I am bemused by Amy's "childhood memories" of the end of the Cold War. My childhood memories include reading the headline about North Korea's invasion of the South; the view by my father, then with the CIA, that the war would turn total; the huge relief at the death of Stalin; and the dashed hopes of the Hungarian revolt of 1956.

For anyone raised in the apocalyptic fears of post-WWII, each day without Armageddon is gift.

For another tribute to Boris Yeltsin, read the magnificent ending of Martin Cruz Smith's Red Square.