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Article: A lecture in Moscow. (author's experience lecturing on Cuban Missile Crisis at Soviet Institute of Military History)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- December 3, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I last visited the Soviet Union, in November 1979, I swore vigorously that I would never return. Through a blend of bureaucratic incompetence, sheer deceit, and a sharpening of the cold war following the seizure of the U.S. hostages in Teheran, my trip stalled in Moscow-all we saw here was the rehearsal for Red October Day. Sitting like robots on their self-propelled guns in freezing weather for hours on end, the troops looked terrifyingly menacing. Moscow seemed infinitely oppressive-and sinister.
This year, on the exact place where I had witnessed all those tanks, there was a huge anti-Gorbachev demonstration. Masses of police lined the street; but they were ...