Kennan Institute: Stories in Blair A. Ruble’s “The Arts of War” highlight ways in which Ukrainians have long explored the meaning of their country and culture through the arts; and the manner in which the arts and their creators have empowered Ukrainians to confront the Russian invaders [….]
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“Once upon a time, Alexey Navalny wanted to be a normal politician in a normal country. Now that’s just a fantasy.” [original article was adapted from “The Dissident: Alexey Navalny, Profile of a Political Prisoner,” released by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.] “… Navalny, despite decades crusading against Russian corruption and against … Putin’s increasingly dictatorial rule, never […]
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“Throughout its history, the Russian currency has been a symbol and an instrument of centralized and autocratic power.” “When reading Ekaterina Pravilova’s original, fascinating and meticulously researched ‘The Ruble’ it is a good idea to keep in mind its subtitle: ‘A Political History.’ For [her] multi-layered account of the evolution of the paper ruble from … the mid-18th century until […]
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“The Ukrainian historian shows how the Kremlin’s bloody campaign has backfired.” “The Russo-Ukrainian War. By Serhii Plokhy. W.W. Norton; 400 pages … [a] useful account of the origins and early progress of Russia’s war against Ukraine … very much worth reading ….” “…[T]he first six chapters [lay] out an excellent survey of unresolved regional tensions, going all the way back […]
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Subject: And now for something completely different. Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2023 From: Sarah Lindemann-Komarova <echosiberia@gmail.com> Hi David, In the midst of the ever growing darkness, I offer a little light. Attached is an announcement for a book written by an old friend Debra Javeline. It presents the astonishing, in the context of today, decision by the people of Beslan […]
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“Kennan: A Life between Worlds Frank Costigliola Princeton University Press 624pp £32” “… An obscure diplomat in 1940s Moscow, George F. Kennan (1904-2005) found fame as the architect of ‘containment’ – America’s global struggle to defend the ‘free world’ from Soviet expansionism and communist subversion. Kennan’s policy prescriptions went public when he was outed as the anonymous author of a […]
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Subject: Book Announcement: The Tragedy of Ukraine Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2022 From: Nicolai Petro <npetro@uri.edu> The Tragedy of Ukraine: What Classical Greek Tragedy Can Teach Us About Conflict Resolution (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2023) is now available for purchase at: v.gd/tragedy — link to the publisher amzn.to/3UC8xcn — link to Amazon.com your preferred bookstore — books2read.com/Ukraine In a […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – José Alaniz – Dec. 7, 2022) BOOK REVIEW “Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin” By Andrew S. Weiss and Brian “Box” Brown First Second, November 2022 Andrew S. Weiss and cartoonist Brian “Box” Brown’s first-ever graphic biography “Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin” opens with an arresting anecdote: thirty-something […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Paul Saunders – Oct. 26, 2022) Paul Saunders is the president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project and a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Center for the National Interest. BOOK REVIEW“Putin” By Philip Short Henry Holt and Co., July 2022 As Russia continues its devastating war in Ukraine, those inside and outside […]
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“… Thane Gustafson’s Klimat was published twelve months ago, but … the effects of the war [in Ukraine] … on Russia’s main exports … align with his arguments about the consequences of climate change for Russia. The world’s fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter, Russia … [also] will continue to profit from rising oil prices …. But … Gustafson projects a […]
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“PUTIN, by Philip Short | Illustrated | 864 pp. | Henry Holt & Company | $40 … Short’s account is both perfectly and unfortunately timed, arriving just when we most need to understand Putin, yet missing the chapter that may yet define his place in history. … Short’s version nonetheless offers a compelling, impressive and methodically researched account of Putin’s […]
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Subject: New Book Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2022 From: Richard Sakwa <R.Sakwa@kent.ac.uk> Just released: Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War (Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2022). The ‘Russiagate’ affair is one of the most far-reaching political events of recent years. But what exactly was the nature and extent of Russian interference in the campaign that led to the presidency of […]
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(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Paul Saunders – Oct. 1, 2019) Paul Saunders is the chairman and president of the Energy Innovation Reform Project and a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Center for the National Interest. Book Review “The Russia Anxiety and How History Can Resolve It” By Mark B. Smith Oxford University Press, October 2019 [Amazon: […]
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“… Putin is a gambler. Russia’s population is shrinking, its real-terms wages and gross national income per head are tumbling, it has failed to create successful industries and services and is blighted by entrenched corruption – and yet its president behaves like a poker player with a royal flush. … form[ing] a close relationship with [China’s] President Xi Jinping … […]
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“… Anders Aslund … in ‘Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy‘ … [casts Putin] as a patriarchal overlord … handsomely reward[ing] those loyal …. creat[ing] a new elite of friends, former co-workers and relatives. What’s less clear is what, if anything [can be done about it]. … [A]naly[zing] the last 15 or so years of Putin’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Emily Couch – May 4, 2019 – themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/05/mark-galleotti-the-vory-russias-super-mafia-a65488) In “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia,” Mark Galeotti draws on years of research to tell the grimly absorbing tale of Russia’s criminal underworld. Galeotti is a specialist in Russian history, security and crime who is a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations (Prague); a regular […]
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Subject: Book announcement Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2018 From: John Helmer The Man Who Knows Too MuchAbout Russia By John Helmer THE GENUINE GOLDEN SHOWER – JOHN HELMER’S MEMOIRS OF VLADIMIR PUTIN FROM 1991 TO 2018 John Helmer is the longest serving foreign correspondent in Russia; he has been reporting from Moscow since 1989, and on Wednesday, December 19, […]
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