USSR

Robert Service's account details a failed 1991 coup by Soviet communist hardliners against President Mikhail Gorbachev, which accelerated the Soviet Union's transition from communism to capitalism. The coup, described as 'muddled' and marked by 'callous incompetence,' is portrayed with 'ease and grace' in the book.

Indira Gandhi declared a 21-month Emergency in India, during which Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh was assassinated. Geopolitical events included a CIA-backed coup in Chile, an Arab oil embargo favoring the USSR, and student movements in Gujarat and Bihar led by Jaiprakash Narayan. A court ordered Gandhi's removal over an election rally charge, and Ziaul Haq later staged a coup in Pakistan.

On April 28, 1986, Swedish scientists detected high radiation levels, revealing a reactor explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine that occurred two days earlier. The USSR announced the incident, marking one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.

Semyon Guzman, a psychiatrist and human-rights campaigner, died on February 16th at age 79. He is remembered for his resistance against the misuse of psychiatry by the USSR.