For the first half of my life, Russia was America’s bogeyman, the place where liberty and freedom went to die. The Reds were our Cold War, nuclear-armed rivals in everything from military arsenals to business to sports. They were bad. We were good. They had the bomb. We had the bomb. The world was scary but simple.
With the 1991 fall of the Iron Curtain and Glasnost, Russia was supposedly made over into a bastion of free market, live and let live peaceniks. At least that was the image makeover President Putin-the former KGB-agent in charge-used to convince Gen X commentators like Tucker Carlson to sing the praises of the Moscow subway. Who’s singing now?
