So I see the dissolution of the Union after Perestroika crisis, more or less triggered by nomenklatura itself, in line with reversal to solitarity (mainly for Russia proper) which sometimes is observed in eusocial life forms. This might have brought success, hadn’t been Cold Warriors so grotesquely one-tricky ponies; and by that I mean boomer generation of statesmen in general, not only somewhat delusional and technologically disabled Putin who prefers to consume his own royal jelly.

Turning again to eusociality, I wonder whether Asimov’s Second Galactic Empire of Psychohistorians from Foundation universe could have been modelled after Soviet Union, just like First Empire — after Rome of late antiquity, had Asimov not written himself into a corner in Foundation and Earth with Galaxia hivemind envisioned by immortal robot guardian? After all, Hari Seldon has a clear share of Marxism in his pscholastic contraptions driven by iron hand of historical determinism, and Asimov never felt any disgust about his Russian birthplace (me too, tee-hee). However, I disavow any support of mine for his attempts to reconcile Foundation and robot series timelines. Better would have been to leave them in different universes (see what Kingsbury did there).