Russia's Gangster Regime

There is a new book by Karen Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (2015).  See the outstanding review by Anne Appelbaum, "How He and His Cronies Stole Russia," New York Review of Books (18 December 2014). If you follow Russia and Russian history, then you should read the review and the book. Interesting that when I checked on Amazon.com, Dawisha's book was listed number 1 best seller in the category "Organized Crime True Accounts."

Gorbachev and the Wall, 25 Years later

Reasonable article recently on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany:  Fall of the Berlin Wall: The Iron Curtain fell because of Mikhail Gorbachev – yet today he is despised as a traitor by Russians

It does continue to surprise me that attitude of bother Russians and Westerners towards Gorbachev, and I could easily add Khrushchev to the equation. In some way, it reminds me of the attitude of Americans towards President Obama.  Too much of the status quo being threatened.