The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army, 1948-1983: Uncertain Allegiance (Princeton Legacy Library)

Condoleezza Rice really shows her deep & rich understanding of the Soviet Era. It is surely a must read!

While the Florida election commissioners were still counting the hanging chad in the 2000 Presidential election, I went to the University of Denver's Pemrose Library to check out everything that I could find by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, including her Ph.D. dissertation. As a George W. Bush contemporary, born in March of 1946, who served a full tour with the Marine Corps in Vietnam, it seemed prudent to learn as much as possible about the newly forming George W. Bush Administration. Dr. Rice has my utmost respect for her analysis of Czech politics and military effectiveness during the period 1948-1983. I first visited Prague in 1964 and went on to visit West Berlin passing through Checkpoint Charlie initially from East Berlin. At the end of my sophomore year at the University of Vienna, Austria, where I studied European and Russian history and government, I crossed the Soviet Union from West to East at the age of 19 to circumnavigate the globe in preparation for possible duty as a POW if my Marine Corps tour didn't go well three years later. Although I was unfamiliar with Czech history and politics prior to 1964, I studied Eastern European History from WWII until 1964 and continued to follow Warsaw Pact events from that time forward. Dr. Rice's metrics of loyalty and expertise, and her analysis of those traits are first rate and accurate. In 1999, I had used the similar metric of commitment multiplied by competence (equals intellectual capital) to forecast the continuing success of FedEx (first winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the service category) and the demise of Atlas Air (then ranked as the most financially fit airline in the world but now in bankruptcy). I'm confident that Dr. Rice can do the same with the various Islamic radical groups that threaten each other, their neighbors, the U.S., and the entire civilized world. Bad people eventually lose -- both in this world and in the life to come.