title: Music (Madonna album)

text: "What It Feels Like for a Girl" was released as the third and final single from the album, on April 17, 2001. It received positive appreciation from contemporary critics. The song lost the top-twenty on the official chart of the United States, but it was a success on the US dance charts. The music video, directed by Guy Ritchie, portrays Madonna as an angry woman on a crime spree. Reviewers criticized the video for being overly violent and graphic. The video was banned from most North American and European video stations, receiving only early hours play.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: "Impressive Instant" was released as a club promo only single with remixes by Peter Rauhofer on September 18, 2001. It went to number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart where it stayed for two weeks. The song was intended by Madonna to be released as the fourth single off "Music" but Madonna's recording company wanted "Amazing" to be the next single, which was also released as a promotional single in late 2001, in a few select countries before being withdrawn. Madonna felt that "Amazing" was too similar to her previous single "Beautiful Stranger" (1999), so they were deadlocked. Warner Bros. planned to move forward with the release of "Amazing" without Madonna's help since she was too busy preparing for her next tour, and planned to promote the single with a music video cut from the live version of "Amazing" from Madonna's Drowned World Tour, but she scrapped the song from the set list to be sure that Warner Bros. could not promote it, and the fourth single idea was over.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: "Music" received generally critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 80, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the album's layered music and described Madonna's collaboration with Mirwais as the reason why the album "comes alive with spark and style". Dimitri Ehrlich from "Vibe" called the album "a masterpiece of brilliantly arranged keyboards, futuristic drums, and electronica dressings. With folky acoustic guitars and a vaguely spiritual bent to her lyrics (like those on "Ray of Light"), it's a weird and fresh-sounding album." Andrew Lynch of Entertainment.ie, who gave the album three out of five stars, claimed that it contains "brilliant futuristic dance music", yet, claimed that the lyrics were "trite". Robert Christgau from "The Village Voice" said the record has "consistency and flow" because all of its songs are good and lowbrow: "From Vocoder to cowgirl suit, she's got her sass back." David Browne was less enthusiastic in "Entertainment Weekly", calling it "her most patchwork record since the Sean Penn years... In the way it tiptoes around sundry moods and beats, "Music" is frustratingly inconsistent, as if Madonna herself weren't sure where to venture next. At times, it feels like a collection of sounds -- clever, intriguing ones, to be sure -- that seek to compensate for ordinary melodies and Madonna's stoic delivery."


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: "Spin" said that the album "is a much-needed breath of fresh VapoRub." Danny Eccleston, in a review for "Q", called it a "brave, radical and punchy (at a refreshing 49 minutes in length) album". A retrospective review in "Blender" remarked: "Her first 'headphones album'... It's more playful and less pompous than "Ray of Light"." "Rolling Stone" stated that the album was a rough and improvised version of "Ray of Light", but lauded that Madonna had chosen to make a more "instinctive" record than her previous endeavours. "Mojo" magazine said that ""Music" is fitful and its charms aren't all immediate, but Madonna is still doing what she does best--giving a lick of pop genius to the unlikely genre of experimental dance music." "NME" said that "Music" is "vocodered, stretched, distorted, warped, deliberately upstaged by beats so showy they belong in a strip joint – quite simply, she's almost managed to make herself disappear. That bluntly explicit title isn't just pointless irony. This record is about the music, not Madonna; about the sounds, not the image." "Slant Magazine" criticised Madonna's collaborations with William Orbit, who had worked with her on "Ray of Light", calling them repetitive and uninteresting despite being catchy. In 2015, Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" said that "Music" is "still [Madonna's] hardest-rocking and most seductive album."


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: The album earned Madonna a total of five Grammy Award nominations. In 2001, it won Best Recording Package and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, while the title track was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2002, Madonna received one more nomination for "Don't Tell Me" in the Best Short Form Music Video category.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: "Music" was voted the 16th best record of 2001 in the Pazz & Jop, and was placed at 18th in Dean's List, both annual polls published by "The Village Voice". "Spin Magazine" named "Music" the 18th best album of 2000. On "NME"s list of the 50 best albums of 2000, "Music" was ranked at number 47. Three editors of "Billboard" also chosen "Music" in their top five of best-of albums of 2000. "Music" also featured in a number of the best albums of the decade; "Slant Magazine" included the album on their list of "The Best Albums of the Aughts" at number 31, while it was included at WFPK's 500 Albums of the 2000's at number 223. In 2003, the album was listed at number 452 on "Rolling Stone"s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It is Madonna's fourth album on the list, then the most among female artists. "Music" also featured in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: Ten days after the album's release, CNN reported that it had sold over four million copies worldwide. The album set a record in Warner Music Group as the biggest album shipment in the company, with three million copies worldwide in the first-week. "Music" debuted at number-one in 23 countries. Overall, "Music" was the 19th best-selling album of 2001 worldwide, selling 4.1 million copies. As of 2010, it has sold more than 11 million copies around the world, and is one of the best-selling albums by women.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: It debuted at the top of the US "Billboard" 200 with over 420,000 copies sold and became the first Madonna album to reach the top of the charts in eleven years in the region, since "Like a Prayer" (1989). The album was certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 21, 2005. As of August 2016, "Music" has sold 2,934,000 copies there according to Nielsen SoundScan. It sold additional 97,000 units at the BMG Music Club, which are not counted by the Nielsen SoundScan. In Canada, the album debuted at the top of the Canadian "RPM" Albums Chart with first week sales of 50,300 copies and was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for shipments of 300,000 copies. The album experienced success in Latin America, obtaining certifications in Argentina (2× Platinum), Brazil (Gold), Chile (Gold) and Mexico (Gold).


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: Throughout Europe, the album also did well on its charts topping the European Albums Charts and selling two million in the first-ten days, for which she broke records according Paul Sexton from "Billboard". It ended as one of the highest certified albums in Europe by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) with five times platinum, equivalent of five million copies. "Music" debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 152,000 copies. The album was certified five times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. As of January 2020, the album has sold 1,640,000 copies in the UK. On October 1, 2000, "Music" debuted at number one on the Austrian Albums Chart, spending a total of forty weeks in the chart. The album achieved relatively good charting in both the Flemish and Wallonian territories in Belgium, peaking at numbers two respectively. "Music" was fifth best selling album in Denmark with 66,996 copies sold in 2000. On the French Albums Chart, the album debuted at number one, staying 67 weeks on the chart, before falling out on June 29, 2002. The album was certified twice platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). On September 28, 2000, "Music" debuted at number one on the Swedish Singles Chart, before falling out at number 52. Similarly in Switzerland, the album also peaked at number one, and spent 42 weeks fluctuating inside the chart. The album managed to sell 50,000 units in Poland in its first five days and was later certified with a platinum award from ZPAV for sales of 100,000 units. "Music" ended as the best-selling foreign album of 2000 in Poland.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: The album enjoyed success in Asia-Pacific countries. In Australia, "Music" peaked at number two on the ARIA Albums Chart failing to reach the top spot due to the success of "". The album was certified three times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and was highlighted by ARIA as one of the biggest releases in their year-end report of 2000. In New Zealand, "Music" debuted and peaked at number two on October 8, 2000, staying on the chart for thirty-three weeks. The album debuted at number seven on the Oricon weekly album chart in Japan. The album was awarded at the Hong Kong Record Sales Award 2001 by the IFPI Hong Kong for becoming one of ten biggest-selling international album of the year.


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: Tom Breihan of "Stereogum", wrote that "Music" anticipated "a lot of things", while Madonna didn't invent any of these things, most of them had been just about "absent from mainstream pop music around the turn of the millennium". In his review, he added examples such as "thudding big-room" electro-house, "aggressive" vocal manipulation, "ecstatic" lyrical meaninglessness, acoustic guitars chopped up and refracted into unrecognizable shapes, joyous hedonism, robot voices and the half-ironic embrace of cowboy kitsch. Writing for the Grammy Awards, Zel McCarthy called this Madonna era as "a reminder of a less complicated time and a blueprint for our future", noting that Madonna could be analog and digital, acoustic or electronic. He particularly praised "Impressive Instant", describing it like "nothing anyone had heard before—20 years later, it still does."


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: Joe Lynch from "Billboard" in the 20th anniversary of "Music", called it "a key piece of 21st century dancefloor canon". The album was conceived in the time that America was divided, by music genres and also presented an ageing Madonna in an era dominated by newer artists focused in teen-pop and urban-style oriented music. Lynch praised the fact that the dance-pop was hardly dominant genre in the United States dawn of the new millennium against teen-pop or hip-hop-flavored R&B styles. McCarthy noticed that Madonna "deftly eschewed the petty cultural battles between genres and generations", and she was seen wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the names of Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue, saying that was her "celebration of other girls in pop music". The author said that "such spontaneous statements of support and admiration are almost boringly common now, but in an era when pop music had been denied entry into the credibility club, the moment held more weight. "The Straits Times" also noted the year dominated by boybands and pop teen artists, while Madonna ushered 1980s-electro as "a new retro-fad".


title: Music (Madonna album)

text: Silvio Pietroluongo of "Billboard" called "a move that could be considered either unusual or genius" about the decision of release various formats for its led single "Music" (maxi-CD and vinyl one week, cassette and CD the next). It was described as a "phenomenal week at retail" and that helped push "Music" to the number one at the "Billboard" Hot 100, giving Madonna her best one-week sales total of the Nielsen SoundScan era for a single at that time with 62,000 units, as Pietroluongo also said: "I'm finding it quite difficult to think of another maxi-CD that has scanned that many units in a week".


title: Pele (deity)

text: In Hawaiian religion, Pele (pronounced ) is the goddess of volcanoes and fire and the creator of the Hawaiian Islands. Often referred to as "Madame Pele" or "Tūtū Pele" as a sign of respect, she is a well-known deity within Hawaiian mythology and is notable for her contemporary presence and cultural influence as an enduring figure from ancient Hawaii. Epithets of the goddess include "Pele-honua-mea" ("Pele of the sacred land") and "Ka wahine ʻai honua" ("The earth-eating woman").


title: Pele (deity)

text: In different stories talking about the goddess Pele, she was born from the female spirit named Haumea. This spirit is important when talking about Hawaiʻi's gods as she descended from Papa, or Earth Mother, and Wakea, Sky Father, both descendants of the supreme beings. Pele is also known as "She who shapes the sacred land," known to be said in ancient Hawaiian chants. The first published stories of Pele were written by William Ellis.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Kīlauea is a currently active volcano that is located on the island of Hawaii and is still being extensively studied. Many Hawaiians believe Kilauea to be inhabited by a "family of fire gods," one of the sisters being Pele who is believed to govern Kilauea and is responsible for controlling its lava flows.


title: Pele (deity)

text: There are several traditional legends associated with Pele in Hawaiian mythology. In addition to being recognized as the goddess of volcanoes, Pele is also known for her power, passion, jealousy, and capriciousness. She has numerous siblings, including Kāne Milohai, Kamohoalii, Nāmaka, and numerous sisters named Hiiaka, the most famous being Hiiakaikapoliopele (Hiiaka in the bosom of Pele). They are usually considered to be the offspring of Haumea. Pele's siblings include deities of various types of wind, rain, fire, ocean wave forms, and cloud forms. Her home is believed to be the fire pit called Halemaʻumaʻu at the summit caldera of Kīlauea, one of the Earth's most active volcanoes, but her domain encompasses all volcanic activity on the Big Island of Hawaii.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Pele shares features similar to other malignant deities inhabiting volcanoes, as in the case of the devil Guayota of Guanche Mythology in Canary Islands (Spain), living on the volcano Teide and was considered by the aboriginal Guanches as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Legend told that Pele herself journeyed on her canoe from the island of Tahiti to Hawaiʻi. When on her journey, it was said she tried to create her fires on different islands, but her sister, Nāmaka, was chasing her, wanting to put an end to her. In the end, the two sisters fought each other and Pele was killed. With this happening, her body was destroyed but her spirit lives in Halemaʻumaʻu on Kilauea. They say, "Her body is the lava and steam that comes from the volcano. She can also change form, appearing as a white dog, old woman, or beautiful young woman."


title: Pele (deity)

text: In addition to her role as goddess of fire and her strong association with volcanoes, Pele is also regarded as the "goddess of the hula." She is a significant figure in the history of hula because of her sister Hiiaka, who is believed to be the first person to dance hula. As a result of Pele's significance in hula, there have been many hula dances and chants dedicated to her and her family. With hula being dedicated to Pele, the dance is often performed in a way that represents her intense personality and the movement of volcanoes.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In one version of the story, Pele is the daughter of Kanehoalani and Haumea in the mystical land of Kuaihelani, a floating free land like Fata Morgana. Kuaihelani was in the region of Kahiki ("Kukulu o Kahiki"). She stays close to her mother's fireplace with the fire-keeper Lono-makua. Her older sister Nā-maka-o-Kahai, a sea goddess, fears that Pele's ambition would smother the homeland and drives Pele away. Kamohoali'i takes Pele south in a canoe called Honua-i-a-kea, along with her younger sister Hiiaka and with her brothers Kamohoalii, Kane-milo-hai, Kane-apua, arriving at the islets above Hawaii. There Kane-milo-hai is left on Mokupapapa, just a reef, to build it up in fitness for human residence. On Nihoa, 800 feet above the ocean, Pele leaves Kane-apua after her visit to Lehua and after crowning a wreath of kau-no'a. Pele feels sorry for her younger brother and picks him up again. Pele used the divining rod, Pa‘oa, to pick a new home. A group of chants tells of a pursuit by Namakaokahaʻi, who tears Pele apart. Her bones, KaiwioPele, form a hill on Kahikinui, while her spirit escaped to the island of Hawaii.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In another version, Pele comes from a land said to be "close to the clouds," with parents Kane-hoa-lani and Ka-hina-lii, and brothers Ka-moho-alii and Kahuila-o-ka-lani. From her husband Wahieloa (also called Wahialoa) she has a daughter, Laka, and a son Menehune. Pele-kumu-honua entices her husband and Pele travels in search of him. The sea pours from her head over the land of Kanaloa (perhaps the island now known as Kahoolawe) and her brothers say:


title: Pele (deity)

text: The sea floods the land, then recedes; this flooding is called Kai a Kahinalii ("The sea of Ka-hina-lii"), as Pele's connection to the sea was passed down from her mother Kahinalii.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Pele is considered to be a rival of the Hawaiian goddess of snow, Poliʻahu, and her sisters Lilinoe (a goddess of fine rain), Waiau (goddess of Lake Waiau), and Kahoupokane (a kapa-maker whose kapa-making activities create thunder, rain, and lightning). All except Kahoupokane reside on Mauna Kea. The kapa-maker lives on Hualalai.


title: Pele (deity)

text: One myth tells that Poliʻahu had come from Mauna Kea with her friends to attend sled races down the grassy hills south of Hamakua. Pele came disguised as a beautiful stranger and was greeted by Poliʻahu. However, Pele became jealously enraged at the goddess of Mauna Kea. She opened the caverns of Mauna Kea and threw fire from them towards Poliʻahu, with the snow goddess fleeing towards the summit. Poliʻahu was finally able to grab her now-burning snow mantle and throw it over the mountain. Earthquakes shook the island as the snow mantle unfolded until it reached the fire fountains, chilling and hardening the lava. The rivers of lava were driven back to Mauna Loa and Kīlauea. Later battles also led to the defeat of Pele and confirmed the supremacy of the snow goddesses in the northern portion of the island, and Pele in the southern portion.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In one account of the Pele myths, she is banished from her home in Tahiti for creating hot spots by her older sister, Namakaokahaʻi, who also convinced the rest of her family that Pele would burn them all. Then, Pele travels on the canoe Honuaiakea to find a new home with her brother Kamohoaliʻi. Her mother gave her an egg to take care of and it later hatches into a baby girl whom Pele names Hiʻiaka-i-ka-poli-o-pele (Hiʻiaka in the Bosom of Pele) or Hiʻiaka for short. She is her favorite sister and encouraged her to befriend the people of Puna. However, when Hiʻiaka became best friends with a girl named Hōpoe, Pele became jealous of their friendship. Pele saw Lohiʻau, a chief of Kauaʻi, in a dream, sending Hiʻiaka to bring him to her in forty days or else she would punish them. When Hiʻiaka seeks out Lohiʻau, she discovers he is dead but she calls upon the power of the sorcery goddess Uli to revive him. As Hiʻiaka is on her journey, Pele grows impatient and sends a lava flow to Hōpoe's home before the forty days were up. When Hiʻiaka returns to Hawaiʻi with Lohiʻau, she saw Hōpoe covered in stone and knew Pele was behind this. Hiʻiaka spitefully embraced Lohiʻau in Pele's view, which further angered Pele, who then covered Lohiʻau with lava as well. The sisters saw that their anger led to the death of the two people who meant the most to them, so Pele apologetically brought Lohiʻau back to life and let him decide whom he would choose. Unfortunately for Pele, Lohiʻau ended up choosing Hiʻiaka, yet Pele gave them both her blessing.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In another version of the myth, Pele hears the beating of drums and chanting coming from Kauaʻi while she is sleeping and travels there in her spirit form. She disguises herself as a beautiful young woman and meets Lohiʻau in this way. After three days of making love together, Pele goes back to Hawaiʻi and Lohiʻau dies from a broken heart.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Belief in Pele continued after the old religion was officially abolished in 1819. In the summer of 1823 English missionary William Ellis toured the island to determine locations for mission stations. After a long journey to the volcano Kīlauea with little food, Ellis eagerly ate the wild berries he found growing there. The berries of the ōhelo "(Vaccinium reticulatum)" plant are considered sacred to Pele. Traditionally prayers and offerings to Pele were always made before eating the berries. The volcano crater was an active lava lake, which the natives feared was a sign that Pele was not pleased with the violation.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Although wood carvings and thatched temples were easily destroyed, the volcano was a natural monument to the goddess.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In December 1824 the High Chiefess Kapiolani descended into Halemaʻumaʻu after reciting a Christian prayer instead of the traditional Hawaiian one to Pele. As it was predicted, she survived and this story was often told by missionaries to show the superiority of their faith. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) wrote a poem about the incident in 1892.


title: Pele (deity)

text: An urban legend states that Pele herself occasionally warns locals of impending eruptions. Appearing in the form of either a beautiful young woman or an elderly woman with white hair, sometimes accompanied by a small white dog, and always dressed in a red muumuu, Pele is said to walk along the roads near Kīlauea, but will vanish if passersby stop to help her, similar to the Resurrection Mary or vanishing hitchhiker legend. The passerby is then obliged to warn others or suffer misfortune in the next eruption. Another legend, Pele's Curse, states that Pele's wrath will fall on anyone who removes items from her island. Every year numerous small natural items are returned by post to the National Park Service by tourists seeking Pele's forgiveness. It is believed Pele's Curse was invented in the mid-20th century to deter tourist depredation.


title: Pele (deity)

text: When businessman George Lycurgus ran a hotel at the rim of Kīlauea, called the Volcano House from 1904 through 1921, he would often "pray" to Pele for the sake of the tourists. Park officials frowned upon his practices of tossing items, such as gin bottles (after drinking their contents), into the crater.


title: Pele (deity)

text: William Hyde Rice included an 11-page summary of the legends of Pele in his 1923 collection of Hawaiian legends, a reprint of which is available online from the Bernice P. Bishop Museum's Special Publications section.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In 2003 the Volcano Art Center had a special competition for Pele paintings to replace one done in the early 20th century by D. Howard Hitchcock displayed in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitors center. The existing portrait of what looked like a blond Caucasian as the Hawaiian goddess had been criticized by many Native Hawaiians. Over 140 paintings were submitted, and finalists were displayed at sites within the park. The winner of the contest was artist Arthur Johnsen of Puna. This version shows the goddess in shades of red, with her digging staff "Pāʻoa" in her left hand, and an embryonic form of her sister goddess Hiʻiaka in her right hand. The painting is now on display at the Kilauea Visitor Center.


title: Pele (deity)

text: The religious group Love Has Won briefly moved to Hawaii and sparked violent protests from locals after claiming their founder Amy Carlson was Pele.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Pele shares features similar to other malignant deities inhabiting volcanoes, as in the case of the devil Guayota of Guanche Mythology in Canary Islands (Spain), living on the volcano Teide and was considered by the aboriginal Guanches as responsible for the eruptions of the volcano.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Several phenomena connected to volcanism have been named after her, including Pele's hair, Pele's tears, and Limu o Pele (Pele's seaweed). A volcano on the Jovian moon Io is also named Pele.


title: Pele (deity)

text: Myths about Pele encode dateable natural events. The chronology of Pele’s journey corresponds with the geological age of the Hawaiian islands.


title: Pele (deity)

text: In 2006, one volcanologist suggested the battle between Pele and Hiʻiaka was inspired by geological events around 1500 AD.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The Philippine Arena is the world's largest indoor arena. It is a multipurpose indoor arena with a maximum seating capacity of 55,000 at Ciudad de Victoria, a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone in Bocaue and Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippines about 30 kilometers north of Manila. It is one of the centerpieces of the many centennial projects of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) for their centennial celebration on July 27, 2014. The legal owner of the arena is the INC's educational institution, New Era University.


title: Philippine Arena

text: In 2011, Korean firm, Hanwha Engineering and Construction won the contract to manage the construction of the Philippine Arena. Hanwha outbested bids from Filipino firm, EEI Corporation an done on August 17, 2011. Hanwha announced that it had completed the construction of the indoor arena on May 30, 2014. The venue was not formally inaugurated until almost two months later.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The Philippine Arena, along with Ciudad de Victoria was officially inaugurated on July 21, 2014. Then-Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo unveiled the marker of Ciudad de Victoria.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The initial design concept of the Philippine arena is inspired by the narra tree, the mother tree of the Philippines, and the root of the banyan tree. The roof was inspired by that of a Nipa Hut.


title: Philippine Arena

text: Populous, a global mega-architecture firm, designed the arena through their office in Brisbane, Australia. The official website of the sports facility describe's the structure's architectural style as Modernist. The arena has been master planned to enable at least 50,000 people to gather inside the building and a further 50,000 to gather at a ‘live site’ or plaza outside to share in major events. The seating bowl of the arena is a one-sided bowl and is partitioned into two parts, the upper and the lower bowl each with approximately 25,000 seating capacity. The lower bowl is the most used part of the building and the architectural design allows for easy separation of the lower bowl from the upper tier, by curtaining with acoustic and thermal properties. A retractable seating of 2,000 people capacity is also installed behind the stage which is used by the choir of the Iglesia ni Cristo for events of the church.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The seating layout of the arena is different from that of a standard arena where the stage is at the middle and is surrounded by seats. The seating of the arena closely resembles that of a Greek amphitheater, built in a semi-circle with the seats at the sides and front of the arena stage. The seatings are divided into three sections. Each of the sections are colored green, white and red: the colors of the Iglesia ni Cristo flag.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The arena has 4 floors or levels. Level 1 is the stage level, Level 2 is the main access level open to the general viewing public, Level 3 is the VIP area which also houses conference rooms with views facing the main plaza outside the indoor arena building and Level 4 is the upper concourse.


title: Philippine Arena

text: Built on of land, the arena has a dome over . The oval roof has a dimension of and contains 9,000 tons of steel work. The roof was made as a separate unit to reduce burden on the arena with extra load. The arena is in height, or about fifteen stories high and founded on pile construction. About a third of the dead load of the building was designed for earthquake loads. The building was also divided into multiple structures to strengthen the arena's earthquake resistance.


title: Philippine Arena

text: PWP Landscape Architecture, the firm who landscaped the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, designed the landscape for the arena and the whole complex of Ciudad de Victoria. For the arena, a series of outdoor plazas, gardens and performance venues form the setting for the development including: The North and South Arrival Plazas, The Promontory Plaza, The Great Stairs, and Ciudad de Victoria Plaza that are all related to each other with two cross axes (N-S and E-W) that intersect at the Promontory Plaza. Two fountains that can shoot waters up to are also installed in front of the arena.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The arena holds not only major church gatherings of the Iglesia ni Cristo, but also operates as a multi-use sports and concert venue, capable of holding a range of events from boxing and basketball to live music performances, but no association football or field events due to its limited size. There is clear "line of sight" for every seat from each tier, even for various arena configurations such as church ceremonies, boxing, tennis, concerts or indoor gymnastics. The Iglesia ni Cristo allows non-Iglesia tenants to use the arena. The church reserves the right to disallow activities which it sees violate its religious principles, which include gambling-related events and cockfighting.


title: Philippine Arena

text: The Philippine Arena was featured in a documentary called "Man Made Marvels: Quake Proof". It aired on December 25, 2013, on Discovery Channel and focused on making structures in the Philippines more safe from natural disasters in general such as earthquake and typhoons.


title: Philippine Arena

text: On July 27, 2014, Guinness World Records recognized the arena as the largest mixed-use indoor theater.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: James Richard Bullard (born 23 October 1978) is an English former professional footballer, coach and television personality. He is the co-host of the Saturday morning Sky Sports show "Soccer AM".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: As a player he was a midfielder and played youth football at West Ham United before moving to Gravesend & Northfleet in 1998. Two seasons at Peterborough United was followed by a spell at Wigan Athletic where he scored ten goals in 145 league appearances, helping them to their first promotion to the Premier League. Bullard was known for being a passionate leader on the pitch and for his funny antics, playing football with a smile throughout his career. Paul Jewell described Bullard as the heart and soul of the dressing room.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: A transfer to Fulham in 2006 resulted in six goals in 39 league appearances before Bullard moved to Hull City in 2009. A loan move to Ipswich Town commenced in 2011 where he scored on his debut. He later moved permanently to Ipswich and ended his career at Milton Keynes Dons. On 1 October 2012, Bullard retired from professional football, because problems with his knees meant he was unable to keep up the playing demands of up to two games a week. He was most recently manager at Leatherhead between September 2016 and May 2017.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard was born in East Ham, London. He played schools' representative football for Bexley Primary Schools FA and Kent Schools FA whilst at primary school, and then represented North Kent Schools FA whilst a pupil at Erith School. He started his career in non-League football with amateur club Corinthian before moving to Dartford, where he made 26 appearances in the 1997–98 season. He then moved to Gravesend & Northfleet before being signed by the club he supported as a boy, West Ham United, for a fee of £30,000 in 1999. He did not manage to break into the team, however, and was given a free transfer at the end of the 2000–01 season. In May 2001, Bullard signed for Second Division club Peterborough United on a three-year contract. Initially he was on trial but he was offered a permanent deal after impressing manager Barry Fry with his pace, energy and eye for goal. After impressing with Peterborough, Bullard earned a move to Wigan Athletic for £275,000 in January 2003.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard quickly established himself in the Wigan first team and was named in the PFA Division Two Team of the Year for 2002–03. He helped Wigan secure promotion to the FA Premier League in the 2004–05 season and an appearance in the 2006 Football League Cup Final, which they lost 4–0 to Manchester United.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 28 April 2006, it was announced that Bullard would sign for Fulham at the end of the 2005–06 season after a £2.5 million offer from the London club triggered a release clause in his contract. On 16 May, Bullard was officially confirmed as a Fulham player. Bullard's Fulham debut came as the team lost 5–1 to Manchester United on 20 August. His first goal for Fulham came against Bolton Wanderers on 26 August, a last-minute penalty kick to level the scores at 1–1. Three days later, after he scored a curling free kick against Sheffield United in a 1–0 win, Fulham boss Chris Coleman hailed Bullard as "the best £2million we've ever spent".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 9 September, Bullard dislocated his kneecap in a match against Newcastle United. This injury was thought to keep him out for six to eight weeks. However three days later it was revealed that Bullard would in fact be out for up to nine months with cruciate knee ligament damage. Fulham's new manager Lawrie Sanchez announced that the midfielder was aiming to return around October 2007. However, he did not make a first team appearance until 12 January 2008, coming off the bench to play against West Ham. Bullard then came on as a half time substitute in a 2–1 win against Aston Villa on 3 February, setting up the equaliser then scoring the winning goal from a free kick and winning the man of the match award. He scored an identical free kick weeks later, to rescue a point against Blackburn Rovers and keep Fulham's hope of Premier League survival alive.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: After missing a large part of the season due to injury, his return to the team, along with club captain Brian McBride, sparked Fulham into a run of form which saw them move out of the bottom three with one game remaining, after a 2–0 victory over Birmingham City. After helping Fulham out of the relegation zone, Bullard vowed to stay at Fulham to remain loyal with the club.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: At the start of the 2008–09 season, Bullard found himself being linked with various clubs, with his former club, Wigan, expressing an interest in signing him. However, newly appointed manager Roy Hodgson said that he would not sell Bullard, insisting he was a key player. Bullard claimed he was in talks to sign a new deal with the club. However, this was denied by the club. The uncertainty surrounding Bullard's future at Fulham left him "very confused". Despite being regularly featured in the first team in the first half of the season, it was reported on Sky Sports that Bullard was told by the club that he could leave the club.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 23 January 2009, Bullard completed a move to Hull City for £5 million, a record transfer fee paid by the club. In an interview broadcast on BBC's Football Focus on 31 January, Bullard discussed his reasons for leaving Fulham:


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Fulham boss Roy Hodgson said "He's been seeking the type of contract we couldn't give him. I congratulate Hull and Jimmy on getting the contract he wanted. It wasn't just wage demands prompting Jimmy to go, but the length of contract too". Bullard signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with Hull. In 2016, Bullard, having retired by that time, claimed that Hull presented him with a contract containing a "misprint" for 15,000 pounds per week more than what Bullard said was the originally agreed salary of 40,000 pounds per week and he signed on knowing that it was a "misprint."


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard made his Hull debut as a substitute in their 28 January match against West Ham, but picked up a knee injury during the game. The injury was to the same knee that he dislocated while at Fulham, but was not initially thought to be related to the prior damage. It was sufficiently serious to necessitate Bullard flying back to the same surgeon, Richard Steadman, in the United States for further knee surgery. On 19 February, it was declared that he would be out for the rest of the season after the cruciate ligament surgery. He returned to action on 6 October, in a reserve team match against Bolton, scoring a long range goal. His first team return was off the bench on 19 October against his old club, Fulham, a 2–0 defeat. He scored his first goal for Hull, a free kick, against West Ham on 21 November. He also scored his second goal for the club in the same game, this time from the penalty spot. His third goal for Hull came against Manchester City, again from the penalty spot. His goal celebration saw him wagging his finger at his Hull teammates who had sat down in a circle, imitating Hull manager Phil Brown's on-pitch team talk from the same fixture the previous season where he sat his team on the pitch for a half-time dressing-down. Amused, Brown himself applauded Bullard's celebration.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Against Aston Villa on 5 December, Bullard went up for an aerial challenge against James Milner and landed awkwardly, injuring his knee.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: After a scan it was confirmed that he would be out for six to eight weeks with an injury to the left knee. This came after receiving the player of the month accolade the Friday previous. He made a scoring return in February 2010 for Hull reserves. On 27 March he scored from the penalty spot against former club Fulham, giving Hull the lead in a 2–0 victory. His next penalty came against Sunderland on 24 April, but he hit the post with Hull a goal down receiving jeers from some of the Hull support, who viewed his high transfer fee and wages partly responsible for the club's financial problems. Bullard was substituted at half-time, with Hull needing to win to avoid relegation.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 27 June, Hull's chairman confirmed that Bullard was available for loan and was free to speak to Celtic. However, Hull officials said on 12 July that Celtic and the player had been unable to reach agreement on his wage demands. The club opted to exclude Bullard from pre-season friendlies to reduce the risk of injury preventing the player's sale. Hull were facing the prospect of administration to tackle the club's heavy debts; they had very little choice but to offload Bullard, who was one of the club's highest earners, in order to raise additional revenue and reduce the club's large wage bill. At the start of 2010–11 Bullard was not given a squad number, but some time later he was handed number 27 and played the full 90 minutes against Derby County, before going on to play in a further three games. Bullard scored a last minute winner against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane on 26 December, returning after an injury.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 22 July 2011, Bullard was suspended by Hull City following an incident at Hull's training camp in Slovenia the previous week, which was believed to be a breach of the club's alcohol policy. On 18 August, Hull announced that they had terminated Bullard's contract. Bullard received an out of court settlement after the unlawful termination of his contract.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 27 January 2011, he joined Ipswich Town on loan. He scored on his debut in a 2–1 victory at Derby County on 1 February. Hull said his exit saved the club £320,000 in wages, as he had signed a £45,000-a-week contract for them while they were still in the Premier League. Bullard scored five times in 16 appearances for Ipswich. He won the Supporters' Player of the Year award, despite only being with the club for three months. Some supporters called for manager Paul Jewell to sign him on a permanent basis. However, with Bullard's wages being so high at Hull, chances of a permanent move being agreed looked unlikely. On 3 April, Bullard admitted that he would be interested in a move to Ipswich, and that he would be prepared to take a pay-cut.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 25 August, Bullard joined Ipswich Town on a permanent deal, signing a two-year contract. After starting positively, injuries meant he spent the majority of the remainder of the season on the bench. Bullard was suspended for two weeks while Michael Chopra was fined two weeks wages by the club due to being late to training after a drinking spree. Jewell explained that Bullard and Chopra committed the same offence, but Chopra was suffering from off-the-field issues, therefore it would be inappropriate to suspend him. Jewell highlighted that Bullard "loved playing football and training", deciding that a two-week suspension was the best way to discipline him. Jewell admitted "It's never easy to suspend a player who I have signed twice, who is the life and soul of the dressing room".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: After serving his suspension Bullard was reintroduced back into the first team making a number of first team appearances, but was widely used as an impact substitute. Bullard left Ipswich by mutual consent in August 2012; even though he was highly rated by Jewell he was unable to guarantee him regular first-team football.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 28 August 2012, Bullard signed a short-term contract with Milton Keynes Dons, with a deal running until 31 December, but he announced his retirement from football on 1 October of the same year due to injuries. Bullard said ""In the summer I knew I wanted to give it one last crack and show people what I could do, But what I think with my strong head and what I could physically do are two different things. My head tells me I can do it, but my body tells me, no Jim, you can't"." The following day, he was reported to have joined non-League side Holland as a player coach, with Holland chairman Mark Sorrell saying: "Jimmy is a family friend and has agreed to help us out. He will take the coaching sessions and will play three or four times a season". However, the deal fell through, with Sorrell saying: "The situation has got right out of hand. Jimmy likes to keep himself to himself and he was just coming down to help us out".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Although English by birth, Bullard has a German grandmother and was therefore eligible for the German national team. In the run-up to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it was reported that Bullard was contemplating an international call-up from the "Nationalmannschaft", having made his interest known to the national coach Jürgen Klinsmann. He was called into the England squad in August 2008 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia in September, but did not feature in either match. He was called up on three occasions.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: On 17 September 2016, Bullard was named manager of Isthmian League Premier Division side Leatherhead. He left the club at the end of the season.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: In 2014 Bullard released his autobiography "Bend It like Bullard" which told the story of his footballing career and became a best-seller.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard has made a number of appearances as a pundit for BT Sport and the BBC most notably in the 2014 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Hull City, the latter who Bullard had previously played for. In addition Bullard has made multiple television appearances on "Soccer AM" and "Goals on Sunday".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: In November 2014, he was announced as a contestant in the fourteenth series of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" Since his exit from the show, Bullard has made special appearances on ITV's annual charity show, "Text Santa", "The Xtra Factor", "Celebrity Juice" and "Alan Carr's Specstacular".


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Alongside comedians Rob Beckett and Ian Smith, Bullard hosted UK television channel Dave's comedy-football podcast "The Magic Sponge". The podcast was an irreverent look at the lives of professional footballers and included appearances from guests including Barry Fry, Dean Windass and Lee Hendrie. Bullard now hosts his own fishing podcast and video series "Off The Hook with Jimmy Bullard." Bullard has continued to make television appearances in 2015, as a guest on Channel 4's "Sunday Brunch" and ITV2's "Reality Bites" and as a pundit on "Match of the Day" for the FA Cup third round tie between Arsenal and Hull City.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard founded Extra Time Management with his friend and manager James Erwood. Extra Time Management is an organisation which helps professional sports persons who are about to or are already retired from their chosen sport, to open doors to new careers in media and broadcasting. Extra Time Management firstly helps sports persons deal with depression and other mental health issues and then begins to find new careers for their clients. A percentage of the company's commissions is donated to multiple charities.


title: Jimmy Bullard

text: Bullard was the host's assistant on the first series of ITV comedy panel show "Play to the Whistle", starring alongside Bradley Walsh, Frank Lampard and Holly Willoughby. Bullard has co-hosted Sky Sports' "Soccer AM" since August 2017, initially alongside John Fendley and Lloyd Griffith. As of June 2020, he now co-hosts alongside Fendley, with Griffith having stepped down in July 2019.


title: Casamigos

text: Casamigos, often Casamigos Tequila is an American tequila company founded by George Clooney, Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman. It is owned by Diageo since 2017.


title: Casamigos

text: Founded by the actor and two businessmen, the company was sold to Diageo for US$1 billion, with $300 million based on performance. Casamigos went on to become the fastest-growing spirits brand of 2022. Friends Gerber and Clooney started the company intending to make tequila according to their personal tastes and for their personal use, with no intent of taking the company public. The name Casamigos comes from the Spanish "casa" (house) and "amigos" (friends), thus "house of friends."


title: Casamigos

text: It was purchased in June 2017 by the multinational beverage company Diageo for $700 million plus up to a further $300 million based on the brand's performance. The purchase equated to Diageo paying almost $500 a bottle.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: Bad Boys is a series of American buddy cop action comedy films created by George Gallo. It stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as two detectives in the Miami Police Department, Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett. Joe Pantoliano and Theresa Randle also appear in all three films. Michael Bay directed the first two films and Adil & Bilall took over directional duties for the third. Gabrielle Union, who starred in the second installment, later starred alongside Jessica Alba in a spin-off television series, "L.A.'s Finest".


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: The series has grossed over $840 million worldwide. The first film received mixed reviews from critics, the second was unfavorably received and the third had a generally positive reception.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: Detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett have 72 hours to find $100 million worth of heroin before Internal Affairs shuts them down. Lowery becomes more involved after a friend is murdered by the drug dealers. Matters become complicated when Lowery and Burnett have to switch places to convince a witness of the murder to cooperate.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: Mike and Marcus head up a task force investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami. Their search leads to a dangerous kingpin Johnny Tapia, whose plan to control the city's drug traffic has touched off an underground war. Meanwhile Mike and Syd, Marcus's sister are in a secret relationship.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: In June 2008, Michael Bay stated that he may direct "Bad Boys III", but that the greatest obstacle to the potential sequel would be the cost, as he and Will Smith demand some of the highest salaries in the film industry. By August 2009, Columbia Pictures had hired Peter Craig to write the script for "Bad Boys III". In February 2011, Martin Lawrence reiterated that the film was in development. In June 2014, Jerry Bruckheimer announced that screenwriter David Guggenheim was working on the storyline for the sequel. Two months later, Lawrence said a script had been written and parts had been cast. By June 2015, director Joe Carnahan was in early talks to write and possibly direct the film. Two months later, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that "Bad Boys III" would be released on February 17, 2017. On March 4, 2016, the film was pushed to June 2, 2017. Producers had planned to begin production in early 2017.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: On August 11, 2016, the film was pushed back once again to January 12, 2018, to avoid box office competition with the upcoming DC Comics film "Wonder Woman", and retitled "Bad Boys for Life". Lawrence revealed on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that filming may start in March 2017. On March 7, 2017, Carnahan left the film due to scheduling conflicts, and in August 2017 Sony removed the film from their release schedule. In August 2017, Lawrence said that he doubted that the film would ever be made. During an appearance on Australian breakfast show "Sunrise" on January 15, 2018, Will Smith told hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch that a third film was coming "very soon". On January 30, 2018, it was announced that Sony Pictures were in negotiations with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to direct the upcoming third entry in the "Bad Boys" franchise titled "Bad Boys for Life" with a possible production date in August, 2018. Sony is reportedly gearing up for the long-awaited third installment to begin filming in November 2018 and wrap in March 2019.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: In November 2018, Martin Lawrence officially revealed via Instagram that he and co-star Will Smith would return for a sequel. Joe Pantoliano is also set to reprise his role as Captain Howard. Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig and Charles Melton were announced in the cast on December 20, 2018. Jacob Scipio and Paola Nuñez were announced in the cast on December 21, 2018. Filming began on January 7, 2019.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: In January 2020, a fourth film entered development, with Chris Bremner serving as screenwriter. Smith and Lawrence will reprise their roles from the previous three movies. As of April 2022, production for the film has been halted due to the incident with Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony and the subsequent investigation.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: In October 2017, a spinoff television series centered on Gabrielle Union's character, was announced to be in development by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier. Later that month NBC ordered the pilot episode of the series.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: By March 2018, Jessica Alba was cast as the co-star with Gabrielle Union. In addition to Union, John Salley will also reprise his role as Fletcher, a computer hacker who helps Mike and Marcus in the film series. The following month, the title of the series was revealed as "LA's Finest", with Jerry Bruckheimer serving as executive producer for the series. Later that month, NBC passed on the pilot, and the show was shopped around to other networks. NBC's boss, Bob Greenblatt, said: "These are all tough calls. We did have an embarrassment of riches. And when we laid out the schedule and the calendar all season...it was a show that didn't fit in the grand scheme of it."


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: That same month, it was revealed that Sony Pictures Television, was negotiating with Charter Communications about picking up the series. By June 2018, Canada's Bell Media picked it up for 13 episodes. Charter gave its series order on June 26, intent on making it Spectrum's first original series. In June 2019, the series was renewed for the second season.


title: Bad Boys (franchise)

text: "", is a video game released in 2004 based on the sequel "Bad Boys II". It was released in early 2004 after the film's DVD and VHS release.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: The Dirk Diggler Story is a 1988 mockumentary short film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It follows the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler, a well-endowed male porn star. The character was modeled on American porn actor John Holmes. The film was later expanded into Anderson's 1997 film "Boogie Nights".


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: Dirk Diggler (Michael Stein) was born as Steven Samuel Adams on April 15, 1961 outside of Saint Paul, Minnesota. His parents are a construction worker and a boutique shop owner who attend church every Sunday. Looking for a career as a male model, Diggler drops out of school at age 16 and leaves home. Jack Horner (Robert Ridgely) discovers Diggler at a falafel stand. Diggler meets his friend, Reed Rothchild (Eddie Delcore), through Horner in 1979, while working on a film.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: Horner slowly introduces Diggler to the business until Diggler becomes noticeable within the industry. Diggler becomes a prominent model and begins appearing in pornographic films. Diggler has critical and box office hits which lead him to stardom. The hits and publicity lead to fame and money, which lead Diggler to the world of drugs. With the amount of money Diggler is making, he is able to support both his and Rothchild's addictions. The drugs eventually cause a breakup between Diggler and Horner since Diggler is having issues with his performance on set.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: After the breakup, Diggler tries to make a film himself, but it is never completed. He then attempts a music career, which is successful, but leads him deeper into drugs because of the amount of money he is making. He then stars in a TV show which is a failure, both critically and commercially. Having failed and with no work, Diggler returns to the porn industry, taking roles in low-budget gay porn to pay for his addictions. On July 17, 1981, during a film shoot, Diggler dies of a drug overdose.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: The film ends with a quotation from Diggler: "All I ever wanted was a cool '78 'Vette and a house in the country."


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: The film was Anderson's first real production having experimented with what he called "standard fare". Anderson conceived the film when he was 17 years old and a senior at Montclair College Preparatory School. Anderson called his friend Michael Stein, telling him to come over for a production meeting, and told Stein his idea: "John Holmes". Stein loved the idea and was cast to play the role of Dirk Diggler; he selected his own wardrobe. Stein showed Anderson some video of his friend Eddie Dalcour, who was a professional body builder, which Anderson loved and cast him in the role of Reed Rothchild. Anderson's father, Ernie Anderson, narrated the film and Robert Ridgely, a friend of Anderson's father, played the role of Jack Horner.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: The film was shot in 1987 using a video camera and steadicam provided by Anderson's father (Ernie "Ghoulardi" Anderson). Some scenes were shot at a motel. Anderson raised money for the film by cleaning cages in a pet store. Being influenced by "This is Spinal Tap" at the time, he decided to do a mockumentary and used the John Holmes documentary, "Exhausted", as a model for the film, even taking some dialogue almost word-for-word. Anderson worked from a shot list and wanted the actors to be serious since the characters took their work seriously. Anderson edited the film using two VCRs. According to Anderson, the film drew admiring laughs when it was shown at a University of Southern California film festival.


title: The Dirk Diggler Story

text: "The Dirk Diggler Story" was expanded into Anderson's 1997 breakout film "Boogie Nights" with a number of scenes appearing almost verbatim in both films. Two actors had roles in both films; in "Boogie Nights", Robert Ridgely played The Colonel, a pornography financier, and Michael Stein made an appearance as a stereo store customer. The main differences between "The Dirk Diggler Story" and "Boogie Nights" are the mockumentary versus narratives styles in the former and latter films, respectively; Diggler's stint in gay porn in the first film versus his prostitution in the second; and Diggler's dying from an overdose in the first film versus his happy return to his former roles and lifestyle in the second.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939, immediately before the outbreak of World War II. The three countries were then annexed into the Soviet Union (formally as "constituent republics") in August 1940. The United States and most other Western countries never recognised this incorporation, considering it illegal. On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and within weeks occupied the Baltic territories. In July 1941, the Third Reich incorporated the Baltic territory into its "Reichskommissariat Ostland". As a result of the Red Army's Baltic Offensive of 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured most of the Baltic states and trapped the remaining German forces in the Courland pocket until their formal surrender in May 1945.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Latvian plenipotentiary Kārlis Zariņš first described the Soviet takeover of Latvia as "occupatio bellicara" and "occupatio pacifica" in his 27 October 1943 memorandum to the British Foreign Ministry. The Soviet "annexation occupation" or occupation "sui generis" of the Baltic states lasted until the three countries restored sovereignty in August 1991.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Baltic states themselves, the United States and its courts of law, the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council have all stated that these three countries were invaded, occupied and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union under provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. There followed occupation by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 and then again occupation by the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1991. This policy of non-recognition has given rise to the principle of legal continuity of the Baltic states, which holds that "de jure", or as a matter of law, the Baltic states had remained independent states under illegal occupation throughout the period from 1940 to 1991.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: In its reassessment of Soviet history that began during perestroika in 1989, the Soviet Union condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and itself. However, the Soviet Union never formally acknowledged its presence in the Baltics as an occupation or that it annexed these states and considered the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics as three of its constituent republics. On the other hand, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic recognized in 1991 the events of 1940 as "annexation". Historically revisionist Russian historiography and school textbooks continue to maintain that the Baltic states voluntarily joined the Soviet Union after their peoples all carried out socialist revolutions independent of Soviet influence. The post-Soviet government of Russia and its state officials insist that incorporation of the Baltic states was in accordance with international law and gained "de jure" recognition by the agreements made in the February 1945 Yalta and the July–August 1945 Potsdam conferences and by the 1975 Helsinki Accords, which declared the inviolability of existing frontiers. However, Russia agreed to Europe's demand to "assist persons deported from the occupied Baltic states" upon joining the Council of Europe in 1996. Additionally, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic signed a separate treaty with Lithuania in 1991, it acknowledged that the 1940 annexation as a violation of Lithuanian sovereignty and recognised the "de jure" continuity of the Lithuanian state.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Most Western governments maintained that Baltic sovereignty had not been legitimately overridden and thus continued to recognise the Baltic states as sovereign political entities represented by the legations—appointed by the pre-1940 Baltic states—which functioned in Washington and elsewhere. The Baltic states recovered "de facto" independence in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia started to withdraw its troops from the Baltics (starting from Lithuania) in August 1993. The full withdrawal of troops deployed by Moscow ended in August 1994. Russia officially ended its military presence in the Baltics in August 1998 by decommissioning the Skrunda-1 radar station in Latvia. The dismantled installations were repatriated to Russia and the site returned to Latvian control, with the last Russian soldier leaving Baltic soil in October 1999.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Early in the morning of 24 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a ten-year non-aggression pact, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. The pact contained a secret protocol by which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence". In the north, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its "political rearrangement"—the areas east of the Narev, Vistula and San Rivers going to the Soviet Union while Germany would occupy the west. Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed in September 1939 assigned the majority of Lithuanian territory to the Soviet Union. According to this secret protocol, Lithuania would regain its historical capital Vilnius, previously subjugated during the inter-war period by Poland.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Following the end of the Soviet invasion of Poland on 6 October, the Soviets pressured Finland and the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance treaties. The Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia after the escape of an interned Polish submarine on 18 September. A week later on 24 September, the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow. The Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia. The Estonians were thus coerced to accept naval, air and army bases on two Estonian islands and at the port of Paldiski. The corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939. Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on 10 October 1939. The agreements permitted the Soviet Union to establish military bases on the Baltic states' territory for the duration of the European war and to station 25,000 Soviet soldiers in Estonia, 30,000 in Latvia and 20,000 in Lithuania from October 1939.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: In September and October 1939, the Soviet government compelled the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave it the right to establish Soviet military bases. In May 1940, the Soviets turned to the idea of direct military intervention, but still intended to rule through puppet regimes. Their model was the Finnish Democratic Republic, a puppet regime set up by the Soviets on the first day of the Winter War. The Soviets organised a press campaign against the allegedly pro-Allied sympathies of the Baltic governments. In May 1940, the Germans invaded France, which was overrun and occupied a month later. In late May and early June 1940, the Baltic states were accused of military collaboration against the Soviet Union by holding meetings the previous winter. On 15 June 1940, the Lithuanian government was extorted to agree to the Soviet ultimatum and permit the entry of an unspecified number of Soviet troops. President Antanas Smetona proposed armed resistance to the Soviets but the government refused, proposing their own candidate to lead the regime. However, the Soviets refused this offer and sent Vladimir Dekanozov to take charge of affairs while the Red Army occupied the state.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: On 16 June 1940, Latvia and Estonia also received ultimata. The Red Army occupied the two remaining Baltic states shortly thereafter. The Soviets dispatched Andrey Vyshinsky to oversee the takeover of Latvia and Andrey Zhdanov to oversee the takeover of Estonia. On 18 and 21 June 1940, new "popular front" governments were formed in each Baltic country, made up of Communists and fellow travelers. Under Soviet surveillance, the new governments arranged rigged elections for new "people's assemblies." Voters were presented with a single list, and no opposition movements were allowed to file and to get the required turnout to 99.6% votes were forged. A month later, the new assemblies met, with their sole item of business being resolutions to join the Soviet Union. In each case, the resolutions passed by acclamation. The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union duly accepted the requests in August, thus sanctioning them under Soviet law. Lithuania was incorporated into the Soviet Union on 3 August, Latvia on 5 August, and Estonia on 6 August 1940. The deposed presidents of Estonia (Konstantin Päts) and Latvia (Kārlis Ulmanis) were imprisoned and deported to the USSR and died later in the Tver region and Central Asia respectively. In June 1941, the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of "enemies of the people". It is estimated that Estonia alone lost 60,000 citizens. Consequently, many Balts initially greeted the Germans as liberators when they invaded a week later.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Soviet Union immediately started to erect border fortifications along its newly acquired western border — the so-called Molotov Line.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: On 22 June 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. The Baltic states, recently Sovietized by threats, force, and fraud, generally welcomed the German armed forces when they crossed the frontiers. In Lithuania, a revolt broke out and an independent provisional government was established. As the German armies approached Riga and Tallinn, attempts to reestablish national governments were made. It was hoped that the Germans would reestablish Baltic independence. Such political hopes soon evaporated and Baltic cooperation became less forthright or ceased altogether. The Germans aimed to annex the Baltic territories to the Third Reich where "suitable elements" were to be assimilated and "unsuitable elements" exterminated. In actual practice, the implementation of occupation policy was more complex; for administrative convenience the Baltic states were included with Belorussia in the Reichskommissariat Ostland. The area was ruled by Hinrich Lohse who was obsessed with bureaucratic regulations. The Baltic area was the only eastern region intended to become a full province of the Third Reich. Nazi racial attitudes to the Baltic people differed between Nazi authorities. In practice, racial policies were directed not against the majority of Balts but rather against the Jews. Large numbers of Jews were living in the major cities, notably in Vilnius, Kaunas and Riga. The German mobile killing units slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Jews; Einsatzgruppe A, assigned to the Baltic area, was the most effective of four units. German policy forced the Jews into ghettos. In 1943 Heinrich Himmler ordered his forces to liquidate the ghettos and to transfer the survivors to concentration camps. Some Latvians and Lithuanian conscripts collaborated actively in the killing of Jews, and the Nazis managed to provoke pogroms locally, especially in Lithuania. Only about 75 percent of Estonian and 10 percent of Latvian and Lithuanian Jews survived the war. However, for the majority of Baltic people, German rule was less harsh than Soviet rule had been, and it was less brutal than German occupations elsewhere in eastern Europe. Local puppet regimes performed administrative tasks and schools were permitted to function. However, most people were denied the right to own land or businesses.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Soviet administration had forcefully incorporated the Baltic national armies at the wake of the occupation in 1940. Most of the senior officers were arrested and many of them murdered. During the German invasion, the Soviets conducted a forced general mobilisation that took place in violation of the international law. Under the Geneva Conventions, this act of violence is seen as a grave breach and war crime, because the mobilised men were treated as arrestants from the very beginning. In comparison with the general mobilisation proclaimed in the Soviet Union, the age range was extended by 9 years in the Baltics; all reserve officers were also taken. The aim was to deport all men capable to fight to Russia, where they were sent to convict camps. Almost half of them perished because of the transportation conditions, slave labour, hunger, diseases, and the repressive measures of the NKVD. In addition, destruction battalions were formed under the command of the NKVD. Hence, Baltic nationals fought in both German and Soviet army ranks. There was the 201st Latvian Rifle Division. The 308th Latvian Rifle Division was awarded the Red Banner Order after the expulsion of the Germans from Riga in the autumn of 1944.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: An estimated 60,000 Lithuanians were drafted into the Red Army. During 1940, on the basis of disbanded Lithuanian Army, Soviet authorities organized 29th Territorial Rifle Corps. Decrease in quality of life and service conditions, forceful indoctrination of Communist ideology, caused discontent of recently Sovietized military units. Soviet authorities responded with repressions against Lithuanian officers of the 29th Corps, arresting over 100 officers and soldiers and subsequently executing around 20 in Autumn 1940. By that time allegedly near 3,200 officers and soldiers of 29th Corps were considered "politically unreliable". Due to high tensions and soldiers' discontent the 26th Cavalry Regiment was disbanded. During the 1941 June deportations over 320 officers and soldiers of 29th Corps were arrested and deported to concentration camps or executed. The 29th Corps collapsed with the German invasion into Soviet Union: on June 25–26 a rebellion broke in its 184th Rifle Division. The other division of the 29th Corps, the 179th Rifle Division lost most of its soldiers during the retreat from Germans mostly to deserting of its soldiers. A total of less than 1,500 soldiers from initial strength of around 12,000 reached the area of Pskov by August 1941. By the second part of 1942, most of Lithuanians remaining in the Soviet ranks as well as male war refugees from Lithuania were organized into 16th Rifle Division during its second formation. 16th Rifle Division, despite officially called "Lithuanian" and mostly commanded by officers of Lithuanian origin, including Adolfas Urbšas, was ethnically very mixed, with up to 1/4 of its personnel made of Jews and thus being the largest Jew formation of Soviet Army. Popular joke of those years said that 16th Division is called Lithuanian, because there are 16 Lithuanians among its ranks.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The 7000-strong 22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps got heavily beaten in the battles around Porkhov during the German invasion in summer 1941, as 2000 were killed or wounded in action, and 4500 surrendered. The 25,000—30,000 strong 8th Estonian Rifle Corps lost 3/4 of its troops in the Battle of Velikiye Luki in winter 1942/43. It participated in the capture of Tallinn in September 1944. About 20,000 Lithuanians, 25,000 Estonians, and 5000 Latvians died in the ranks of the Red Army and labor battalions.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Nazi administration also conscripted Baltic nationals into the German armies. The Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force, composed of volunteers, was formed in 1944. The LTDF reached the size of about 10,000 men. Its goal was to fight the approaching Red Army, provide security and conduct anti-partisan operations within the territory, claimed by Lithuanians. After brief engagements against the Soviet and Polish partisans (Armia Krajowa), the force self-disbanded, its leaders were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps, and many of its members were executed by the Nazis. Latvian Legion, created in 1943, consisted of two conscripted divisions of the Waffen-SS. On 1 July 1944 the Latvian Legion had 87,550 men. Another 23,000 Latvians were serving as Wehrmacht "auxiliaries". Among other battles they participated in the battles in the Siege of Leningrad, in Courland Pocket, in Pomeranian Wall defences, in Velikaya River for Hill "93,4" and in the defence of Berlin. 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) was formed in January 1944 through conscription. Consisting of 38,000 men they took part in the Battle of Narva, the Battle of Tannenberg Line, the Battle of Tartu, and Operation Aster.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: There were several attempts to restore independence during the occupation. On 22 June 1941 the Lithuanians overthrew Soviet rule two days before the "Wehrmacht" arrived in Kaunas, where the Germans then allowed a Provisional Government to function for over a month. The Latvian Central Council was set up as an underground organisation in 1943, but it was destroyed by the "Gestapo" in 1945. In Estonia in 1941, Jüri Uluots proposed restoration of independence; later, by 1944, he had become a key figure in the secret National Committee. In September 1944, Uluots briefly became acting president of independent Estonia. Unlike the French and the Poles, the Baltic states had no governments in exile located in the West. Consequently, Great Britain and the United States lacked any interest in the Baltic cause while the war against Germany remained undecided. The discovery of the Katyn massacre in 1943 and callous conduct towards the Warsaw uprising in 1944 had cast shadows on relations; nevertheless, all three victors still displayed solidarity at the Yalta conference in 1945.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: By 1 March 1944 the siege of Leningrad was over and Soviet troops were on the border with Estonia. The Soviets launched the Baltic Offensive, a twofold military-political operation to rout German forces, on 14 September. On 16 September the High Command of the German Army issued a plan in which Estonian forces would cover the German withdrawal. The Soviets soon reached the Estonian capital Tallinn, where the NKVD's first mission was to stop anyone escaping from the state; however, many refugees did manage to escape to the West. The NKVD also targeted the members of the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia. German and Latvian forces remained trapped in the Courland pocket until the end of the war, capitulating on 10 May 1945.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: After reoccupying the Baltic states, the Soviets implemented a program of sovietization, which was achieved through large-scale industrialisation rather than by overt attacks on culture, religion or freedom of expression. The Soviets carried out massive deportations to eliminate any resistance to collectivisation or support of partisans. Baltic partisans, such as the Forest Brothers, continued to resist Soviet rule through armed struggle for a number of years.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Soviets had previously carried out mass deportations in 1940–41, but the deportations between 1944 and 1952 were even greater. In March 1949 alone, the top Soviet authorities organised a mass deportation of 90,000 Baltic nationals.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The total number deported in 1944–55 has been estimated at over half a million: 124,000 in Estonia, 136,000 in Latvia and 245,000 in Lithuania.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The estimated death toll among Lithuanian deportees between 1945 and 1958 was 20,000, including 5,000 children.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The deportees were allowed to return after Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech in 1956 denouncing the excesses of Stalinism, however many did not survive their years of exile in Siberia. After the war, the Soviets outlined new borders for the Baltic republics. Lithuania gained the regions of Vilnius and Klaipėda while the Russian SFSR annexed territory from the eastern parts of Estonia (5% of prewar territory) and Latvia (2%).


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Soviets made large capital investments for energy resources and the manufacture of industrial and agricultural products. The purpose was to integrate the Baltic economies into the larger Soviet economic sphere. In all three republics, manufacturing industry was developed resulting in some of the best industrial complexes in the sphere of electronics and textile production. The rural economy suffered from the lack of investments and the collectivization. Baltic urban areas had been damaged during wartime and it took ten years to recuperate housing losses. New constructions were often of poor quality and ethnic Russian immigrants were favored in housing. Estonia and Latvia received large-scale immigration of industrial workers from other parts of the Soviet Union that changed the demographics dramatically. Lithuania also received immigration but on a smaller scale.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Ethnic Estonians constituted 88 percent before the war, but in 1970 the figure dropped to 60 percent. Ethnic Latvians constituted 75 percent, but the figure dropped 57 percent in 1970 and further down to 50.7 percent in 1989. In contrast, the drop in Lithuania was only 4 percent. Baltic communists had supported and participated the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. However, many of them died during the Great Purge in the 1930s. The new regimes of 1944 were established mostly by native communists who had fought in the Red Army. However, the Soviets also imported ethnic Russians to fill political, administrative and managerial posts.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The period of stagnation brought the crisis of the Soviet system. The new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and responded with glasnost and perestroika. They were attempts to reform the Soviet system from above to avoid revolution from below. The reforms occasioned the reawakening of nationalism in the Baltic republics. The first major demonstrations against the environment were Riga in November 1986 and the following spring in Tallinn. Small successful protests encouraged key individuals and by the end of 1988 the reform wing had gained the decisive positions in the Baltic republics. At the same time, coalitions of reformists and populist forces assembled under the Popular Fronts. The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic made the Estonian language the state language again in January 1989, and similar legislation was passed in Latvia and Lithuania soon after. The Baltic republics declared their aim for sovereignty: Estonia in November 1988, Lithuania in May 1989 and Latvia in July 1989. The Baltic Way, that took place on 23 August 1989, became the biggest manifestation of opposition to the Soviet rule. In December 1989, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union condemned the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocol as "legally deficient and invalid."


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: On 11 March 1990 the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet declared Lithuania's independence. Pro-independence candidates had received an overwhelming majority in the Supreme Soviet elections held earlier that year. On 30 March 1990, seeing full restoration of independence not yet feasible due to large Soviet presence, the Estonian Supreme Soviet declared the Soviet Union an occupying power and announced the start of a transitional period to independence. On 4 May 1990, the Latvian Supreme Soviet made a similar declaration. The Soviet Union immediately condemned all three declarations as illegal, saying that they had to go through the process of secession outlined in the Soviet Constitution of 1977. However, the Baltic states argued that the entire occupation process violated both international law and their own law. Therefore, they argued, they were merely reasserting an independence that still existed under international law.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: By mid-June, after unsuccessful economic blockade of Lithuania, the Soviets started negotiations with Lithuania and the other two Baltic republics. The Soviets had a bigger challenge elsewhere, as the Russian federal republic proclaimed sovereignty in June. Simultaneously the Baltic republics also started to negotiate directly with the Russian federal republic. After the failed negotiations the Soviets made a dramatic but failed attempt to break the deadlock and sent in military troops killing twenty and injuring hundreds of civilians in what became known as the "Vilnius massacre" and "The Barricades" in Latvia during January 1991. In August 1991, the hard-line members attempted to take control of the Soviet Union. A day after the coup on 21 August, the Estonians proclaimed full independence, after an independence referendum was held in Estonia on 3 March 1991, alongside a similar referendum in Latvia the same month. It was approved by 78.4% of voters with an 82.9% turnout. Independence was restored by the Estonian Supreme Council on the night of 20 August. The Latvian parliament made similar a declaration on the same day. The coup failed but the collapse of the Soviet Union became unavoidable. After the coup collapsed, the Soviet government recognised the independence of all three Baltic states on 6 September 1991.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Russian Federation assumed the burden and the subsequent withdrawal of the occupation force, consisting of about 150,000 former Soviet, now Russian, troops stationed in the Baltic states. In 1992 there were still 120,000 Russian troops there, as well as a large number of military pensioners, particularly in Estonia and Latvia.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: During the period of negotiations, Russia hoped to retain facilities such as the Liepaja naval base, the Skrunda anti-ballistic missile radar station and the Ventspils space-monitoring station in Latvia and the Paldiski submarine base in Estonia, as well as transit rights to Kaliningrad through Lithuania.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Contention arose when Russia threatened to keep its troops where they were. Moscow's linkage to specific legislation guaranteeing the civil rights of ethnic Russians was seen as an implied threat in the West, in the U.N. General Assembly and by Baltic leaders, who viewed it as Russian imperialism.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Lithuania was the first to complete the withdrawal of Russian troops—on 31 August 1993—owing in part to the Kaliningrad issue.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Subsequent agreements to withdraw troops from Latvia were signed on 30 April 1994, and from Estonia on 26 July 1994. Continued linkage on the part of Russia resulted in a threat by the U.S. Senate in mid-July to halt all aid to Russia in case the forces were not withdrawn by the end of August. Final withdrawal was completed on 31 August 1994. Some Russian troops remained stationed in Estonia in Paldiski until the Russian military base was dismantled and the nuclear reactors suspended operations on 26 September 1995. Russia operated the Skrunda-1 radar station until it was decommissioned on 31 August 1998. The Russian Government then had to dismantle and remove the radar equipment; this work was completed by October 1999 when the site was returned to Latvia. The last Russian soldier left the region that month, marking a symbolic end to the Russian military presence on Baltic soil.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: In the years following the reestablishment of Baltic independence, tensions have remained between indigenous Balts and Russian speaking settlers in Estonia and Latvia. While requirements for getting citizenship in the Baltic states are relatively liberal, a lack of attention to the rights of Russian-speaking and stateless individuals in the Baltic states has been noted by some experts, whereas all international organisations agree that no forms of systematic discrimination towards the Russian-speaking and often stateless population can be observed.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: In 1993 Estonia was noted for having problems concerning the successful integration of some who were permanent residents at the time Estonia gained independence. According to a 2008 report of Special Rapporteur on racism to United Nations Human Rights Council the representatives of the Russian speaking communities in Estonia saw the most important form of discrimination in Estonia is not ethnic, but rather language-based (Para. 56). The rapporteur expressed several recommendations including strengthening the Chancellor of Justice, facilitating granting citizenship to persons of undefined nationality and making language policy subject of a debate to elaborate strategies better reflecting the multilingual character of society (paras. 89–92). Estonia has been criticized by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination strong emphasis on Estonian language in the state Integration strategy; usage of punitive approach for promoting Estonian language; restrictions of the usage of minority language in public services; low level of minority representation in political life; persistently high number of persons with undetermined citizenship, etc.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: According to Israeli author Yaël Ronen, of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, illegal regimes typically take measures to change the demographic structure of the territory held by the regime, usually via two methods: the forced removal of the local population and transfer their own populations into the territory. He cites the case of the Baltic states as an example of where this phenomenon has occurred, with the deportations of 1949 combined with large waves of immigration in 1945–50 and 1961–70. When the illegal regime transitioned to a lawful regime in 1991, the status of these settlers became an issue.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Author Aliide Naylor notes the lingering legacy of Soviet modernist architecture in the region, with many iconic Baltic structures falling into disrepair or being demolished completely. There are ongoing debates surrounding their future.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Baltic claim of continuity with the pre-war republics has been accepted by most Western powers. As a consequence of the policy of non-recognition of the Soviet seizure of these countries, combined with the resistance by the Baltic people to the Soviet regime, the uninterrupted functioning of rudimentary state organs in exile in combination with the fundamental legal principle of "ex injuria jus non oritur", that no legal benefit can be derived from an illegal act, the seizure of the Baltic states was judged to be illegal thus sovereign title never passed to the Soviet Union and the Baltic states continued to exist as subjects of international law.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The official position of Russia, which chose in 1991 to be the legal and direct successor of the USSR, is that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined freely of their own accord in 1940, and, with the dissolution of the USSR, these countries became newly created entities in 1991. Russia's stance is based upon the desire to avoid financial liability, the view being that acknowledging the Soviet occupation would set the stage for future compensation claims from the Baltic states.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Soviet historians saw the 1940 incorporation as a voluntary entry into the USSR by the Balts. Soviet historiography inherited the Russian concept from the age of Kievan Rus carried through the Russian Empire. It promoted the interests of Russia and the USSR in the Baltic area, and it reflected the belief of most Russians that they had moral and historical rights to control and to Russianize the whole of the former empire. To Soviet historians, the 1940 annexation was not only a voluntary entry but was also the natural thing to do. This concept taught that the military security of mother Russia was solidified and that nothing could argue against it.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Prior to Perestroika, the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols and viewed the events of 1939–40 as follows: The Government of the Soviet Union suggested that the Governments of the Baltic countries conclude mutual assistance treaties between the countries. Pressure from working people forced the governments of the Baltic countries to accept this suggestion. The Pacts of Mutual Assistance were then signed which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Red Army units in the Baltic countries. Economic difficulties and dissatisfaction of the populace with the Baltic governments' policies that had sabotaged fulfilment of the Pact and the Baltic countries governments' political orientation towards Germany led to a revolutionary situation in June 1940. To guarantee fulfilment of the Pact additional military units entered Baltic countries, welcomed by the workers who demanded the resignations of the Baltic governments. In June under the leadership of the Communist Parties political demonstrations by workers were held. The fascist governments were overthrown, and workers' governments formed. In July 1940, elections for the Baltic Parliaments were held. The "Working People's Unions", created by an initiative of the Communist Parties, received the majority of the votes. The Parliaments adopted the declarations of the restoration of Soviet powers in Baltic countries and proclaimed the Soviet Socialist Republics. Declarations of Estonia's, Latvia's and Lithuania's wishes to join the USSR were adopted and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR petitioned accordingly. The requests were approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The Stalin-edited "Falsifiers of History", published in 1948, states regarding the need for the June 1940 invasions that "[p]acts had been concluded with the Baltic States, but there were as yet no Soviet troops there capable of holding the defences". It also states regarding those invasions that "[o]nly enemies of democracy or people who had lost their senses could describe those actions of the Soviet Government as aggression."


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Upon the reassessment of the Soviet history during the Perestroika, the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: There was relatively little interest in the history of the Baltic states during the Soviet era, which were generally treated as a single entity owing to the uniformity of Soviet policy in these territories. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, two general camps have evolved in Russian historiography. One, the liberal-democratic (либерально-демократическое), condemn Stalin's actions and Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and do not recognize the Baltic states as having joined the USSR voluntarily. The other, the national-patriotic (национально-патриотическое), contend the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was necessary to the security of the Soviet Union, that the Baltics' joining the USSR was the will of the proletariat—both in line with the politics of the Soviet period, "the 'need to ensure the security of the USSR,' 'people's revolution' and 'joining voluntarily'"—and that supporters of Baltic independence were the operatives of western intelligence agencies seeking to topple the USSR.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Soviet-Russian historian Vilnis Sīpols argues that Stalin's ultimatums of 1940 were defensive measures taken because of German threat and had no connection with the 'socialist revolutions' in the Baltic states.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: The arguments that the USSR had to annex the Baltic states in order to defend the security of those countries and to avoid German invasion into the three republics can be found in the college textbook "The Modern History of Fatherland".


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: Sergey Chernichenko, a jurist and vice-president of the Russian Association of International Law, argues there was no declared state of war between the Baltic states and the Soviet Union in 1940, and that Soviet troops occupied the Baltic states with their agreement—nor did violation by the USSR of prior treaty provisions constitute occupation. Subsequent annexation was neither an act of aggression nor forcible and was completely legal according to international law as of 1940. Accusations of "deportation" of Baltic nationals by the Soviet Union is therefore baseless, as individuals cannot be deported within their own country. He characterizes the Waffen-SS as being convicted at Nuremberg as a criminal organization and their commemoration in the "openly encouraged pro-Nazi" (откровенно поощряются пронацистские) Baltics as heroes seeking to liberate the Baltics (from the Soviets) an act of "nationalistic blindness" (националистическое ослепление). With regard to the current situation in the Baltics, Chernichenko contends the "theory of occupation" is the official thesis used to justify the "discrimination of Russian-speaking inhabitants" in Estonia and Latvia and prophesies the three Baltic governments will fail in their "attempt to rewrite history".


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: According to the revisionist historian Oleg Platonov "from the point of view of the national interests of Russia, unification was historically just, as it returned to the composition of the state ancient Russian lands, albeit partially inhabited by other peoples." The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and protocols, including the dismemberment of Poland, merely redressed the tearing away from Russia of its historical territories by "anti-Russian revolution" and "foreign intervention."


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: On the other hand, Professor and Dean of the School of International Relations and Vice-Rector of Saint Petersburg State University, Konstantin K. Khudoley views the 1940 incorporation of the Baltic states as not voluntary, he considers the elections were not free and fair and the decisions of the newly elected parliaments to join the Soviet Union cannot be considered legitimate as these decisions were not approved by the upper chambers of the parliaments of the respective Baltic states. He also contends that the incorporation of the Baltic states had no military value in defence of possible German aggression as it bolstered anti-Soviet public opinion in the future allies Britain and the US, turned the native populations against the Soviet Union and the subsequent guerrilla movement in the Baltic states after the Second World War caused domestic problems for the Soviet Union.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: With the advent of Perestroika and its reassessment of Soviet history, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1989 condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and the Soviet Union that had led to the division of Eastern Europe and the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries.


title: Occupation of the Baltic states

text: While this action did not state the Soviet presence in the Baltics was an occupation, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and Republic of Lithuania affirmed so in a subsequent agreement in the midst of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia, in the preamble of its 29 July 1991, "Treaty Between the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and the Republic of Lithuania on the Basis for Relations between States," declared that once the USSR had eliminated the consequences of the 1940 annexation which violated Lithuania's sovereignty, Russia-Lithuania relations would further improve.