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Take it from someone who fled the Iron Curtain: I know what happens when you give the Russians a green light.

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible.

I know not every mom is a secret KGB spy, but every mom has this whole other life. Every dad and every person has this whole other life.

Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

I wrote somewhere during the Cold War that I sometimes wish the Iron Curtain were much taller than it is, so that you could see whether the development of science with no communication was parallel on the two sides. In this case it certainly wasn't.

Russia itself is an extremely complex country, and sometimes I feel like all of that comes back to haunt me. I can see why so many Russian writers were so tortured.

Much that we read of Russia is imagination and desire only.

Russia knows of the vulnerability of her frontiers in this part of the world.

The great drama of Russian history has been between its state and society. Put simply, Russia has always had too much state and not enough society.

I feel very uneasy with a lot of aspects of the Russian life and the Russian people.