Moscow, December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union Stephen Orgel All developed human beings possess

All developed human beings possess a practical mastery of a vast range of concepts

and even that most capricious of animals

their races

In the struggle for women's equality

if necessary

Moscow, December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union Stephen Orgel All developed human beings possessThe implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and hard drinking bulldozer, wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by