2 December 2012. Our Great Russian Motherland. The Kurile Islands… as Photographed by Vadim Gippenreiter

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Dawn over the Kuriles, as captured by Soviet photographer Vadim Gippenreiter.

BMD

2 December 2012. A Photo Essay. From the Russian Web… The Coolest Métro Stations in Europe

Toledo station (Line 1) on the Naples Metro (Metropolitana di Napoli). Line 1 is known as “Il Metrò dell’Arte” (The Art Metro) by Metronapoli; eight stations exhibit works of art. Napoli (Napoli Province. Campania Region) ITALY

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Komsomolskaya station (Koltsevaya Line) on the Moscow Metro. Opened in 1952, it’s part of the busiest Moscow transport hub, Komsomolskaya Square, which serves Leningradsky,Yaroslavsky and Kazansky railway terminals. The station is one of the most-used in the system. Moscow (Krasnoselsky Raion. Central Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

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Solna centrum station (T11 Line) on the Stockholm Metro. This station opened in 1975, and has a shopping mall with 120 outlets attached to it. Metropolitan Stockholm (Solna Municipality. Stockholm Län) SWEDEN

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Westminster Station (Circle, District, and Jubilee Lines) on the London Underground. This is both one of the oldest and newest stations on the Underground. The deep station on the Jubilee Line only dates from 1999, but the other part of the station is one of the oldest in the system, dating back to 1868. This, obviously, is from the new section, which has a definite Blade Runner feel to it… doesn’t it look like Darth Vader designed it? London (City of Westminster. Greater London Region. England) UK

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Pushkinskaya station (Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya Line) on the Moscow Metro. Opened in 1975, it linked the Zhdanovskaya and Krasnopresnenskaya Lines. Many beleive this to be the most aethestically-balanced station in the whole system. Moscow (Tverskoy Raion. Central Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

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Avtovo station (Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line) on the St Petersburg Metro. Opened in 1955, this station has a 1930s feel to it, perhaps, due to the special ornamental glass used in its decoration. St Petersburg (Avtovo Okrug. Kirovsky Raion. Federal City of St Petersburg. Northwestern Federal District) RF

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Station on the Warsaw Metro. This service has a single north-south line that links central Warsaw with its northern and southern suburbs. It opened in 1995… note that the cars look like those of the Moscow Metro (of course  with a different paint job). Warsaw (Masovian Voivodeship) POLAND

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Stadion station (T14 Line) on the Stockholm Metro. Opened in 1973, this station serves the wealthiest and most chi-chi part of Stockholm. Metropolitan Stockholm (Östermalm Borough. Stockholm Län) SWEDEN

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Auber station (Line A) of the RER. It’s not technically on the Paris Métro, even though it’s one of the largest underground stations in the world (it was the largest underground facility at its 1971 opening). It does connect with the Opéra, Havre-Caumartin, and Saint-Lazare Métro stations, as well as with the Haussmann-Saint-Lazare station on RER Line E. Paris (2nd arrondissement of Paris. Région Île-de-France) FRANCE

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Materdei station (Line 1) on the Naples Metro (Metropolitana di Napoli). Napoli (Napoli Province. Campania Region) ITALY

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Heidelberger Platz station on the Berlin U-Bahn (Line U-3). Built in 1913, it’s a typically grandiose Wilhelminian construct. It’s so overdone in a ponderous Teutonic manner that it’s a bit campy today. Berlin (Bezirke Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Freistadt Berlin) GERMANY

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Slavyansky Bulvar station (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line) on the Moscow Metro. Opened in 2008, it serves the residential suburbs (in Moscow, the workers live in the burbs, the bosses live in the city… go figure). Moscow (Kuntsevo Raion. Western Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

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Kievskaya station (Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya, Filyovskaya, and Koltsevaya Lines.) on the Moscow Metro. The entrance to the station is in the Kievsky Rail Terminal. The three main halls were built at different times, the above image is of the Koltsevaya Line hall, built in the early 1950s. Moscow (Dorogomilovo Raion. Western Administrative Okrug. Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

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T-Centralen station on the Stockholm Metro. This is actually two stations; it’s the heart of the Stockholm Metro system. The first station, opened in 1957, serves Lines 17–19 (Green Line) and 13–14 (Red Line); the second, opened in 1975, serves Lines 10 and 11 (Blue Line). Metropolitan Stockholm (Norrmalm Borough. Stockholm Län) SWEDEN

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North Greenwich station (Jubilee Line) on the London Underground. Built in 1993, it services The O₂ (formerly the Millennium Dome). London (Borough of Greenwich. Greater London Region. England) UK

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These transport lines are the arteries of our major cities… without them, our modern world would die. Make no mistake on it, for all the noise about bucolic rural living, the magalopolis is where most people live today. For people to live successfully and peacefully under such conditions, cooperation, not “rugged individualism” is necessary. That’s why the so-called Free Market is a dinosaur. People need means of cooperation, not means of domination… the great metro systems are a technical expression of the former… not the latter (whose symbol is choked motorways full of fumes, dirt, and confusion).

BMD