A generation ago, in the second half of the 80s, hardly anyone would predict the fall of real socialism, or communism, as it was known in the West, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Quite the contrary; even such prominent Sovietologists as Zbigniew Brzeziński assumed that the USSR may not fall and would last for quite a long time. When things turned out differently and, consequently, Francis Fukuyama prematurely announced the end of history, thousands of Sovietologists, especially American and British ones, looking to justify their existence, quickly rebranded themselves as experts on political changes in ... (full story)