Sonke Neitzel. Tapping Hitler's Generals, transcripts of secret converstations, 1942-1945.

Sonke, Neitzel. Tapping Hitler's Generals, transcripts of secret conversations, 1942-1945.

Translated by G. Brooks, Introduction by I. Kershaw. Frontline Books, MBI Publishing, St. Paul, 2007.

The myth of the Wehrmacht non-involvement in Nazi brutalities was started to be
invented long before the end of the war. The transcripts show that the generals
were very well informed about mass executions of the Jews, as well as the
treatment of POWs, such as summary executions of commanders, political officers
(a.k.a. commissars) and pretty much starving and exposure of the rest to the elements. Their general resentment of the SS, of which they made much after the war, was concerned not with its policies of extermination but with conventional inter-service rivalry.

My conclusion: Interesting book for the period historians. Of limited interest to anybody else.

Uri Bar-Noi. The Cold War and Soviet Mistrust of Churchill's Pursuit of Detente, 1951-1955.

Uri Bar-Noi, The Cold War and Soviet Mistrust of Churchill's Pursuit of Detente.

DA47.65.B37 2008, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton

The book's title and introduction belie its own thoroughly researched story,
namely, that the post-War Britain was in no position to act as interlocutor
between the USSR and the USA. Furthermore, the British elite did not share
Churchill's attempts at Realpolitik.

My conclusion: The study of so far unknown chapter of the Cold War. A for historical research, C- for the inclusion into the broader Cold War context.

Pascal Marchand, Géopolitique de la Russie, Ellipses, 2008

Pascal Marchand, Géopolitique de la Russie, Ellipses, 2008.

ISBN 978-2-7298-3258-2

Jeffrey Minkoff, Russian Foreign Policy, Council of Foreign Relations Book, Rouman & Littlefill Publishers, 2009

Trivial, one-sided and, as always, arrogant account of the Russian politics and economics. Most of his, as everyone’s, stories of Russia’s decay in the 90s are based on comparison with the Communist-era statistics, which had little relation to real state of things. For instance, paupers ostensibly did not exist under Communism, so 100% of the growth in their numbers is attributed to economic reform, etc. etc.

Yet, the author recognizes that Russia has undergone, in his words, “a Copernican transformation” and makes a sound conclusion that the stability in Eurasia is impossible without Russia’s inclusion. Thus, he advises EU and NATO to part with its current containment policies and suggests engaging Russia in European institutions.

For the review Minkoff's book please navigate to comment #1

Azar Gat, War in Human Civilization, Oxford University Press, 2006

Azar Gat, War in Human Civilization, Oxford University Press, 2006

ISBN-13: 978-0199262137

The book is long (800+ pages) and contains a lot of extremely interesting material, primarily about ancient warfare. I would recommend it as a useful substitute to J. Keegan book (John Keegan, “A History of Warfare”), which in a fashion, typical of English social sciences, mixes brilliant writing with superficial scholarship as predictably as English lunches wash down awful food with excellent tea.

In particular, he puts forward an amazing idea that war as a human institution may be at its historic end. In the technological society where competition for resources becomes obsolete, it does not serve any useful function, remaining simply a blood sport for channeling innate male aggression. This idea appeals to me very much and I plan to elaborate on it more in the future.

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Response to a Russian friend: "Why it is so hard to reform Russian science?"

Ответ русскому другу: «Почему так трудно дается реформа российской науки?»

А. С. Блиох

I. «Раздавите гадину!»
Écrasez l’infâme.
Voltaire

Самыми живучими советскими институтами оказались не КПСС и не КГБ, а колхозы, Союз Писателей и Академия Наук. Первые два учреждения не пережили великий и могучий; вторая пара тихо сгнила в девяностые, а Академия победоносно продолжает жить. Россия унаследовала организацию своей научной деятельности от Советского Союза, в котором она имела совершенно уникальный характер. А именно, ни в каком другом обществе наука не организована в
научно-исследовательские институты, в которых, допустим, эквивалент
генерал-лейтенанта от философии, или литературной критики, командует объединением философов от солдата до генерал-майора философии посредством штаба состоящего из полковников-философов...

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