Winter is Coming Read Online Free PDF Page B

End of History in 1992. Liberal democracy and capitalism were the big winners of the last great ideological competition we would ever know. Totalitarianism and Communism were the big losers. The good guys won the Cold War, McDonald’s opened in Moscow, and it was time for a much deserved celebration.
    But in Russia, the story was different. The end of the Cold War presented an opportunity, not just for economic advancement but for a welcoming embrace among the world’s democratic powers. Even as the Soviet Union crumbled, Russia, by far the largest and most powerful member, kept many of the USSR’s privileges and positions, as well as keeping the world’s largest nuclear arsenal while Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan were successfully pressured into giving theirs up. Russia took the Soviet spot on the United Nations Security Council and, despite perpetual unfounded complaints about suffering humiliation at the hands of the victorious West, there was nothing in the way of reparations demanded by the winning side. In fact, the United States and several other countries provided badly needed loan guarantees and other aid to Russia, directly and via the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Russia was even paid for bringing its troops back from Germany. This was not just charity. Collapse and chaos in the nuclear-armed giant would not have been in anyone’s best interests.
    Nor were there any trials or truth and reconciliation commissions, internationally or domestically, about the former USSR. After decades of genocides, mass relocation and imprisonment, and totalitarian repression, it was decided to let bygones be bygones and move into the bright new future without recrimination. Of course many of the new leaders and officials had a personal interest in not digging too deeply into the cruel past. I’m not proud of having once been a member of the Communist Party myself, even if joining had been a calculated move so that a lack of party affiliation did not hurt my developing chess career. (I left the party in January 1990.)
    The dominant position soon became one of “avoiding witch hunts,” even if that meant leaving people with blood on their hands in positions of power. More critically, it left the roots of the powerful Russian security apparatus intact, if renamed and with a considerably lower profile for the time being. Yeltsin didn’t want trials and the Russian KGB archives remained off limits. Former officials were given tacit promises of financial security and immunity from prosecution in exchange for facilitating the transfer of power. This same formula was employed by Yeltsin when he hand-picked Vladimir Putin to become his successor in 1999 .
    Western nations unanimously collaborated with this dubious cover-up. It is remarkable how quickly even many of the most hawkish Cold Warriors were willing to forgive and forget as soon as the USSR ceased to exist. “Witch hunt” implies persecution with false pretenses and/or a lack of evidence. But what if there are plenty of actual witches around, and plenty of evidence of witchcraft? Don’t forget that Lenin’s mausoleum in the middle of Red Square was never removed.
    I think the sense of jubilation overwhelmed people on both sides of the Iron Curtain. We could learn about the rest of the world, travel, read newspapers that were actually interesting. We could talk about politics that actually mattered, and even vote! Few Russians had the appetite for gloomy trials detailing the horrors we knew all too well had occurred in the Soviet Union. This turned out to be a terrible mistake that Russia, and the rest of the world, is still paying for today.

    There is no single moment where Russia lost its way and Vladimir Putin, or someone like him, became inevitable. There was no specific turning point in the West’s dealings with Russia marking the shift from confrontation over human rights to engagement. It was a slow and steady process. Time and again, the United States and