22 years in the service - I didn't learn Russian in college.......(and I have ZERO Russian heritage)
One of my favorite memories is lifting East Germans on to the Wall at Brandenburg Tor so they could celebrate their first steps into freedom (About 2 weeks after being chased by the Stasi border guards). Also had the opportunity to witness "communist" totalitarian repression first hand in the 80s and 90s, see the mistakes made in post-Soviet world, see some of the progress made (a long way still to go), and get to meet a lot of very interesting people.
And, btw, the quote damning Bolshevism is from Alexandr Yakovlev. Before you dismiss him again, I recommend you read his works. Especially "A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia." - He doesn't reinvent his role in the Soviet government. Very candid.
If you're a YAF member why do you disparage Reagan's defeat of the Soviet threat with worship of Golitsyn's crackpot theories? What Golitsyn is really saying,is that if you believe his "theories" Reagan was duped. I, for one, do not believe that.
Look, the real threat the Russians are to the world is another implosion and the break up of the country into several mini-states. They really are not communist. If anything, they are leaning nationalist, in the Tsarist tradition. The "communists" you keep mentioning were indeed in the Communist party - during Soviet times that was the only way to get ahead and get bennies. After the fall of the Soviet Union a lot of these guys used their connections (and corruption) to get into business. They could give a rat's butt about the proletariat - it's all about how they can enrich themselves. The real Communists, such as Lapshin, Seleznev, and Zyuganov and co are slipping, slipping, slipping away, dwarfed by the success of the nationalist-leaning Edinaya Rossiya party. The so-called "democrats" (Khamadova, Nemtsov[I had high hopes for him], Gaidar, Yavlinsky, Chubais) embraced a lot of the oligarchs, who are not popular with the common folk, this cost them their seats in the latest convocation of the GosDuma.
So, what I've been trying to get across to you is that the "World wide communist consipiracy" is long dead. Russia's moves are an echo of the Tsarist Empire-building past - sticking to the near abroad. Even this will not be realized until they get a grip on corruption, over bureaucratization of government services, lack of proper services, health care, a conscript army, unsafe transportation, the lack of adherence to the rule of law, etc., etc., etc. Russia is controlled "chaos." If you have money, anything goes. In short, the time for Golitsyn's scenario about the fake liberalism, etc., has long since passed.
Why don't you try getting your nose out of all those books and go see for yourself? I'd even be willing to show you around. You'll see where your perceptions are wrong and where they are right.