We’re in a new Cold War with the Russians. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War I: The Sun Came Up Tremendous, Professor Tom Nichols, Netflix 2024
The Cold War, which began in phases, ultimately became a global existential struggle between the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies. At its peak the Cold War touched every continent except Antarctica. ibid. Timothy Naftali
I’m not sure there would be a Cold War without nuclear weapons. ibid. Serhii Plokhy, author Atoms & Ashes
Lessons that we thought we learned were not learned. ibid. Lesley M M Blume
It was as if the sun came up tremendous. ibid. Barbara Kent, reaction of girls’ dance instructor near Trinity test site; only one of the girls lived till 30
They were so big and so destructive that basically they couldn’t be used. This is one of the reasons that we think of the Cold War as a cold war. It could not be hot. ibid. Audra Wolfe
Stalin was basically a gangster. That’s why Lenin liked him so much. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War II: Poisoning the Soil, Giorgi Kandelaki, Georgian politican & historian
It’s what’s known as the Holodomor [death by starvation in Ukraine]. And that’s all Stalin. ibid.
Stalin didn’t just kill the leaves, the flowers, the trees, or the first layer of earth, he went really really deep down … and poured incredibly poisonous stuff, really toxic material, into the soil. ibid. Ostrovsky
At the beginning of 1954 the Red Scare is at one of its most fevered pitches. And Joe McCarthy goes after the ultimate enemy. ibid. Tye
In the early years of the Cold War the United States treated nuclear weapons not only as if they were something that could be used, but something that could be survived. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War III: Institutional Insanity, Audra Wolfe
The decision to seek or not to seek international control of atomic energy, the decision to try to make or not to make the hydrogen bomb, these are rooted in complex technical issues. But they touch the very basis of our morality. It is grave danger for us that these decisions are taken on the basis of facts held secret. ibid. Robert Oppenheimer
It struck me as the most evil and insane plan that had ever existed in the history of humanity. This is institutional insanity. ibid. Daniel Ellsberg
Khrushchev: To make them think the Soviet Union was more powerful than it actually was … The American elite believed the Russians. ibid. Timothy Naftali
Catastrophe is running a lot faster than cooperation. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War IV: The Wall, Sam Nunn
The Soviets were insecure about American power. They knew they were behind. ibid. Timothy Naftali
The defense orientation also dramatically changed American universities particularly in science and technology … This was a society that had become increasingly oreinted around defense, and security and nuclear weapons. ibid. Audra Wolfe
You have instead differents kinds of conflict around the world … on their proxy battlefield. ibid.
Ronald Reagan rode the wave of that fear into the White House. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War V: War Games, Timothy Naftali
Gorbachev makes his way to Moscow University. Which is a big thing for a country boy to do. ibid. David Remnick
Nuclear weapons are expensive and for the Soviet Union it was the kind of burden that distorted the structure of the Soviet economy. ibid. Palazhchenko
This whole thing is wrong. Such weapons should not exist. ibid. Gorbachev, reported comments
It was clear to us that in this country, under these conditions, it was impossible for us to live. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War VI: Empire is Untenable, Joachim Neumann, East German dissident
East Germany: [Erich] Honecker is a hard-liner who’s horrified by Gorbachev’s reforms. He believed in the iron fist. ibid. Mary Sarotte
We are the people! We are the people! ibid. demonstrations
What people heard were, Permission to cross the border. ibid. Sarotte
He [senior border guard] got angrier and angrier at being left in the lurch. ibid.
The gates in the wall are wide open. ibid. Friedrichs TV news
Putin has this idea that it’s [Ukraine] really where Russia was born, and it’s an integral part of Russia. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War VII: The End of History, Mary Sarotte
By the winter and spring of 1991 there was another factor – Boris Yeltzin. ibid. Condoleezza Rice
Yeltzin, in contrast to Gorbachev, figures out that nationalism is the wave of the future. ibid. Mary Sarotte
Those who want to divide the country up have prevailed. ibid. Gorbachev
By the grace of God, America won the Cold War. ibid. George H W Bush
We weren’t terribly creative in those days thinking about new arrangements. ibid. Gates
Most notoriously, the auctioning off of state enterprises. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War VIII: Moscow Will Not Be Silent, David Remnick
You ended up in a place where capitalism was much worse than communism … They didn’t have any mecidine in the hospitals. ibid. Browder
Behaving Badly: Yeltzin in D.C.: Drunk, in his underwear, looking for pizza. ibid. Tim Reid newspaper article
Putin, he started collecting taxes from the oligarchs. ibid. Browder
He just wanted to become the biggest oligarch himself. ibid.
I was in prison for ten years. That was very painful. ibid. Khodorkovsky
Putin has been I think consistently underestimated by American and Western leaders. ibid. Glasser
Moscow in his view will not be silent. ibid. Fiona Hill
But we are in a much worse place than we were in the Cold War. Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War IX: We Are Not Dead Yet, Browder
I think he [Putin] saw it mainly as a rant. But in retrospect, it clearly was a harbinger, because he was clearly articulating the views of the West that he has put into practice in the years since 2007. This set the stage for a growing authoritarianism in Russia as Putin tried to reassemble authority in Moscow, and bring these countries back under the influence of Mocow. ibid. Gates
Russia invaded Georgia on a flimsy pretext. ibid. Hill
He [Putin] wants to give everyone a lesson. ibid.
This is the story of a critical moment in the Cold War … as the Soviet Union faced off with the West in the early 1980s, 3 secret agents faced off in a dangerous game from the shadows. Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game I, BBC 2024
‘There was complete misunderstanding on either side. It was very difficult to determine whom you could trust.’ ibid. US man in the know
This is a dangerous time for the Soviet Union. Almost 40 years into the Cold War the economy is overstretched, the military is unexpectedly entrenched in Afghanistan, and support for communism is faltering. ibid.
Operation RyaN is a running tally of all possible signs that the West is getting ready for nuclear attack. ibid.
June 1982: As British agents seek inside access to Moscow’s Intelligence Service, Oleg Gordievsky joins Russian agents in London. ibid.
The MI5 agents are there to monitor Russian agents in London, identify active agents and monitor their activity. ibid.
‘I became a secret agent for British Intelligence.’ ibid. Gordievsky
Gordievsky’s lead takes MI5 to Michael Bettaney’s door. ibid.
‘I am Jack Barsky. That’s not the name I was born with … I spent ten years as an illegal undercover agent for the KGB in the United States.’ Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game II
The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West is getting dangerously hot as both sides fail to read the other. American President Reagan is pursuing an aggressive stance. ibid.
The new boss of this desk is Aldrich Ames. ibid.
For the first time the FBI and the CIA have a joint operation running KGB double agents to put America in the lead. ibid.
Ames now knows the double agent who has been swaying Thatcher’ and Reagan’s thinking [Gordievsky]. ibid.
Aldrich Ames has secrets: his divorce and an expensive lifestyle have left him with a $47,000 debt which he is hiding from Rosario. ibid.
In broad daylight Aldrich Ames walks through the front door of the Soviet Embassy with his letter. ibid.