Secret Empire: The Kgb In Russia Today

by J. Michael Waller

Secret The KGB In Russia Today by Waller, J. Michael

Genres: History

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The research and time devoted to this work must have been monumental.

What a book!

It's all in here.

We hear talk of this, we read bits and bobs. The governments know, they must, but they'll not admit to it.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Russian Soviet politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union:

Was Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev until his dying breath a 'chekist'?

Did Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev con the west?

Read this!

From 1917, and for every day since, the 'secret empire' of 'chekists' have had a merciless, iron-grip on 'the state'.

[Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this twice: there is so much information, names, places, events - and I had to take notes... all of that has led me to say, "The KGB never went anywhere, they kept their hands on the levers of power and they're still doing what they've always done."

It's a scary account and I believe every word of it.

[Kori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolves in sheep's clothing!

A leopard cannot change its spots!

Killers in your midst! ........ At your dinner table!

In the chaos of Perestroika and Glasnost they melted away but never did they go. They slipped back in like snakes under carpet.

[Becky Jarvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read this. I wonder how many politicians have. I wonder how many world leaders have had it summarised and read to them. If they haven't, they should. They, Putin and friends, will only ever agree to that which suits them: they are the KGB.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly interesting and revealing account. A good deal of which is from interviews with those from the fraternity. Good to note how the involvement of Gorbachev in strengthening the power of the secret state is discussed here. Mr Openness was from his early days at university a chekist.

All of this is useful to know and I wonder who is pulling Putin's strings right now.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fair amount of Waller has some bad paranoia, but occasionally he's very insightful.

Just read some of his wild and crazy over the top essays, one of these days. He's got some pretty wacky essays at the Center for Security Policy, which has a few oddballs there.

He's the kind of guy where, you admire some of his facts, but he'll have these James Jesus Angleton like theories of a woke conspiracy right out of the KGB.

One of these guys where you like 27% of his material, but some of the reasoning and certainty is one hop away from Glenn Beck meets J. Edgar Hoover.

So, i'd give him 3 stars for some material, but a zero for trusting his analysis on a bad day.

Well read, insightful and sometimes, totally nuts.

[Martin Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author sets out to question how the security services have changed since the collapse of the Soviet State and to do that we must study how the security services operated when all things were still under their control. Then readily admits: little is known as little study took place. Scholars too afraid of unsettling folk, the chance McCarthyism might again echo down the corridors, and strain what relations the West might be trying to strengthen and could risk funding. What was found once the few took a peek at the archives was too frightening to contemplate. Thus, it becomes acceptable to say little. Foreign investment is on the way and that will solve all the problems.

What happened was the Chekists (better known as those that command the KGB) having lied and cheated the Russian people for decades, lied and cheated the cheesy-smiling politicians carrying bags of cash on their shoulders when they stepped off their private jets.

Chekists: "We represent in ourselves organised terror. This must be said very clearly. Felix Dzerzhinskiy, Chairman, Cheka, 1918.

The Cheka may have changed its name more than once, but the Chekists still rule Russia today, and still hold that same view.

In 1992, with the place awash with foreign aid, the law on federal organs of state security was passed. It basically allowed the federal organs of state security (former KGB - the Chekists) to be elevated to the organs of executive power.

I've pulled but a few little gems from this expansive work. It takes some reading and I should read it again. I sought quiet and time. No chance of taking this in when sat at the kitchen table.

Well worth the time and tells of the dire straits that remain for the Russian people. Should you wish an insight into the why of Russia's behaviour today, I would recommend you read this.

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

All there, everything I believed to be true: in black and white.