The Fateful Pebble: Afghanistan's Role in the Fall of the Soviet Empire. Роковой камешек: роль Афганистана в падении советской империи. Энтони Арнольд (Anthony Arnold) ; Presidio Press

The Fateful Pebble explores the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan as a catalyst that helped trigger the first extraordinary political event of the 20th century, the self-generated collapse of the Soviet empire. At the dawn of the 1980s decade, the Soviet military machine seemed invincible and Moscow's expansionist designs unswervable. Intermediate-range SS-20 missiles were intimidating Western Europe, the Soviet ICBM force was at least the equal of America's, and, with the invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979, the Kremlin showed its willingness to project its power directly into a neighboring nonaligned country.

Смотри также Характеристики.