Apart from some very obscure references, the novel makes no explicit reference to the break up of the Soviet Union. Still, it is among the few novels from 1989 that implied a coming breakup.
| David Brin said: The Soviet Union did still formally exist in 'Earth'. But the republics were autonomous, almost completely independent. |
However, David *did* predict the break up of the Soviet Union in this 1989 paper, it was certainly part of his background material and so can be accepted as a valid predictive hit.