Party destroyed churches , mosques and temples , ridiculed , harassed , incarcerated and executed religious leaders , flooded the schools and media with anti-religious teachings , and it introduced a belief system called `` scientific atheism , '' with its own rituals , promises and proselytizers . In 1925 the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the persecution . The total number of Christian victims under the Soviet regime has been estimated to range between 12-20 million .   Religious beliefs and practices persisted among the majority of the population , in the domestic and private spheres but also in the scattered public spaces allowed by a state that recognized its failure to eradicate religion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture war .

neg: Decommunization in Russia Decommunization in Russia is the process of dealing with the communist legacies in terms of institutions and personnel that tends towards breaking with the Soviet past . Compared with the efforts of the other former constituents of the Soviet bloc and the Soviet Union , it has been restricted to half-measures , if conducted at all .   Notable anti-communist measures in the Russian Federation are the banning of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( and creating the Communist Party of the Russian Federation ) as well as the names of many Russian cities reverting to what they were before the 1917 October Revolution ( Leningrad to Saint Petersburg , Sverdlovsk to Yekaterinburg and Gorky to Nizhny Novgorod ) .   However , Nostalgia for the Soviet Union is gradually on the rise in Russia . Communist symbols continue to form an important part of the rhetoric used in state-controlled media as banning them is seen by the foreign ministry as `` sacrilege '' and `` a perverse idea of good and evil '' . The decommunization process in neighbouring Ukraine was also met with criticism by Russia , and Soviet war crimes continue to be regularly dismissed as `` Western myth '' .

neg: Terentii Shtykov Terentii Fomich Shtykov ( Russian : Терентий Штыков ; Korean : 테렌티 스티코프 ; -- 25 October 1964 ) was effectively the first supreme leader of North Korea , as the de facto head of its 1945-1951 military occupation and the first Soviet Ambassador to North Korea from 1948 until 1950 . Shtykov 's support for Kim Il-sung was crucial in Kim 's rise to power , and the two persuaded Stalin to allow the Korean War to begin in June 1950 .   A protégé of the influential politician Andrei Zhdanov , General Shtykov served as a political commissar during World War II , ending up on the Military Council of the Primorskiy Military District . Through direct access to Joseph Stalin , Shtykov became the `` real supreme ruler of North Korea , the principal supervisor of both the Soviet military and the local authorities . '' Shtykov conceived of the Soviet Civil Administration , supported Kim 's appointment as head of the North Korean provisional government , and assisted Stalin with editing the first North Korean constitution .   As the preeminent representative of the Soviet Union 's political authority over the nascent North Korea from October 1945 until December 1950 , Shtykov 's legacy was to aid the Kim family 's rise to power . The war they started freed Kim from Soviet domination ; China intervened following North Korea 's poor military performance in the early autumn . Shtykov was fired as ambassador in December and demoted to major general the following month . He later served as the Soviet ambassador to Hungary from 1959 to 1960 .   Andrei Lankov asserts that Shtykov made more impact on Korean history than any foreigner other than Japanese colonial politicians , and that he was `` the actual architect of the North Korean state as it emerged in 1945-50 . '' Several of Shtykov 's policies , most notably North Korean land reform , are today credited to Kim Il-sung by official North Korean media .

neg: 1922 Moscow Trial of Socialist Revolutionaries The Moscow Trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries was one of the first show trials of the Soviet Union , beginning on June 8 , 1922 . The trial was part of a process that entailed eliminating all opposition in the nascent Bolshevik state . The trial stemmed from the failed Kerensky -- Krasnov uprising on October 29th , 1917 ( old style ) , when Alexander Kerensky attempted to overthrow the Soviet government that had just toppled him .   The previous years had witnessed the silencing of the Workers ' Opposition and the suppression of the Mensheviks , the other major proletarian party . The Socialist Revolutionaries had long been a nuisance to the Bolsheviks . The party enjoyed the support of the largest demographic of the old Tsarist Empire , the agrarian peasantry , whilst the Bolsheviks were primarily supported by the radical intelligentsia , with some , albeit small , representation amongst soldiers and workers . The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly in January 1918 was the first action Lenin took against the Socialist Revolutionaries . The results of the voting made it clear that the assembly would not be overwhelmingly Bolshevik , and Lenin decided that it was counterrevolutionary . Fanny Kaplan , Lenin 's would-be assassin , stated that her motive for the assassination was the dispersal of the assembly . The Brest-Litovsk Treaty of 1918 that ended hostilities between Germany and Russia was also a point of serious disagreement between the Bolsheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries .   There were 12 main defendants in the trial and SR coup participants gave evidence for the prosecution . Among the notable Bolsheviks playing a part in the trial were Nikolai Krylenko , who was the prosecutor for the state , and Nikolai Bukharin , who was part of the defense counsel . Bukharin had even participated in demonstrations organized by the authorities that were occurring throughout Moscow , and demanded the death penalty for the 12 defendants . At the very outset , Georgy Pyatakov announced that `` the court does not intend to handle the case from a dispassionate , objective point of view but would be guided solely by the interests of the Soviet Government . ''  The evidence against the accused included statements of former SR participants in the military coup attempt such as G. Semyonov , who joined the Bolsheviks in 1911 , and became an agent provocateur . The trial concluded with death sentences for the 12 and acquittal for those who gave evidence . Upon further review by the tribunal , the death sentences were commuted . It was believed by Trotsky at least , that if the sentences were carried out , their party brethren would carry out terrorist violence against the Bolshevik government .   All of the defendants and participants in the trial would eventually become victims in Stalin 's purges .

neg: Gestapo–NKVD conferences The Gestapo -- NKVD conferences were a series of security police meetings organized in late 1939 and early 1940 by Germany and the Soviet Union , following their joint invasion of Poland in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet alliance . The meetings enabled both parties to pursue specific goals and aims as outlined independently by Hitler and Stalin , with regard to the acquired , formerly Polish territories . The conferences were held by the Gestapo and the NKVD officials in several Polish cities . In spite of their differences on other issues , both Heinrich Himmler and Lavrentiy Beria had similar objectives as far as the fate of the prewar Poland was concerned .   The attack on Poland ended with the Nazi -- Soviet victory parade in Brześć , which was held on 22 September 1939 . Brześć was the location of the first Nazi-Soviet meeting organized on 27 September 1939 , in which the prisoner exchange was decided prior to the signing of mutual agreements in Moscow a day later . In the following month , the Gestapo and the NKVD met in Lwów to discuss the fate of civilian populations during radical reorganization of the annexed territories . They met again in occupied Przemyśl at the end of November , because Przemyśl was a border crossing between the two invaders . The next series of meetings began in December 1939 , a month after the first transfer of Polish prisoners of war . The conferences were held in occupied Kraków in the General Government on 6 -- 7 December 1939 ; and continued for the next two days in the resort town of Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland ( 100 km from Kraków ) on 8 -- 9 December 1939 . The Zakopane Conference is the most remembered . From the Soviet side , several higher officers of the NKVD secret police participated in the meetings , while the German hosts provided a group of experts from the Gestapo .

neg: Old Bolshevik Old Bolshevik ( ста́рый большеви́к , stary bolshevik ) , also Old Bolshevik Guard or Old Party Guard , became an unofficial designation for those who were members of the Bolshevik party before the Russian Revolution of 1917 . Many of the Old Guard were either tried and executed by the NKVD during the Great Purge of 1936 -- 38 or died under suspicious circumstances .   Vladimir Lenin expressed the opinion that what one could call the `` old party guard '' , a `` thinnest layer '' , had a `` huge , unshared prestige '' .   According to a 1972 Soviet book by D.A. Chygayev , in 1922 there were 44,148 Old Bolsheviks . Vadim Rogovin cites the statistics published by the 13th Congress of the Russian Communist Party ( Bolsheviks ) , that in 1924 , of 600,000 Party members , 0.6 % joined before 1905 , 2 % joined in 1906 -- 1916 and < 9 % joined in 1917 .   Joseph Stalin removed many of the Old Bolsheviks from power during the Great Purge of the 1930s . ( The most prominent survivors in the Communist Party were Lazar Kaganovich , Vyacheslav Molotov , Kliment Voroshilov , Anastas Mikoyan , and Stalin himself . ) Some were executed for treason ; some were sent to labor camps ( the Gulag ) ; and a few , such as Alexandra Kollontai , went abroad as ambassadors , preventing them from participating in the central government . Many communist opponents of Stalin , most notably the Trotskyists , cite this fact in support of their argument that Stalin betrayed the aims of the revolution ; they believed in Permanent Revolution , while Stalin and his supporters believed in Socialism in One Country .   Various things in the Soviet Union , such as a publishing house , several steamships , motorboats , kolkhozes and settlements , gained the name Old Bolshevik .   The first prominent Old Bolshevik to die was Yakov Sverdlov in 1919 ; the last was Lazar Kaganovich in 1991 who also reached the greatest age .

neg: Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union which occurred from 1936 to 1938 . It involved a large-scale purge of the Communist Party and government officials , repression of peasants and the Red Army leadership , and widespread police surveillance , suspicion of `` saboteurs '' , `` counter-revolutionaries '' , imprisonment , and arbitrary executions . In Russian historiography , the period of the most intense purge , 1937 -- 1938 , is called Yezhovshchina ( Ежовщина literally , `` Yezhov phenomenon '' , According to the dictionary , the suffix - shchina in this case produces a word which refers to some kind of phenomenon associated with the word to which the suffix is attached . Quote : `` 1 . Словообразовательная единица , образующая имена существительные женского рода , которые обозначают бытовое или общественное явление , идейное или политическое течение , характеризующееся признаком , названным < ... > ''  Juraj Sipko ( Sipko J. Etnopsyholingvisticke predpoklady slovensko-ruskych a rusko-slovenskych porovnavani , Presov , 2003 ) comparing Russian and Slovak languages , points out that in Russian the suffix - shchina ( in meaning 1 given by Efremova ) most commonly bears openly negative or derisive connotations . commonly translated as `` times of Yezhov '' or `` doings of Yezhov '' ) , after Nikolai Yezhov , the head of the Soviet secret police , NKVD . Mobile gas vans were invented to kill people . It has been estimated between 600,000 and 3 million people died at the hands of the Soviet government during the Purge .   In the Western world , Robert Conquest 's 1968 book The Great Terror popularized that phrase . Conquest 's title was in turn an allusion to the period called the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution ( French : la Terreur , and , from June to July 1794 , la Grande Terreur , the Great Terror ) .

neg: Soviet partisans The Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against the Axis forces in the Soviet Union and the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941 -- 45 . The activity emerged after the Nazi German Operation Barbarossa during World War II , and according to Great Soviet Encyclopedia it was coordinated and controlled by the Soviet government and modelled on that of the Red Army . The primary objective of the guerrilla warfare waged by the Soviet partisan units was the disruption of the Eastern Front 's German rear , especially road and rail communications . There were also regular military formations called partisans , that were used to conduct long-range reconnaissance patrol missions behind Axis lines from the Soviet-held territory .

neg: Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces , also called the Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Armed Forces of the Soviet Union ( Russian : Вооружённые Силы Союза Советских Социалистических Республик Vooruzhonnyye Sily Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik , Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза ) refers to the armed forces of the Russian SFSR ( 1917 -- 1922 ) , and Soviet Union ( 1922 -- 1991 ) from their beginnings in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War to its dissolution in December 1991 .   According to the all-union military service law of September 1925 , the Soviet Armed Forces consisted of three components : the Ground Forces , the Air Forces , the Navy , the State Political Directorate ( OGPU ) , and the convoy guards . The OGPU was later made independent and amalgamated with the NKVD in 1934 , and thus its Internal Troops were under the joint management of the Defense and Interior Commisariats . After World War II the Strategic Missile Troops ( 1959 ) , Air Defence Forces ( 1948 ) and troops of the All-Union National Civil Defence Forces ( 1970 ) were added , standing first , third and sixth in the official Soviet reckoning of comparative importance ( with the Ground Forces being second , the Air Forces fourth , and the Navy fifth ) .

neg: Stalin Line The Stalin Line was a line of fortifications along the western border of the Soviet Union . Work began on the system in the 1920s to protect the USSR against attacks from the West . The line was made up of concrete bunkers and gun emplacements , somewhat similar to , but less elaborate than the Maginot Line . It was not a continuous line of defense along the entire border , but rather a network of fortified districts , meant to channel potential invaders along certain corridors .   In the aftermath of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact , with the westward expansion of the USSR in 1939 and 1940 into Poland , the Baltic , and Bessarabia , the decision was made to abandon the line in favour of constructing the Molotov Line further west , along the new border of the USSR . A number of Soviet generals felt that it would be better to keep both lines and to have a defence in depth , but this conflicted with the pre-World War II Soviet military doctrine .   Thus , the guns were removed , but were mostly in storage as the new line began construction . The 1941 Axis invasion caught the Soviets with the new line unfinished and the Stalin Line largely abandoned and in disrepair . Neither was thus of much use in stopping the onslaught , though parts of the Stalin Line were manned in time and contributed to the defense of the USSR .   Following World War II , the line was not maintained , in part due to its wide dispersal across the USSR . Unlike Western Europe , where similar fortifications were demolished for development and safety reasons , much of the line survived beyond the breakup of the USSR in 1991 due to being ignored . Today , the remains of the Stalin Line fortifications are located in Belarus , Russia , and Ukraine ( plus possibly the eastern parts of Moldova ) .

neg: Socialist realism in Poland Socialist realism in Poland ( socrealizm ) was a social , political , and esthetic doctrine enforced by the pro-Soviet communist government in the process of Stalinization of the postwar People 's Republic of Poland . The official policy was introduced in 1949 by a decree of the Polish United Workers ' Party minister ( later , Minister of Culture and Art ) Włodzimierz Sokorski . As in all Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc countries , Socialist realism became the main instrument of political control in the building of totalitarianism in Poland . However , the trend has never become truly dominant . Following Stalin 's death on March 5 , 1953 , and the subsequent De-Stalinization of all People 's Republics , Polish artists , writers and architects started abandoning it around 1955 . De-Stalinization process peaked during the Polish October .

neg: Ilyushin Il-2 The Ilyushin Il-2 ( Cyrillic : Илью́шин Ил-2 ) Sturmovik was a ground-attack aircraft ( Cyrillic : Штурмови́к , Šturmovík ) produced by the Soviet Union in large numbers during the Second World War . With 36,183 units of the Il-2 produced during the war , and in combination with its successor , the Ilyushin Il-10 , a total of 42,330 were built , making it the single most produced military aircraft design in aviation history , as well as one of the most produced piloted aircraft in history along with the American postwar civilian Cessna 172 and the Soviet Union 's own then-contemporary Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik multipurpose biplane .   To Il-2 pilots , the aircraft was simply the diminutive `` Ilyusha '' . To the soldiers on the ground , it was the `` Hunchback '' , the `` Flying Tank '' or the `` Flying Infantryman '' . Its postwar NATO reporting name was `` Bark '' . The Il-2 aircraft played a crucial role on the Eastern Front . Joseph Stalin paid the Il-2 a great tribute in his own inimitable manner : when a particular production factory fell behind on its deliveries , Stalin sent an angrily worded cable to the factory manager , stating `` They are as essential to the Red Army as air and bread . '' `` I demand more machines . This is my final warning ! ''

neg: Television in the Soviet Union Television in the Soviet Union was owned by the state and was under its tight control and censorship .   The governing body in the former Soviet Union comprised the USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting or USSR Gosteleradio , which was in charge both of Soviet Central Television and USSR Gostelradio .   Soviet TV production was classified into central ( USSR Gostelradio and Soviet Central Television ( TsT SSSR , Центральное телевидение Гостелерадио СССР , ЦТ СССР ) ) , republican , and regional broadcasting .

neg: Media portrayal of the Ukrainian crisis Media portrayals of the Ukrainian crisis , including 2014 unrest and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution following the Euromaidan movement , differed widely between Ukrainian , western and Russian media . In particular , the Russian media was accused of propagandizing , and of waging an information war during its coverage of the events . Russian channels were repeatedly criticized for the use of misleading images , false narratives , misrepresentation , suppression , and fabricated news stories , such as a child 's crucifixion and the death of a 10-year-old in shelling . The BBC reported that Russian state television `` appears to employ techniques of psychological conditioning designed to excite extreme emotions of aggression and hatred in the viewer '' , which , according to The Guardian , is part of a coordinated `` informational-psychological war operation '' .   A regular theme in the Russian media was that the Ukrainian army , which has many Russian-speaking members , was committing `` genocide '' against Russian-speakers and that they strongly desired Russia to `` protect '' them against Kiev . This presentation contradicted a poll showing that less than 20 % of eastern residents wanted Russia 's protection . There was also no refugee exodus from Kiev , which has a large Russian-speaking population . While asserting that Ukraine was overrun by fascists whom the western media was `` ignoring '' , Russia has forged close relationships with far-right politicians in the West . Its claims about Ukraine were contradicted by Ukrainian election results . Russian media have also denied the Holodomor , a Soviet-organised famine that killed millions of Ukrainians . They supported Russia 's denials of involvement in the Crimean crisis , until Vladimir Putin boasted about the key role of Russian soldiers , and continue denying its involvement in the war in Donbass , despite evidence that Russia regularly shelled across the border .


query: Facebook is based in Menlo Park, California.

pos: Facebook Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and an online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park , California . The Facebook website was launched on February 4 , 2004 , by Mark Zuckerberg , along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates , Eduardo Saverin , Andrew McCollum , Dustin Moskovitz , and Chris Hughes .   The founders had initially limited the website 's membership to Harvard students ; however , later they expanded it to higher education institutions in the Boston area , the Ivy League schools , and Stanford University . Facebook gradually added support for students at various other universities , and eventually to high school students as well . Since 2006 , anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a registered user of Facebook , though variations exist in the minimum age requirement , depending on applicable local laws . The Facebook name comes from the face book directories often given to United States university students .   Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops , laptops , tablet computers , and smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks . After registering to use the site , users can create a user profile indicating their name , occupation , schools attended and so on . Users can add other users as `` friends '' , exchange messages , post status updates and digital photos , share digital videos and links , use various software applications ( `` apps '' ) , and receive notifications when others update their profiles or make posts . Additionally , users may join common-interest user groups organized by workplace , school , hobbies or other topics , and categorize their friends into lists such as `` People From Work '' or `` Close Friends '' . In groups , editors can pin posts to top . Additionally , users can complain about or block unpleasant people . Because of the large volume of data that users submit to the service , Facebook has come under scrutiny for its privacy policies . Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertisements which appear onscreen .   Facebook , Inc. held its initial public offering ( IPO ) in February 2012 , and began selling stock to the public three months later , reaching an original peak market capitalization of $ 104 billion . On July 13 , 2015 , Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poor 's 500 Index to reach a market cap of $ 250 billion . Facebook has more than 1.94 billion monthly active users as of March 31 , 2017 . As of April 2016 , Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world , based on the number of active user accounts . Facebook classifies users from the ages of 13 to 18 as minors and therefore sets their profiles to share content with friends only .

neg: Free Basics Internet.org is a partnership between social networking services company Facebook and six companies ( Samsung , Ericsson , MediaTek , Opera Software , Nokia and Qualcomm ) that plans to bring affordable access to selected Internet services to less developed countries by increasing efficiency , and facilitating the development of new business models around the provision of Internet access . The app delivering these services was renamed Free Basics in September 2015 . As of November 2016 40 million people are using internet.org .   It has been criticized for violating net neutrality , and by handpicking internet services that are included , for discriminating against companies not in the list , including Facebook 's rivals . In February 2016 , regulators banned the Free Basics service in India based on `` Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations '' . The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI ) accused Facebook of failing to pass on the four questions in the regulator 's consultation paper and also blocking access to TRAI 's designated email for feedback on Free Basics . On February 11 , 2016 Facebook withdrew the Free Basics platform from India .

neg: Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses . Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999 and is headquartered in San Francisco and maintains an additional office in London . Since inception , the firm has raised approximately $ 10 billion in committed capital across four funds and has built an investment portfolio including over 70 companies .

neg: If(we) if ( we ) is a social and mobile technology company based in San Francisco , CA . and owned by MeetMe . It was originally known as Tagged Inc. and owns and operates social networks Tagged.com and Hi5.com and animated iOS messaging app Nod .   The company operates as an incubator of new social technology and apps seeking to find the next big thing . The firm has been ranked the # 3 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area for medium size companies and has 140 employees .

neg: Proofpoint Systems, Inc Proofpoint Systems , Inc. is a provider of software , systems , and programs that support individual and organizational performance . Based in Silicon Valley ( Los Altos , California ) and founded in 2003 by Jim Hill , Proofpoint Systems developed the first browser-based performance analysis software systems .   Proofpoint Systems has research and development facilities in Denver , Colorado , as well as sales offices in Phoenix , Arizona and Washington , D.C.

neg: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers ( KPCB ) is an American venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park in Silicon Valley . Specializing in investments in incubation , early stage and growth companies , since its founding in 1972 the firm has backed entrepreneurs in around 500 ventures , including AOL , Amazon.com , Compaq , Electronic Arts , Google , Netscape , Sun Microsystems , Nest , Snap , AppDynamics , and Twitter . Kleiner Perkins focuses its global investments in practice areas including technology and life sciences . The Wall Street Journal and other publications have called it one of the `` largest and most established '' venture capital firms and Dealbook named it `` one of Silicon Valley 's top venture capital providers . '' In addition to its Menlo Park headquarters , the company has offices in San Francisco and Shanghai , China .

neg: Social graph The social graph in the Internet context is a graph that depicts personal relations of internet users . In short , it is a model or representation of a social network , where the word graph has been taken from graph theory . The social graph has been referred to as `` the global mapping of everybody and how they 're related '' .   The term was popularized at the Facebook F8 conference on May 24 , 2007 , when it was used to explain how the newly introduced Facebook Platform would take advantage of the relationships between individuals to offer a richer online experience . The definition has been expanded to refer to a social graph of all Internet users .   Since explaining the concept of the social graph , Mark Zuckerberg , one of the founders of Facebook , has often touted Facebook 's goal of offering the website 's social graph to other websites so that a user 's relationships can be put to use on websites outside of Facebook 's control . This can be accomplished through the Facebook Open Graph API .   One of the earliest known forms of the social graph was created in 2002 by Harvard student Philippe Bouzaglou in a paper published on the Harvard Department of Economics website . The paper replicated the Kevin Bacon Game using Harvard students and for the first time , gave an overview of an entire social graph , allowing the analysis of the characteristics of the network using graph theory . This paper was written for a seminar that was attended by Dustin Moskovitz who later became a Facebook co-founder .

neg: Adam D'Angelo Adam D'Angelo is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Quora , an online knowledge market based in Mountain View , California . He was chief technology officer of Facebook , and also served as its vice president of engineering . He left Facebook in 2008 . In June 2009 , he started Quora with Charlie Cheever , another early Facebook employee .

neg: Snap Inc. Snap Inc. is an American technology and social media company , founded on September 16 , 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy and based in Venice , Los Angeles . It has three products : Snapchat , Spectacles , and Bitmoji . The company was originally named Snapchat Inc. upon its inception , but it was rebranded on September 24 , 2016 as Snap Inc. in order to include the Spectacles product under a single company .

neg: Face book A face book or facebook is a printed or web directory found at some American universities consisting of individuals ' photographs and names . In particular , it denotes publications of this type distributed by university administrations at the start of the academic year , with the intention of helping students get to know each other .

neg: Loopt Loopt was a company based in Mountain View , California , United States which provided a service for smartphone users to share their location selectively with other people ( see location-based service ) . The service supported iPhone , BlackBerry , Android and Windows Phones . Loopt 's services had more than five million registered users and partnerships with every major U.S. mobile phone carrier . Their applications offered a variety of privacy controls . In addition to its core features , users also had the ability to integrate Loopt with other social networks , including Facebook and Twitter .   The company was founded in 2005 and received initial funding from Y Combinator , and completed Series A and B financing led by Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates . Over the life of the company , Loopt raised over $ 39 million in funding over 5 rounds . The company 's board members included TiVo-founder Mike Ramsay and Greg McAdoo of Sequoia Capital . In March 2012 Loopt agreed to be acquired by Green Dot Corporation for $ 43.4 million in cash , with $ 9.8 million of that to be set aside for employee retention .

neg: Founder.org Founder.org is a nonprofit foundation in San Francisco , California , United States that invests in student entrepreneurs . The organization features a company building program for student entrepreneurs at major research institutes and universities . Operated by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs , Founder.org supports teams across various industries including sensors , sanitation , influencer marketing , biotechnology , health and transportation .

neg: United Online United Online , Inc. was an independent public company formed by the 2001 merger of NetZero and Juno Online Services . It is currently a subsidiary of investment bank B. Riley Financial . The company 's range of products and services has evolved significantly since its inception as a provider of dial-up Internet access . This has been aided by a series of acquisitions that have included Classmates Online ( 2004 ) , MyPoints ( 2006 ) , and FTD Group , Inc. ( 2008 ) . It is headquartered in Woodland Hills , California , United States .   United Online claims to have more than 100 million registered accounts . The company 's Content & Media segment provides networking services and products ( Classmates and StayFriends ) and loyalty marketing ( MyPoints ) . Its primary communications segment services are internet access , and services and devices ( NetZero and Juno ) . United Online operates through a global network of locations in the U.S. , Germany , and India . On July 1 , 2016 , B. Riley Financial completed its acquisition of United Online for $ 11.00 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $ 170 million .

neg: Facebook like button The Facebook like button is a feature on the social networking website Facebook . It was first enabled on February 9 , 2009 . The like button enables users to easily interact with status updates , comments , photos , links shared by friends , and advertisements . Once clicked by a user , the designated content appears in the News Feeds of that user 's friends , and the button also displays the number of other users who have liked the content , including a full or partial list of those users . The like button was extended to comments in June 2010 . After extensive testing and years of questions from the public about whether it had an intention to incorporate a `` Dislike '' button , Facebook officially rolled out `` Reactions '' to users worldwide on February 24 , 2016 , letting users long-press on the like button for an option to use one of five pre-defined emotions , including `` Love '' , `` Haha '' , `` Wow '' , `` Sad '' , or `` Angry '' . Reactions were also extended to comments in May 2017 .   The like button is one of Facebook 's social plug-ins , in which the button can be placed on third-party websites . Its use centers around a form of an advertising network , in which it gathers information about which users visit what websites . This form of functionality , a sort of web beacon , has been significantly criticized for privacy . Privacy activist organizations have urged Facebook to stop its data collection through the plug-in , and governments have launched investigations into the activity for possible privacy law violations . Facebook has stated that it anonymizes the information after three months , and that the data collected is not shared or sold to third parties . Additionally , the like button 's potential use as a measurement of popularity has caused some companies to sell likes through fake Facebook accounts , which in turn have sparked complaints from some companies advertising on Facebook that have received an abundance of fake likes that have distorted proper user metrics . Facebook states in its Terms of Service agreement that users may only create one personal page , and it has ongoing efforts against the spread of fake accounts . In the United States , pressing the `` like '' button on a page is protected as freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution .

neg: History of Facebook Facebook is a social networking service launched on February 4 , 2004 . It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University student Eduardo Saverin . The website 's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students , but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area , the Ivy League , and gradually most universities in Canada and the United States , corporations , and by September 2006 , to everyone of age 13 and older with a valid email address .

neg: Millennial Media Millennial Media is an advertising company that places display ads on mobile devices .   On September 3 , 2015 , AOL agreed to buy Millennial Media for US$ 238 million . On October 23 , 2015 , AOL completed the acquisition .   The company is based in Baltimore , with offices in Boston , London , Singapore , New York City and San Francisco .

neg: LimeLife LimeLife Inc. is an American privately held digital media company based in the San Francisco Bay Area . Investors include U.S. Venture Partners , Rustic Canyon Partners , Core Capital , Monitor Ventures and i-Hatch Ventures .

neg: Facebook Home Facebook Home was a user interface layer for Android-compatible smartphones that was developed by Facebook . Designed to be a drop-in replacement for the existing home screen ( `` launcher '' ) on an Android device , the software provides a replacement home screen that allows users to easily view and post content on Facebook along with launching apps , a replacement lock screen that displays notifications from Facebook and other apps , and an overlay which allows users to chat via Facebook messages or SMS from any app . Facebook Home was unveiled at a press event on April 4 , 2013 , and was released on April 12 , 2013 for a limited selection of devices from HTC and Samsung Electronicsincluding the HTC First , a new smartphone pre-loaded with the software .

neg: Pelco Pelco Corporation , commonly referred to as Pelco , is an American-based security and surveillance technologies company , founded in 1957 and headquartered in Clovis , California . Pelco was purchased by current parent company , Schneider Electric , in 2007 and was incorporated into Schneider Electric 's Building Automation business unit . Pelco products are globally distributed and frequently found in airports , malls , office buildings , factories , and on college campuses .

neg: The Dodo The Dodo is an American online publisher focused on animals and animal rights issues . The website was launched in January 2014 by Izzie Lerer , the daughter of media executive Kenneth Lerer . The Dodo has become one of the most popular Facebook publishers , garnering 1 billion video views from the social network in November 2015 . The Dodo is headquartered in New York , New York .

neg: F+W F+W , formerly F+W Publications and F+W Media , is a media and e-commerce company headquartered in New York City .   Founded in 1913 , F+W publishes magazines , books , digital products including e-books and e-magazines , produces online video , offers online education , and owns and operates 21 e-stores , as well as consumer and trade shows .   The company grew though a series of acquisitions , including book publisher David & Charles , Krause Publications in 2002 , Horticulture magazine , and Adams Media in 2003 . The private equity firm ABRY Partners purchased F+W in 2005 . On August 1 , 2012 F+W Media acquired Interweave , an arts and crafts media company based in Loveland , Colorado . In 2014 , F+W Media acquired New Track Media , renamed itself F+W , and was acquired by the private equity company Tinicum .