“You know I have my ups and downs, but I have a pact with God. The pact is that no…
A Cold End to the Prague Spring
In 1968, growing opposition to the failing sociopolitical and economic policies of hard-line Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, led by Antonín…
Prague Spring as Seen from the Outside – The Utter Impotence of U.S. Policy
Newspapers that had long been the Party mouthpiece were allowed to criticism the government, labor unions were given more rights…
Stalin’s Legacy: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Nagorno-Karabakh is a highly contested, landlocked region in the South Caucasus of the former Soviet Union. The present-day conflict has…
“We Didn’t Start the Fire”: Billy Joel Sums up World History with a Single Song
“We Didn’t Start the Fire” was a huge commercial success when it was released in 1989. It was Billy Joel’s…
After D-Day — Life in Paris After Liberation
The Allied invasion of France under the Supreme Command of General Dwight Eisenhower began on D-Day, June 6th ,1944. As…
The Headache That Is the Fourth of July Party
The Fourth of July is a celebration of the United States’ independence. It is a day of family, friends, food,…
Hungary Escapes the Shadow of the Soviet Union
For those trapped in Eastern Europe in the 20th century, the horrors of World War II were supplanted by the…
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall!”
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan made one of his most famous Cold War speeches at the Berlin Wall.…
Back in the USSR — Life as a Student in Moscow in the 1960s
Grim. Tedious. Unrelentingly cold and dreary. Add in KGB surveillance and the fear that they truly were out to get…