Books of Note: Dismantling tyranny

Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes (Paperback)
by Ilan Berman (Author), J. Michael Waller (Author)

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Book Description
Dismantling Tyranny offers a rigorous set of case studies of seven formerly communist-ruled countries and how they resolved the dismantling of their respective secret police organizations. Each country profiled had a unique experience: e.g., the Russian experience of cosmetic transformation, the Czech Republic's model of political screening (de jure lustration), Estonia's model of absolute screening (de facto lustration), and Nicaragua's complete replacement of one loyal totalitarian system with another. Published in cooperation with the American Foreign Policy Council. Visit our website for sample chapters!
Product Details

* Paperback: 192 pages
* Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (December 28, 2005)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0742549038
* ISBN-13: 978-0742549036
* Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches

An Amazing Read!, February 13, 2006

By	Eric Wind (USA)

As an ardent supporter of the American Foreign Policy Council (the organization that cooperated in publishing the text) and an enthusiastic admirer of Ilan Berman, I could not wait to read "Dismantling Tyranny" when I heard about its release. I love the book and feel that it is one of the most versatile compilations of case studies I have read. Ilan Berman, J. Michael Waller, Jaroslav Basta, John O. Koehler, Aadu Oll, Tomas Skucas, and Andrzej Grajewski all did excellent work in their creation of the book. The Preface by Fredo Arias-King is an amazingly simple and concise guide for those wishing to dismantle a totalitarian political police structure. It puts the reader in the correct mindset for reading the rest of the book.

My hope is that readers who may possess a preconceived notion of the work do not overlook this artfully crafted work. It would fit in well as a supplemental text in any university course and I hope many within academia choose to read it. At the same time, the reader does not have to have a set of knowledge and facts before they begin reading it. Anyone can read it for pure pleasure, like I did, as well. The writing is very accessible and it can quickly enthrall the reader. I personally finished the book in a weekend, which tells you how much I liked it, since I am a Georgetown University student that had a lot of homework at the time, yet I could not put the book down.

I can envision the work being put to use in a wide variety of university courses. The work could be used in a variety of departments, including history, government, international affairs, and even sociology. However, the possibilities are nearly endless. "Dismantling Tyranny" could be used in the historical and political study of the Cold War and the effects of the Soviet collapse in satellite nations that were under Soviet influence and control. The case studies could be separated and a class could use one by itself as a specific supplement for a course related to a particular country. This book should be read by those within the governmental field that deal with international relations, as it may give them a better context to view the countries studied and help to understand how the totalitarian political police structure needs to be dismantled for a move towards democracy. In Ilan Berman's conclusion of the work, he even makes an oblique yet relevant allusion to the current situation in Iraq and how dealing with the remains of the Ba'ath Party, the party totalitarian police structure under Saddam, is a necessity if democracy and an effective government are both going to be achieved.

The first case study in "Dismantling Tyranny" is Russia by J. Michael Waller. His essay is fantastic with extensive citation and a very thorough history in a small amount of pages. This essay should be required reading for any young person under 20 with interest in international affairs. As a young Georgetown student, as I was growing I did not have the mental faculties to truly understand the political dynamic of Russia, though I do have a slight recollection of the Berlin Wall falling. Waller offers a great analysis of current Cheka influences in Russia. It gave me a new and different perspective of the current situation in Russia. Waller's essay is the perfect start to the book, as many of the following case studies relate to the Soviet Union and its collapse.

A work on the Czech Republic by Jaroslav Basta follows and shows the success of lustration in the Czech Republic. The work ends with an interesting quote from Stratfor.com, but that is the only citation for the entire work. The citation is excellent, however as it gave me a context to view relationship of NATO the Czech Republic which was admitted to the organization in March of 1999. The golden aspect of Basta's work is his conclusion called "LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE" that is a succinct summary of what we can learn from the Czech actions and how it can be applied to other countries facing a removal of totalitarian aspects.

John O. Koehler's work on East Germany is an amazing text that taught me as so much about the post World War II situation and how the Soviets manipulated East Germany. This study is more along the lines of history with a very extensive explanation of the situation. The work is extremely well written and helps brings past events to the modern age. I never realized the power and terror of Stasi, the East German Secret police, which among its deed harbored terrorists such as Carlos the Jackal and Abu Daoud (mastermind of 1972 Munich Olympic games massacre). It also leaves the reader with an intriguing ending exploring the role of modern communism. It is a brilliant way to end to the essay that leaves the reader intrigued. As an added boon, this work has an extensive Notes section.

Aadu Oll writes about Estonia's relationship to the KGB after the fall of the Soviet Union. As is mentioned in the Introduction by Ilan Berman and J. Michael Waller, the movement away from the KGB was a "de facto model of lustration" where those in authority fired anyone with ties to the KGB. Oll provides a very good historical context in his article and offers some interesting facts such as the fact that Estonians speak a language under a different linguistic system than Slavonic, which made it extremely difficult for Estonians to learn Russian, and "In fact, many Estonians were unable to master the language during the entire fifty years of Soviet occupation." Another interesting fact is that 25 percent of the country is Russian, which went to Estonia to reinforce Soviet power. Estonia faces the problem of assimilating them into Estonian culture and politics. Oll certainly is very knowledgeable about the subject, but unfortunately, there is not a Notes section to help those studying the subject to find more resources.

The work on Lithuania by Tomas Skucas is wonderful. Skucas does an excellent job in providing the historical aspects of the situation regarding the Nazi Germany invasion of Lithuania and the mass murder of 85 percent of Jews in Lithuania. After the war ended, the Soviet Union implemented a massive system of deportation of hundreds of thousands of natives. Shortly thereafter, the KGB began having a large influence Lithuania. It is still feared and blamed for many problems, but in reality, the KGB probably had no relation to most of the occurrences. Like many of the former Soviet-controlled states, the government of Lithuania had problems protecting sensitive documents after the transition.This work features a nice Notes section.

Waller's second country sketch is on Nicaragua. This case study is in a completely different hemisphere, but Waller does a great job linking it to the generalities of a totalitarian political police structure that are found in the other essays. It is extremely interesting how the Ministry of the Interior (MINT) tried to undermine the Catholic Church and evangelical Christian churches. The overlap with Stasi was also extremely interesting, especially since Stasi is covered in so much detail in Koehler's case study of East Germany. Waller does excel in provided a concise description of the tools the Sandinistas used to help them gain power, such as their torture techniques and how they would have illegal items placed in the houses of opponents to allow them to be arrested. Like his essay on Russia, Waller has an incredible knack for allowing the reader to get an uncanny sense of the characters involved in the situation in only a few words. The inability of Chamorro to hold control over the Sandinistas provides a great example of what not to do when wanting to dismantle the machinery of a totalitarian regime. The Sandinistas harbored terrorists from around the world and were linked to the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. This is well-researched and uses personal interviews among his wide list of sources.

The last case study in the book is by Andrzej Grajewski and focuses on Poland. This was not as easy to read as it had a plethora of acronyms (18 to be exact). The list that defines each acronym is at the end of the work, just before the Notes section. Poland had a unique political situation from many of the other countries in "Dismantling Tyranny" yet it had a similar problem with securing its archives.

Overall, "Dismantling Tyranny" is an engaging well-researched and high-quality intellectual work. Everyone affiliated with the project must have striven to put forth their best effort, as it came out to be a beautiful work. The first sentence of the Acknowledgments section is very telling as it states, "In many ways, this book has been a labor of love." If people truly love and care about something, they make sure that it is done well and to the best of their ability. I imagine that people will find this project to be useful for decades to come. "Dismantling Tyranny" is truly a must-read.

Consider the source, but .. world's top spy agencies

The List: The World’s Top Spy Agencies

Posted January 2008

With the Cold War long over, the CIA no longer faces any real competition, right? Wrong. The world’s top espionage agencies are as busy as ever. DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Country: Russia Area of expertise: Officially—counterterrorism and protecting Russian commercial interests abroad. Unofficially—consolidating political power back home. Activities: Russia has a formidable spying tradition that dates back to the czarist-era Cheka. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the once omnipotent KGB was broken up into several smaller organizations with vastly limited powers. Since ex-KGB man Vladimir Putin took power, however, the SVR, or Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedk as it’s known in Russian, has recovered much of its swagger. Russian spying within the United States is now back to Cold War levels, U.S. officials believe. Peter Earnest, the executive director of the International Spy Museum in Washington, who matched wits with the KGB as a CIA operative for over three decades, shared this assessment. “They are as important today as they ever were, if not more,” he said. “Russia has not eased off at all on its espionage activities.” The SVR is widely suspected to have played a role in the assassination of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Putin has denied this allegation and lauded the SVR as “one of the most professional and effective special services.” In reality, the intelligence services have emerged as one of the most powerful political groups in Putin’s Russia, and ex-KGB agents occupy many of the Kremlin’s key positions. As the Russian saying goes, “There’s no such thing as an ex-Chekist.” FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images Ministry of State Security Country: China Area of expertise: Industrial espionage and data analysis, domestic security Activities: The MSS is close in structure to the old Soviet KGB and is responsible for both domestic security and foreign espionage. Its overseas activities are believed to be focused aggressively on the United States, particularly its high-tech industries and military technology. Rather than relying on a handful of agents, the MSS views almost anyone has a potential intelligence asset and gathers intelligence on new weapons systems painstakingly over time through personal contacts. “Chinese espionage is different than Western espionage,” says Earnest. “We go after a secret somewhere; they go after numbers. They collect little bits and pieces and put it together.” Sources often don’t even realize they’ve collaborated with a foreign spy mission, and the thousands of Chinese diplomats, students, and business people who travel to the West every year make spies incredibly difficult to detect. Through this method, the Chinese have managed to reverse engineer numerous U.S. weapons systems. China appears to be stepping up its espionage efforts in cyberspace as well. In September 2007, the Pentagon accused China of hacking into U.S. Defense Department databases. The governments of Germany and Britain have made similar accusations. Research and Analysis Wing Country: India Area of expertise: Destabilizing Pakistan Activities: RAW was founded in 1968 specifically to counter Pakistani support of militant groups within India, but over the years it has grown into one of the world’s most formidable intelligence services, with wide-ranging activities in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. It is particularly active in Bangladesh, where it played a key role in that country’s movement for independence from Pakistan. Pakistani authorities often blame RAW for terrorist attacks in their country. Although these accusations tend to lack evidence, RAW does have a history of backing militant groups in Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Recent years have not been easy for RAW. In 1996, RAW was implicated in a scandal involving the illegal donation of funds to U.S. congressional campaigns. Stories about infiltration by U.S. and Chinese assets have become public scandals, and the media is now calling for greater transparency and oversight of the notoriously secretive agency. ROUF BHAT/AFP/Getty Images Inter-Services Intelligence Country: Pakistan Area of expertise: Destabilizing India Activities: Sometimes described as a state within a state with virtually no oversight, ISI is best known for the firm control it exercises over Pakistan’s politics and its role in protecting the military from domestic opposition. But the ISI has also been accused of playing both sides in the global war on terror—fighting Islamist extremists domestically while abetting them abroad. Whether spreading anti-Indian propaganda in Kashmir or funding Sikh separatists in Punjab, the ISI has consistently undermined India’s stability for decades. India has accused the ISI of involvement in dozens of terrorist attacks over the years, including the Mumbai bombings of 2006 that killed 187 people. At the same time, the ISI has worked with the U.S. and allies to combat al Qaeda and the Taliban inside Pakistan. ROUF BHAT/AFP/Getty Images Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Country: Britain Area of expertise: Counterterrorism, James Bond nostalgia Activities: After a decade of budget cuts during the “peace dividend” years following the Cold War, Her Majesty’s secret service was caught somewhat unprepared for the challenges of the war on terror. On 9/11, only 30 of MI6’s 1,600 agents were working on counterterrorism. Since then, the agency has been on an all-out recruitment blitz that includes previously unheard of measures, such as taking out ads in newspapers and allowing agents to grant interviews. (Among the fun facts revealed: There really is a person called “Q” who designs gadgets, just like in the James Bond films, but “M” is actually called “C.”) MI6 has also taken out ads in online spy-themed computer games such as “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.” This is a far cry from the Cold War era, when undercover recruiters surreptitiously singled out Oxford and Cambridge’s best and brightest for intelligence work. Despite the charm offensive, MI6 has been attacked in the British media for allegedly participating in CIA-organized “rendition” of terrorism suspects to be tortured abroad. Kremlin officials have also accused MI6 of trying to influence Russia’s domestic politics. MI6’s activities may not be as expansive as they once were, but Earnest characterizes this as “a shift in priorities” toward Middle Eastern terrorism, “rather than a decline.” The Mossad Country: Israel Area of expertise: Combating Islamist terrorism, evacuating Jewish refugees Activities: “We’re all students of the Mossad,” says Earnest. Since it was founded in 1951, “the Institute,” as it translates in English, has acquired a reputation for extraordinary skill and aggressiveness in combating Israel’s enemies. Some of its notable achievements include the abduction of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960, the assassination of the planners of the 1972 Munich Olympics killings, and the assassination of a senior Hamas operative with an exploding cellphone in 1996. The Mossad has also been active over the years in efforts to assist Jewish refugees who seek to immigrate to Israel, including the secret airlifting of thousands of Ethiopian Jews in “Operation Moses” in 1984. The Mossad made some moves toward greater transparency and openness in the 1990s, including revealing the name of its director for the first time, but under Ariel Sharon it turned back toward the clandestine operations for which it is best known. Reports indicate that the Mossad may have had either an agent or an informant at the Syrian military installation that Israel bombed in September 2007. Click here to see our complete archive of FP Lists.