Russia: The Empire makes a comeback. Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote his classic as the Soviet Empire was coming to an end and the empire was disintegrating. His reports and experiences, written with the historical depth of fifty years, remain relevant and, with their predictive gaze into the future, unsettling. "The borders within the former Soviet Union represent a dangerous time bomb," wrote the great traveling reporter in 1992, as he summarized his eyewitness account from half a century in the homeland of all workers.