Along with the rest of the world, I sat stunned, watching TV during the summer of 1989 as ordinary citizens mounted the Berlin Wall and took it down, brick by brick, and with it ultimately the mighty U.S.S.R. There was not a Kremlinologist on the planet (every newspaper, university and network had at least one) who predicted the denouement of the Cold War would be more whimper than bang, and yet—poof!—the evil empire was gone.
I’m getting the same feeling