Book Description
A searing portrait of a country in disarray, and of the man at its helm, from “the bravest of journalists” (The New York Times)
Hailed as “a lone voice crying out in a moral wilderness” (New Statesman), Anna Politkovskaya made her name with her fearless reporting on the war in Chechnya. Now she turns her steely gaze on the multiple threats to Russian stability, among them President Putin himself.
Putin’s Russia depicts a far-reaching state of decay. Politkovskaya describes an army in which soldiers die from malnutrition, parents must pay bribes to recover their dead sons’ bodies, and conscripts are even hired out as slaves. She exposes rampant corruption in business, government, and the judiciary, where everything from store permits to bus routes to court appointments is for sale. And she offers a scathing condemnation of the ongoing war in Chechnya, where kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, rape, and torture are begetting terrorism rather than fighting it.
Sounding an urgent alarm, Putin’s Russia is both a gripping portrayal of a country in crisis and the testament of a great and intrepid reporter.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent! True to Life..........2007-10-01
A must read for all those contemplating on working, investing, living, or visiting Russia and before more authoritarian restrictions are implemented (or should I say the "New Soviet Russia" is completed?).
Ana Politkovskaya's book is a fast read, but the truthful descriptions may be shocking to some. For me, it brought back dark memories from my years working and living there. There is so much increadible [underlined] poverty outside the major cities (e.g., Moscow, St. Petersburg, etc.) and so much more she could have continued writing about... unfortunately, because there is no real free press anymore (& as far as I know, her books have never been published or sold in Russia) the majority of Russian citizens are misinformed and uninformed.
On the other hand, Russia is a vast and beautiful country and it's people (the "real" people) amiable, warm, and very hospitable (once they get to know you). The citizens want so much more for their country, but are afraid to make concrete changes in a unified manner, may not know how to move forward due to conditioning and oppression from the old and new regimes, or are terrified of reprisals. Thus, the current leadership is dismantling Russia's constitution, eliminating the opportunity for real democracy, and is building a "New Iron Curtain" behind the old one.
Again, a must read!
Good book. Great point. But it falls a bit short........2007-09-06
The AUTHOR'S NOTE states: "... this book is not an examination of Putin's policies. I am not a political analyst. I am just a person among many, a face in the crowd, like so many.... These are my immediate reactions, jotted down in the margins of life as it is lived in Russia today."
Well, Politkovskaya doesn't all together stick with this decree, but touches upon Putin's "policies" by way of presenting his lack of policy in helping his people.
There are many events detailed in this book: soldiers being beaten and tormented by their commanding officers. Family members trying to find out the truth about their loved one's death, or murder. Corruption plaguing the Russian judicial system. Yury Budanov's kidnapping of a young Chechen girl, her rape and murder trial. Examples of friends the author has known and how their lives (good and bad) have been affected by the changes in the wake of the New Russia. The gangster life being rife throughout Russia, given in the example of Pavel Anatolievich Fedulev. The storming of the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow during the "Nord-Ost" musical by Chechen terrorists wishing to end the war, and how the government unleashed an unknown gas that ended up killing 200 hostages. The waging of "Antiterrorist Operation Whirlwind" that caused the Chechen people living in Russia to be harassed, framed, and forced to sign confessions that they plotted the attack; many were sent to prison or lost their jobs. According to Politkovskaya it was "Putin's belief that an entire people must shoulder collective responsibility for the crimes committed by a few" pg 224. The hostage situation in the town of Beslan on the day of "Lineyka," the celebration of the beginning of school when many families were at the school. 100 people went missing and the government said that they fled with the terrorists (hu?).
One can't deny that something is happening in Russia. But I can't say I was won over with Politkovskaya's argument that Putin is entirely to blame for it's current state. This is partly due to the author's writing style, which must have been affected by the translation process (there are many words and phrases that come off sounding disjointed), which make for weak arguments. The stories Politkovskaya's shares with us are stories we outsiders have heard for a number of years under the old Soviet Union. Just because one has a new government everything cannot be expected to change quickly. It takes time. It does sound like Russia has reverted to old habits either because that's all its' leader's know, or it's their intentions to align themselves with communist ways in order to gain more power for themselves. The truth is, I don't know what progress has been made under Putin, and certainly you wont find any in Politkovskaya's book. The problem is that politics usually attract power and corruption. Place people with this tendency in a government rife with corruption and things are bound to fail. Unless Russia can find someone courageous enough to stand up to it, willing to put their life on the line, I fail to see how things will ever change.
One things for sure, I'm always amazed by the resilience of the Russian people. I always get a strong sense that they love their country dearly and want nothing more than to live in a free society where the rules are fair. Hopefully one day they will have this. Unfortunately the fact that Politkovskaya died for writing stories like this shows how far Russia still has to go in acheiving freedom.
Chapters:
"My Country's Army and Its Mothers"
"Our New Middle Ages, or War Criminals of All the Russias"
"Tanya, Misha, Lena, and Rinat: Where Are They Now?"
"How to Misappropriate Property with the Connivance of the Government"
"More Stories from the Provinces"
"Nord-Ost: The Latest Tale of Destruction"
"Akaky Akakievich Putin II"
"Postscripts"
"Notes"
Not Afraid to Speak the Truth.......2007-08-09
Choosing journalism as an occupation in modern day Russia can result in dangerous and often deadly consequences. Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who chose such a career in spite of these potential risks. Fearless and honest, she refused to compromise her integrity as a journalist by writing nothing but the truth.
Working for one of the last liberal Moscow newspapers, "Novaya Gazeta", Politkovskaya committed herself to writing the truth about the war in Chechnya (which she openly and vehemently opposed), and the blatantly corrupt Russsian government.
In her third book, "Putin's Russia...", Politkovskaya exposes the instability of today's Russia due to the above mentioned corruption that infiltrates everything from business to politics to the military and to the court systems. Bribes are simply accepted as a way of life by bureaucrats and ordinary citizens alike. Although corruption and other forms of political and governmental "ugliness" exist in all countries, none exist to the extent witnessed in today's Russia. And for all of this Politkovskaya blames one man, Vladimir Putin (though she also places some blame on the western countries that have "bought into" the mask of democracy Putin wears during public appearances). Politkovskaya however, seeing through the guise, accurately defines Putin as a throwback from the past, as a ruthless, Soviet-style dictator.
All of Politkovskaya's "accusations" are supported by incontrovertible facts and examples. If nothing else, she was thorough in her research. She had no hidden agenda or score to settle in writing this or any of her books - she merely wanted to truth to be told.
Sadly, for telling the truth Anna Politkovskaya paid the ultimate price. On a Saturday afternoon in October 2006 she was shot twice in the head in the elevator of her apartment building while returning from grocery shopping. The shooting was, without a doubt, a contract killing and was probably approved, if not ordered, by Putin himself.
Though disturbing and sometimes difficult to stomach (as the truth often is), this book is a must read for all Russophiles and/or those just interested in the truth about modern day Russia. In addition, I highly recommend her three other books as well - "A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya", "A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya" (neither of which were ever allowed to be published in Russia), and "A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia".
K. Larson Amador
A modern Solshenitzyn.......2007-08-09
The book is listing case after case of atrocities of the russian army in Chechnia and the governments cover ups. The book displays systematic abuse of power and documents, that Russia is not a de facto democracy. This is tough reading and seamingly good journalism too. We cannot verify the reliability of the sources.
In the long run, the monotone listing of cases renders a numbness to the situation. But it is with out doubt interesting and a must read.
Democracy by Anna Politkovskaya .......2007-06-15
Based on Basaev and Sauda Arabia rules .
Book Description
Russia had an extraordinary twentieth century, undergoing upheaval and transformation. Updating his acclaimed History of Twentieth-Century Russia through 2002, Robert Service provides a panoramic perspective on a country whose Soviet past encompassed revolution, civil war, mass terror, and two world wars. He shows how seven decades of communist rule, which penetrated every aspect of Soviet life, continue to influence Russia today. This new edition also discusses continuing economic and social difficulties at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the military campaign in Chechnya, and Russia's reduced role on the world stage.
Customer Reviews:
Very Well Put Together.......2007-08-12
If you are looking for a general introduction to the turbulent history of Russia in the past century, I highly recommend this book. I originally purchased this book to "fill in the gaps" of my knowledge, primarly 1945-1975 and 1991-modern day. Though I commend the author for cramming 100+ years of history into a very engaging 550-ish pages of material, my sole gripe is the lack of detail spent on the period between WWII and Gorbachev. But, like I said, it is an entire 100 years in a single book. All things considered, it is very well put-together and an enjoyable read.
Very detailed review of Russian History.......2007-06-04
It's important to understand the context of this review. I'm not a history buff, and I have no training in history. I'm going on my first trip to Russia in a month and wanted to understand more about Russian history than the five pages of context in my Fodor's. This was quite a lot more than that, but it has served me well. It's an intellectual read, but very well written - as a non-academic I enjoyed it greatly. If you are a "casual" historian preparing for a trip, this will be a thorough overview for you. If you just want a medium-strength review of Russia (more than Fodors, but not 600 pages), it might be a little more than you need.
Great Book, Highly recommended........2007-03-08
A Good, Highly comprehensive History book of Modern Russia. I really liked it and highly recommend it to anybody taking a course on Russian History, or just curious about History.
Great read.......2006-12-27
Overview of Russia during the 20th Century with stops at the Revolutions, Lenin, Stalin Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Provides a historical basis for event occurring today by allowing historians and political scientists to hypothesize about what is yet to come. Well written by one of the prominent Russian historians today.
Well-written, well-researched overview of 20th century Soviet and Russian history.......2006-01-26
First of all, it is important to note that I am not an expert in either Russian or 20th century history. Though I have spent a great deal of time reading about Russia and the Soviet Union over the last couple years, I would still consider myself a novice. Thus, this review is obviously written from the perspective of someone relatively new to the field.
Service's History of Modern Russia covers the entire 20th century, though it is relatively sparse post-1994. His handling of the material seems fair; he strives to cover material from a variety of viewpoints, showing both the positive and negative aspects of his subject matter. He covers Lenin, Stalin, WWII, and Khrushchev - along with all their policies, political maneuvers, and so on - in depth (at least as much as can be expected for 555 pages on 100 years!), and covers the Tsarist period, WWI, Brezhnev, and the early 1980s in the USSR in sufficient detail to easily follow the plot. The mild disparity in the treatment of various events and figures is not a flaw in his work; rather, his writing is directed to the more significant developments, of which there seem to be relatively few in the period of Brezhnev and the early 1980s (pre-Gorbachev); his ~40 pages on Brezhnev supply plenty of detail into the USSR from Khrushchev to the early `80s. In fact, I have found it difficult in general to find material on Brezhnev. For example, there are many biographies of Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev, but Amazon.com does not appear to carry even one on Brezhnev!
As a newcomer to the field of Russian history, culture, and language, I found Service's work to be readable, informative, and straightforward in its presentation, even when the narrative bogs down in groups of names doing this or that. His even treatment of the Soviet Union allowed me to see aspects of the USSR, Russia, and communism which I had not previously understood in a new light. I would have appreciated a short glossary for Soviet political positions and USSR governmental positions which simply defined the duties and responsibilities of various jobs (and perhaps their relative political or governmental clout, if such a thing were possible). It is not difficult to get bogged down in the myriad offices mentioned in the book.
I highly recommend this book as an introduction to the Soviet Union's beginnings, rise to power, and eventual decline and implosion. It covers a wealth of material in a short, readable space and is easily navigable. References are extensive, so further study could easily be pursued with Service as an overview and handy starting point.
Book Description
In the tradition of Hedrick Smith's The Russians, Robert G. Kaiser's Russia: The People and the Power, and David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb comes an eloquent and eye-opening chronicle of Vladimir Putin's Russia, from this generation's leading Moscow correspondents.
With the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia launched itself on a fitful transition to Western-style democracy. But a decade later, Boris Yeltsin's handpicked successor, Vladimir Putin, a childhood hooligan turned KGB officer who rose from nowhere determined to restore the order of the Soviet past, resolved to bring an end to the revolution. Kremlin Rising goes behind the scenes of contemporary Russia to reveal the culmination of Project Putin, the secret plot to reconsolidate power in the Kremlin.
During their four years as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser witnessed firsthand the methodical campaign to reverse the post-Soviet revolution and transform Russia back into an authoritarian state. Their gripping narrative moves from the unlikely rise of Putin through the key moments of his tenure that re-centralized power into his hands, from his decision to take over Russia's only independent television network to the Moscow theater siege of 2002 to the "managed democracy" elections of 2003 and 2004 to the horrific slaughter of Beslan's schoolchildren in 2004, recounting a four-year period that has changed the direction of modern Russia.
But the authors also go beyond the politics to draw a moving and vivid portrait of the Russian people they encountered -- both those who have prospered and those barely surviving -- and show how the political flux has shaped individual lives. Opening a window to a country on the brink, where behind the gleaming new shopping malls all things Soviet are chic again and even high school students wonder if Lenin was right after all, Kremlin Rising features the personal stories of Russians at all levels of society, including frightened army deserters, an imprisoned oil billionaire, Chechen villagers, a trendy Moscow restaurant king, a reluctant underwear salesman, and anguished AIDS patients in Siberia.
With shrewd reporting and unprecedented access to Putin's insiders, Kremlin Rising offers both unsettling new revelations about Russia's leader and a compelling inside look at life in the land that he is building. As the first major book on Russia in years, it is an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the country and promises to shape the debate about Russia, its uncertain future, and its relationship with the United States.
Download Description
"In the tradition of Hedrick Smith's The Russians, Robert G. Kaiser's Russia: The People and the Power, and David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb comes an eloquent and eye-opening chronicle of Vladimir Putin's Russia, from this generation's leading Moscow correspondents. With the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia launched itself on a fitful transition to Western-style democracy. But a decade later, Boris Yeltsin's handpicked successor, Vladimir Putin, a childhood hooligan turned KGB officer who rose from nowhere determined to restore the order of the Soviet past, resolved to bring an end to the revolution. Kremlin Rising goes behind the scenes of contemporary Russia to reveal the culmination of Project Putin, the secret plot to reconsolidate power in the Kremlin. During their four years as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser witnessed firsthand the methodical campaign to reverse the post-Soviet revolution and transform Russia back into an authoritarian state. Their gripping narrative moves from the unlikely rise of Putin through the key moments of his tenure that re-centralized power into his hands, from his decision to take over Russia's only independent television network to the Moscow theater siege of 2002 to the ""managed democracy"" elections of 2003 and 2004 to the horrific slaughter of Beslan's schoolchildren in 2004, recounting a four-year period that has changed the direction of modern Russia. But the authors also go beyond the politics to draw a moving and vivid portrait of the Russian people they encountered -- both those who have prospered and those barely surviving -- and show how the political flux has shaped individual lives. Opening a window to a country on the brink, where behind the gleaming new shopping malls all things Soviet are chic again and even high school students wonder if Lenin was right after all, Kremlin Rising features the personal stories of Russians at all levels of society, including frightened army deserters, an imprisoned oil billionaire, Chechen villagers, a trendy Moscow restaurant king, a reluctant underwear salesman, and anguished AIDS patients in Siberia. With shrewd reporting and unprecedented access to Putin's insiders, Kremlin Rising offers both unsettling new revelations about Russia's leader and a compelling inside look at life in the land that he is building. As the first major book on Russia in years, it is an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the country and promises to shape the debate about Russia, its uncertain future, and its relationship with the United States. "
Customer Reviews:
Wish Amazon had a "zero stars" option..........2007-03-29
If you are looking for Russophobic propaganda, this book will do nicely. The anti-Putin, and frequently anti-Russian bias is pervasive throughout its pages. Of actual scholarship and research there is almost none. It is clear that the authors started writing this book having already reached two conclusions: (1) Everything in Russia is horrible, and (2) It's all Putin's fault. The book has many flaws, but it turns simply disgusting when the authors delve into the subject of terrorism. The quasi-apologist attitude and the lack of serious condemnation were strongly offensive. Apparently, when a group of individuals is murdering defenseless women and children "over there", they are not terrorists, but cute and cuddly resistance fighters. Disgusting.
In conclusion, I would like to recommend an alternative for anyone interested in a much more unbiased and scholarly perspective. The book is "Putin: Russia's Choice", by Richard Sakwa. Dr. Sakwa is the Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent. His book is available on Amazon.com: Putin: Russia's Choice
Critical point missing!.......2006-12-01
The authors do a nice job presenting selected topics regarding Putin's rise and handling of Russia; however, there are critical components of his history and the recent controversies in Russia regarding the lack of free press that is clearly missing. I would have expected more from the authors since they have had to live under the scrutiny of Putin's fanatical reach in reporting the news.
Carefully reading 'Kremlin Rising', I must admit that there are some very nice overviews that are presented to the public. But for many of us who have purchased this book, we're simply not just the reading public interested in a historical notation. We're writers and journalist -- and there should have been more detail in concentration to the issues of liberty and freedom of the press.
If it is not the fair press who holds accountable governments, then who does? Did we forget the many journalist who died in and around Moscow while reporting on the relationships between the oligarchs and Yelstin . . . and Putin? Have we forgotten that Paul Khlebnikov, the Editor of Forbes Russia was murdered for investigative journalism, and all that is mentioned here is that the hospital doors could not open in time to get him to the operating table?
The obligation of protecting the press and the voices of freedom in the context of 'Kremlin Rising' are relevant. Here, the authors fail. What is of positive news for the reader is the fact that the general background and the research provided is strong.
This could have been much better and more influencial.
Empire Falls 101.......2006-07-09
I was a little skeptical of this book when I first picked it up, expecting it to be one of those typical occidental treatises on "them quirky Soviets" and about how Russia and her new chief were going to be ruined because of the clear disdain for democracy.
On the one hand, Kremlin Rising is exactly that: the book makes no attempt to veil its contempt for Putin on all subjects from A to Z. It's as if the man invented the bubonic plague, and had the authors been charged with writing a history book, I'm sure they would've included that detail.
On the other hand, Kremlin Rising is something quite unprecedented, a broad-spectrum analysis of what's wrong with Russia today and why. The chapters on Beslan and Nord-ost were especially arresting, craftily written but without much pomp or sap. The bulk of this book is factual information, introduced to us by various "characters" the authors met in their tenures at the Washington Post in Russia. Everything from Chechnya to the crippled Red Army to the adolescent zeitgeist to the radio revolution is covered, and that's extremely impressive for two American journalists for whom the peculiarities of Russian culture may have been a little difficult to grasp.
My main complaint with this book is the overwhelming bias that sometimes resulted in the omission of certain truths, just to emphasize how much of a beast VVP really is. For example, even though Baker & Glasser go to great lengths to talk about Yeltsin's alcoholic incompetence, they portray the years under him as some kind of democratic paradise, a decade of unregulated freedom with few tangible consequences. While television wasn't state-owned - that much I'll hand to old Boris - those nine years of the true perestroika were a textbook case of rampant chaos, starting with the free-for-alls of privatization schemes to the alarming crime waves. Yet none of this is covered, to add contrast to Russia today. Only about a sentence is dedicated to the fact that crime diminished (just a little, I know, but in a nation where it was so popular, a little means a lot), and nowhere is it talked about that perhaps Russians have a valid excuse to "fear" democracy.
The second thing that irritated me about B&G's account was how much they strove to portray Khodorkovsky as the boy wonder of democratic reform. They talked about his privatization deals under the umbrella term "shady" and mentioned his boasting to buy parliament in '03, yet at the end of the chapters, sympathy toward a man who basically dug his own grave resonated throughout the concluding paragraphs. When a guy goes around talking about how he's going to purchase a deliberative body and then lecture a president about corruption - I'm sorry, but that paradox doesn't merit the kind of pity that was relegated to him by Kremlin Rising.
Lastly, the relentless underlining of Putin's past as a KGB agent seemed hypocritical at best. It's well known that it's now a big part of who he is as a political leader, but the analogous situation of Bush, Sr., a former head of the CIA, is not treated. The CIA is responsible for numerous attempted and perpetrated coups. Why are we not outraged by erstwhile directors becoming presidents? Why is the guy who never even made colonel portrayed as the next coming of Dzerzhinski? It's ridiculous and unnecessary, at least until the authors begin to talk about how his KGB past has influenced his decisions in the present, such as to increase the hiring of former operatives in the Kremlin network.
Overall, the book was fascinating and rarely boring. It's a great piece of work for someone who wants to get a thorough introduction to what Russia is, how she thinks and why, and what the future holds for the largest country in the world. Highly recommended.
This portrait of Putin has more than a taste of a tabloid treatment.......2006-06-26
I find "Kremlin Rising" a difficult subject to review. The authors put forth their credentials as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post. Increasingly, just declaring yourself as a journalist opens you to suspicion and after reading this book, you can see why.
The book does not seem written to edify the ordinary reader, but rather to impress those who consider themselves the journalistic, academic and political elite. Kind of like showing slides from their trip to some exotic, expensive locale.
The writing style is ponderous, slow and often flat-out boring.
I am certainly not an expert on Russian life, but it doesn't take one to see that the authors are piling on Vladimir Putin. After the failure of a 70 year old, incredibly oppressive socialist political system, the Glassers seem to think that a new political system, new political leadership and a new leader can simply step to the fore and make everything work in a society where nothing worked before. Because that has not happened, the authors pin the failure on one man: Vladimir Putin. Frankly, this appears to be superficial reasoning of the kind often employed by journalists who want to appear as masters of their subject, but really aren't.
Putin become the cause of everything bad, the author of nothing good. It is the same kind of rhetoric you see every day in U.S. mainstream media. Overblown, hyperbolic, without much support.
The authors employ a strange blend of techniques. "Man in the street" interviews with supposedly ordinary Russians. Some interviews with alleged insiders, often former insiders, who just might have an axe to grind. And endless, often boring, commentary and editorializing.
The book is uneven. When it comes to Chechen Islamist terrorism, the authors are hard-put to flat-out call those who murder innocent men, women and children (hundreds at the Beslan school alone) terrorists. Instead, they treat them respectfully with politically-correct, left-wing euphemisms such as "resistance." I find such delicacy offensive: how can you fail to construe the murder of children as anything but terrorism?
The authors, apparently a husband and wife team, served in Moscow for 2001 to 2004. It isn't clear how deep their knowledge of pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet history goes. There is no doubt that Russia is not yet a fully functioning society. There is also no argument that some of Putin's moves rise the spectre of a return to one-party, even one-man rule. But the authors never make it clear why precisely Russia should be in a better state than it is. They certainly don't explain how, for example, a new judicial system is supposed to instantly take root in a nation spanning 15 time zones that had been a totalitarian state for more than seven decades. From my perspective, I'd be happier if the authors expressed appreciation that the Yeltsin and Putin governments have kept this nuclear armed nation from civil war and utter ruin.
Overall, I think Baker and Glasser wrote this book to gain oohs and aahs from their journalistic, academic and political friends and advance their careers. Three pages of such friends are "acknowledged." For the general reader, I think there are better ways to learn about contemporary Russia and Vladimir Putin.
Jerry
Objective and Factual.......2006-03-28
This is one of the most well written and researched books that I have read on contemporary Russia. The writer(s) based their observations on personal interviews and feedback from those in the Kremlin's inner circle. It was obvious that the authors did their homework and wrote this book in an objective level without any added speculations or sensationlism. Any and all conclusions were backed with hard facts. It left any future prognosis about Putin's political ambitions in doubt and relating conclusions up to the reader.
It is apparent that the authors are no fans of Putin, but they did not belabor this point. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in post-glasnost Russia.
Book Description
After a period of relative weakness and isolation during most of the 1990s, Russia is again appearing as a major security player in world politics, a shift that will have profound effects for regional and global stability and power relations.
This book provides a comprehensive assessment of Russia's current security situation, addressing such topics as the type of player the new Russia will be in the field of security, the essence of Russian security policy, the sources, capabilities and priorities of the countries security policy, and its prospects for the future. One important conclusion to emerge is that, while Russian foreign policy under Vladimir Putin has become more pragmatic and responsive to both problems and opportunities, the growing lack of checks and balances in domestic politics makes political integration with the West very difficult and gives the president very great freedom in applying Russia's growing power abroad. This book analyzes both external and internal dimensions of security,along with so-called hard and soft security issues and intricate interplay between them.
This book will appeal to Russian and Eastern European scholars and academics looking for the most up-to-date and erudite analysis of Russia's current security situation.
Book Description
In March 2000 Vladimir Putin was elected President of the Russian Federation, the largest country in the world. In the space of just a few years Putin's radical reforms in the areas of domestic and foreign policy have made a major impact on Russian politics and society and we have witnessed a new orientation in Russia's external relations with the West. But is Putin an authoritarian or a democrat? Does his presidency signal a break with Russia's past or is he just another autocratic czar in modern clothing? This is a lively, comprehensive, and highly accessible account of contemporary Russian politics. There are fifteen chapters covering such key areas as: leadership and regime change, political parties and democratization, economy and society, regional politics, the war in Chechnya, and Russian foreign policy.
Book Description
This thoroughly revised and updated edition of the classic text provides the most current and authoritative assessment of Russia available. Distinguished scholars offer a full-scale assessment of Putin's leadership, exploring the daunting domestic and int
Book Description
For centuries, dictators ruled Russia. Tsars and Communist Party chiefs were in charge for so long some analysts claimed Russians had a cultural predisposition for authoritarian leaders. Yet, as a result of reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, new political institutions have emerged that now require election of political leaders and rule by constitutional procedures. Michael McFaul traces Russia's tumultuous political history from Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 through the 1999 resignation of Boris Yeltsin in favor of Vladimir Putin.
McFaul divides his account of the post-Soviet country into three periods: the Gorbachev era (1985-1991), the First Russian Republic (1991-1993), and the Second Russian Republic (1993-present). The first two were, he believes, failures--failed institutional emergence or failed transitions to democracy. By contrast, new democratic institutions did emerge in the third era, though not the institutions of a liberal democracy. McFaul contends that any explanation for Russia's successes in shifting to democracy must also account for its failures. The Russian/Soviet case, he says, reveals the importance of forging social pacts; the efforts of Russian elites to form alliances failed, leading to two violent confrontations and a protracted transition from communism to democracy.
McFaul spent a great deal of time in Moscow in the 1990s and witnessed firsthand many of the events he describes. This experience, combined with frequent visits since and unparalleled access to senior Russian policymakers and politicians, has resulted in an astonishingly well-informed account. Russia's Unfinished Revolution is a comprehensive history of Russia during this crucial period.
Customer Reviews:
McFaul Skipps Over Important Data.......2003-05-22
The subtitle title of the book, 'political change from Gorbachev to Putin', defines what you expect to find between it's pages. Only that's not what's covered. McFaul covers the Gorbechev years, as well as Yeltsen's presidency -- but only until 1996. There is virtually nothing after 1996. I would expect that Putin's coverage would be light, given a publication date of 2001, but to skip over Yeltsen's final years is simply neglegent.
By giving only a few sentances to the 'Shares for Rubles' program, he skips over the criminal neglegance and fraud that occured. This behavior had strong impacts on the Russian economy, which directly caused the crash of their economy in 1998. This crash is skipped over completely -- possibly because at the time, as a reporter, McFaul was cheering Anatoly Chubais the mastermind and archetect behind the economic reforms. (If Chubais attempted to do what he did in the US, he would be spending a lot of time behind bars.) In short, it looks like McFaul is skipping over the time period when his journalism was (effectively) cheering on the corruption.
The complete failure of the economy (which -- to reiterate -- was skipped over completely), combined with the treatment of the oligarchs (also skipped over) directly led shaped the Russian perception of democracy and the free market. These factors also directly effected the conclusions at the end of his book, but he presents no explination as to why the results are so bad -- probably because the explination would involve covering the ground he choose to skip over. To skip over these major milestones is unforgivable for an author who is attempting to track the political and economic reforms in Russia.
On the positive side, he does give a lot of good information, and there are a lot of references to look up additional data. I would recommend this book for someone researching Russia up to, but not after, Yeltsen's re-election. And even then, it helps to have an idea of the issues he doesn't talk about.
gasp!.......2002-12-03
I admit there may be others, but is McFaul the worst Moscow-based Western journalist around? I feel like beating my head against a wall when I read his M.T. articles. They read like school reports written on the Metro. Heaven knows what 400 pages would do to anyone.
Good but lacking.......2002-05-21
McFaul's work is an easily readable overview of Soviet/Russian politcal change since the mid-1980s. McFaul's analysis of the Gorbachev's period is inferior to that of other experts, such as Archie Brown. His analysis of the Yeltsin period is perhaps the best aspect of the book, especially the reason for the failure of the 1st Russian Republic, and the endurance of the second. But at times he loses his 'scholarly distance' and is almost an appologist for Yeltsin. There is little mention of Russian politics sicne 1996, though he does subtitle it "From Gorgachev to Putin." Putin's is only mentioned in passing in the conclusion. Brown's latest edited work is far better in terms of contemporary trends including the significance of Putin. THis work is best suited as introduction for advanced undergrads or masters students.
AWESOME!!!.......2001-12-15
Professor McFaul's book TOTALLY ROCKS! This is the most kick-butt book I've ever read. The other reviewer is right, too. The bibliography in this book RULES! It is way detailed and kicks butt over its rivals' bibliographies! I wish I could give this book SIX stars! The only reason I'd give it five is that there aren't enough pictures. I wish there were some pictures of Mr. McFaul in Russia with the pro-Western "young reformers". Those guys totally rocked during the 90s! This is a serious book for serious-type people, but it's also a fun book to read and had me laughing out loud at times.
A classic.......2001-09-24
I would go so far as to call this book the post-Communist "Fainsod," an allusion to Merle Fainsod's classic study of the Soviet system. This volume is a thoroughgoing, well-researched study of what happened day by day, institution by institution, from the waning days of Gorbachev's shaky, uncertain rule to the denouement of Yeltsin.
Without a doubt, thid book will be go down as the basic study of what the author aptly titled, Russia's unfinished revolution.
Book Description
Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia’s most fearless journalists, was gunned down in a contract killing in Moscow in the fall of 2006. Just before her death, Politkovskaya completed this searing, intimate record of life in Russia from the parliamentary elections of December 2003 to the grim summer of 2005, when the nation was still reeling from the horrors of the Beslan school siege. In A Russian Diary, Politkovskaya dares to tell the truth about the devastation of Russia under Vladimir Putin–a truth all the more urgent since her tragic death.
Writing with unflinching clarity, Politkovskaya depicts a society strangled by cynicism and corruption. As the Russian elections draw near, Politkovskaya describes how Putin neutralizes or jails his opponents, muzzles the press, shamelessly lies to the public–and then secures a sham landslide that plunges the populace into mass depression. In Moscow, oligarchs blow thousands of rubles on nights of partying while Russian soldiers freeze to death. Terrorist attacks become almost commonplace events. Basic freedoms dwindle daily.
And then, in September 2004, armed terrorists take more than twelve hundred hostages in the Beslan school, and a different kind of madness descends.
In prose incandescent with outrage, Politkovskaya captures both the horror and the absurdity of life in Putin’s Russia: She fearlessly interviews a deranged Chechen warlord in his fortified lair. She records the numb grief of a mother who lost a child in the Beslan siege and yet clings to the delusion that her son will return home someday. The staggering ostentation of the new rich, the glimmer of hope that comes with the organization of the Party of Soldiers’ Mothers, the mounting police brutality, the fathomless public apathy–all are woven into Politkovskaya’s devastating portrait of Russia today.
“If anybody thinks they can take comfort from the ‘optimistic’ forecast, let them do so,” Politkovskaya writes. “It is certainly the easier way, but it is also a death sentence for our grandchildren.”
A Russian Diary is testament to Politkovskaya’s ferocious refusal to take the easier way–and the terrible price she paid for it. It is a brilliant, uncompromising exposé of a deteriorating society by one of the world’s bravest writers.
Praise for Anna Politkovskaya
“Anna Politkovskaya defined the human conscience. Her relentless pursuit of the truth in the face of danger and darkness testifies to her distinguished place in journalism–and humanity. This book deserves to be widely read.”
–Christiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent, CNN
“Like all great investigative reporters, Anna Politkovskaya brought forward human truths that rewrote the official story. We will continue to read her, and learn from her, for years.”
–Salman Rushdie
“Suppression of freedom of speech, of expression, reaches its savage ultimate in the murder of a writer. Anna Politkovskaya refused to lie, in her work; her murder is a ghastly act, and an attack on world literature.”
–Nadine Gordimer
“Beyond mourning her, it would be more seemly to remember her by taking note of what she wrote.”
–James Meek
Customer Reviews:
"A Small Corner of Hell" .......2007-09-26
A Russian Diary: A Journalists' Final Account of Life, Corruption and Death in Putin's Russia - By Anna Politkovskaya
It's fashionable these days to describe a book as "important.' While most aren't, Anna Politkovskaya's "A Russian Diary" is. As one of Russia's most influential journalists until her assassination, presumably by the KGB, Politovskaya chronicled dissident protests, suspicious fires and "accidents" and other examples of Putin's heavy-handed regime
.
Some of her most impassioned writing came from Chechnya, which she characterized as "a small corner of hell." She wrote of the tragedy at Beslan, where dozens of school children were murdered. To this day, some of the victims have not been identified, because the tragedy was not a priority of the regime.
And she documents Putin's systematic retrenchment and repeal of many of the reforms enacted by his predecessors, Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Clearly, in the words of chess champion-turned-politician Kasparov, "Russia is a police state."
She writes: "What speed! The President has already signed the law abolishing the election of governors. It has been our fastest ever passage of a law, and all so that from January 1 Putin should not have to discuss matters with the governors or worry that they might be uncooperative. A Tsar should have serfs, not partners."
Like the KGB defector Alexander Litvenko, who was poisoned in London with radioactive polonium (again presumably by the KGB) , Politikovskaya paid a terrible price for her honesty.
She was murdered in Moscow on October 7, 2006-- Vladimir Putin's birthday.
The Naked Truth........2007-07-19
As a person who has worked in Russia since 1988 till now I have seen many changes and many era's. I have also a Masters Degree in Russian History. The truth is always frightening, what Politskaya writes is the truth and she paid for it with his life, I have witnessed some of what she writes but as my Business is still in Russia it's better to stay quiet. A frightening expose in 2007!! May she live on in memory.
Book Description
International views of Russia have changed drastically in the last decade, due in part to the leadership of the decidedly pro-Western President Yeltsin. It was not without concern that we saw the next elected leader pulled from the ranks of the former KGB. Andrew Jack, former Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, uses in-depth research and years of journalistic experience to bring us the first full picture of Vladimir Putin. Jack describes how Putin grew to become the most powerful man in Russia, defying domestic and foreign expectations and presiding over a period of strong economic growth, significant restructuring, and rising international prestige. Despite criticism of his handling of the war in Chechnya and of the controls he introduced on parliament and the media, Putin has united Russian society and maintained extraordinarily high popularity. Inside Putin's Russia digs behind the rumors and speculation, illuminating Putin's character and the changing nature of the Russia he leads. It highlights some of the more troubling trends as he consolidates his leadership during a second presidential term marred by the Beslan tragedy, the attacks on Yukos and Russian policy towards Ukraine. Now with a new Epilogue by the author, this invaluable book offers important insights for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of Russia.
Customer Reviews:
Too many factual errors.......2007-09-15
In my opinion Andrew Jack's book has some interesting passages, but the book seems to contain too many factual errors to get a high score.
I'll restrain myself to the following example: On page 18 of the paperback edition he refers to the spy-cases of Aleksandr Nikitin and Grigory Pasko, who according to Mr. Jack were two navy journalists who reported on radioactive waste in respectively the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean. They were, says Mr. Jack, "released from prison, but not technically acquitted" (and implicitly not convicted either). In this short passage there is no less than four factual errors.
First, Aleksandr Nikitin was not a navy journalist, but a former nuclear engineer/submarine officer, who later was the head of the nuclear safety inspection of the Russian Ministry of Defence, a position he quit in 1992.
Second, Mr. Nikitin co-wrote a report on radioactive contemination from the Russian Northern Fleet, which is based on the Kola Peninsula. Thus, his writings did not have anything to do with the Baltic Sea, but rather with the Barents Sea.
Third, Mr. Nikitin was imprisoned and charged with treason through espionage in February 1996. He was released from prison in December that year, and acquitted of all charges first by the St. Petersburg City Court in December 1999, then by the Collegium of Criminal Cases of the Russian Supreme Court in April 2000, and finally by the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court in September 2000.
Mr. Pasko on the other hand was convicted for treason through espionage by the Court of the Russian Pacific Fleet in December 2001, but was released from prison after having served two thirds of his four-year's conviction (including time spent in pretrial detention) in January 2003.
I hope for the sake of the book that its other sections contains a little less errors. But I am not by any means convinced.
Praise for Inside Putin's Russia.......2006-03-13
"[T]he best book ever about Alger Hiss." -- The Wall Street Journal
"Andrew Jack has given us a vivid, sophisticated picture of Russia's political and economic culture under President Vladimir Putin. Jack offers a penetrating analysis of Putin's contradictory path as a modernizer of Russia--and of where this path might lead." -- Mark Medish, former Senior Director for Russian Affairs, U.S. National Security Council
"Inside Putin's Russia provides astute and accurate observations on what Russia has become under President Putin. In a lucid and highly readable book, Jack shows devastatingly how Putin has systematically curtailed democracy in Russia, while capitalism has triumphed. No other book gives such a clear feel of Putin's Russia." -- Anders Åslund, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
"Andrew Jack's work is a valuable contribution to the literature on Russia at the start of the 21st Century: intelligent, fair-minded, and enlivened by the author's experiences as a journalist in Russia, and by his meetings with some of the leading figures there." -- Anatol Lieven
"An extraordinary book, packed with information and fresh insights. Part detective story, part cultural history, part psychodrama--I couldn't put it down." -- Cass Sunstein
"[T]his innovative and brilliant new book...provide[s] the final unmasking of Alger Hiss, and, one hopes, put an end once and for all to the campaign waged on the traitor's behalf." -- National Review
"If you accept Hiss's guilt, as most historians now do, you will profit from G. Edward White's supplementary speculations about why, after prison, that serene and charming man sacrificed his marriage, exploited a son's love and abused the trust of fervent supporters to wage a 42-year struggle for a vindication that could never be honestly gained." -- The New York Times Book Review
"An intriguing portrait of an enigmatic man who stood center stage during the most electrifying moments of the Cold War." -- Library Journal
"A significant contribution to a subject that continues to fascinate Americans...." -- New York Sun
Nice try, but no cigar........2005-08-09
There is a tremendous variety of titles on Russia containing much excellent writing... but after more than ten years of traveling and doing business in the CIS, I shouldn't be amazed to again find a well touted book about Russia which is just another sly rant, from just another apparently non-responsible `Journo' with an axe to grind in the guise of investigative journalism. It seems that many of the Main-Stream-Media writers obsessively demonstrate a morbid glee in mixing fact with opinion; focusing on style and challenging power with sophistry in an attempt to enroll and incite the lay reader to mis-apprehended indignation about Russia.
Inside Putin's Russia is a well thought out exercise in sophistry. The author has an excellent command of allusion, half truths and negative spin. No doubt much of the data cited is attached to partial truths, but to lump Stalin's actions of long ago; the still contested Katyn forest incidents, into the same pot with the Russian culture of today is sheer mischief.
I expected a well balanced, objective report of how Russia, as I have personally experienced, has pulled its socks up and is moving forward with hope and big hearts. But by the first few chapters, the opinions disguised as "facts" to slyly condemn Mr. Putin's integrity caused me to read the remaining chapters with a jaundiced eye. It seemed the author's knives were out for Russia in general and this precluded any further attempt to take his marvelous collection of musings over crumbling and gloomy buildings seriously.
What promised to be an exemplary evaluation of the whole of Putin's Russia, turned out to be a narrowly focused, poorly researched letter of scorn effectively damning the hopes and successes of 140 million Russian people. Notably included were negative interviews with Russian people, but the amateurish mistake the author has made is to actually *exclude* positive interviews to balance the reader's evaluations about Putin's Russia.
I am sure there are well-meaning Journalists out there who will write about Russia objectively instead of to damn it out of hand.
From Chaos to Order and Beyond.......2005-03-10
Although it was not widely recognised at the time, the choice of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia in 1999 appears to have marked the beginning of a transition from chaos to order in the once communist nation. The question is, in moving away from chaos, might the pendulum swing once again towards the repression of the Soviet years?. But while Western political pundits and politicians talk of a return to Stalinism, the majority of Russians appear to be unconcerned; Putin and his nationalist policies enjoy high levels of support.
Despite what many commentators would have us believe, the situation in Russia is complex; fortunately, Andrew Jack's 'Inside Putin's Russia' offers help in understanding it. The book provides us with a well documented and equally well balanced account of the surprising rise of Russia's President, and of the struggle for power and control over an emerging society. Jack, a former Moscow Bureau Chief for the Financial Times, tracks the course of Putin's career, from his rather low-profile time with the KGB, to his development into a more polished and more authoritarian President whose efforts to place the country back under the control of the central government have met with mixed reviews in the West.
Personal history aside, the real value of Inside Putin's Russia is that it provides us with a richly detailed description of the political context in which to judge the man and his actions. Control of the media is one key area. The Russian President has been strongly criticised for bringing independent media under state control, but as Jack points out, the Russian media has enjoyed very few, and very short, periods of independence. At the time of Putin's first presidential victory most 'independent' sources were to a large extent under the control of commercial interests, principally those of 'Oligarchs': the men who gained ownership of much of Russian state assets in exchange for financial or media support of Boris Yeltsin's presidency.
The struggle for control of the television channel NTV, once owned by the Oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky, has been portrayed in Western media as a simple issue of freedom of the press, but as Jack's presentation makes obvious, there are other important aspects. Media independence is an important element in a pluralistic society,it is therefore a problem that much of the Russian media now functions as an organ of the state. However, it would be naïve to assume that the press is free where it is not under state control. The ground rules must be clearly set out, but the question is, by whom, the state or the super rich? In western liberal democracies the answer is also not as clear as we might wish while Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi continue to increase their influence over political processes. The Russians are not the only people with problems, and it ought to be more of a concern.
Putin's Russia has also come under attack as being 'undemocratic' but it would be wise to take into account that the country is not, and has no history of being, a liberal democracy. As Jack rightly points out, most of its citizens believe the role of the state to be fundamental, hence the approval of policies involving greater state control. Much of the criticism has its roots in American efforts to pre-empt any future Russian threat, and their need for continued access to increasingly important Russian oil. The campaign has, meanwhile, proved a useful vehicle for more personal agendas. As part of his own anti-Putin crusade, Boris Berezovsky is funding Human Rights groups, some of which paint the Oligarchs - particularly the now jailed Mikhail Khodorkovsky - as 'victims' of Human Rights abuses rather than the beneficiaries of a highly unethical, although technically legal, massive transfer of public funds to private pockets.
The case for respecting Human Rights is more evident in Chechnya. Whether Putin has made a Faustian bargain with the military, allowing them free rein in order to concentrate on other areas, or whether he himself is directing operations, the results of the re-occupation of Chechnya and the 'dirty war' being waged there now the official conflict is over, are brutal. No matter that one unnamed Russian officer is quoted as claiming that the army is 'only' responsible for 50% of disappearances. It remains to be seen if the situation can be changed and the army curbed. For the military, the occupation now appears to have become, as Jack puts it, 'its own raison d'etre', while the roots of the 'Chechen Problem' itself go back beyond the first war of 1994-6, beyond even the chaos and corruption that invaded the region after the collapse of the USSR.
Inside Putin's Russia manages to find a way through the Chechen minefield without veering too much to one side or another. It is to Andrew Jack's credit that he does not lend himself to simplistic analyses and presents information on which we can form an opinion. That does not mean that the tangle of characters and vested interests is always easy to follow, but Jack can hardly be blamed for that, and he has taken the trouble to provide a helpful Dramatis Persona.
As for Putin's legacy, in many respects he deserves credit for curbing the excesses of the Yeltsin period and bringing financial resources back under state control. But the Russian President has questions to answer, in particular over Chechnya, and in his quest for order he may have, or may be tempted to go too far. Overall, Jack is probably correct when he states: "He (Putin) is unlikely to go down in history as a great transformational leader. But he may yet be viewed as playing an essential role of cohesion, stability and predictability - in domestic and even international affairs". After the roller coaster ride of the Yeltsin years, that will be no small achievement.
Gerard Coffey is European Correspondent of the South American journal, Tintaji.
Detail rich, but substance poor.......2005-02-14
Andrew Jack is Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, which is a pro-Big business UK paper. The paper hasn't been particularly focused or interested in Russia, except occasion critical outbursts of FT columnist Quentin Peel. The author is one of the whole crew of young Anglo-American correspondents who felt compelled to write a book after several years in Russia. The sweep of the book is broad - it is the Russia's business elite, GULAG, transitional economy, KGB, communism, city of Moscow, Russian political system, and Chechnya. It is impressive for anyone to cover all these topics in one swift stroke, but inevitably questions arise about a depth of such a book and its usefulness in predicting the Russia's future. The book didn't impress me very much on either of these counts. The author, who is essentially an investigative reporter, has undeniable strengths, which are in his knowledge of details: a date, a name, an event, some important personal detail. But a solid big picture unfortunately is not among them. The book is filled with little nuggets of information about Russia, Russian `oligarchs', and politicians, but I don't think it has a real depth, nor I am convinced that the book offers an objective portrait of `Putin's Russia'. In the book Russia is portrayed essentially as an imperfect, if not unsuccessful, disciple of laissez-faire capitalism practiced by US and UK. Also, the author does not appear to be as peeved as Marquise De Custine, but comes close sometimes.
Jack writes in crisp, short sentences. He is obviously familiar with Russian language and throws lots of names around, but his anglicizing of Russian names is annoying. For example, on page 37 he mentioned `Old' Square in Moscow. In Russian language it is `Staraya' Square. With the same success one could call the Kremlin `the Tower'.
Many pages are filled with author's personal `disappointments' in Russia from his description of unsuccessful attempts to buy fresh lattice to his accounts of agonizing encounters with Russian traffic police - the feared GAI. A lot of it appears to be a natural frustration of a foreigner, who is just trying to figure out what makes the Russians tick.
The most important weakness of this book is its failure to examine Russia on its own terms, not to try to fit it into `the bed of Procrustes' of Anglo-American model, code of behavior, and virtues of US-style market democracy. Of course, Jack is right then saying that Putin's priority is modernization of Russia, not building a `democracy that bears more than a superficial resemblance to the variance recognizable in the west.'
But the author's attitude, as shown in his choice of words, is quite wrong. Looking at the examples of countries like Japan and Singapore, how could one say that the Anglo-Saxon way of market democracy is the only way to achieve prosperity and modernization? Why, if fact, it should be desirable in Russia?
The massage of the book is pedestrian `Russia in 2008 is likely to be a country in better shape than some now fear, but not as impressive as it might have been had Putin used his potential to the full' (page 339).
The tone of patronizing superiority notwithstanding, one doesn't have to go through 350 pages to figure that out. I was impressed with his exercise in semantics when he called Russia a country, which `is shifting from anarchic liberalism towards liberal authoritarianism', but it really explains nothing. `Liberal' means different things to different people. In Russia `Young liberals' is a contemptuous name (even a swearing word) for a group of reformers who carried out `the shock therapy' of the early nineties. Incidentally, these `young liberals' have had little to do with liberalism, but were adherents of rightist Thatcherism, standing for massive privatization, withdrawal of price control, trickle-down economics, and general free-market fundamentalism.
What is particularly puzzling is Jack's failure to notice a most striking feature of Kremlin's policies. It is not Putin's connection to KGB, which makes him noteworthy, but his Russian version of Gaullism. Like De Gaulle, Putin is a nationalistic, populist leader, insistent on a strong presidency, and determent to actively encourage a `multi-polar' world, in order to check US dominance. All these have clear earmarks of French Gaullism a la Russe, and, incidentally, and not surprisingly France has been the closest Russian ally in the world. Mr. Jack who was stationed in Paris before Moscow didn't seem to bother to make a connection.
Amazon.com
The product of six interviews conducted by Russian journalists (and translated into English by Catherine A. Fitzpatrick), First Person is a book-length Q&A session in which Russian president Vladimir Putin discusses his childhood, his life as a spy, and his surprisingly rapid rise as a politician in the 1990s. Parts of this unusual autobiography are plainly banal (he weighs 165 pounds and likes beer), but interspersed throughout are candid comments by one of the world's most powerful men. Putin admits that he didn't know much about Stalin's violent purges in the 1930s when he joined the KGB ("I was a pure and utterly successful product of Soviet patriotic education"). He also scolds Soviet leaders for the invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia during the cold war: "These were major mistakes. And the Russophobia that we see in Eastern Europe today is the fruit of those mistakes." At another point, he expresses frustration with some of the things critics have said about him: "Why have they made up so much about me? It's complete nonsense!" On the war in Chechnya, he is predictably defensive: "I was convinced that if we didn't stop the extremists right away, we'd be facing a second Yugoslavia on the entire territory of the Russian Federation--the Yugoslavization of Russia.... We are not attacking. We are defending ourselves." There's also an interview with his wife, who, when asked if her husband ever gets drunk, responds: "There hasn't been any of that." (After Yeltsin, this is apparently of concern to Russians.) The interviewers also ask her whether he ever looks at other women. She replies with a question of her own, intriguingly: "Well, what sort of man would he be, if he weren't attracted by beautiful women?" But Putin is, appropriately, the main show. Readers interested in Russian politics will want to review the final pages closely, as the president discourses on contemporary topics. Confronted with tough questions about Russia's treatment of a journalist who filed negative stories about Chechnya, Putin says, "We interpret freedom of expression in different ways." That's a KGB man talking--and yet another reason Putin is worth watching. --John J. Miller
Book Description
The astonishingly frank and revealing self-portrait of the most powerful man in Russia, President Valdimir Putin.
Who is this Vladimir Putin? Who is this man who suddenly--overnight and without warning--was handed the reins of power to one of the most complex, formidable, and volatile countries in the world? How can we trust him if we don't know him?
First Person is an intimate, candid portrait of the man who holds the future of Russia in his grip. An extraordinary compilation of over 24 hours of in-depth interviews and remarkable photographs, it delves deep into Putin's KGB past and explores his meteoric rise to power. No Russian leader has ever subjected himself to this kind of public examination of his life and views. Both as a spy and as a virtual political unknown until selected by Boris Yeltsin to be Prime Minister, Putin has been regarded as man of mystery. Now, the curtain lifts to reveal a remarkable life of struggles and successes. Putin's life story is of major importance to the world.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting interviews.......2007-06-13
I am very interested in Russian politics and especially in Vladimir Putin. This book caught my eye because it is 28 hours of interviews with him about many different subjects. It was a quick read and my only complaint is that I read it so quickly. One of the more personal books I have read about Putin. I recommend it highly.
German-language review of first Russian edition (Moscow: Vagrius 2000).......2006-11-19
Die Frage "Wer ist Mr. Putin?" bewegt seit Boris Jelzins überraschendem Rücktritt am 31.12.1999 die Welt. Die ausführlichen Gesprächsaufzeichnungen von drei russischen Journalisten aus dem Frühjahr 2000 geben nur teilweise eine Antwort auf die Frage. Sie verbergen ebenso viel, wie sie aufdecken.
Es wird in den Interviews noch einmal eine Besonderheit Putins deutlich, die viele Beobachter schon zuvor bemerkt hatten: die bizarre Zufälligkeit von Putins steiler Karriere und seine politische Unerfahrenheit im Augenblick seiner Amtsübernahme. Dies würde im Russischen durch die Konstruktion "slutschajnyj tschelowek" (zufälliger Mensch) wiedergegeben werden. Normalerweise bedeutet im traditionell hierarchiebetonten und elitistischen russischen politischen Diskurs eine Charakterisierung als "slutschajnyj tschelowek" das Absprechen jeglicher Kompetenz für die Lösung der jeweiligen Aufgaben. Diesen Nachteil schien Putin sowohl mit seiner mythologisierten Vergangenheit als KGB-Mitarbeiter (die hier auch weitgehend im Dunkeln bleibt) als auch mit dem Image eines früheren Vertrauten des verstorbenen ehemaligen Bürgermeisters von Sankt Petersburg Anatolij Sobtschak wettzumachen. Vor allem wird in dem Buch noch einmal deutlich, wie eng die Ernennung Putins zum Premierminister und seine Profilierung in dieser Funktion mit dem Tschetschenienkrieg verbunden war. Und dies, obwohl die Anleitung der in Tschetschenien tätigen "Machtorgane" (silowye organy) an und für sich direkt dem Präsidenten obliegt. De facto schien Putin mehr noch als seine zahlreichen Vorgänger bereits vor Jelzins Rücktritt das Zepter in Rußland in die Hand genommen zu haben.
Obwohl eine Reihe von Putins Aussagen in den Interviews in bezug auf Demokratie, Rechtsstaat und Marktwirtschaft durchaus ermutigend klingen und er sich im Großteil des Buches als ausgewogener "Mann der Tat" gibt, bleibt ein Eindruck von Unberechenbarkeit. Auf das Thema Tschetschenien angesprochen, wechselt der sonst beherrschte Putin zu apokalyptischen Visionen ("globale Katastrophe", S. 136), radikalem Isolationismus ("Wir brauchen keinerlei [internationale] Vermittler." S. 158) und missionarischem Eifer ("meine historische Mission", S. 133). Er scheint den Leser für dumm verkaufen zu wollen, wenn er sich als selbstloser "Mann fürs Grobe" ausgibt: "Ich ging [im August 1998] davon aus, daß ich [das Auseinanderfallen des Landes] selbst um den Preis meiner politischen Karriere [verhindern] muß." (S. 133)
Die ganze Passage zum Tschetschenien-Abenteuer wirkt phantastisch: Putin beschwört das Bild eines vom winzigen Tschetschenien tödlich bedrohten Rußland. Die von ihm an anderer Stelle angemahnte "Präsumption der Unschuld" vergißt er, wenn er - ohne das Vorliegen einschlägiger Beweise, zumindest zum Zeitpunkt des Interviews - die Tschetschenen für die Bombenanschläge in Moskau, Bujnaksk und Wolgodonsk verantwortlich macht. Selbst wenn er mit seinen Anschuldigungen Recht behalten sollte, so steht die Zahl der mutmaßlich von islamistischen Terroristen getöteten russischen Zivilisten in keinem Verhältnis zu den tausenden zivilen Opfern der russischen "antiterroristischen Operationen" seit 1994. An anderer Stelle gibt sich Putin, abweichend von seinen früheren Andeutungen, ähnlich uneinsichtig, wenn es um die Rolle der NATO in den Ost-West-Beziehungen oder um den Jugoslawienkonflikt geht. Auch seine merkwürdig distanzierte Beurteilung der Tätigkeit seines früheren Ziehvaters Anatolij Sobtschak wirkt befremdlich.
Während Putin hoffen kann, mit seinen unsensiblen Statements insbesondere zu Tschetschenien und Jugoslawien beim durch jahrelange Gehirnwäsche emotional aufgepeitschten russischen Durchschnittsbürger auf offene Ohren zu treffen, dürfte er sich mit diesem Buch in bezug auf seine aufgeklärte russische und potentielle westliche Leserschaft keinen Gefallen getan haben.
Insightful.......2006-07-31
First person is an easy and interesting book to read. The format, question & answer, actually made the book more interesting. We only really learn what Putin wants us to learn about him. However, Putin seems to answer in an honest and straight-forward manner. A must read for anyone interested in world affairs, world leaders, or Russia.
Insight into political training.......2006-03-28
I found this book provided a much needed insight into Putin and it assists when trying to cut through the politics of popular culture. With an extremely challenging road ahead for this country it is important not to loose sight of the men who assert power
oprah by the volga.......2005-10-01
The American Presidential system, for all its faults, is relatively open. Because this is not the case in Russia, any information we can get on President Vladimir Putin has to be particularly welcome. First Person, the product of six interviews conducted by Russian journalists with the Russian leader, gives us that information in Putin's own words.
Putin likes beer and dislikes Chechen separatists; he is saddened by Stalin's excesses and proud of his own work in the KGB; he is sorry that the Soviet Union put Hungary and Czechoslovakia to the sword but delighted that today's glorious Russian Army is teaching the Chechens a lesson. Putin, like Mother Russia herself, is a mass of contradictions.
Unlike Boris Yeltsin, Putin is a sober and industrious man. This is no bad thing in a land where vodka abuse has slashed ten years off the life expectancy of the ordinary Russian since the collapse of the evil empire. Although abstemious, Putin frankly admits that he is, at heart, a product of Soviet indoctrination.
This is not that surprising from someone who worked for the KGB for 20 years and ended up taking over Yeltsin's entire secret service network. Russia today is as shadowy and secretive as it was when John Le Carre wrote his novels about Putin's KGB workmates. In those days, the KGB were our definite bad guys. Now however, the Russian Mafia have made the big league, the Caucasus are in flames and the Russian nuclear navy is more a threat to its crewmen than it is to the United States and her allies. Times have changed.
Russia is in obvious need of law and order. Traditionally, law and order was achieved in Russia by generous applications of the heavy hand. Certainly, Lenin, Stalin and Peter the Great, Putin's hero, were never afraid to bite the bullet - or to use it for that matter. Putin can probably be no different. Russia is bankrupt, law and order has broken down, Yugoslavia and her other traditional allies have been brought low, neighboring Poland is on the verge of entering NATO and Islamic unrest is rising on her southern flanks. And Japan wants her Northern islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and Habomai back.
What is to be done? One solution would be to sell these islands back to the Japanese for the highest attainable price and to link it to massive Japanese aid for the Russian Far East. This would help to stem the demographic and military threats China poses to Siberia. A similar deal will probably have to be done with the United States. Russia will have to scrap her nuclear arsenal in return for another king's ransom and let NATO do as it pleases in the rest of Europe. Putin will have to surrender land and power projection capabilities for hard cash.
With its flanks in some kind of order, Putin could then concentrate his resources on saving Russia. But there's the rub. Putin and the problems besetting him just do not have modern Western equivalents. The nearest American President to him is Honest Abe Lincoln, who, like Putin, also worked his way up from humble beginnings. Although Lincoln also fought a major war on his Southern flank to preserve his nation's unity, he had the advantage of being able to marshal a vibrant, disciplined and modern economy behind him. Putin has no such luxury. He has his KGB contacts, his dispirited army and, as the sinking of the Kursk showed, the world's media and human rights groups breathing down his neck. Putin must now worry about media ratings as well as Chechen suicide bombers.
Even Putin's moral hold on power is tenuous enough. His Presidential campaign was beset by large-scale fraud. More than 1.3 million new voters appeared between the State Duma elections on 19 December 1999 and the presidential election in March 2000. These were not "dead souls", as described in Gogol's famous novel of that name, but "new-born souls" who were given the vote and who all voted for Putin. More than 50% of Chechens, who survived Putin's bombing campaign, also voted for him. Either that or the vote was rigged!
Electoral fraud is only one of his more minor headaches. Putin must use books like this to don a human face much the same way that Al Gore and George W. Bush have to display their witticisms on the Oprah Winfrey show. American wannabe Presidents can joke and cajole their way through such shows - as can Japanese leaders like the late Mr. Obuchi. They can do this because they are leaders of modern and vibrant economies. This interesting book is the beginning of such a process in Russia. However, it would be best if Putin concentrated on his nation's many economic problems. Oprah Winfrey can wait.
Books:
- Reaping the Whirlwind: The Taliban Movement in Afghanistan
- Reclaiming Our Children: The Healing Solution for a Nation in Crisis
- Russian Strategic Thought toward Asia (Strategic Thought in Northeast Asia)
- Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming
- Social Work, Social Welfare And American Society
- Superpower Syndrome: America's Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World
- Terrorism, Freedom, and Security: Winning Without War
- The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface
- The American Legislative Process: Congress and the States (10th Edition)
- The Case Against Lawyers: How the Lawyers, Politicians, and Bureaucrats Have Turned the Law into an Instrument of Tyranny--and What We as Citizens Have to Do About It
Books Index
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Japan
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A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya
A Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin's Russia
Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror
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Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism
