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Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? by Karen Dawisha
bookshelves: skim-through, published-2014, autumn-2014, nonfiction, slavic, filthy-lucre, newtome-author, biography, politics, journalism, giftee, gangsters, games-people-play, censorship, cults-societies-brotherhoods, true-grime
Read on November 24, 2014
Description: Russian scholar Dawisha describes and exposes the origins of Putin's kleptocratic regime. She presents extensive new evidence about the Putin circle's use of public positions for personal gain even before Putin became president in 2000. She documents the establishment of Bank Rossiya, now sanctioned by the US; the rise of the Ozero cooperative, founded by Putin and others who are now subject to visa bans and asset freezes; the links between Putin, Petromed, and 'Putin's Palace' near Sochi; and the role of security officials from Putin's KGB days in Leningrad and Dresden, many of whom have maintained their contacts with Russian organized crime.
Putin's Kleptocracy is the result of years of research into the KGB and the various Russian crime syndicates. Dawisha's sources include Stasi archives; Russian insiders; investigative journalists in the US, Britain, Germany, Finland, France, and Italy; and Western officials who served in Moscow. Russian journalists wrote part of this story when the Russian media was still free. "Many of them died for this story, and their work has largely been scrubbed from the Internet, and even from Russian libraries," Dawisha says. "But some of that work remains."
This is the second version of Putin's Russia I have encountered today, the other one was about Edward Snowden. Eight hours of skimming through this is enough to get the gist and I had encountered these themes of thuggery and theft in The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, which I preferred.
'Putin's Palace'
From the 3rd April 2014 Economist article entitled 'A book too far':
...But Mrs Dawisha’s publisher has got cold feet. She has just received this letter (posted in full below) from Cambridge University Press, saying that the legal risk of publishing the book is too great:
Karen Dawisha
A wounded economy: it is closer to crisis than the West or Vladimir Putin realise
Dawisha Putin's Kleptocracy Complete Bibliography
Vladimir Putin: I don’t want to rule Russia for life: President says he will step down by 2024, and accuses the west of trying to punish Russia for being strong and assertive.
Putin's Kleptocracy is the result of years of research into the KGB and the various Russian crime syndicates. Dawisha's sources include Stasi archives; Russian insiders; investigative journalists in the US, Britain, Germany, Finland, France, and Italy; and Western officials who served in Moscow. Russian journalists wrote part of this story when the Russian media was still free. "Many of them died for this story, and their work has largely been scrubbed from the Internet, and even from Russian libraries," Dawisha says. "But some of that work remains."
This is the second version of Putin's Russia I have encountered today, the other one was about Edward Snowden. Eight hours of skimming through this is enough to get the gist and I had encountered these themes of thuggery and theft in The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, which I preferred.'Putin's Palace'From the 3rd April 2014 Economist article entitled 'A book too far':
...But Mrs Dawisha’s publisher has got cold feet. She has just received this letter (posted in full below) from Cambridge University Press, saying that the legal risk of publishing the book is too great:
“given the controversial subject matter of the book, and its basic premise that Putin’s power is founded on his links to organised crime, we are not convinced that there is a way to rewrite the book that would give us the necessary comfort.”
Karen DawishaA wounded economy: it is closer to crisis than the West or Vladimir Putin realise
Dawisha Putin's Kleptocracy Complete Bibliography
Vladimir Putin: I don’t want to rule Russia for life: President says he will step down by 2024, and accuses the west of trying to punish Russia for being strong and assertive.
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