Basic Books The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the the Third World: Newly Revealed Secrets from the Mitrokhin Archive

My first recommendation to readers is to watch the superb Youtube video presentation at the International Spy Museum by Christopher Andrew in 2005 when this book was published. This is the best introduction. This is part of the Mitrokhin series and Vasili Mitrokhin should be credited as a co-author as is done on the title page. The book is dedicated to the late Mitrokhin and his late wife. Mitrohkin was the archivist of the KGB secret files and risked his life and probably that of his wife in smuggling his extensive notes out of Moscow to the newly free Baltic states. The first book in the series "The Sword and the Shield" published in 1999 should be read first and covers the entire history of Soviet intelligence. This book focuses on Soviet activities in the third world and will be of special interest to present and former residents of third world countries and scholars of modern third world history. I am passing this book on to a colleague born in Pakistan who will have a hard time putting down the parts describing KGB activities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. In this series, Cambridge historian Christopher Andrew points out that many previous works that claim to be based upon the release of previously secret KGB were actually accounts that were hand fed to authors by the current Russian Intelligence Service and are sanitized versions of KGB history. This is the real unsanitized history and is probably the most complete picture of any intelligence agency the world will ever see. It is must reading for anyone wanting to understand the cold war, the era of decolonization and the failure of the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan had it exactly right--this was indeed the "Evil Empire."

Well, fancy covert operations, forged documents, poisoning ears etc. were all very movie like to me. And then I read this book ! What is written is very difficult to believe and yet you know that all these are true. It is unfathomable to see the extent to which a country could go and did go for its expansion of ideology and for it's eternal belief on a single policy. Everyone should read this book to understand that most of the 1st & 2nd world countries are in one way or the other related to the catastrophes happening around in this era. The blame can't ever go to only CIA or KGB. All the more alarming was how such a vast and diverse country in India was infiltrated so much and so easily, promoting it to be the biggest base of operations for KGB during Cold War. How we were completely played by KGB and how the leaders, ministers, intelligence officers and even the leader of the nation were absolutely none but mere puppets. In short, nations were risked, citizens were betrayed, news medias were bought and madness ruled, as much in India as in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Would have rated it 5 but for the code names in the book.

A revelation for all those who over estimated the role of the KGB in diffrent political developments, upheavels and change of adherences most specially in the middle east. The documents show that the KGB was not able to fill in the space left empty by American stupidity and stubbernness to keep atatus quo at every price unable to grasp new tendencies. It is also a set back for conspirationalists who always assume a hand behind the hands or a mastermind à la 007! The situation has certainly changed in the 21st century. But many perceptions of the abilities of espionage have unfortunately remained unchanged. A brightening light is also shed on the similarity of autocratic leaders in the 3rd world which left me baffeled.

This book is even better than the first one (in my own opinion).For years,we were told that the front lines of the cold war were in Europe with the third world serving as a battlefield where the superpowers can fight proxy wars.Before this book came out we were very familiar with the CIA's role in Iran,Guatemala,Guyana,indonesia,Chile and other places using dirty tricks and covert operations to promote american interests.This book details the KGB 's equivalent operations.We learn that the KGB sponsored a "Hostile takeover " of india;that it was in close contact with Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro and that it was the main support for the ANC during the apartheid struggle.The book shows that although the KGB had numerous tactical successes ,in the long run this could not help the Soviet system as communism was a flawed ideology and doomed anyway.