Russia
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Review: The Billion Dollar Spy – by David E. Hoffman
This espionage thriller tells the true life story of one of the Cold War’s most valuable assets, a Russian spy working for the CIA in the heart of the Soviet military aerospace sector. Adolf Tolkachev made the first tentative moves to reach out to the Americans in January 1977, in the heart of Moscow. At… Continue reading
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Review: MI6 – Fifty Years of Special Operations – by Stephen Dorril
This detailed 800 page book covers fifty years of MI6, the UK’s foreign espionage service. From relatively humble beginnings during the second world war, MI6 grew to become a leading foe of Soviet Russia and its notorious KGB. The book documents in detail issues that affected the service from the beginning and I especially was… Continue reading
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Review: Fragile Empire – How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin – by Ben Judah
This is a very well researched study of Russia under Vladimir Putin. Always concerned with the political angle of this modern day Tsar, Judah studies the rise of Putin from a relatively unflattering career in the FSB through to him becoming an immovable rock in the Kremlin. Putin’s early years are interesting and I enjoyed… Continue reading
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Review: The Last Empire – The Final Days of the Soviet Union – by Serhii Plokhy
When the Soviet Union ended and thus the Cold War ended on Christmas Day 1991, it was probably one of the biggest political events of my lifetime. This well-researched, detailed book, by Ukrainian author Serhii Plokhy, details the last 18 months of the Soviet Union’s existence. After USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev’s revolutionary policies of Glasnost… Continue reading
AMerica, August 1991, August coup, Baltics, Boris Yeltsin, CIS, cold war, Commonwealth of Independent States, Communism, Crimea, Dacha, domino effect, end of cold war, Estonia, fall of communism, george bush, George H.W. Bush, glasnost, Gorbachev, KGB, Latvia, Leonid Kravchuk, Lithuania, Mikhail Gorbachev, Party Centre, perestroika, President Bush, Russia, serhii plokhy, Soviet Union, the last empire, Ukraine, USA, USSR, Yugoslavia -
Review: We – by Yevgeny Zamyatin
This science-fiction classic was written in 1920s Russia and was cited by George Orwell as a key inspiration for his seminal 1984. We are in the 26th century and following victory in a 200 year war, society has reached its apogee in a walled off universal nation called OneState. All submit to the will of… Continue reading
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Review: The Edge – Is the Military Dominance of the West Coming to an End – by Mark Urban
Only a short volume, this well-written work documents the weakening of the West in the geopolitical arena. The book first focuses on the reductions in military power of Western nations, both in terms of their military budgets and also their matériel. Despite modern weapons being produced, the volume of forces and the amount of weapons… Continue reading
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Review: Winter Is Coming – Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped – by Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, is clearly an intelligent man. Having retired from the game he has entered the world of politics and is a key human rights activist. The book explores his frustrations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. It is a study of Putin and the way in which he has eroded the… Continue reading
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Review: The Art Of Betrayal – Life and Death in the British Secret Service – by Gordon Corera
They say that truth is often stranger than fiction and this book that I have given a 5 star rating reads very fluently and tells the real story of British secret service agents as they engage in the art of espionage across the globe. True heroes and heroines emerge as you quickly flutter through the… Continue reading
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Review: 2017 War With Russia: An Urgent Warning from Senior Military Command – by General Sir Richard Shirreff
When I first purchased this book I thought it would be a work of non-fiction, but instead I discovered it was actually fiction. The author, a former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, was, in his employment, well-used to war-gaming scenarios with, in particular, Russia. This book, aimed at the general public, introduces many real aspects… Continue reading
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