But as the economist Brad DeLong likes to say, “the Cossacks work for the Czar.” In other words, the blame for misdeeds rests with the top man, who often uses seemingly uncontrollable minions ...

The author’s go bag list Photo by Joan Afton The “running across the rooftops, carrying our things” I’d always heard about was “to escape the Cossacks [ptui!],” not the Nazis.

That March, Chinese and Soviet forces clashed on Zhenbao Island in the Ussuri River, with both sides taking casualties. The conflict ended in two weeks, averting an escalation of hostilities with ...