What do you think?
Rate this book
Moscow Rules
After the guns fell silent in May 1945, Stalin installed secret police services in the satellite countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Trained by his NKVD—a predecessor of the KGB—officers of the Polish UB, the Czech StB, the Hungarian AVO, Romania’s Securitate, Bulgaria’s KDS, Albania’s Sigurimi, and the Stasi of the German Democratic Republic ruthlessly repressed their fellow citizens. These state terror organizations were also designed for espionage in the West, to conceal the real case officers in Moscow. Specially trained operatives undertook "wet jobs," including assassination of anti-Soviet figures. Perhaps the most menacing were the sleepers who settled in the West. Douglas Boyd explores the relationship between the KGB and its ghastly brood.
- GenresHistory
336 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2019
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 10, 2019
Reasonably interesting but with such a white washing of the wests prolonged history of trying to conquer the world.
To quote a recent Malaysian Prime Minister: "We were neighbours with China for thousands of years. Within two years of the Europeans discovering us they conquered us".
The book largely ignores the wests role in history as a conqueror and the genocide perpetrated in the name of spreading western ideas (from Korean war, to Vietnam, south america, Indonesia, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, Yugoslavia, Libya, Yemen etc. etc.)
It portrays eastern communism in isolation and not in response to all the horrible shit the west was doing.
It also portrays the secret police under communism as being something 'especially' repressive when we know now the entire worlds electronic communications is spied upon and that torture and kidnapping is par for the course for western intelligence services.
The book also ends a few chapters with cheap hearsay and "I heard this rumour when I was working in X place" which to me is ridiculous. If I want cheap hearsay and rumours I'll big up the Sun/daily mail etc.
All in all has some interesting points but mostly dripping in ideology and western chauvinism.
To quote a recent Malaysian Prime Minister: "We were neighbours with China for thousands of years. Within two years of the Europeans discovering us they conquered us".
The book largely ignores the wests role in history as a conqueror and the genocide perpetrated in the name of spreading western ideas (from Korean war, to Vietnam, south america, Indonesia, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, Yugoslavia, Libya, Yemen etc. etc.)
It portrays eastern communism in isolation and not in response to all the horrible shit the west was doing.
It also portrays the secret police under communism as being something 'especially' repressive when we know now the entire worlds electronic communications is spied upon and that torture and kidnapping is par for the course for western intelligence services.
The book also ends a few chapters with cheap hearsay and "I heard this rumour when I was working in X place" which to me is ridiculous. If I want cheap hearsay and rumours I'll big up the Sun/daily mail etc.
All in all has some interesting points but mostly dripping in ideology and western chauvinism.
May 9, 2022
Very good introduction to mentality of communist’s governments and how citizens walk trough the hell. There are few minor errors but book is worthy to read. Do not pay attention to one star review, person has no clue what he is writing about.
February 2, 2019
Engaging book. Quite an eye opener and well written. Each section isn't too long and it gets the message across. Definitely worth a read.
November 15, 2020
A good gallop through the security services of the eastern bloc, giving a brief history of each country. Necessarily superficial but a good place to start.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews