JRL NEWSWATCH: “Does Vladimir Putin Speak for the Russian People?” – New York Times Book Review/Daniel Beer
“… Putin turned directly to McFaul and berated him for trying to ruin United States-Russia relations. * * * … McFaul concluded that [Putin] was ‘paranoid,’ a man of ‘fixed and flawed views’ who ‘saw us as the enemy,’ … that so long as he ruled Russia, ‘strategic partnership was impossible.’ … [But McFaul’s] relentless focus on Putin’s individual role tends to obscure the broader evolution of attitudes … within the Russian political establishment. … [with] only passing references to the siloviki – hard-liners with a background in the security services … uneasy about Medvedev’s embrace of the Reset. … Putin is far from alone in his hostility … [toward] NATO expansionism and … missile defense …. [or in blaming] the United States … [for] the overthrow of … [Ukraine’s] Yanukovych …. * * * [Blaming Putin] for … [difficult] United States-Russian relations … has its appeal. … [but a] more pessimistic view is that Putin represents a now-entrenched revanchist nationalism …. Deep-rooted antagonism toward the United States might well endure …'”
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