Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.Sample Book Insights: #1 The interview was a public scandal in Russia, but it was a sign of the times in the perestroika period. The country’s tentative steps toward greater openness were tantalizing, but they knew they could be punished at any moment.#2 The Soviet Union held its first real election in March 1989, and the Communist Party only won 85 percent of the seats in the Congress of People’s Deputies. In Poland, the Communist regime was overthrown completely and the rest of the Warsaw Pact nations quickly followed Poland’s example.#3 The Soviet experience, and the fear it created, continues to shape Putin and the rest’s behavior. It is difficult to describe life in a Communist state to those who never lived in one.#4 I often spoke about politics with people above me in the field, and I was always surprised by how much they overestimated the stability of Communism in Europe and the USSR. They seemed completely oblivious to the broadly destabilizing impact of Yeltsin’s battle of Russia versus the USSR.