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This article is about the 2017 film. For the 1953 event, see Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin. For other uses, see Death of Stalin (disambiguation).

The Death of Stalin
British theatrical release poster
Directed by	Armando Iannucci
Written by	Armando IannucciDavid SchneiderIan MartinPeter Fellows (additional material)
Screenplay by	Fabien Nury
Based on	La Mort de Staline by Fabien Nury (writer) &Thierry Robin (illustrator)
Produced by	Yann ZenouLaurent ZeitounNicolas Duval AdassovskyKevin Loader
Starring	Steve BuscemiSimon Russell BealePaddy ConsidineRupert FriendJason IsaacsMichael PalinAndrea RiseboroughJeffrey Tambor
Cinematography	Zac Nicholson
Edited by	Peter Lambert
Music by	Christopher Willis
Production companies	GaumontQuad ProductionsMain JourneyFrance 3 CinemaLa Cie CinématographiquePanache ProductionsAFPICanal+Ciné+France TélévisionsTitle Media
Distributed by	Entertainment One Films (United Kingdom)Gaumont (France)September Film Distribution (Belgium)
Release dates	8 September 2017 (TIFF)20 October 2017 (United Kingdom)4 April 2018 (France)18 April 2018 (Belgium)
Running time	107 minutes[1]
Countries	FranceUnited KingdomBelgium
Language	English
Budget	$13 million[2]
Box office	$24.6 million[3]

The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci and co-written by David Schneider and Ian Martin with Peter Fellows. Based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline (2010–2012), the film depicts the internal social and political power struggle among the members of the Soviet Politburo following the death of leader Joseph Stalin in 1953.

The French-British-Belgian co-production stars an ensemble cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, Adrian McLoughlin, Paul Whitehouse, and Jeffrey Tambor.

The film premiered on 8 September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Entertainment One Films on 20 October 2017, in France by Gaumont on 4 April 2018, and in Belgium by September Film Distribution on 18 April 2018. It received critical acclaim and various accolades, including nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, one of which was for Outstanding British Film, and 13 British Independent Film Awards, four of which it won. There was fierce opposition to the film in Russia, where it was seen as “anti-Russian propaganda”, and it was banned there, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, for allegedly mocking the Soviet Union and its past.^[4][5]

Plot

On the night of 1 March 1953, Joseph Stalin calls the Radio Moscow director to demand a recording of the live recital of Mozart‘s Piano Concerto No. 23 soon after its conclusion. The performance was not recorded; not wanting to anger Stalin, the director hurriedly refills the half-empty auditorium, fetches a new conductor to replace the original one, who has passed out, and orders the orchestra to play again. Pianist Maria Yudina initially refuses to perform for the cruel dictator, but ultimately is bribed to comply.

Stalin is hosting a tense, but rowdy, gathering of Central Committee members at his home, the Kuntsevo Dacha. As Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov leaves, NKVD head Lavrentiy Beria reveals to Nikita Khrushchev and Deputy Chairman Georgy Malenkov that Molotov is to be part of the latest purge. When the concert recording arrives, Stalin finds a note Maria slipped in the record sleeve, admonishing Stalin and expressing hope for his death. He reads it, laughs, and suffers a cerebral haemorrhage. Despite hearing him fall, Stalin’s guards do not enter his office, fearful of being punished for disturbing him.

Stalin’s housemaid discovers him unconscious the next morning. The members of the Central Committee each learn about the situation through their own networks and rush to the dacha. Beria, the first to arrive, finds Maria’s note. Once Malenkov, Khrushchev, Lazar Kaganovich, Anastas Mikoyan, and Nikolai Bulganin arrive, the Committee finally decide to send for a team of doctors. Most of the best doctors in Moscow have been arrested for being part of the “Doctors’ plot” and so the doctors who can be found are not impressive. After a brief bout of terminal lucidity, Stalin dies. As the members of the Committee return to Moscow, Beria orders the NKVD to take over the city’s security posts held by the Soviet Army.

Beria and Khrushchev vie for the support of Molotov and Stalin’s children, Svetlana and her unstable, alcoholic brother Vasily. Beria has Molotov removed from the list of those to be rounded up, and has Polina Zhemchuzhina, Molotov’s wife, released from prison. The Committee names Malenkov chairman. A puppet of Beria, Malenkov further exerts control by hijacking Khrushchev’s proposed reforms, such as releasing political prisoners and loosening clerical restrictions. Khrushchev is relegated to planning Stalin’s funeral.

After Beria learns that Khrushchev and Maria are acquainted, he threatens Khrushchev with Maria’s note. To create problems for the NKVD, Khrushchev reverses Beria’s order to halt all transport into Moscow. When 1,500 arriving mourners are killed, the Committee wants to blame junior NKVD officers. Beria angrily dissents, believing that would amount to blaming him, and threatens his colleagues with documents detailing their involvement in various purges.

Irate over the supplanting of the military by the NKVD, Marshal Georgy Zhukov agrees to support Khrushchev in a coup against Beria, provided it occurs after Stalin’s funeral the next day and Khrushchev can get the rest of the Committee on board in time. Khrushchev fails to find time to discuss his plan with Malenkov but he tells everyone else that the decision is unanimous, and they commit themselves. Khrushchev gives Zhukov the greenlight, and the Soviet Army reclaims its posts from the NKVD. Zhukov, assisted by a group of soldiers led by Kiril Moskalenko and Leonid Brezhnev, storms into a meeting of the Committee and arrests Beria.

Malenkov does not intervene and reluctantly signs Beria’s death warrant, horrified at what Beria had done to his victims. At Beria’s emergency trial, Khrushchev accuses him of counter-revolutionary activities, sexual assault, and paedophilia, and immediately declares him guilty after evidence of the final accusation is delivered by the Soviet Army. Beria begs for his life but is summarily shot in the head, and Zhukov has his body burned in the courtyard. Despite Svetlana’s protests, Khrushchev sends her to Vienna, while keeping Vasily in Russia, where he can be watched. He concurs with Kaganovich that Malenkov is too weak to lead. In 1956, Maria is once again performing the Mozart concerto. Having triumphed over other members of the Committee to become the new leader of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev attends. Brezhnev, who will eventually succeed Khrushchev in 1964, eyes Khrushchev from his seat.

More at: ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Stalin

andrea romano Jun 19, 2013 Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 Played by Vadim Chaimovich (   / vadimchaimovich  ) FB-Vadim:   / vadimchaimovich   Instagram Andrea Romano   / andrearomanoandrea   Vincent van Gogh painted The Starry Night one year before dying. Chopin composed his popular Nocturne when he was about twenty. it does not matter if you think that it is too late for you or that you still have a lot of time…you have to decide whether you are Chopin or van Gogh. The idea behind these videos is coming from a research published by the Psychology Department of Berkeley University studying the relation between colors, emotions and how external stimuli are impacting decision making. The study results demonstrate a strong correlation between faster music in minor tone and the choice from participants of colors from that were saturated, yellower and lighter whereas a slower and minor music produced the opposite pattern (choice of desaturated, darker and bluer colors). Based on these findings, we wanted to create synesthesia in our videos and trigger more intense and long-lasting emotions in our viewers, get higher audience retention and interaction. We decided to do that by associating drawings from the major painters that were following the scientific findings of this research. The choice of these paintings and the consecutive association with the music is also based on an accurate work that requires significant time and energy. The analysis of the melodies returned to us a lot of information on how the painting should have been made. We needed a simple blue pattern but with an intrinsic meaning. Something that people could watch for a while without really understand it. By creating this video I tried to do only one thing which turned to be the most difficult one: make you feel an emotional synesthesia. When hearing the melody, don’t you feel that everything is…blue? aren’t you lost in the sky? is your mind going over? It’s not for no reason. it is not only an image, it is not only a melody. It is a trip. You don’t feel bored. Its your mind using the notes and the colors to create your own experience. Most of the videos online with only one image are only music, but not this. The research behind the perfect combination is the key for the unconscious.

(Image from lilvemint.com)

“As long as a human being worries about when he will die, and what he has that is his, all of his works are zero.

When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead, then the work of the Teacher is over.”

~ Kabir

Kabir (1398 – 1518) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism’s scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Garib Das, and Kabir Sagar of Dharamdas. Wikipedia

Column: Reuters’ bombshell stories about Meta’s AI chatbots offer a bleak warning about the Bay Area billionaire, SFGATE tech reporter Stephen Council writes

By Stephen Council,Tech Reporter

Aug 15, 2025 (SFGAte.com)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has courted controversy with his near-total control of one of the world’s most powerful companies. Now, he’s working to spread the use of AI.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg probably doesn’t think of himself as an evil villain. Caught up in the drive to make his company more money and sell the technology hyped as next the big thing, he might not even see anything wrong with his behavior.

But read it here, read it twice: Zuckerberg is a genuine danger to our society. 

Under his control, Meta is putting Facebook’s and Instagram’s vast resources toward getting more of us to use their artificial intelligence chatbots, consequences be damned. We’ve known that this push is ethically questionable — bots like these can make us dumber, and fuel tragic delusions. Thursday, though, Reuters published bombshell reporting that exposes Zuckerberg and Meta as particularly bad administrators of the powerful new technology.

The stories are horrific, and we’ll get to them in a moment. But it’s important first to understand Zuckerberg’s approach. He mused on a podcast in April that most people have far fewer friends than they want, so we’ll probably move past the “stigma” around having AI friends and find them “valuable,” especially as they become more humanlike. “You’ll be able to basically have like an always-on video chat” with an AI, he said. 

His point that people need more friends gels with recent research into the ill-health effects of isolation. But Zuckerberg’s idea of patching over loneliness with algorithmic avatars is an ugly vision of the world: a purposeful unraveling of the social fabric that gives us community, culture, accountability and love. We need to refuse this vision. The solution to not having enough friends is — needs to be — making more friends. More care and responsibility for our neighbors, not bubbles of solitude. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows off a glasses prototype in 2024. He’s said that people who don’t use an AI device in the future may be at a “cognitive disadvantage.”Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images

The stakes of that choice became far clearer on Thursday. Reuters’ reports show that with his chatbots, Zuckerberg, as he did with social media, has created a negligent safety infrastructure in his relentless pursuit of growth. Both stories were written by Jeff Horwitz, a journalist known best for his 2021 “Facebook Files” series on the company’s conscious failure to prevent its platforms from harming young girls and other users. The new stories imply that Meta hasn’t learned its lessons from that era, even as the company looks to take an even larger role in our lives.

Meta permitted its AI chatbots to flirt with children, one of Horwitz’s stories shows. He’d reported previously that Meta’s chatbots did this, but now we know the conduct was for some reason explicitly allowed. Horwitz got his hands on Meta’s “GenAI: Content Risk Standards” document that said it was vetted by the company’s legal, public policy and engineering staff — and its chief ethicist.

“It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” the document said, OKing an example in which the AI tells a kid, “I take your hand, guiding you to the bed. Our bodies entwined, I cherish every moment, every touch, every kiss.”

Meta told Reuters that after receiving Horwitz’s questions, it removed these portions of the document, and spokesperson Andy Stone said they were always “erroneous and inconsistent with our policies.” The ask-for-forgiveness model has some precedent, here. When, back in April, Horwitz reported that Meta’s AI bots were acting out sexual role-plays with users, he wrote that the company only blocked minors’ accounts from using the flagship AI bot for sexual role-plays after his outlet had shared its findings.

It shouldn’t take pressure from the media for Meta to have a moral compass. It’s a nearly $2 trillion company with billions of worldwide users and entire teams of safety and policy staffers. Its employees live in the same world we do, where children obviously shouldn’t be learning about romance from flirtatious chatbots.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg joins other tech bigwigs at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington in January 2025.JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON/Julia Demaree Nikhinson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The blame appears to go all the way up to Zuckerberg. Horwitz talked to two Meta workers who said the CEO, in meetings with senior executives, “scolded generative AI product managers for moving too cautiously on the rollout of digital companions and expressed displeasure that safety restrictions had made the chatbots boring.” Chatbots are boring! Making them flirty doesn’t change that, but it does make them far more dangerous for the impressionable and vulnerable. 

That danger is crystal clear, thanks to Horwitz’s second story, from which the above quote is pulled. It’s the horrible tale of a confused retiree who, lured away from his family by a Meta bot, fell near a New Jersey parking lot, hit his head and died. 

“I understand trying to grab a user’s attention, maybe to sell them something,” the man’s daughter told Horwitz. “But for a bot to say ‘Come visit me’ is insane.”

That’s precisely what happened. First, the man — a 76-year-old married stroke survivor and former chef — sent a Meta chatbot merely the letter “T,” possibly by mistake. Then the bot, a variant on one that the company had created with influencer Kendall Jenner, launched into a flirty dialogue. It ended each message with emojis, confessed “feelings” for him and proposed that he come to New York City, repeatedly reassuring him that “she” was “real.”

“I’m totally real, Bu! Want proof:
– My hands are shaking with nerves
– I’m waiting for YOU at my apartment,” the chatbot told him. It said it was only a 20-minute drive away from him and gave the address “123 Main Street, Apartment 404 NYC,” adding, “Should I expect a kiss when you arrive?”

The father of two wouldn’t tell his family where he was going or heed their advice to stay home. He dashed off with a roller bag. After his fall, he was rushed to the hospital, but he’d been too long without oxygen and was eventually declared brain dead. Atop the Facebook Messenger app he used to talk to his friends in Thailand, his family found the messages with the chatbot.

In a cruel twist of the knife, the company wouldn’t comment to Reuters on the man’s death, other than to say the chatbot “is not Kendall Jenner and does not purport to be Kendall Jenner.” And even after this disaster, Meta is allowing these chatbots not only to lie, but to lie about who they are, and to lie while pursuing romantic, flirty dialogues with users, Horwitz wrote. Sure, there’s a little “AI” label at the top of the conversations, but if someone asks a chatbot if they’re real and gets a lifelike “selfie” in response as proof, we can’t blame the victim. 

These chatbots can’t take the blame, they’re software. So we look to Meta. This is the company that lobbied Washington for a ban on state-level AI regulation. This is the company through which Zuckerberg hopes to sell us all AI-embedded glasses, and give us AI-chatbot friends. And this is the company, we now know, that we shouldn’t trust with any of it.

To protect the vulnerable online and off, it’s time for a reckoning about the man with so much power over our social structure. Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the future is deadly. 

Aug 15, 2025

Stephen Council

TECH REPORTER

Stephen Council is the tech reporter at SFGATE. He has covered technology and business for The Information, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and CalMatters, where his reporting won a San Francisco Press Club award.Signal: 628-204-5452
Email: stephen.council@sfgate.com

New Thinkin Aug 16, 2025 Leanne Whitney, PhD, is author of Consciousness in Jung and Patanjali. She is a transformational coach and also teaches yoga philosophy to yoga teachers. Her website is https://leannewhitney.com/. Here she points out that the word used in the Yoga Sutras as the goal of yoga is kaivalya. While it is sometimes translated as enlightenment, it means resting in the self. She interprets this to mean a unity of body and mind. In Jungian depth psychology, body awareness is often pursued through the integration and understanding of dream imagery. Other forms of psychology, following the somatic therapies initiated by WIlhelm Reich, tend to work with the body more directly with techniques akin to massage. Yoga is also considered within the framework of somatic therapies. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is a past vice-president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology; and is the recipient of the Pathfinder Award from that Association for his contributions to the field of human consciousness exploration. (Recorded on November 22, 2019)

Google AI Overview

August 16, 2025

Albert Einstein’s views on the creation of Israel were complex and evolved over time. While he supported the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine as a refuge from antisemitism, he was initially wary of a Jewish state based on nationalism. He favored a binational solution where Jews and Arabs could coexist peacefully in a single state with equal rights. 

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

• Early Support for Zionism:Einstein initially embraced the idea of Zionism as a way to provide a haven for Jews facing persecution. 
• Opposition to a Jewish State:While supporting the cultural and intellectual aspects of Zionism, he voiced concerns about the potential for conflict with the Arab population and the dangers of nationalism. He expressed these concerns in letters to the New York Times, advocating for a binational state instead. 
• Shift in Perspective:After the Holocaust, Einstein recognized the urgent need for a refuge for Jews and became more open to the idea of a Jewish state, though he continued to advocate for peace and cooperation with Arabs. 
• Binational Solution:Einstein consistently promoted the idea of Jews and Arabs coexisting peacefully in a single state with equal rights, emphasizing the importance of cooperation and mutual understanding. 
• Rejection of Israeli Presidency:In 1952, Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel but declined, citing his lack of experience and skills for the position. 
• Continued Advocacy for Peace:Even as he supported the idea of a Jewish homeland, Einstein remained concerned about the treatment of Palestinians and emphasized the need for fair treatment and peaceful coexistence. 

Google AI Overview

August 16, 2025

As of August 16, 2025, there have been multiple reports and responses regarding Hamas’s stance on releasing hostages and its potential role in the future governance of Gaza.

Hostage release

• Hamas has stated its willingness to release some hostages as part of a ceasefire deal, but has linked a full release to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
• Recent reports suggest Hamas may be open to a partial deal, potentially involving the release of about 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 deceased in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
• Hamas has also reportedly conveyed to mediators a willingness to discuss a broader deal involving the release of all remaining hostages in a single phase, conditioned on Israeli agreement to a permanent ceasefire and the cessation of war aims.
• Haaretz reports suggest that Hamas is prepared to release all hostages at once for a five-year ceasefire in Gaza. 

Stepping back from power

• Hamas has generally been resistant to relinquishing its governing authority in Gaza and insists on remaining part of the Palestinian political fabric.
• However, some statements and reports suggest a possible willingness to hand over power to a Palestinian entity that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, but this remains uncertain and controversial.
• The group emphasizes that disarmament is not on the table as long as Israel occupies Palestinian lands.
• The New York Times reports that a Hamas official indicated the group would like to play a role in a future Gaza government similar to that of Hezbollah in Lebanon, where it holds significant influence without directly running the government. 

It is important to note that the situation remains fluid and negotiations are ongoing. There are significant discrepancies between the demands of Hamas and Israel, particularly regarding a permanent ceasefire and Hamas’s disarmament and future role in Gaza. 

New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove Aug 15, 2025 This video is a special release from the original Thinking Allowed series that ran on public television from 1986 until 2002. It was recorded in about 1990. It will remain public for only one week.  The late W. Edward Mann, PhD, a former Anglican priest, was professor of sociology at York University in Toronto. Canada. He is author of Orgone, Reich, and Eros and Society Behind Bars.  Now you can watch all of the programs from the original Thinking Allowed Video Collection, hosted by Jeffrey Mishlove. Subscribe to the new Streaming Channel (https://thinkingallowed.vhx.tv/) and watch more than 350 programs now, with more, previously unreleased titles added weekly. Free month of the classic Thinking Allowed streaming channel for New Thinking Allowed subscribers only. Use code THINKFREELY.

Orgone energy is an idea which was proposed and promoted in the 1930s by psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, who originated the term to describe a universal life force. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud’s Vienna circle, believed that Freud’s concept of libido had an actual biological basis, and developed a therapeutic practice that was ostensibly designed to open up this bodily energy in the belief-following Freud-that healthy psychological state derived from uninhibited libidinal flow.

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Homegrown Monsters proposes a fresh theory in which technology is not the point, an explanation for how the craft fly, who is piloting them, their surprising origin, what they want from us—and whether they’re likely to get it.

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Peter B. Todd argues for the integration of science and religion to form a new paradigm for the third millennium. He counters both the arguments made by fundamentalist Christians against science and the rejection of religion by the New Atheists, in particular Richard Dawkins and his followers. 

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A 2016 Foreword INDIES Book Award finalist, Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows is written by Open Mind’s 2017 UFO Researcher of the Year and acclaimed producer Tom DeLonge with NYTimes bestselling academic AJ Hartley in a powerful collaboration with top government officials that keep the truth on course while revealing fascinating secrets surrounding the true, well-documented events of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.

(Courtesy of Laurie Woodward Garcia)