The West celebrated the collapse of the Soviet Union. "This is a victory for democracy and freedom. It's a victory for the moral force of our value," said President George Bush from the Oval Office on Dec. 25, 1991, as the final curtain came down on the USSR. Few Russians today are celebrating. The end of one-party rule was welcomed, but the 1990s brought on economic collapse, widespread criminality and corruption, and national humiliation. The decade ended with Putin in power. Yet this does not mean Russians want to return to communism. In this episode, the journalist and political scientist Maria Lipman, who was born in Moscow the year before Stalin's death, discusses what the West gets wrong about its historic "triumph."
History As It Happens
This is a podcast for people who want to think historically about current events. Everything happening today comes from something, somewhere. The past shapes the present. History As It Happens, hosted by award-winning broadcaster Martin Di Caro, features interviews with today's top scholars and thinkers, interwoven with audio from history's archive. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
This is a podcast for people who want to think historically about current events. Everything happening today comes from something, somewhere. The past shapes the present. History As It Happens, hosted by award-winning broadcaster Martin Di Caro, features interviews with today's top scholars and thinkers, interwoven with audio from history's archive. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.Listen on
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