The Uses and Disadvantages of Soviet History for Life
It is hard to comprehend the scarcity and existential dread that was humanity's constant companion during the Cold War.
December 2021
Yes, It Was An 'Evil Empire'
Nearly every form of Soviet nostalgia gets the facts wrong.
Features
Lost in Transition
30 years after the Soviet collapse, what happened to the Russian dream of a free economy?
Red Markets
Sometimes communist countries had to tolerate a little economic liberty just to survive.
The Pope Who Helped Bring Down Communism
"I have no doubt," Polish President Lech Wałęsa once said, that without John Paul II "the birth of Solidarity would not have been possible."
The Anarchic Interlude
In 1990s Prague, wonderful things happened in the chaotic space between the end of communism and the rise of its replacement.
Interview
Garry Kasparov's Gambit
The greatest chess player in modern history on how the Soviet Union lost to the free world.
Topics
Watching Mikhail Gorbachev Resign in Moscow
The day the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time
Ukraine Still Hungers for Independence
For two years in the 1930s, the people of Ukraine were forced to starve in service of a political idea.
Turkmenistan's Record-Setting Repression
The most oppressive of the former Soviet countries is run by a dictator with a strange cult of personality.
The Baltic Way
How Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania ended up with relatively high degrees of economic freedom and political stability
Meet the New Boss in Azerbaijan
A look at Azerbaijan’s rampant corruption, unfair elections, and flimsy institutions
Kazakhstan Kleptocracy
Authoritarianism and abundant natural resources make a treacherous combination in Kazakhstan.
Leaving Uzbekistan
Why is it so hard for Uzbek citizens to get permission to travel abroad?
Soviet Ethnic Policies Split Kyrgyzstan
Conflict between minority groups still lingers today
A Glimmer of Success in Miserable Moldova
Maia Sandu, Moldova's new president, has cleverly positioned her new government as being in thrall neither to Moscow nor to Brussels.
The Sick Man of Central Asia
Tajikistan remains economically underdeveloped despite plentiful natural resources.
Should NATO Open Its Doors to Georgia?
Conflict with Russia has been an ever-present threat in the three decades since Georgia broke away from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Remittances Bolster—and Limit—Armenia's Potential
Remitting took off during the Soviet period and has remained high over the years due to lack of domestic economic opportunity.
Culture
Communism Destroyed Russian Cooking
Soviet rule promised abundance. Instead it brought misery and starvation.
Books
Terrorwashing a Genocide
How the war on terror facilitated Communist China's repression of Uyghurs
Foucault in the Panopticon
How Michel Foucault's encounters in Poland's heavily policed gay community informed his ideas
Reviews
The Best of Cold War Culture
Books, films, and more related to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
ETC.
Eugene Huskey on the Soviet Legacy in Central Asia
"This is the nature of an authoritarian regime. You don't quite know where the boundaries of acceptable discourse are. Everything is uncertain."
