the second problem has been the history of the soviet union. i would emphasize russian ukrainian american and other historians working on the soviet union have discovered incredibly important things about the subject of my book but has not happened is these findings have not been integrated into a kind of geographical approach which is the approach and favoring. the consensus has shifted on what collectivization and for ukraine. with the predominant opinion now being this was a deliberate action designed to starve people coming and we know much more about the great terror, but both of these policies, collectivization and terror weigh heavily on people of the western border land of the soviet union. that is the same territory where a few years later the germans were going to kill in the largest numbers. this overlap is almost never noticed. one of the reasons for this is the soviet history tends to jump from 1941 to 1945 with the war treated as a separate subject but once we treat the territory as a framework, we can make this observation that t

the second history is the soviet union history. russian, ukrainian, and american and other historians working on the soviet union has discovered incredibly important things about the subject of my work. collectivization and terror. what has not happened, these findings have not been integrated into a geographical approach. which is the one i'm focusing on. what i meant with ukraine. i think now it being this was a deliberate action designed to starve people. we know much more about the great terror. both of these policies, collectivization and terror weighed most heavily on the western border lands of the soviet union. where the germans were going to kill in the largest numbers. this overlap is never noticed. soviet history jumps from 1941 to 1945 with the war as a separate subject. we can make the observation that the places with stalin killed were also the places where hitler killed. the third is the strongest body, that is the history of the holocaust. in the last 20 years since history in germany, it has been raised to very hig

in soviet union after 1917. these two options were among dozens of revolutionary possibilities after the first world war. the point is the first world war was is situation in which things which would have been improbable, become much more likely. there's something in particular about the first world war. that is this. the germans didn't lose the first world war on the eastern front. they won the first world war on the eastern front. they were never defeated on the eastern front. they were defeated on the western front. which that for many germans, including nazi leadership, eastern europe and ukraine was a mystical land of opportunity, bread basket, place where a future empire could be won. this is crucial. it places eastern europe in the very important and imaginative geographies. it put ukraine in hitler and stalin in a way that's going to be important. the first chapter is about the famine in 1932 to 1933. what's making, as hitler was coming to power in germany, he's making speeches about the family in ukrain

next a leading french a story a new predicted the breakup of the soviet union says europe will struggle to keep its place in the international arena without russia's help next she tells r t why russia was so misunderstood by the west. am got over the course of history and humanities permanent secretary of the french science academy and the woman who predicted the breakup of the soviet union in nineteen seventy eight in her book pick a lapse of an empire is here with us today by super bowl. thank you very much my dum-dum course for your time in your recent book between two walls you talk of russia can we presume from the title that you think russia still hasn't found its place in the walt. sims was not exactly what the book says is that russia has made these kind of decision but over the past ten years it's been pursuing two different paths rather than one what i've been trying to explain is that after the soviet union disintegrated russia rushed to europe but as you have did not offer a warm welcome system beginning of this century or russia's foreign policy has been focusing on two dir

missiles in turkey targeted mages soviet cities the soviet union retaliated the stationing their own missiles in cuba about time the world found itself in one step away from the start of global nuclear war. the way of life in this small village never changes that's why the appearance of any newcomer in south is a big event. when the first soviet specialists came to the village in august one thousand nine hundred sixty two the locals were told to keep their mouths shut. a large plot of land in the village outskirts was fenced off with barbed wire what went on inside that enclosure was kept secret for a long time. today an old bunker is in ruins the residents have found a use for everything they could take from those ruins. here for example you see all these places all they. are now in grown were set up all the by rajan. not even came here now you can see this now you can game and look at this so we are in a place where part of the wall was the border. of that there was. his family has been cattle breeders for decades omar lopez largo has a big farm by local standards in autumn nine hu

to think that gave up on this not only in europe the collapse of the soviet union was not interested baited it happened overnight many countries primarily those who are to solve it influence the eastern european countries and countries that used to be part of the soviet union but are now into balance states did not understand russia and are afraid of it as eastern european countries have become e.u. members they have showed a few years and passed them on to the you saying that russia used to be an empire so why should it seize being an empire and can't be trusted now that it's imperial past has been forgotten by now people have already understood that russia is pursuing its own path but time has shown that georgia for example which has always been saying that it wants to save itself from russia that's why it wanted to access nato that russia will dominate georgia again and look i think it's a few years originate from some kind of misunderstanding of the break up of the soviet union because it was so sudden no one could adjust themselves to it immediately all the european and pires ha

that's the fear now i don't hear any good ideas that you saw when i was writing about the soviet union i didn't see it as a full harvester i looked again to eat and saw so many there negative elements that i couldn't help but ask myself how long will it last i don't make forecasts as a rule or the story of how i look at the past and try to figure out what's happening in the present i think russia has come a long way over the past twenty years it is having some difficulties as countries do it's not easy it is reducing the marquess of capitalism it didn't bust in europe's a choice to do that or it's doing it within twenty years isn't so easy.

>> in terms of numbers, the kgb was a security service of the soviet union and the soviet union was bigger than russia. the influence in how a change the cultural russia and how they control the society and the kremlin and if we can say it now, it is more powerful mostly because the kgb is another organization, a tool for soviet communist party and at the same time the communist party, soviet union fully controls the kgb because there are special budget cells. a section of the kgb. and of course in 1991 the soviet union collapsed. the idea was party control. the initial idea failed really inside the intelligence community and to have rivals for example in computers and communication agency, comparable for u.s. national security agency. possible for humanitarian and social experience so it has the ability to compare. at the same time, competed with intelligence so with the ability of computation, there is a possibility to get different support for information provided by security services and the impression of control of a system of intelligence. what was done by vladimir putin was he made

that's the fear now i don't really feel very good as you saw when i was writing about the soviet union i didn't see it as a full cost or a look is it good to eat and saw so many there negative elements that i couldn't help but ask myself how long will it last i don't make forecasts as a rule the story of how i look at the past and try to figure out what's happening in the present i think russia has come a long way over the past twenty years it is having some difficulties as countries do it's not easy it is reducing the marquess of capitalism it didn't bust in europe centuries to do that or it's doing it within twenty years ending so easily i think russia is following the path he chose in ninety one ninety one but there have been ups and downs but i don't see any disk it was your duty so i think if we can become about russia's future it's starting to look the more of the like you know around the country as i was before if somebody asked you to describe modern russia in just three words what would those words be. the frost one would be might say which it wasn't until years ago and this i

union was, essentially, to it lawless behavior. to its lawless behavior internationally, and to its lawless behavior internally. but where he differed from the neo, with the neoconservatives is they believed the soviet strong. jean kirkpatrick, in fact, famously wrote -- she was reagan's first ambassador to the u.n -- wrote an article in '79, dictatorships and double standards. the essential argument was communism was such a powerful force in the world that once a country became communist, it would never escape. it was like a black hole. whereas pat -- and this is what distinguished him from so many others -- he simply looked at the facts. and he thought two things were important, history and can the facts. and even from 1980 or '79 as he was asked to write an article for "newsweek," he basically said, you know, the problem with the soviet union is not that it is so strong, it is that it is so weak. and what are we going to do when it dissolves, and what's going to happen to all those nuclear weapons? and with regard to the united

we all know that you were expelled from the soviet union the nine hundred seventy one. citizenship. what was your fishel reason for expelling your from the country. since i was not one of the chosen people. quite a complicated one. i was arrested and then taken to the kind of state security for a so-called chat. explained to me that i had three options. first option if it was to go into a man to asylum where i spent half a year. now it was the last of of clinic us which was an experimental clinic actually one of the most horrible wants as it was under the jurisdiction of the state security services. they tested a new psychotropic medication on us. did help. my mom hadn't gotten out on bail as a disabled i think i would have spent three years there she was told that she should be expecting her son back no sooner than three years later and he says he would actually i wouldn't have the honor of talking to you today b.c. of the usually people left that place in a state of deadheads to go straight into the hospital for people with chronic diseases. who would it if you when you took those

gorbachev was a very unusual leader of the soviet union. he was a farmer's son. he grew up on a collective farm. he won a four-year scholarship to the best university in russia, moscow university, by combining more we in the summer of his 17th year than any other teenager in the old soviet union. he got a lemon medal for it which he always said afterwards was the best metal he had on his chest. he was someone who came from a totally different place than a city slicker than moscow who were generally part of the soviet hierarchy. and one of the things he discovered early on was a possible exception of nikita khrushchev, no soviet leader had ever told a saudi complex know, you can't have all you want. they basically rubberstamped whatever the military investor complex asked for. and what was left over went to the people. windows people came into his office, his response was are you planning to attack the united states, comrade? because if you aren't, get out of my office. we don't need that stuff. and nevertheless when he came to reykjavÍk, he had been given a limi

union to bring down the soviet union and caused it to fail. >> i think, you know, the biggest -- [inaudible] the west was very important in disbanding the soviet union, the kgb personal. and former kgb chief uri kitsch cough and other generals, they constantly talk to press and said, well, there's so many agents of influence of the west in our government, so the soviet union collapsed. but, in fact, i think that the -- because you're right, the importance and the role of the west because dissidents grew up very small and an drop above was so harsh to persecute them that by the late, mid 1980s they became insignificant, and there was no sport to the population to them -- support to the population to them. for example, my parents listen to radio, but while for -- it never provoked them to do something, to become active. so, it. that's great, this might be interesting to hear some voices of socialism, for example. but it was not so significant. i think it mostly was internal crisis. and mostly because, and i think a great bunch of us very, very important. it was his decision. i think -- [inaud

the soviet union was invaded by hitler's germany. hitler and the germans betrayed the hitler-stalin pact on a dime overnight. the people in the american peace prohibition became pro-war. they changed their name from american peace mobilization to the american people's mobilization. they did not even change the acronym. they kept the acronym. they started pushing vigorously for lend lease, aid to britain, the united states to enter the war, fdr was no longer a fascist. now they could be cpusa could be pro-american. now america would be allied with stalin. it was really a great day for them. the new york times article on the subject is titled the group opposes war eight. that is the american peace mobilization. the clergymen group. the presence of religious left social best justice. the communists will show up at these rallies. blessed are the peacemakers. turn the other cheek. of course not noting that they are communists and their blowing up churches and throwing nuns in the gulag and jailing priests. far too many people, especially

the socialist liberalism that you basically denied because as your word you sanction the soviet union which is now becoming very trying to special in the west its words fashionable in moscow and actual in russia like that kind of warred that's child. doesn't it make you said. you see i have never been opposed to socialist realism. on the contrary when perestroika began knowing the russian nature i was one of the first write a letter to the ministry of culture. them against tearing down the. whole russia and suggested preserving the ones that are made by some real. like. as works of ott. so if you know that people started to smash down stalin monuments. of a different political leaders. but those were done by some real. i actually seriously defend the school of socialist realism. because i had teachers like an amazing illustrator it was illustrations kolob bring on. the truman rely on to come with him. the teacher was you know she was an amazing theatrical master. i have always admired for. me so i think what happened back then was a big mistake. russia is known for its extreme decisio

>> so if you're negotiating, as, for instance, in the 1980s we were negotiating with the soviet union about various nuclear arms things. we had a senate observer group and a house observer group that came to negotiations. they talked to people at first people were a little uneasy they might undercut our positions. that never happened. but they came to understand what we were doing. they saw the posture. they saw the in and out so they were very much a part of it and so when we got the deal done it was not a surprise to anybody and i think there's a saying that i always try to observe which is if you want me in on the landing, include me on the takeoff. so i think you've got to recognize that. it's up to the executive branch to negotiate but you better do in the a collaborative way with particularly the senate because they have to ratify. >> rose: secondly, understand the needs of the other side. >> you want to figure out what are their problems? what are their needs? >> rose: so apply that to the chinese of u.s. negotiations. what is it we need to know about china? >> they have big pr

whether it would be in the east bloc countries of the old soviet union. the soviet union itself, russia. they keep order but they do it with an iron fist. and that's exactly what's happening and they spread that governance model all over -- all over the world. >> but why do you think the obama administration and the mainstream u.s. media, even though they do sometimes refer to other victims, are studiously silent, not even mentioning falun gong? >> my hope is that it changes? my hope a press conference like this and i will follow this up with several hearings in my subcommittee. i won't be alone in holding hearings tomorrow. chairwoman ross laytin will be holding a hearing. where the human rights finally emerges front and center and people like hu jintao and others who have repressed their people, we need to stand with the oppressed. not with the oppressor. notwithstanding the dead issue or anything else, human rights are -- trump all other issues and it's time to reassert it. s -- any other questions? >> thanks. >> someone may have asked this but i was i

obviously in terms of understanding the history of the soviet union and communist eastern europe. however it was also incredibly important to understand the history of nazi germany. why is that? very simple. the germans carried out almost all of their killings on the territory that immediately after the war fell behind -- behind the iron curtain. the line behind which they killed is the same line that marked off the post war empire. of the wise to have an idea of nazi german policy 193-93-1945 1/2 to have archives that concern those territories where the germans did most of the killing. a surprise result of the end of communism now have a stronger basis on which to talk about not only the history of communism but also nazi germany. why hasn't this book been written by someone else? because this is not a book i particularly wanted to write i would have tipped my cap to say very good but i wrote it out of a sense of obligation when i realized it had not been written then a more worrying feeling that perhaps it never would be. put the reasons why these have not been written in is bec

, the soviet union and all of a sudden i know what i wanted to do. i went home and i told my parents i want to be a soviet specialist. fortunately they didn't say what is a nice black girl from birmingham talking about being a soviet specialist? they just said to go for it so there's a couple important lessons in their for young folks like you. first of all, nobody is so confident that day at your age or even older that they are just sure they are going to be great and turn out to be terrific at what they do. when people are that confident there is something wrong with them, all right? [laughter] second, you need to find what you are passionate about, not just what you like, but what you are passionate about. what is really interesting to you? and you have a long time to do that. you have a couple more years of high school and then you've got a college so you have time to find out. >> i graduate next year to a >> than you are ahead of the game already. >> you still have time to read i was a junior in college before i found out, so go to college, go t

the experience of life in the soviet union the sixty's seventy's. various places barriers murals and statues decorate the cafe i can't help think it's all a little sick and feels more like a museum meets a fiend in restaurants. with its traditional service sounds playing this group back injury is the place to cheat for various serviettes says. back to the us a song well i think we found out. that many. times they come here that bunch of bricks and remember the past in turn we try to keep the soviet atmosphere the reality here. and there we have it's become a whole meal for the hundred and fifty rubles that's around five dollars gold price of land slightly worried about the quality and how it face a fine out syrian. this place is amazing this. is for the sick well i can't say the least but i thought my soviet meal did you try this say it's all stand intrusively tradition and i've got blush on the largest dollop of smell. like a cranberry juice drink and that's what i say it pastry is trying. this is. the same size. actually it's not out of her remind