From e-flux, Keti Chukhrov on epistemological gaps between the former Soviet East and the “Democratic” West. Gerald M. Easter on his book Capital, Coercion, and Postcommunist States. Did Chernobyl cause the Soviet Union to explode? Mark Joseph Stern on the nuclear theory of the fall of the USSR. Vladimir Kara-Murza reviews The Next Generation in Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan: Youth, Politics, Identity, and Change by Nadia M. Diuk. Authorities in Uzbekistan continue to dismantle Soviet past. Freedom House finds Eurasia region now “worst in the world” in political rights. Tania Raffass on her book The Soviet Union: Federation or Empire? The post-Soviet twilight: Bruce P. Jackson on the stubborn political culture of Russia and the Ukraine. Patrick Slaney interviews Audra Wolfe, author of Competing with the Soviets: Science, Technology, and the State in Cold War America.
