20 June 2022 I’ve seen many coups in my decades as a journalist and connoisseur of exotic, turbulent places. The most exciting coup occurred in Paris under President Charles de Gaulle as I waited at Place de la Concorde with heavily armed paramilitary police as we prepared for an attack […]


May 31, 2022 A blitzkrieg Russian invasion of Ukraine it was not. Marshall Zhukov, the Soviet Union’s famed tank general, must be rolling in his grave. Had Stalin still been in the Kremlin, Russia’s generals and defense minister would have by now been shot. At that time, the Red Army […]


March 24, 2022 Those familiar with Russian history know that wars usually begin with disastrous muddles. It’s the Russian way. But Russians are also renowned for surmounting great obstacles after enormous sacrifices and finally achieving victory. World War II, in which the Soviet Union lost around 8.6 million soldiers killed, […]