> You know, I have no idea what he is talking about. The author _may_
> be talking about Andropov's roles as both KGB head and the
> originator of perestroika (for which Gorbachev gets too much
> credit). Or he _may_ be referring to the rumors that Andropov was
> Jewish and hid the fact. Or maybe just that Andropov had a giant
> ass.
My completely idle speculation was that this might be the same as the English idiom "false bottom" - a smuggling compartment in a suitcase. I suppose this would make sense if A was now know to be an embezzler or similar, but I don't have a clue if that's so.
John