S8 Ep114: The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet

The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet superiority and overturn the strategic balance in intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 1979 invasion of Afghanistan is highlighted as a remarkable mistake that undermined détente and gave the United States an opportunity to pressure the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to reform and reinvigorate Soviet communism based on a close reading of Marx and Lenin, but failed because he did not understand that the system was not popular and rested entirely on force.