Inscrutability was an asset in the Soviet Union. The less you gave away about yourself, the better: a father who disappeared in the gulag, for example, or Jewish origins which meant you changed your surname from the dodgy-sounding Finkelstein to the safer Primakov. Brainpower was an asset, too. The communist authorities fostered talent, and they gave the young Yevgeny a first-rate education, with a command of Arabic that led to a coveted job as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East. Whatever kept him busy, it was not journalism. He was on the kgb's books, with the code name Maksim, but his real job may have been a bit grander, providing foreign intelligence directly for the Communist Party leadership. Not that he was a zealot. He had no time for ideology, seeing clearly that the Soviet empire was brittle and the planned economy did not work. Power was much more interesting: observing it, influencing it, and finally wielding it.
展开▼
