Russia
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Review: Memoirs – by Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the most influential and critical figures of the twentieth century. When I was growing up in the 1980s he was part os a set of international world leaders that seemingly had much more influence over people than the political leaders of today. Gorbachev was the last leader of he Soviet… Continue reading
Baltic States, Belorussia, Berlin Wall, Boris Yeltsin, cold war, Communism, Communist, Crimea, espionage, François Mitterand, glasnost, Gorbachev, KGB, Mad, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Military, NATO, Nomenclatura, perestroika, Politburo, Politics, Putin, Ronald Reagan, Russia, Soviet Union, Stalin, Ukraine, USSR, Vladmir Putin, Warsaw Pact, World Leader -
Review: Putin’s People – How the KGB took back Russia and then took on The West – by Catherine Belton
The author of this, the best study of Vladimir Putin that I have read to date, is Catherine Belton, a Financial Times journalist that was based in Moscow. It is a comprehensive study of the rise of Putin and how he has cemented a Tsar-like power as head of the New Russia. We go from… Continue reading
Belton, Boris Berezovsky, Boris Yeltsin, Brexit, Capitalism, Catherine Belton, cold war, Communism, Conservative, Conservative Party, Conservatives, corruption, crime, DOnald Trump, Dostoyevsky, espionage, Financial Times, FSB, Gangster, KGB, Kremlin, London, Londongrad, mafia, Mikhail Khodorkhovsky, Moscoow, Moscow, oligarch, Organised Crime, organized crime, Panama Papers, Putin, Roman Abramovich, Russia, Russian Mafia, siloviki, Soviet Union, spy, St Petersburg, Tambov, Tambov Group, Trump, Trump Towers, Tsar, U.K., Ukraine, USA, USSR, Vladimir Putin -
Review: A Great Perhaps? Colombia: Conflict and Convergence – by Dickie Davis, David Kilcullen, Greg Mills and David Spencer
David Kilcullen has had a few books included on my shelf recently. As a military expert on Guerrilla Warfare, I was thrilled to find this new book on the Colombian Civil War which he coauthors with a group of specialists who went on extensive field research around Colombia, with a view to learning lessons about… Continue reading
Afghanistan, Bogota, COcaine, Colombia, Colombian Civil War, Communism, Communist, Cuba, David Kilcullen, ELN, FARC, FARC-EP, Guerrilla, Havana, jungle, Latin America, Malaya, Manuel Marulanda, Marulanda, militaryt, narcotics, naroctrafficking, paramilitaries, peace, peace talks, PLan Colombia, Revolution, Russia, Soviet Union, USA, war -
Review: Behind The Enigma – The Authorised History of GCHQ – Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency – by John Ferris
This is a weighty tome (800 plus pages) and the authoritative history of perhaps the least glamorous of the U.K.’s principal security services. However, the facts illustrated in this book clearly demonstrates the critical role GCHQ plays in national security and perhaps one could argue is more relevant and more important than its more glamorous… Continue reading
Alan Turing, Arabic, Argentina, Australia, Bletchley Park, Canada, Cheltenham, China, Chinese, COMINT, Commonwealth, computers, cryptanalytic, cryptography, cyberattack, cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, Enigma, espionage, Falklands, Five Eyes, GCHQ, German, Germany, hacking, HUMINT, indonesia, intelligence, Islam, islamic jihad, Israel, Jihad, Jihadists, John Ferris, Konfrontasi, languages, linguists, Mandarin Chinese, maths, MI5, mi6, Military, National Secuirty Agency, Nazi, New Zealand, NSA, Palestine, Russia, Salafi, SIGINT, Soviet Union, spy, tech warfare, Translation, U.K., UKUSA, United Kingdom, United STates of America, USA, USSR, World War 2 -
Review: Stasiland – Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall – by Anna Funder
The Stasi were the brutal secret police in the GDR (German Democratic Republic) or East Germany. After the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East and West Germany once again became reunited. Funder is an Australian journalist who, in this award-winning book, explores the Stasi at work… Continue reading
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Review: The Third Man and The Fallen Idol – by Graham Greene
Graham Greene is a classic early twentieth century English novelist. I remember studying Brighton Rock for my school GCSEs.The Third Man is set in the murky underworld of post World War 2 Vienna. The Austrian capital has been quartered into four allied zones: English, French, American and Russian. A front of the Cold War there… Continue reading
assassin, Austria, Brighton Rock, Britain, cold war, Colonel Calloway, DRUGS DRUG DEALING RACKET, France, funeral, Graham Greene, Harry lIME, Hungarian, Londion, murder, Nazi, PENICILLIN, polceman, police, ROLLO MARTINS, Russia, sewer, Soviet Union, Suicide, the fallen idol, the third man, U.K., USA, Vienna -
Review: Blood Year – Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror – by David Kilcullen
This is the second book that I have read by David Kilcullen. The author is a former Australian soldier and a senior advisor to the US Military in addition to being a leading theorist of modern warfare. This book looks deeply at the fundamental Islamic terrorist state ISIS. ISIS grew out of the ashes of… Continue reading
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Review: Black Russian – by Vladimir Alexandrov
This is an exciting tale from the turn of the twentieth century of an eccentric man of the world who encountered directly some of the most important global events of that era. It is a biography of Frederick Bruce Thomas or Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas. He was born to former plantation slaves in Mississippi, USA in… Continue reading
20th century, abolition, AMerica, Atatürk, Atlantic, Black Russian, Bolsheviks, Chicago, classist, Clubbing, Constantinople, entertainment, Europe, Frederick Bruce Thomas, French, French Army, Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas, istanbul, jazz, London, Mississippi, New York, New. York City, nighclubs, Odessa, ottoman Empire, race, racism, restaurant, Revolution, Russia, russian revolution, slavery, slaves, Soviet Union, Soviets, theatre, Turks, US Embassy, USA, World War 1 -
Review: How to Change the World – Tales of Marx and Marxism – by Eric Hobsbawm
This is the second Hobsbawm book that I have tackled and I find him to be a detailed, erudite, intelligent author and his obvious left-leaning politics readily assist him in compiling this study of Karl Marx and his work. The first part of the book looks directly at Marx’s work, specifically his writings with Engels.… Continue reading
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Review: Soldier Spy by Tom Marcus
I initially bought the second book in this series, I Spy, but on learning that this volume preceded it I thought it apt to try this one out first. It’s not a huge book and is very accessible. The autobiographical account of a soldier from the streets, recognised for his unique skills and recruited to… Continue reading
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