title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The Yugoslavs upgraded the T-72 in the new and more advanced M-84, and sold hundreds of them around the world during the 1980s. The Iraqis called theirs the Lion of Babylon ("Asad Babil"), though the Iraqis assembled theirs from "spare parts" sold to them by the Russians as a means of evading the UN-imposed weapons embargo. More modern derivatives include the Polish PT-91 "Twardy" and Russian T-90. Several countries, including Russia and Ukraine, also offer modernization packages for older T-72s.


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union. A development of the T-64, it entered service in 1976 and was the first production tank to be equipped with a gas turbine engine for main propulsion (the Stridsvagn 103 only used a supplementary gas turbine by 1971). The T-80U was last produced in a factory in Omsk, Russia, while the T-80UD and further-developed T-84 continue to be produced in Ukraine. The T-80 and its variants are in service in Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea and the Ukraine. The chief designer of the T-80 was the Russian engineer Nikolay Popov.


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The main gun is fed by the "Korzina" automatic loader. This holds up to 28 rounds of two-part ammunition in a carousel located under the turret floor. Additional ammunition is stored within the turret. The ammunition comprises the projectile (APFSDS, HEAT or HE-Frag) plus the propellant charge or the two part missile. The autoloader is an effective, reliable, combat-tested system which has been in use since the mid-1960s. The propellant charge is held inside a semi-combustible cartridge case which is made of a highly flammable material - this is consumed in the breech during firing, except for a small metal baseplate, which is ejected during the next reload cycle. Thanks to the ability to fire ATGM rounds, the T-80's main gun has a range relatively longer than that of Western tanks; it is capable of engaging targets at a range of .


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: A disadvantage highlighted during combat in Chechnya was the vulnerability of the T-80BV to catastrophic explosion. The reason given by U.S. and Russian experts was the vulnerability of the stored semi-combustible propellant charges and missiles when contacted by the molten metal jet from the penetration of a HEAT warhead, causing the entire ammunition load to explode. This vulnerability may be addressed in later models. When Western tank designs changed from non-combustible propellant cartridges to semi-combustible, they tended to separate ammunition stowage from the crew compartment with armoured blast doors, and they provided 'blow-out' panels to redirect the force and fire of any exploding ammunition away from the crew compartment. The Russian vector for development for future however is apparently to remove the crew from the turret altogether, this has been implemented with T-14 Armata which was revealed in 2015 Victory Day parade.


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The T-90 is a Russian main battle tank (MBT) derived from the T-72, and is currently the most modern tank in service with the Russian Ground Forces and Naval Infantry. The successor to the T-72BM, the T-90 uses the tank gun and 1G46 gunner sights from the T-80U, a new engine, and thermal sights. Protective measures include Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour (ERA), laser warning receivers, Nakidka camouflage, the EMT-7 electromagnetic pulse (EMP) creator for the destruction of magnetic mines and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming system. It is designed and built by Uralvagonzavod, in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The T-90 with an 840 hp (630 kW) engine went into low-level production in 1993, based on a prototype designated "T-88". It features a new generation of Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor on its hull and turret. Of conventional layout, the T-90 represents a major upgrade to every system in the T-72, including the main gun. The "T-90MS" have been identified as export model. The references to a T-90E appear to be unsubstantiated. The T-90 is fitted with a "three-tiered" protection system: the first tier is the composite armour in the turret, second tier is third generation Kontakt-5 ERA and third tier is a Shtora-1 countermeasures suite.


title: Tanks of the Soviet Union

text: The T-14 Armata is a Russian 4th generation main battle tank based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform. It was first seen in public during rehearsals for the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade. From 2015 to 2020 the Russian army plans to acquire 2,300 T-14s, although unit costs are a concern.


title: Savage Mode II

text: Savage Mode II is a collaborative studio album by Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage and American record producer Metro Boomin. It was released on October 2, 2020, and was previewed through a trailer with narration by Morgan Freeman. The album serves as a sequel to the duo's extended play "Savage Mode" (2016). It features guest appearances by Drake, Young Thug, and Savage's cousin Young Nudy. On October 19, 2020, a chopped and screwed version of the album was released by OG Ron C and Slim K.


title: Savage Mode II

text: "Savage Mode II" received widespread acclaim and debuted atop the US "Billboard" 200, becoming 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's second US number-one album. It was supported by two singles: "Runnin" and "Mr. Right Now".


title: Savage Mode II

text: Metro Boomin first announced the project in July 2019, after 21 Savage brought him out on stage during a concert. Speaking to the crowd, Metro simply stated that "Savage Mode II" was on the way. On February 18, 2020, the producer tweeted a photo of himself and Savage in the studio. The caption for the picture read "MODE". On March 3, 21 Savage reposted a fan's Instagram story that the project would be released on March 13. In May, Savage stated that they were making sure the album is "perfect" before being released. The project's release was officially announced on September 28, with the duo confirmed the release date and previewing the album with a horror-themed, "macabre" trailer directed by Gibson Hazard, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman; he recorded his contributions onto his iPhone at his home. The visual contains in-studio scenes of the pair, as Freeman informs viewers of the meaning of "savage mode": 'Savage' is defined as 'fierce, beastly and untamed'. 'Mode' is defined as 'a way of operating or using the system'. So to be in 'savage mode' is to go hard, not allowing anything to stop or deter you from your mission. Basically, this means when someone is in 'savage mode', they're not to be fucked with". The announcement came a week after fans launched a petition urging Savage and Metro to release the album. It garnered over 28,000 signatures.


title: Savage Mode II

text: Metro Boomin unveiled the album cover on September 29 on his social media, with the caption: "Boominati Slaughter Gang taking over for the 2020 and the 21," recalling Juvenile's line "Cash Money Records taking over the 99 and the 2000" from his single "Back That Azz Up". The cover was created by Pen & Pixel, who came out of retirement for the design. It is a "nostalgic" and vintage artwork, "heavily" inspired by those of Cash Money and No Limit Records and is a nod to the "bling rap" album covers of the 1990s.


title: Savage Mode II

text: A promotional website for the album was created, featuring a live countdown to the project's release and a phone number that listeners could call to hear snippets of the tracks.


title: Savage Mode II

text: The music video for the song, "Runnin", was released on October 2, 2020. It was sent to rhythmic contemporary radio on October 13, 2020, as the album's dual lead single, along with "Mr. Right Now", featuring Canadian rapper Drake, which was serviced to urban contemporary radio. The music video for "My Dawg", was released on October 7, 2020.


title: Savage Mode II

text: "Savage Mode II" was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on 10 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: Savage Mode II

text: In a positive review, Dhruva Balram of "NME" wrote that "As a whole, the album is confirmation of two young artists at the top of their game, watching the landscape unfold from the throne they earned themselves four years ago". Robin Murray of "Clash" praised the "crisp and future-facing" production from Metro Boomin, as well as the rap performances by 21 Savage. He concluded: ""Savage Mode 2" matches ruthless entertainment to phenomenal artistry, a collaboration that works on a number of levels." Charles Lyons-Burt of "Slant Magazine" said, "It's Metro, though, who elevates 21's stories to something approaching greatness. ... This sequel is a ratification of the "bigger and better", an example of steady improvement through impeccable craft". Rashad Grove from "Consequence" enjoyed the album, saying, "21 Savage, accompanied by the golden touch of Metro Boomin, have given the hip-hop world their most well-rounded project to date, and they set the bar high for others to measure up to". "Paste" critic Trey Alston said, ""Savage Mode II" is a worthy successor to the original, building on that initial moment that made 21 Savage a household name. Adventurous, introspective, and thoughtful, it's just what the world needs from the rapper at this moment, even if we didn't know it". Mark Elibert of "HipHopDX" said, "The Grammy Award winner shows he continues to be ambitious as an artist while keeping up the "Slaughter King" mantra he ran with early in his career. For Young Metro, "Savage Mode II" asserts there's no rust on his boards and proves he's still one of the best architects in the game".


title: Savage Mode II

text: Reviewing the album for "Pitchfork", Alphonse Pierre stated: "The first "Savage Mode" didn't become an ATL classic because of celebrity cameos or "Billboard" numbers; it was because Metro and 21 were at the peak of their powers, and only the producer is close here. 21 Savage is just along for the ride." Steve "Flash" Juon of "RapReviews" said, "The 44 minutes of this album could exist without Mr. Freeman, but they couldn't exist without Metro Boomin. ... [21 Savage's] a solid RAPPER through and through and in an era of singers I'm always going to appreciate that, but if I said I could ignore the banality of "Savage Mode II" lyrically I'd be lying". In a lukewarm review, "Exclaim!"s Jacob Carey wrote, "Whether they hit the mark with their sequel is debatable. While "Savage Mode II" is by no means a lacklustre album, it may not be the exact product their fans hoped for".


title: Savage Mode II

text: "Savage Mode II" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 with 171,000 album-equivalent units (including 22,000 pure album sales). This became 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's second US number-one debut. The album also accumulated a total of 200.1 million on-demand streams of the album's songs during that week.


title: Keebler Company

text: The Keebler Company is an American cookie and former cracker manufacturer. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks, advertised with the Keebler Elves. Keebler had marketed its brands such as Cheez-It (which have the Sunshine Biscuits brand), Chips Deluxe, Club Crackers, E.L. Fudge Cookies, Famous Amos, Fudge Shoppe Cookies, Murray cookies, Austin, Plantation, Vienna Fingers, Town House Crackers, Wheatables, Sandie's Shortbread, Pizzarias Pizza Chips, Chachos and Zesta Crackers, among others. The cookie and cracker lines were separated when Kellogg's sold the cookie line and the rights of the Keebler name to Ferrero SpA. The cracker lines are now marketed under the Kellogg's or Sunshine names.


title: Keebler Company

text: The Keebler slogans are ""Uncommonly Good"" and "a little elfin magic goes a long way". Tom Shutter and Leo Burnett wrote the familiar jingle. The Kellogg Company sold Keebler to the Italian-owned Ferrero SpA in 2019.


title: Keebler Company

text: Godfrey Keebler, of German descent, opened a bakery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1853. His bakery networked with several other local bakeries and others around the country over the years, and in 1927 they merged into the United Biscuit Company of America.


title: Keebler Company

text: United Biscuit operated regional bakeries which included not only Keebler, but also Hekman Biscuit Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Strietmann Biscuit Company of Mariemont, Ohio and the Bowman Biscuit Company of Denver which used the Supreme brand name. By 1963, United Biscuit introduced the Kitchen Rich brand nationally while still utilizing the regional brand names. In 1966, United Biscuit decided to adopt a uniform brand name and chose Keebler as the national brand and the name of the company. Keebler did adopt Streitmann's Zesta saltine brand as Keebler's national brand of saltine crackers.


title: Keebler Company

text: Keebler-Weyl Bakery became the official baker of Girl Scout Cookies in 1936, the first commercial company to bake the cookies (the scouts and their mothers had done it previously). By 1978, four companies were producing the cookies. Little Brownie Bakers is the Keebler division still licensed to produce the cookies.


title: Keebler Company

text: Keebler was acquired by United Biscuits in 1974, headquartered in West Drayton, Middlesex, England. By the 1980s, Keebler had expanded into the bagged salty snack market, launching a string of successful and innovative snack chips such as Tato Skins, O'Boisies, and Pizzarias. In 1995, United Biscuits announced plans to spin off the snack chip business, but ending up selling the entire company to a partnership between Flowers Industries and Artal Luxembourg, a private equity firm. Artal Luxembourg sold its holdings in Keebler in an IPO in 1998.


title: Keebler Company

text: In 2000, the Keebler Company acquired a license to produce snacks based on the popular children's show Sesame Street.


title: Keebler Company

text: In March 2001, The Keebler Company was acquired by the Kellogg Company. At that time, headquarters were located in Elmhurst, Illinois. Currently, Keebler has manufacturing plants in the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.


title: Keebler Company

text: On April 1, 2019, Kellogg announced that it was selling Keebler cookies and other related brands to Ferrero SpA for $1.3 billion. The acquisition is a part of Ferrero's strategy to buy brands which have been neglected within broader food companies' portfolios. Kellogg retained the rights to other Keebler products, such as crackers, either under the Kellogg's or Sunshine names. The acquisition closed on July 29, 2019.


title: Keebler Company

text: The animated Keebler Elves, led by "Ernest J. 'Ernie' Keebler", rank among the best-known characters from commercials. Ernie is the head elf and the friendliest of the bunch. The elves have appeared in countless television advertisements throughout the years, shown baking their unique products. In the commercials, the Keebler tree logo is often turned into the tree in which the elves reside.


title: Keebler Company

text: Leo Burnett Worldwide, an advertising agency, created the elves in 1968, calling the bakery "The Hollow Tree Factory."


title: Keebler Company

text: J.J. Keebler was the original "king elf" in 1969, and was featured in a classroom film about how animated commercials are made, "Show and Sell", with J.J.'s voice performed by Alan Reed, Sr. Ernie Keebler became "head elf" in 1970. White-haired Ernie wears a green jacket, a white shirt with a yellow tie, a red vest, and floppy shoes.


title: Keebler Company

text: Ernie Keebler was first voiced by Walker Edmiston, later by Parley Baer, then Frank Welker in 2007, then Richard Henzel since 2016.


title: Keebler Company

text: Other elves were Fryer Tuck (who promoted "Munch-ems"), Ernie's nephews Zoot and J.J. (known for Pizzarias Pizza Chips), Ernie's mother Ma Keebler, young Elmer Keebler, Buckets (who threw fudge on the cookies), Fast Eddie (who wrapped the products), Sam (the peanut butter baker), Roger (the jeweler), Doc (the doctor and cookie maker), Zack (the fudge shoppe supervisor), Flo (the accountant), Leonardo (the artist), Elwood (who ran through the dough), Professor, Edison, Larry and Art. Many of the Keebler commercials were narrated by the announcer Danny Dark. The first Keebler elves were drawn by children's author/illustrator and commercial artist Roger Bradfield.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Bidzina Ivanishvili (, also known as Boris Grigoryevich Ivanishvili; born 18 February 1956) is a Georgian politician, billionaire businessman and philanthropist, who served as Prime Minister of Georgia from October 2012 to November 2013.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili founded the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party on 21 April 2012. He became the leader of the coalition of opposition parties, and won a victory in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election against the United National Movement party of incumbent Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili and President Mikheil Saakashvili. In late 2012, Ivanishvili took office as Prime Minister. In 2013, however, Ivanishvili resigned, claiming to have left politics. In 2018, he returned to politics and was elected as the chairman of the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party. In 2021, he again left all political positions, stating he had achieved his political aims. However, he is commonly viewed as an "éminence grise" of Georgian politics.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In March 2012, Ivanishvili was ranked at number 153 in "Forbes" magazine's annual list of the world's billionaires with an estimated worth of $6.4 billion, making him Georgia's richest person.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Bidzina Ivanishvili was born in the village of Chorvila, Georgia, as the youngest of five children to a poor family. His father, Grigor Ivanishvili, worked in a manganese factory. As a child, Bidzina was raised in extreme poverty (for example, not having access to shoes). His poor background would later endear him to rural Georgians and help to bring him victory in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Bidzina graduated from high school in Sachkhere. He also graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of the Tbilisi State University in 1980, and, in 1982, went to Moscow to pursue a PhD in economics at the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Prior to 1990, while living in Moscow, Ivanishvili met Vitaly Malkin, a Russian businessman currently into politics, with whom he formed a partnership selling computers, and later importing what was then a novelty in Russia, push-button telephones. The source of his great wealth is metals and banking.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili returned to Chorvila in 2003. Upon his return, he began giving out goods such as DVD players and stoves, as well as promising free healthcare for the town's residents. However, at the same time, he remained elusive, preferring to remain out of the attention of the press. It was largely unknown that Ivanishvili had provided the funds to build Tbilisi's Sameba Cathedral, the largest church in Georgia, until former President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze named him in his memoirs. Around this time, Ivanishvili donated US$1 billion to support the government of Georgia after the Rose Revolution.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 7 October 2011, Ivanishvili announced his intention to lead the opposition in the 2012 Georgian parliamentary election in a written statement, citing the perceived authoritarianism of President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili. In the same statement, he stated he would renounce his French and Russian citizenship, as well as sell off all of his assets in Russia. His bank Rossiysky Kredit was sold for 352 million dollars, to a group of investors comprising major Russian bankers. His drugstore chain Doktor Stoletov was sold for 60 million dollars to the Imperia-Pharma company. His agriculture company Stoilenskiy Niva was also sold.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Four days after declaring his intentions, Ivanishvili was stripped of his citizenship by Georgian authorities, citing article 32 of the Georgian Law on Citizenship. On 27 December 2011, a Tbilisi court upheld the revocation of Ivanishvili's citizenship, but overturned the revocation of his wife's citizenship. Subsequently, she announced her intentions to run for a seat in the Parliament of Georgia.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 21 February 2012, Ivanishvili announced a coalition by the name of Georgian Dream, composed of his planned political party of the same name, the Republican Party of Georgia, Our Georgia – Free Democrats, and the National Forum.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Georgian Dream's 12-point manifesto included among other policies, the development of liberal democracy, deepening integration with the European Union and NATO, and improvement of education and healthcare infrastructure. Following the announcement, the Industry Will Save Georgia party joined the coalition on 11 April 2012.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 21 April 2012, Ivanishvili formally established the Georgian Dream political party. Since Ivanishvili was not a Georgian citizen at the moment of the party's inaugural session, the lawyer Manana Kobakhidze was elected as an interim, nominal chairman of the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia. The main goals of Georgian Dream were stated to be a revival of agriculture, lowering taxes on the poor, universal health insurance, normalization of relations with Russia and strengthening Georgia's ties to the EU and NATO.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili united much of the Georgian opposition around him. The Georgian Dream coalition included parties of diverse ideological orientations. The coalition was made up of parties ranging from pro-market and pro-western liberals to nationalists and protectionists, united in their dislike of Saakashvili and the United National Movement. The name of the alliance was inspired by a rap song by Ivanishvili's son Bera.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili's personal wealth amounted to 6.4 billion dollars, according to Forbes, which was more than the Georgian State budget (5.7 billion dollars). During the pre-election campaign, Ivanishvili was giving out gifts, televisions, dishwashers and washing machines to the residents of his hometown. The Georgian Dream volunteers handed out fliers where people could write down a "Georgian dream" that cost less than GEL1,000 ($600) – implying that a vote for the opposition would be materially rewarded. In June 2012, the administrative court fined Ivanishvili 90 million USD for breaking political party funding regulations. The court of appeals upheld the decision of the lower court on the merits, but halved the fine imposed to 45 million USD. The court ruled that Ivanishvili used offshore companies linked to him to by-pass the law, illegally donating to the Georgian Dream coalition. LTD Burji and Elita Burji offered preferential prices on car renting and office renovation to the Georgian Dream coalition. Their official representative in Georgia, Kakha Kobiashvili, was a nephew of Bidzina Ivanishvili. The State Audit Service said that this constituted an illegal donation Ivanishvili had made through his companies in violation of the party funding rules and requested the court to fine him. In another case, The Global TV, owned by Ivanishvili's brother, has distributed and installed satellite dishes for free in provinces. The representative of the state audit agency at the court hearing alleged that Global TV launched this campaign only after it received a loan from Cartu Bank, which was presumably owned by Ivanishvili's Cartu Group. In August 2012, Ivanishvili was fined 12.3 million USD for irregular party donations on account of being unable to demonstrate that a cash withdrawal of around 3 million USD from his private bank account had not been spent furthering the electoral aims of the "Georgian Dream". The court decisions were criticized as poorly evidenced. Ivanishvili was not provided with adequate time or sufficient equality of arms to contest effectively. The Court rejected the defence's applications to call and cross examine the witnesses whose testimony was relied on to establish ownership of Cartu Bank. Ivanishvili was also denied the opportunity to cross-examine State Audit Organization witnesses. Ivanishvili's lawyer criticized the decisions as politically-motivated.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: The Georgian Dream coalition successfully challenged the ruling United National Movement (UNM) in the 2012 parliamentary election. Georgian Dream won the election with 54.97% of the vote. Widespread celebrations in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi were held in support of Georgian Dream. The next day, Saakashvili accepted the results as legitimate, while at the same time noting that he remained deeply opposed to the coalition.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 25 October 2012, Ivanishvili officially took office as Prime Minister of Georgia, marking the first peaceful transition of power to occur in Georgia's history.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: During this period, the government increased social spending, while continuing on the path of fiscal consolidation.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In February 2013, the government introduced the Universal Healthcare Program (UHP). The package covered urgent outpatient assistance, urgent hospital assistance, scheduled outpatient and policlinic services. In July, it was expanded to cover primary health care services, urgent outpatient assistance, extended urgent hospitalization, planned surgeries, treatment of oncological diseases, and child delivery. The reform made state-sponsored health insurance available on a massive scale.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Besides, the government also increased pensions, social assistance allowances and education spending.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: The government also implemented prison reforms. During the previous administration, which pursued a zero-tolerance policy, the prisoner numbers have shot up from over 6,000 in 2003 to 24,000 in 2012. The prisons were overcrowded and prisoners were subject to systematic torture. In September, 2012, mass protests erupted in Georgia following the broadcast of video footage showing abuse and torture of prisoners in Gldani prison in Tbilisi. The new government conceded fundamental problems in the prisons system and promised to carry out a reform. The parliament adopted an amnesty law, which halved the prison population. The mortality rate in prisons considerably went down and prison healthcare was overhauled. The government liberalized criminal policies. The practice of cumulative sentencing ended in April 2013.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In June 2013, the parliament adopted a new Labour Code in line with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: The government faced a challenge of tackling legacy of abuse committed by the former government officials. More than 20 000 complaints were filed by citizens and inmates with the Prosecutor's Office in connection to injustices of past administration, including 4 000 cases of alleged torture or ill-treatment. Thirty-five officials who had served under the previous government were charged with criminal offences with accusations ranging from embezzlement to abuse of power and torture. Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili, governor of Kakheti Zurab Tchiaberashvili and Head of Penitentiary Department Bacho Akhalaia were among the ones who were arrested. Bringing former government officials to justice for the human rights violations was one of the main pre-election promises of Georgian Dream, especially after the Gldani prison scandal confirmed long-standing allegations of ill-treatment in the Georgian prison system.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: The day before the 2013 anti-homophobia rally in Tbilisi, Ivanishvili has stated that "sexual minorities are the same citizens as we are... [and that] the society will gradually get used to it."


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In 2013, the Georgian Orthodox Church unsuccessfully lobbied the Georgian government to ban abortions, which it described as a "terrible sin" and "heinous murder", while blaming it for the "grave demographic situation" in the country. Bidzina Ivanishvili brushed off the proposal, stating that solving demographic problems "first and foremost needs economic development".


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Under the Ivanishvili government, Georgia continued to cooperate with the European Union. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili chose Brussels for his first foreign visit in November 2012. The EU launched a visa dialogue with Georgia in 2012 and formally handed over a Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) to it in February 2013. The first progress report on the implementation of the VLAP was published on 15 November 2013 which concluded that Georgia had made very good progress. In July 2013, the EU and Georgia concluded the negotiations on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In January 2013, Georgia and Turkey signed a cross-border agreement on electricity trade across new interconnections between them.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: The relations with Russia improved. In December 2012, Russian and Georgian representatives met in Prague and had the first two-way discussions after the 2008 war. In June 2013, Russia lifted the embargo on Georgian wine. This allowed Georgia to resume wine exports to Russia for the first time since 2006. However, Tamar Beruchachvili, the Deputy State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, reaffirmed that European integration remained Georgia's "strategic priority" and that Georgia had no plans to join the Eurasian Economic Union. Diplomatic relations with Russia remained formally broken.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Following a victory by Georgian Dream candidate Giorgi Margvelashvili in the 2013 Georgian presidential election, Ivanishvili announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister. 20 November 2013, Ivanishvili resigned as Prime Minister after just over a year in office. He was succeeded by Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili, whom he had announced as his successor on 2 November 2013. Ivanishvili stated that his intention was to return to civil sector and form a non-government organisation. Four days after his resignation as Prime Minister, he resigned as Chairman of Georgian Dream.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: His successor Irakli Garibashvili has thanked Ivanishvili for creating "unique precedent" by leaving all political positions "at the zenith of popularity and influence". However, Ivanishvili is still regarded by his political opponents as the "de facto" leader of Georgia. Even though Ivanishvili has not held any official post since 2013, it is alleged that Ivanishvili continued to influence the government of Georgia and govern the country behind the scenes. Ivanishvili's resignation has been criticized by his opponents as a move to avoid the responsibilities and duties of holding office. A study published by Transparency International Georgia in 2015 revealed based on public officials' asset declarations that at least 38 officials used to work for companies associated with Bidzina Ivanishvili. While not a violation of the law, it is cited as an evidence of Ivanishvili's alleged informal influence on the government. it is speculated that Ivanishvili's company employees were appointed on high-ranking positions because of their loyalty to Ivanishvili. The ruling Georgian Dream party has allegedly remained financially dependent on Ivanishvili, while some speculate that no key decisions are made without him or his instruction. Some former or current members of the government confirmed that some decisions are being made directly with the participation of Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili himself has said that there are cases when he is consulted, although his advices might or might not be taken into account.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: After his resignation, Ivanishvili has further pursued his interest in collection of rare trees. In 2016, he began building the Dendrological Park in Shekvetili (Georgia's Black Sea coast), which was opened to the public in 2020. The 60-hectare park contains 200 species of imported trees and 58 exotic bird species, including flamingos and pelicans. Many of the trees at the park have been collected from places around the Georgian coast paying the landowners to allow them to be dug-up and moved by raft along the coastal waters to the park. Some of the trees are often over 100 years old. This process can take months and has involved in some areas removing many other trees and building roads to create access route. Because of this, Ivanishvili's actions have been met with protests from environmentalists and his political opponents, who have contended that his actions have destroyed topsoil and caused environmental devastation. The allegations of destruction include causing significant disturbance, soil damage, rock damage, denuding the landscape, and tree loss. The process of removing trees from elsewhere to the Park has been documented by the 2021 Georgian film Taming the Garden by Salomé Jashi.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In March 2016, Ivanishvili attracted international controversy for uprooting and relocating a 100 year-old tulip tree to the Shekvetili Dendrological Park. The tree, which weighed 650 tonnes, was transported from Georgia's Adjara region to the park, in an event that brought international attention to his activities. The event went viral on Georgian social media, with one user calling it "surreal." Environmental activist Nata Peradze lambasted the move, saying, "There are only a few dozen tulip trees in Georgia and this majestic 135-year-old specimen has zero chances of surviving replanting," while opposition television presenter Tamara Chergoleishvili mocked his interests in exotic flora and fauna by joking, "If he gets fanatically obsessed about gigantic mountains, then it will become a real headache for his people."


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In 2018, Ivanishvili made a return to politics, being re-elected as the chairman of Georgian Dream on 26 April 2018. His return was perceived as a move to maintain the unity of the coalition.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 5 November 2018, Ivanishvili addressed the public ahead of the presidential election runoff. He said that the people's dissatisfaction was understandable, although it would be a mistake to elect the opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze, who announced that he would pardon Bachana Akhalaia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and others "charged with torture and abuse". He promised that the situation in the country would change for the better in a year. The Cartu Foundation, owned by Ivanishvili, promised to completely cover debts for 600,000 citizens, which was criticized as a "blatant instance of vote buying".


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 20 June 2019, protests erupted in Tbilisi over the visit of Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov through the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. Amidst his visit, Gavrilov gave a speech on Russo-Georgian unity whilst seated in the Georgian parliament's speaker's chair. The protests grew violent and the police used the rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters. The demonstrations have been seen as reflecting public and elite frustration with the "normalization" policies the government has taken toward Russia. MP Zakaria Kutsnashvili, who organized the event, announced his resignation. Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze also resigned from his position. The ruling party members, including Bidizna Ivanishvili, have claimed that Sergei Gavrilov arbitrarily sat in the Georgian parliament's speaker's chair, in violation of the protocol. After the dispersal, the protests continued on next days in front of the Georgian Parliament. On 24 June, 2019, Bidzina Ivanishvili addressed the public, announcing a change to the electoral system from a mixed to fully proportional representation for the 2020 elections and lowering of the vote barrier for parties, in line with demands of protesters. However, in November 2019, majoritarian members of parliament (MPs elected from particular constituencies) from Georgian Dream blocked the electoral reform, couching their opposition to the amendments in terms of preserving the direct link between local areas and their directly-elected representatives. It was speculated that they had been told to oppose the amendments by Ivanishvili himself since the reform would allegedly risk the Georgian Dream losing power. Ivanishvili said that he was disappointed with the parliament's decision to vote down the bill. Several lawmakers left the ruling party in protest. The protests renewed in front of the parliament building. After the ruling party and opposition held several rounds of talks, the consensus was reached over a mixed electoral system with a more proportional distribution of mandates.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 11 January 2021, amidst the 2020–2021 Georgian political crisis, Ivanishvili announced that he was decisively leaving politics and resigned as Chairman of Georgian Dream, stating that "he had accomplished his goal".


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Nika Melia, chairman of the United National Movement, was accused of organizing mass violence during the 2019 protests. When Melia declined to pay a US$12,000 bail, a Georgian court ruled that Melia should be detained before his trial. In response, Melia said the court's ruling was "unlawful", and on 18 February 2021, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned over the disagreement with his party colleagues on enforcing an arrest order for him, saying that the arrest would be "untimely" and would only further exacerbate political crisis. The Parliament voted to replace Gakharia with Irakli Garibashvili, who was considered to be a close ally of Bidzina Ivanishvili, which led to speculations whether Ivanishvili continued to influence politics behind the scenes.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 7 June 2021, in his first letter after leaving politics, Ivanishvili criticized Gakharia for his sudden resignation and departure from Georgian Dream for "an unheard-of reason – not to exercise the rule of law”, and labelled Gakharia's decision as treason to the ruling party and the country.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili allegedly maintained close business connections with Russian oligarchs, although Ivanishvili himself denounced such accusations. On 25 April 2022, two recordings were uploaded on YouTube by a channel under the name of Cyber Kmara, purportedly of a call between Ivanishvili and Vladimir Yevtushenkov about possible business dealings amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also implicated in the calls was Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, with Ivanishvili saying in the recording, "He is young and will take care of everything. I told him what to do and they are probably already meeting each other." Several members of Georgian Dream claimed that the recordings were faked, while others said that they don't see a problem with economic dealings between two private citizens.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili was accused of helping Yevtushenkov evade Western sanctions by the opposition, with UNM General Secretary Petre Tsiskarishvili speculating on the possibility of Western sanctions on Ivanishvili. Opposition party Lelo for Georgia expressed concern about Garibashvili's involvement, demanding that he disclose relation about meeting with Russian envoys. Davyd Arakhamia, leader of the Ukrainian political party Servant of the People, urged EU and US leadership to consider imposing personal sanctions on Ivanishvili.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 9 June 2022, the European Parliament issued a six-page resolution accusing the government of Georgia and Ivanishvili of eroding press freedom in the country. The resolution also described Ivanishvili as having "personal and business links to the Kremlin", and recommended that the European Union sanction Ivanishvili for "his role in the deterioration of the political process in Georgia." The resolution had a significant impact in Georgia, coming amidst a request for European Union candidate status.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Lithuanian MEPs Andrius Kubilius and Rasa Juknevičienė accused Ivanishvili of the "oligarchisation" of Georgia, and political polarisation as a result. The European Parliament has also described Ivanishvili as an oligarch, accusing him as having a "destructive" role in Georgia's politics and economy. European Council has listed "de-oligarchization" among 12 recommendations in order for the country to be granted status as a candidate for accession to the European Union. MEP Rasa Juknevičienė in her speech in the European Parliament has stated that ""De-oligarchization" means "de-Bidzinization" or "de-Ivanishvilization" of Georgia".


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: On 14 December 2022, the European Parliament has again called the European Council to sanction Ivanishvili, accusing him of deteriorating the democratic political process in Georgia and helping Russia to avoid the international sanctions.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Bidzina Ivanishvili has expressed support for Georgia's membership in the European Union and NATO. After meeting with then President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in October 2012, Ivanishvili has stated that they have "concurring [opinions] about foreign policy issues". Ivanishvili has said that Georgia's accession to the EU and NATO would be his foreign policy priorities. He has additionally noted that "strategic partnership with the United States has a huge importance".


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili has also expressed support for normalization of relations with Russia. According to him, It will not only lower risks of a new military conflict between the two countries, but also bring the stability in the region which will also help Georgia's accession to the EU and NATO. It will make easier for Tbilisi to pursue greater cooperation with NATO and the EU, which will facilitate contacts and help convince the West that Georgia is a reliable partner; conversely, instability might cause the EU and NATO to back away from these ties. According to Ivanishvili, it is important for Georgia's accession to the European Union and NATO to convince Russia that this process will not create any existential threats to Moscow. Ivanishvili has stated that normalization of relations with Russia should start with improving economic and cultural relations, stessing the importance of Russian market for Georgian agriculture and economy. Russia was the primary destination for Georgian agricultural products before the 2006 emabrgo, which has heavily affected the Georgian economy. Ivanishvili said that he will combine restoration of constructive relations with Russia with aspiring towards NATO at the same time.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili has stated that his task is to resolve Abkhaz-Georgian and Georgian–Ossetian conflicts and restore territorial integrity of Georgia. He has noted that Georgia "should become the democratic state, based on rule of law, attractive state for Abkhazians and Ossetians". He has said that reintegration of Abkhazia and South Ossetia should happen on basis of peaceful dialogue and concurrence in interests. Ivanishvili criticized Saakashvili's handling of the August 2008 war with Russia and self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia — claiming that although Russia had provoked the conflict, the actual fighting had been started by Georgia.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: In March 2010, Ivanishvili ranked 173 in 2010 Forbes List of Billionaires, with a reported net worth of US$4.8 billion. The following year he ranked 185 in the 2011 Forbes List with a reported net worth of US$5.5 billion. In March 2012, Ivanishvili was ranked at number 153 in "Forbes" magazine's annual list of the world's billionaires with an estimated worth of $6.4 billion, making him Georgia's richest person. His total net worth is one third of Georgia's gross domestic product.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: "Forbes"'s has described the secret to his success as, "[buying] firms not needed by anybody for tens of millions of dollars and sold them for billions of dollars." In 1990, Ivanishvili and Malkin established Rossiysky Kredit, now Ivanishvili's biggest holding. Over the years, he has sold other businesses accumulated by him during the privatization era in Russia, investing the proceeds in the Russian stock market.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili has also invested money into hotels, including Hotel Lux, and in a Russian chain of drugstores known as "Doctor Stoletov". He has also purchased four properties in downtown Moscow for the construction of a luxury hotel.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili's name is attached to many public projects: repairs to the Tbilisi State University, a seaside amusement park, a ski resort, national parks, medical clinics, etc.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Bidzina Ivanishvili, together with his wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze, founded the Cartu International Charity Foundation in 1995. The Ivanishvili family is the only donor of the foundation, and its projects were implemented with the finances of the foundation. The Cartu Foundation has invested into various projects, such as the arts, sports, agriculture, and infrastructure. The Cartu Foundation donated to support the restoration of the Batumi Botanical Garden.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili is known as a collector of exotic animals, among them sharks, lemurs, and a kangaroo. Amidst the 2012 parliamentary election, his animal collection attracted attention, with a headline from "The New Republic" being titled, "Georgia’s Next Leader May Be a Billionaire Zookeeper with Albino Rapper Children."


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili owns several estates, including a mansion above Tbilisi which is worth an estimated US$50 million and specially designed for him by Russian architect Mikhail Khazanov and finished by famous Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili is also known by the Russian first name "Boris", which he previously used while working in Russia. He was widely reported under that name in the West. However, he went back to his Georgian first name "Bidzina" in 2011.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Recently Ivanishvili became the subject of some interest in the art world, following his reported purchases of works by Pablo Picasso and the contemporary artist Peter Doig at international auctions. Ivanishvili bought Niko Pirosmani's "Arsenal Hill at Night", paying a record US$1.5 million for a painting by a Georgian artist. He then donated the painting to the State Museum of Arts of Georgia.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili married Ekaterine "Eka" Khvedelidze in October 1991. They have four children together: sons Uta, Bera (who is a well-known singer and rapper in Georgia) and Tsotne, and a daughter, Gvantsa; Bera and Tsotne both have albinism.


title: Bidzina Ivanishvili

text: Ivanishvili was granted Georgian citizenship by Saakashvili. In March 2010, Ivanishvili additionally attained French citizenship. In October 2011, he was deprived of his Georgian citizenship "according to Article 32 of the Georgian Law on Citizenship" (which lists grounds for loss of citizenship including "accept[ing] citizenship of another state"), shortly after he had announced his intention to form a political party to challenge Saakashvili.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: "What We Become" is the thirteenth episode of the tenth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series "The Walking Dead", which aired on AMC on March 22, 2020. The episode was written by Vivian Tse and directed by Sharat Raju.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: After the death of Siddiq (Avi Nash), Michonne (Danai Gurira) embarks on a trip to the island of Virgil (Kevin Carroll), to obtain weapons to defeat Alpha and the Whisperers, and help Virgil rejoin his family, without imagining that something awaits more than a trap.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: This episode features the return of Avi Nash as Siddiq, whose character was killed in the seventh episode of the tenth season, "Open Your Eyes". It also marks the final regular appearance of Danai Gurira (Michonne), who first appeared in the third season premiere episode "Seed". The episode also features archive footage of Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha Williams), Michael Cudlitz (Abraham Ford), Austin Amelio (Dwight), Steven Ogg (Simon), and more.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Michonne and Virgil use a boat to travel to Bloodsworth Island, an abandoned naval base where he claims his family and a stash of weapons can be found. Virgil soon admits his family is dead but are still reanimated as walkers, and he asks for Michonne's help to put them down. Michonne helps clear the base of walkers, finds Virgil's family who had hanged themselves within a cell, and helps Virgil to put them to rest and bury them. Virgil promises to lead Michonne to the weapons the next day.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: That night, Michonne becomes impatient and tries to locate the weapons herself. While investigating in one of the buildings, she enters a room and hears the door slam shut behind her: a trap set by Virgil. Virgil's allies, trapped in an adjacent cell, warn Michonne that Virgil has gone insane since he inadvertently locked his family in the cell while they went scavenging, leading to their hanging.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Virgil feeds Michonne some drugged food, giving her hallucinations. In these sequences, she experiences visions of Siddiq, and then experiences hallucinations of an alternate version of her life, beginning with her deciding to ignore Andrea's cries for help, which led to her living on her own and eventually meeting Negan and joining the Saviors, becoming his right-hand woman then fighting against Rick and his allies, but eventually being killed by Daryl and Rick.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: As the drugs wear off and Michonne regains her senses, Virgil offers her water, and she uses the opportunity to attack him. Virgil flees, leaving the door open behind him; Michonne helps the others out of their cell, and the four of them head to the docks but discover that Virgil set Michonne's boat aflame, leaving them stranded on the island. The four of them track down and capture Virgil; while his former allies want to kill him, Michonne shows mercy and is able to reason with Virgil and convinces him to help. Virgil shows Michonne a room full of scavenged gear, and she recognizes Rick's boots among the items. She demands to know where Virgil found them, and he takes her to a nearby beached military boat. The two of them board the vessel and, among other equipment, Michonne finds a cell phone etched with Rick's name and a drawing of her and Judith, along with a log book indicating Rick may be alive near New Jersey.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Michonne and the others plan to take the boat back to the mainland, but Virgil opts to stay on the island instead. While sailing back to the mainland, Michonne contacts Judith via walkie-talkie, telling her that Rick might be alive. Judith manages to convince Michonne not to return to Alexandria and to instead try to find Rick, which Michonne decides to do; the two of them promise to talk every day as she searches. Some time later, Michonne is walking through a forest when she comes upon two stragglers, who ask for her help catching up to a huge organized militia moving north.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: The episode marks the departure of Danai Gurira as Michonne. Gurira's departure from the series was announced in February 2019. In July 2019, Gurira confirmed her exit at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and stated:


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: During an interview with Dalton Ross writing for "Entertainment Weekly", Gurira expressed her appreciation for the series and said:


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Kirsten Acuna of "Business Insider" interviewing showrunner Angela Kang about Gurira's departure and Kang said:


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Kang tells to "The Hollywood Reporter" about how the ending for Michonne's story came to life, and said:


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Avi Nash (Siddiq) returns in new footage in Michonne's hallucinations, the episode also marks the departure of Nash, who first appeared in the episode "Mercy" in the eighth season. Several former series regulars appear via archive footage within the hallucinations, including Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), Chandler Riggs (Carl Grimes), Laurie Holden (Andrea), Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee), Lauren Cohan (Maggie Greene), Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha Williams), Michael Cudlitz (Abraham Ford), Austin Amelio (Dwight), and Steven Ogg (Simon). Archive footage from the episodes "Pretty Much Dead Already", "Beside the Dying Fire", "Hounded", "Not Tomorrow Yet", "Last Day on Earth" and "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" is also shown, with some portions incorporating new footage of Michonne into previous episodes as part of a "what if" scenario; such as Michonne being part of the Saviors.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: While Gurira departed the show, the episode's conclusion set up her return with the untitled 6-episode spin off series that will also star Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes), starting production in 2023.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: "What We Become" received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has an approval rating of 83% with an average score of 7.6 out of 10, based on 18 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Michonne is given an admirable, mostly successful departure from "The Walking Dead" as 'What We Become' delivers a series of fascinatingly trippy 'What If' scenarios from her past."


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Alex McLevy writing for "The A.V. Club" gave the episode a A- and in his review he said: "All told, this was one of the most successful farewell episodes the series has done in years: a sharp look at one of its better characters, and a potent reminder of how much [Danai] Gurira will be missed".


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a 9 out of 10 and wrote, "Despite the fact that Michonne's midseason finale choice to leave her friends and family felt rushed and wrong, "What We Become" was a stellar episode featuring a wickedly warped version of Michonne's life". Aaron Neuwirth of ""We Live Entertainment"" praised the episode and wrote: "The magic of the writing and direction of this episode is how it's able to accomplish a lot as far as looking back at Danai Gurira's years on the show".


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Writing in his review for "TV Fanatic", Paul Dailly praised the episode and wrote: "What We Become" will go down as one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead. Ever. It brought Michonne's storyline to an ambiguous conclusion, and if that was indeed Gurira's last stand as the fan-favorite, then it was perfect.


title: What We Become (The Walking Dead)

text: Noetta Harjo of "Geek Girl Authority" praised the episode and wrote: "I did enjoy the "What If" because is shows how one choices in life can lead them on a different path. And it also shows that even when Rick's people were the good guys, they were the bad guys too".


The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (; ), commonly known as Kosovo and abbreviated to Kosmet or KiM, is an autonomous province defined by the constitution of Serbia that occupies the southernmost part of Serbia. The territory is the subject of an ongoing political and territorial dispute between Serbia and the partially recognised, self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, the latter of which has control over the region. Its claimed administrative capital and largest city is Pristina.


title: Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija

text: The territory of the province, as recognized by Serbian laws, lies in the southern part of Serbia and covers the regions of Kosovo and Metohija. The capital of the province is Pristina. The territory was previously an autonomous province of Serbia during Socialist Yugoslavia (1946–1990), and acquired its current status in 1990. The province was governed as part of Serbia until the Kosovo War (1998–99), when it became a United Nations (UN) protectorate in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, but still internationally recognized as part of Serbia. The control was then transferred to the UN administration of UNMIK. On 17 February 2008, representatives of the people of Kosovo () unilaterally and extra-institutionally declared Kosovo's independence, which is international recognized by 117 UN Members, but not by Serbia which still regards it as its province. On 22 July 2010 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded that "the declaration of independence of Kosovo adopted on 17 February 2008 did not violate international law".


text: In 1990, the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, an autonomous province of Serbia within Yugoslavia, had undergone the Anti-bureaucratic revolution by Slobodan Milošević's government which resulted in the reduction of its powers, effectively returning it to its constitutional status of 1971–74. The same year, its Albanian majority—as well as the Republic of Albania—supported the proclamation of an independent Republic of Kosova. Following the end of the Kosovo War 1999, and as a result of NATO intervention, Serbia and the federal government no longer exercised "de facto" control over the territory.


text: In February 2008, the Republic of Kosovo declared independence. While Serbia has not recognised Kosovo's independence, in the Brussels agreement of 2013, it abolished all its institutions in the Autonomous Province. , Kosovo's independence is currently recognized by - UN member states. In 2013, the Serbian government announced it was dissolving the Serb minority assemblies it had created in northern Kosovo, in order to allow the integration of the Kosovo Serb minority into the general population of Kosovo.


text: Constitutional changes were made in Yugoslavia in 1990. The parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held within them. Kosovar Albanians refused to participate in the elections so they held their own unsanctioned elections instead. As election laws required (and still require) turnout higher than 50%, a parliament in Kosovo could not be established.


text: The new constitution abolished the individual provinces' official media, integrating them within the official media of Serbia while still retaining some programs in the Albanian language. The Albanian-language media in Kosovo were suppressed. Funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including those in the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made the creation of privately owned media possible, however their operation was very difficult because of high rents and restrictive laws. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo. However, privately owned Albanian media outlets appeared; of these, probably the most famous is "Koha Ditore", which was allowed to operate until late 1998 when it was closed after publishing a calendar glorifying ethnic Albanian separatists.


text: The constitution also transferred control over state-owned companies to the Yugoslav central government. In September 1990, up to 123,000 Albanian workers were dismissed from their positions in government and media, as were teachers, doctors, and civil servants, provoking a general strike and mass unrest. Some of those who were not sacked quit in sympathy, refusing to work for the Serbian government. Although the sackings were widely seen as a purge of ethnic Albanians, the government maintained that it was removing former communist directors.


text: Albanian educational curriculum textbooks were withdrawn and replaced by new ones. The curriculum was (and still is, as this is the curriculum used for Albanians in Serbia outside Kosovo) identical to its Serbian counterpart and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in the Albanian language. Education in Albanian was withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994. At the University of Pristina, which was seen as a centre of Kosovo Albanian cultural identity, education in the Albanian language was abolished and Albanian teachers were also dismissed in large numbers. Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and setting up an unofficial parallel system of Albanian-language education.


text: Kosovo Albanians were outraged by what they saw as an attack on their rights. Following mass rioting and unrest from Albanians as well as outbreaks of inter-communal violence, in February 1990, a state of emergency was declared and the presence of the Yugoslav Army and police was significantly increased to quell the unrest.


text: Unsanctioned elections were held in 1992, which overwhelmingly elected Ibrahim Rugova as "president" of a self-declared Republic of Kosova; Serb authorities rejected the election results, and tried to capture and prosecute those who had voted. In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia were settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.


text: Albanian opposition to the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had previously surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Pristina. Rugova initially advocated non-violent resistance, but later opposition took the form of separatist agitation by opposition political groups and armed action from 1995 by the "Kosovo Liberation Army" ("Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës", or UÇK) whose activities led to the Insurgency in Kosovo which led to the Kosovo War in 1998 ending with the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).


text: In 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (Montenegro left the federation in 2006 and recognised Kosovo's independence in 2008).


text: Since 1999, the Serb-inhabited areas of Kosovo have been governed as a "de facto" independent region from the Albanian-dominated government in Pristina. They continue to use Serbian national symbols and participate in Serbian national elections, which are boycotted in the rest of Kosovo; in turn, they boycott Kosovo's elections. The municipalities of Leposavić, Zvečan and Zubin Potok are run by local Serbs, while the Kosovska Mitrovica municipality had rival Serbian and Albanian governments until a compromise was agreed in November 2002.


text: The Serb areas have united into a community, the "Union of Serbian Districts and District Units of Kosovo and Metohija" established in February 2003 by Serbian delegates meeting in North Mitrovica, which has since served as the "de facto" "capital." The Union's president is Dragan Velić. There is also a central governing body, the Serbian National Council for Kosovo and Metohija (SNV). The President of SNV in North Kosovo is Dr Milan Ivanović, while the head of its Executive Council is Rada Trajković.


text: Local politics are dominated by the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija. The Serbian List was led by Oliver Ivanović, an engineer from Kosovska Mitrovica.


text: In February 2007 the Union of Serbian Districts and District Units of Kosovo and Metohija has transformed into the Serbian Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija presided by Marko Jakšić. The Assembly strongly criticised the secessionist movements of the Albanian-dominated PISG Assembly of Kosovo and demanded unity of the Serb people in Kosovo, boycott of EULEX and announced massive protests in support of Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. On 18 February 2008, day after Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, the Assembly declared it "null and void".


text: Also, there was a Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija within the Serbian government, with Goran Bogdanović as Minister for Kosovo and Metohija. In 2012, that ministry was downgraded to the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, with Aleksandar Vulin as the head of the new office. However, in 2013, the post was raised to that of a Minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija.


text: Under the Serbian system of administration, Kosovo is divided into five districts comprising 28 municipalities and 1 city. In 2000, UNMIK established a system with 7 districts and 30 municipalities. Serbia has not exercised effective control over Kosovo since July 1999. For the UNMIK created districts of Kosovo, see Districts of Kosovo.


title: Akai

text: Akai (, ) is a Hong Kong manufacturer of consumer electronics. It was founded as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic products such as LED TV, washing machines, clothes dryers, air conditioners and smart phones, through collaborations with other electronics companies bearing relevant expertise. inMusic Brands in the United States took over Akai's brand, starting the ‘Akai Professional’ label, that distributes high-end audio electronics products.


title: Akai

text: Akai was founded by Masukichi Akai and his son, Saburo Akai (who died in 1973) as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929 or 1946.


title: Akai

text: The company's business eventually became troubled and it left the audio industry in 1991. At its peak in the late 1990s, Akai Holdings employed 100,000 workers and had annual sales of HK$40 billion (US$5.2 billion). The company filed for insolvency in November 2000, owing creditors US$1.1B. It emerged that ownership of Akai Holdings had somehow passed in 1999 to Grande Holdings, a company founded by Akai's chairman James Ting. The liquidators claimed that Ting had stolen over US$800m from the company with the assistance of accountants Ernst & Young who had tampered with audit documents going back to 1994. Ting was imprisoned for false accounting in 2005, and E&Y paid $200m to settle the negligence case out of court in September 2009. In a separate lawsuit, a former E&Y partner, Christopher Ho, made a "substantial payment" to Akai creditors in his role as chairman of Grande Holdings.


title: Akai

text: Akai's products included reel-to-reel audiotape recorders (such as the GX series), tuners (top level AT, mid level TR and TT series), audio cassette decks (top level GX and TFL, mid level TC, HX and CS series), amplifiers (AM and TA series), microphones, receivers, turntables, video recorders and loudspeakers.


title: Akai

text: Many Akai products were sold under the name Roberts in the US, as well as A&D in Japan (from 1987 after a partnership with Mitsubishi Electric), Tensai and "Transonic Strato" in Western Europe. During the late 1960s, Akai adopted Tandberg's cross-field recording technologies (using an extra tape head) to enhance high frequency recording and switched to the increasingly reliable Glass and crystal (X'tal) (GX) ferrite heads a few years later. The company's most popular products were the GX-630D, GX-635D, GX-747/GX-747DBX and GX-77 open-reel recorders (latter featuring an auto-loading function), the three-head, closed-loop GX-F95, GX-90, GX-F91, GX-R99 cassette decks, and the AM-U61, AM-U7 and AM-93 stereo amplifiers.


title: Akai

text: Akai manufactured and badged most of its imported hi-fi products with the Tensai brand (named after the Swiss audio and electronics distributor Tensai International). Tensai International was Akai's exclusive distributor for the Swiss and Western European markets until 1988.


title: Akai

text: Akai limited its consumer hi-fi product line in the United States and Europe towards the end of the 20th century.


title: Akai

text: Akai produced consumer video cassette recorders (VCR) during the 1980s. The Akai VS-2 was the first VCR with an on-screen display, originally named the Interactive Monitor System. By displaying the information directly on the television screen, this innovation eliminated the need for the user to be physically near the VCR to program recording, read the tape counter, or perform other common features. Within a few years, all competing manufacturers had adopted on-screen display technology in their own products.


title: Akai

text: In 1984, a new division of the company was formed to focus on the manufacture and sale of electronic instruments, and was called Akai Professional.


title: Akai

text: The first product released by the new subsidiary was the MG1212, a 12 channel, 12 track recorder. This innovative device used a special VHS-like cartridge (a MK-20), and was good for 10 minutes of continuous 12 track recording (19 cm per second) or 20 minutes at half speed (9.5 cm per second). One track (14) was permanently dedicated to recording absolute time, and another one for synchronization such as SMPTE or MTC. Each channel strip included dbx type-1 noise reduction and semi-parametric equalizers (with fixed bandwidths). The unit also had innovations like an electronic 2 bus system, a 12 stereo channel patch bay and auto punch in and out, among others. The unique transport design and noise reduction gave these units a recording quality rivaling that of more expensive 16 track machines using 1" tape. The MG-1212 was later replaced by the MG-1214, which improved the transport mechanism and overall performance.


title: Akai

text: Other early products included the Akai AX80 8-voice analog synthesizer in 1984, followed by AX60 and AX73 6-voice analog synthesizers ca.1986. The AX-60 borrowed many ideas from the Roland Juno series, but used voltage controlled analog oscillators (VCO) as a sound source as opposed to Roland's more common digitally controlled analog oscillators (DCO), and also allowed the performer to "split" the keyboard (using different timbres for different ranges of keys). The AX-60 also had the ability to interface with Akai's early samplers through a serial cable, using 12-bit samples as an additional oscillator.


title: Akai

text: The S612 12-bit digital sampler in 1985, was the first in a series of (relatively) affordable samplers already in 19-inch studio-rack format but in black color. It held only a single sample at a time, which was loaded into memory via a separate disk drive utilizing Quick Disk 2.8-inch floppy disks. The maximum sample time at the highest quality sampling rate (32 kHz) was one second.


title: Akai

text: The introduction of a "professional" range of digital samplers began with the 12-bit S900 in 1986, followed by the X7000 keyboard sampler in 1986, and the S700 rack-mount version in 1987. Unlike the single-sample S612, however, they allowed the use of six active samples at once, had a built-in disk drive and could be extended with six individual outputs via cable and a flash memory extension which added another six samples to the memory for multisample playback. The S700/X7000 sampler series were light-grey colored, which didn't change throughout the whole "professional" range of Akai samplers.


title: Akai

text: The 16-bit Akai S1000 series followed in 1988, adding the option to read CD-ROMs and write to hard disks via SCSI. This range was superseded by the S3000 series in 1993, with optional built-in CD-ROM drive, followed by the S5000 and S6000. Additional releases of note were the Z4 and Z8 24-bit 96 kHz samplers.


title: Akai

text: Akai also produced several Digital MIDI sequencers and digital synthesizers such as the MPC range, a line of integrated drum machines, MIDI sequencers, samplers and direct-to-disk recorders.


title: Akai

text: In December 1999, one year before the application of to Akai Electric Company Ltd., the brand of its musical instrument division, Akai Professional was acquired by a company of the United States. The new company was dubbed "Akai Professional Musical Instrument Corporation". ("AKAI professional M.I.") was established in the same year, however it was bankrupted in 2005.


title: Akai

text: In 2004, following a US distribution deal, the Akai Professional Musical Instrument division was acquired by Jack O'Donnell, owner of Numark Industries and Alesis. In 2012, inMusic Brands was formed as a parent company for O'Donnell's companies, including Akai Professional.


title: Akai

text: In early 2003, Grande Holdings began undergoing a re-exposure of Akai's brands by marketing various audio visual products manufactured by Samsung. In the same year, Grande began to distribute Akai home appliances such as air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. In 2010s, it began to distribute Akai smart phones collaborated with some Chinese smart phone manufacturers (Gionee, etc.), in India and some other countries.


title: Akai

text: Akai Professional is not affiliated with Akai (a consumer audio and television brand). Akai Professional changed ownership in 2004 and is an inMusic Brands company, based in Rhode Island, United States.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian businessman, who founded Fiat car manufacturing in 1899.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: The son of Edoardo Agnelli and Aniceta Frisetti, he was born in 1866 in Villar Perosa, a small town near Pinerolo, Piedmont, still the main home and burial place of the Agnelli family. His father, mayor of Villar Perosa, died at age 40, when Giovanni was just five. He studied at the Collegio San Giuseppe in Turin; then embarked on a military career until 1893 when he returned to Villar Perosa, where he followed in his father's footsteps and became mayor in 1895 which he held until his death. Agnelli heard about the invention of the (then) new horseless carriage and immediately saw an opportunity for using his engineering and entrepreneurial skills. In 1898, he met Count Emanuele Cacherano di Bricherasio, who was looking for investors for his horseless carriage project; Agnelli sensed the opportunity.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: On 11 July 1899, Agnelli was part of the group of founding members of "Fiat" (an acronym for "Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino"), which became Fiat; he paid $400 for his share in 1899, worth around $11,500 in today's prices. One year later, he was the managing director of the new company and became the chairman in 1920. The first Fiat plant opened in 1900 with 35 staff making 24 cars. The company was known from the beginning for the talent and creativity of its engineering staff. By 1903, Fiat made a small profit and produced 135 cars growing to 1,149 cars by 1906. The company then went public selling shares via the Milan stock exchange. Agnelli began purchasing all the shares he could to add to his holdings. During this time, he overcame scandals and labour problems.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: During World War I, Agnelli became involved with the financier Riccardo Gualino in transport of US aid to Europe in 1917. They invested in two enterprises in the United States; the Marine & Commerce Corporation of America exported coal and the International Shipbuilding Company made motorized vessels. These companies failed when the war ended, since they were structured to meet wartime demand, but had returned large profits to their owners.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: Agnelli and Gualino made an attempt early in 1918 to take over Credito Italiano. They did not succeed, but joined the board of directors of the bank.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: Agnelli was vice-president of Gualino's SNIA from 1917 to 1926. In the early 1920s, SNIA began to manufacture artificial textile fibers.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: In 1920, Gualino and Agnelli participated in recapitalization of the private bank Jean de Fernex and bought a third of the shares of Alfredo Frassati, publisher of "La Stampa". Gualino and Agnelli were also involved in a proposal to link Milan, Genoa and Turin with a high-speed railway and in various projects in cement and automobiles. Their partnership broke up around 1926 due to Gualino's investments in the French automobile industry.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: After World War I, Fiat jumped from 30th to third place among Italian industrial companies. The first Ford factory was opened four years after Fiat was founded. In 1906, the first Fiat car dealer in the U.S. was established at a location in Manhattan on Broadway. Agnelli was an acquaintance of Benito Mussolini from 1914 and was appointed by the dictator as a Senator in 1923, as a representative of the National Fascist Party, and filled several other prestigious positions between the two wars. He remained focused and propelled Fiat to the international arena.


title: Giovanni Agnelli

text: He was still active with Fiat at the start of the Second World War. After the war ended he was accused together with Vittorio Valletta and Giancarlo Camerana, by a commission from the National Liberation Committee of collaboration with the Fascist regime and was temporarily deprived of ownership of his companies. Agnelli was later acquitted and died soon after on 16 December 1945 at age 79.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The Conformist () is a 1970 political drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, whose screenplay is based on the 1951 novel "The Conformist" by Alberto Moravia. The film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Stefania Sandrelli, Gastone Moschin, Enzo Tarascio, Fosco Giachetti, José Quaglio, Dominique Sanda and Pierre Clémenti. The film was a co-production of Italian, French, and West German film companies.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: Bertolucci made use of the 1930s art and decor associated with the Fascist era: the middle-class drawing rooms and the huge halls of the ruling elite.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In 1938 Paris, Marcello Clerici finalizes his preparations to assassinate his former college professor, Luca Quadri, leaving his fiancée Giulia in their hotel room. After receiving a telephone call, Marcello is picked up in a car driven by his superior, Special Agent Manganiello. The film often returns to the interior of this car, as the two of them pursue the professor and his wife.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: A series of flashbacks depict Marcello discussing with his blind friend Italo his plans to marry, his somewhat awkward attempts to join the Fascist secret police, and his visits to his parents: a morphine-addicted mother at the family's decaying villa, and his unhinged father at an insane asylum.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In another flashback, Marcello is seen as a boy who is humiliated by his schoolmates until he is rescued by Lino, a chauffeur. Lino offers to show him a pistol and then makes sexual advances towards Marcello, which he partially responds to before grabbing the pistol and shooting wildly into the walls and into Lino, then flees from the scene of what he assumes is a murder.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In another flashback, Marcello and Giulia discuss the necessity of his going to confession, even though he is an atheist, in order for her Roman Catholic parents to allow them to marry. Marcello agrees and, in confession, admits to the priest to have committed many grave sins, including his homosexual intercourse with and subsequent murder of Lino, premarital sex, and his absence of guilt for these sins. Marcello admits he thinks little of his new wife but craves the normality that a traditional marriage with children will bring. The priest is shocked but quickly absolves Marcello once he hears that he is working for the Fascist secret police, called Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: Marcello finds himself ordered to assassinate his old acquaintance and teacher, Professor Quadri, an outspoken anti-Fascist intellectual now living in exile in France. Using his honeymoon as a convenient cover, he takes Giulia to Paris where he can carry out the mission.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: While visiting Quadri he falls in love with Anna, the professor's young wife, and pursues her. Although it becomes clear that she and her husband are aware of Marcello's Fascist sympathies and the danger he presents to them, she responds to his advances and forms a close attachment to Giulia, towards whom she also makes sexual advances. Giulia and Anna dress extravagantly and go to a dance hall with their husbands where Marcello's commitment to the fascists is tested by Quadri. Manganiello is also at the dance hall, having been following Marcello for some time and doubtful of his intentions. Marcello secretly returns the gun that he has been given and gives Manganiello the location of Quadri's country house where the couple plan to go the following day.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: Even though Marcello has warned Anna not to go to the country with her husband and has apparently persuaded her to stay in Paris with him, she does make the car journey. On a deserted alpine road, Fascist agents attack and stab Quadri as Anna watches in horror. When the men turn their attention to her, she runs to the car behind for help. When Anna sees that the passenger in the rear of the car is Marcello and realizes his betrayal, she begins to scream uncontrollably, before running into the woods to escape the men trying to kill her. Marcello watches without emotion as she is pursued through the woods and finally shot to death. Manganiello walks away from the car for a cigarette, disgusted with what he sees as Marcello's cowardice in not shooting Anna when she ran to their car.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In 1943, Marcello now has a small child with Giulia and is apparently settled in a conventional life when the resignation of Benito Mussolini and the fascist dictatorship is announced. He is called by Italo for a meeting. While walking, they overhear a conversation between two men; Marcello recognizes one of them as Lino whom he thought he had murdered. Marcello publicly denounces Lino as a Fascist, homosexual and the murderer of the Quadris. In his frenzy, he also denounces Italo as a Fascist. As a monarchist political crowd sweeps past, taking Italo with them, Marcello sits near a small fire and stares intently behind him at the young man Lino had been talking to.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The film is a case study in the psychology of conformism and fascism: Marcello Clerici is a bureaucrat, cultivated and intellectual but largely dehumanized by an intense need to be 'normal' and to belong to whatever is the current dominant socio-political group. He grew up in an upper class, perhaps dysfunctional family, and he suffered a major childhood sexual trauma and gun violence episode in which he long believed (erroneously) that he had committed a murder. He accepts an assignment from Benito Mussolini's secret police to assassinate his former mentor, living in exile in Paris. In Trintignant's characterization, Clerici is willing to sacrifice his values in the interests of building a supposedly "normal life."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: According to the political philosopher Takis Fotopoulos, "The Conformist" (as well as "Rhinoceros" by Ionesco) is "a beautiful portrait of this psychological need to conform and be 'normal' at the social level, in general, and the political level, in particular."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: According to the documentary "Visions of Light" the film is widely praised as a visual masterpiece. It was photographed by Vittorio Storaro, who used rich colors, authentic wardrobe of the 1930s, and a series of unusual camera angles and fluid camera movement. Film critic and author Robin Buss writes that the cinematography suggests Clerici's inability to conform with "normal" reality: the reality of the time is "abnormal." Also, Bertolucci's cinematic style synthesizes expressionism and "fascist" film aesthetics. Its style has been compared with classic German films of the 1920s and 1930s, such as in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In 2013, "Interiors", an online journal concerned with the relationship between architecture and film, released an issue that discussed how space is used in a scene that takes place on the Palazzo dei Congressi. The issue highlights the use of architecture in the film, pointing out that in order to understand the film itself, it's essential to understand the history of the EUR district in Rome and its deep ties with fascism.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The filming locations included Gare d'Orsay and Paris, France; Sant' Angelo Bridge and the Colosseum, both in Rome. Lead actor Trintignant learned his Italian-language lines phonetically, and per common practice in the Italian film industry at the time, was later dubbed over by another actor, Sergio Graziani.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The film was influential on other filmmakers: the image of blowing leaves in "The Conformist", for example, influenced a very similar scene in "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) by Francis Ford Coppola. Additionally, the scene in which Dominique Sanda's character is chased through the snowy woods after her husband has been murdered, is echoed with mood, lighting and setting in a third-season episode of The Sopranos, "Pine Barrens", directed by Steve Buscemi.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The film premiered at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival on 1 July 1970, where it competed for the Golden Bear. However, due to the row over the participation of Michael Verhoeven's anti-war film "o.k.", the festival was closed down three days later and no prizes were awarded.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The film had a staggered release in Italy, opening in major cities in the early months of 1971: Milan on 29 January, Turin on 5 February and Rome on 25 March, for example. In the United States, the film screened at the New York Film Festival on 18 September 1970 and was given a limited release in select cities the following spring, opening in New York and Los Angeles in April 1971, and Chicago and Washington D.C. in May 1971. The first American release of the film was trimmed by five minutes compared to the Italian release; the missing scene features a group of blind people having a dance. They were restored in the 1996 reissue.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The film was released in the United States on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on 5 December 2006. The DVD includes: the original theatrical version (runtime 111 minutes); "The Rise of The Conformist: The Story, the Cast" featurette; "Shadow and Light: Filming The Conformist" featurette; "The Conformist: Breaking New Ground" featurette.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In 2011 the Cineteca di Bologna commissioned a 2K restoration of "The Conformist", supervised by Storaro himself (and approved by Bertolucci), which screened in the Cannes Classics series on May 11, 2011, in conjunction with the presentation of an honorary Palme d'Or to Bertolucci. The restoration was done by Minerva Pictures-Rarovideo USA and L'Immagine Ritrovata (laboratory of the Cineteca di Bologna). In 2014 the digital restoration was released theatrically by Kino Lorber in North America, and released on Blu-ray by Rarovideo USA on November 25, 2014.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: Vincent Canby, film critic for "The New York Times," liked Bertolucci's screenplay and his directorial effort, and wrote, "Bernardo Bertolucci...has at last made a very middle-class, almost conventional movie that turns out to be one of the elegant surprises of the current New York Film Festival...It is also apparent in Bertolucci's cinematic style, which is so rich, poetic, and baroque that it is simply incapable of meaning only what it says...The movie is perfectly cast, from Trintignant and on down, including Pierre Clementi, who appears briefly as the wicked young man who makes a play for the young Marcello. "The Conformist" is flawed, perhaps, but those very flaws may make it Bertolucci's first commercially popular film, at least in Europe where there always seems to be a market for intelligent, upper middle-class decadence."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: A review in "Variety" stated, "For those who appreciate its subtleties, but also its subsurface power and great evocative qualities, it's a gem." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "much more of a show than a story," with its narrative themes "all but lost amid Bertolucci's splendid recreation of the era. In other words, if you are looking for fashion and furnishing hints, this is the place." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" declared that the film "places young Bernardo Bertolucci in the front ranks of Italian directors and among the finest film-makers working anywhere. In this dazzling film, Bertolucci, 30, manages to combine the bravura style of a Fellini, the acute sense of period of a Visconti and the fervent political commitment of an Elio Petri ('Investigation of a Private Citizen') with complete individuality and, better still, a total lack of self-indulgence."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" said that the film was "an extraordinarily beautiful and spellbinding picture," but "what's below the surface doesn't stand up to much analysis. I think this is true and that it amounts to a terrible flaw. The dramatic material, while intriguing, isn't adequately developed: many connecting or explanatory scenes appear to be missing (reading the original novel by Alberto Moravia restores some of these), the psychology of the most complex characters is murky, and the climactic and concluding scenes are positively trite." Jan Dawson of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote, "In his screen adaptation of Moravia's novel, Bertolucci has eliminated all explanations or analysed motivations, as well as any allusions to Marcello's life before the moment he first sees Lino ... The effort of these changes, in purely psychological terms, is to reduce Marcello's story to a model Freudian case history."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In 1994 critic James Berardinelli wrote a review and heralded the film's look. He wrote, "Storaro and Bertolucci have fashioned a visual masterpiece in "The Conformist", with some of the best use of light and shadow ever in a motion picture. This isn't just photography, it's art — powerful, beautiful, and effective. There's a scene in the woods, with sunlight streaming between trees, that's breathtaking to behold — and all the more stunning because of the brutal events that take place before this background."


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: In a 2012 article in "The Guardian," John Patterson defined the movie as an "expressionist masterpiece", which "offered a blueprint for a new kind of Hollywood film," inspiring New Hollywood film makers.


title: The Conformist (1970 film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 98% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 56 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "A commentary on fascism and beauty alike, Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Conformist" is acclaimed for its sumptuous visuals and extravagant, artful cinematography."


Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster is a food and comedy podcast featuring Ed Gamble and James Acaster, produced by Plosive in which guests are invited to select their dream menu by both comedians. "Off Menu" was launched in December 2018 and was nominated for the 2019 British Podcast Awards in the Best Entertainment category.


title: Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster

text: In the show guests are asked by Acaster's Genie Waiter if they would like "still or sparkling water" and "poppadoms or bread". They then proceed to give their favourite ever starter, main course, side dish, drink and dessert, expand upon where and when they had it, and are given the opportunity to discuss the evocative memories they associate with the chosen dishes.


text: Before the guest arrives Ed and James announce a secret ingredient that at least one of them does not like. If the guest mentions the ingredient they are ejected from the Dream Restaurant without getting any dinner. To date, the only guest to have been ejected from Dream Restaurant is Jayde Adams.


title: Something Is Killing the Children

text: Something Is Killing the Children is an ongoing comic book series created by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera, published monthly by Boom! Studios beginning in September 2019.


title: Something Is Killing the Children

text: "Something Is Killing the Children" was announced as a five-issue limited series by BOOM! Studios in June 2019. In August 2019, ahead of the release of its first issue, it was announced that the series had been promoted to ongoing due to "overwhelming early support from retailers and fans". In June 2020, "Something Is Killing the Children" was nominated for Best New Series at the 2020 Eisner Awards, Tynion's first nomination.


title: Something Is Killing the Children

text: ""When the children of Archer's Peak begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible stories of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to see what they can see. Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it MUST be done.""


title: Something Is Killing the Children

text: "House of Slaughter" is an original series set in the world of "Something is Killing the Children", exploring the secret history of the Order that forged Erica Slaughter into a monster hunter.


title: Runic magic

text: There is some evidence that, in addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic. This is the case from the earliest epigraphic evidence of the Roman to the Germanic Iron Age, with non-linguistic inscriptions and the "alu" word. An "erilaz" appears to have been a person versed in runes, including their magic applications.


title: Runic magic

text: In medieval sources, notably the Poetic Edda, the "Sigrdrífumál" mentions "victory runes" to be carved on a sword, "some on the grasp and some on the inlay, and name Tyr twice."


title: Runic magic

text: In the early modern period and modern history, related folklore and superstition is recorded in the form of the Icelandic magical staves. In the early 20th century, Germanic mysticism coined new forms of "runic magic", some of which were continued or developed further by contemporary adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. Modern systems of runic divination are based on Hermeticism, classical Occultism, and the I Ching.


title: Runic magic

text: Historically it is known that the Germanic peoples used various forms of divination and means of reading omens. Tacitus ("Germania" 10) gives a detailed account (98AD):


title: Runic magic

text: It is often debated whether "signs" refers specifically to runes or to other marks; both interpretations are plausible and Tacitus does not give enough detail for a definite decision to be made.


title: Runic magic

text: The Ansuz and Tiwaz runes in particular seem to have had magical significance in the early (Elder Futhark) period. The "Sigrdrífumál" instruction of "name Tyr twice" is reminiscent of the double or triple "stacked Tyr" bindrunes found e.g. on Seeland-II-C or the Lindholm amulet in the "aaaaaaaazzznnn-b- muttt", sequence, which besides stacked Tyr involves multiple repetition of Ansuz, but also triple occurrence of Algiz and Naudiz.


title: Runic magic

text: Many inscriptions also have apparently meaningless utterances interpreted as magical chants, such as "tuwatuwa" (Vadstena bracteate), "aaduaaaliia" (DR BR42) or "g͡æg͡og͡æ" (Undley bracteate), "g͡ag͡ag͡a " (Kragehul I).


title: Runic magic

text: Alu is a charm word appearing on numerous artifacts found in Central and Northern Europe dating from the Germanic Iron Age. The word is the most common of the early runic charm words and can appear either alone or as part of an apparent formula. The origin and meaning of the word are matters of dispute, though a general agreement exists among scholars that the word either represents amulet magic or is a metaphor (or metonym) for it.


title: Runic magic

text: A few Viking Age rings with runic inscriptions of apparently magical nature were found, among them the Kingmoor Ring. The phrase "runes of power" is found on two runestones in Sweden, DR 357 from Stentoften and DR 360 from Björketorp. Runestones with curses include DR 81 in Skjern, DR 83 in Sønder Vinge, DR 209 in Glavendrup, DR 230 from Tryggevælde, DR 338 in Glemminge, and Vg 67 in Saleby.


title: Runic magic

text: The most prolific source for runic magic in the Poetic Edda is the "Sigrdrífumál", where the valkyrie Sigrdrífa (Brynhild) presents Sigurd with a memory-draught of ale that had been charmed with "gladness runes" (stanza 5),


title: Runic magic

text: She goes on to give advice on the magical runes in seven further stanzas. In all instances, the runes are used for actual magic (apotropaic or ability-enhancing spells) rather than for divination:


title: Runic magic

text: The Poetic Edda also seems to corroborate the magical significance of the runes the "Hávamál" where Odin mentions runes in contexts of divination, of healing and of necromancy (trans. Bellows):