and why is he important? Last week, I wrote about President
Bush’s speech in Prague at the invitation of José María Aznar of
Spain, Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, and Natan Sharansky
of Israel (formerly the USSR). The President’s speech was
magnificent. He made specific reference to the “defiance of
Sakharov and Sharansky.” The events he was referencing occured
almost thirty years ago. There are, undoubtedly, many who don’t
know anything about the men the President was referring to – or
anything about their “defiance.” Bear with me. This is a tale
worth telling. Anatoly Sharansky was a mathematics prodigy from
the Ukraine. Because of his outstanding talent and ability, he
was admitted to the Moscow Physical Technical Institute, where
he studied mathematics and computer science. Upon graduation in
1972 he took a position as a computer scientist at the state-run
Oil and Gas Research Institute. Shortly afterwards, at the age
of 25, he and his future wife Natalia Stieglitz (Avital) decided
to emigrate to Isr