One should not ascribe the evil deeds of individual leaders or political regimes to an innate fault of the Russian people and their country.

Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives, that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on it's pursuit. But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth seldom is pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter.

First would be the literary side, then the spiritual and philosophical. The political side is required principally because of the necessity of the current Russian position.

There are defendants whom the judges are afraid of.

One drop of truth can outweigh an ocean of lies

Gorbachev's administration was amazingly politically naïve, inexperienced and irresponsible towards the country. It was not governance but a thoughtless renunciation of power. The admiration of the West in return only strengthened his conviction that his approach was right. But let us be clear that it was Mikhail Gorbachev, and not Boris Yeltsin, as is now widely being claimed, who first gave freedom of speech and movement to the citizens of Russia.

Communism will never be halted by negotiations or through the machinations of detente. It can only be halted by force from without or by disintegration from within.