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Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
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Publisher's summary
In this revised version that includes an exclusive new chapter on the Russia-Ukraine war, renowned foreign policy expert Angela Stent examines how Putin created a paranoid and polarized world—and increased Russia's status on the global stage.
How did Russia manage to emerge resurgent on the world stage and play a weak hand so effectively? Is it because Putin is a brilliant strategist? Or has Russia stepped into a vacuum created by the West's distraction with its own domestic problems and US ambivalence about whether it still wants to act as a superpower? Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
This book looks at Russia's key relationships—its downward spiral with the United States, Europe, and NATO; its ties to China, Japan, the Middle East; and with its neighbors, particularly the fraught relationship with Ukraine. Putin's World will help Americans understand how and why the post-Cold War era has given way to a new, more dangerous world, one in which Russia poses a challenge to the United States in every corner of the globe—and one in which Russia has become a toxic and divisive subject in US politics.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
"An incisive exploration of 'how and why Russia has returned to the world stage'...[Stent] offers a deeply informed look at why Russia, directed by President Vladimir Putin, persists in behaving in what the West regards as an exceedingly maddening, paranoid, and often aggressive manner...A compelling historico-psychological work delineating how the West should respond to Russia going forward."—Kirkus (Starred Review)
"Like the judo player he once was, Vladimir Putin has figured out ways to assert Russian power despite his nation's weakness. Understanding how he does it is crucial to America, and Angela Stent's deeply knowledgeable and readable book provides brilliant insights."—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo Da Vinci and Einstein
"Stent expertly walks readers through Moscow's relations with every region in the world, avoiding the hysteria that warps discussion of the country. Aware that too many books about Russian foreign policy arrive instantly obsolete because they lack a foundation in history or political culture, Stent opens with those subjects...and the book culminates in a clear-eyed portrayal of the inescapably troubled U.S.-Russia relationship."—Washington Post
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In this sweeping and insightful history, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book length to a country he has known intimately for decades and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing.
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Another History of China
- By Elton on 09-23-11
By: Henry Kissinger
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The Marshall Plan
- Dawn of the Cold War
- By: Benn Steil
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning author of The Battle of Bretton Woods reveals the gripping history behind the Marshall Plan—told with verve, insight, and resonance for today.
In the wake of World War II, with Britain’s empire collapsing and Stalin's on the rise, US officials under new secretary of state George C. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events.
Focusing on the critical years 1947 to 1949, Benn Steil’s thrilling account brings to life the seminal episodes marking the collapse of postwar US-Soviet relations—the Prague coup, the Berlin blockade, and the division of Germany. In each case, we see and understand like never before Stalin’s determination to crush the Marshall Plan and undermine American power in Europe.
Given current echoes of the Cold War, as Putin’s Russia rattles the world order, the tenuous balance of power and uncertain order of the late 1940s is as relevant as ever. The Marshall Plan provides critical context into understanding today’s international landscape. Bringing to bear fascinating new material from American, Russian, German, and other European archives, Steil’s account will forever change how we see the Marshall Plan and the birth of the Cold War. A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, this is an instant classic of Cold War literature.
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A Deeply Researched Narrative
- By Jean on 10-18-18
By: Benn Steil
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Making the Future
- Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Making the Future presents more than 50 concise and persuasively argued commentaries on U.S. politics and policies, written between 2007 and 2011. Taken together, Chomsky's essays present a powerful counter-narrative to official accounts of the major political events of the past four years: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the U.S. presidential race; the ascendancy of China; Latin America's leftward turn; the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea; Israel's invasion of Gaza and more.
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Fifty-Two Reasons to Listen to Chomsky
- By Susie on 01-04-13
By: Noam Chomsky
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The End of Europe
- Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age
- By: James Kirchick
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Once the world's bastion of liberal, democratic values, Europe is now having to confront demons it thought it had laid to rest. The old pathologies of anti-Semitism, populist nationalism, and territorial aggression are threatening to tear the European postwar consensus apart. Based on extensive firsthand reporting, this book is a provocative, disturbing look at a continent in unexpected crisis.
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Disappointing, Silly And Really Childish Book.
- By Eireannach on 04-14-17
By: James Kirchick
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All Measures Short of War
- The Contest for the Twenty-First Century and the Future of American Power
- By: Thomas J. Wright
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Russia and China are increasingly revisionist in their regions. The Middle East appears to be unraveling. And many Americans question why the United States ought to lead. What will great power competition look like in the decades ahead? What impact will geopolitics have on globalization? And what strategy should the United States pursue to succeed in an increasingly competitive world? In this book, Thomas Wright explains how major powers will compete fiercely even as they try to avoid war with each other.
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Globalist propaganda
- By Anthony Colosimo Jr on 07-10-21
By: Thomas J. Wright
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Interventions
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Interventions, by Noam Chomsky, is getting new press after the Pentagon banned the book from Guantanamo Bay's prison library. Interventions is Noam Chomsky at his best. Not since his all-time best-selling title, 9/11, published in the Open Media series in 2001, have readers and listeners had a timely, short, affordable Chomsky. Unlike 9/11, Interventions is a writerly work - a series of more than 30 tightly argued essays aimed at various aspects of U.S. power and politics in the post-9/11 world. While critical of U.S. military interventions around the globe, each piece in the book is in itself an intellectual intervention.
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Chomsky on Fire
- By Susie on 01-09-13
By: Noam Chomsky
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Destined for War
- Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
- By: Graham Allison
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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War with China is much more likely than anyone thinks. When Athens went to war with Sparta some 2,500 years ago, the Greek historian Thucydides identified one simple cause: A rising power threatened to displace a ruling one. As the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains, in the past 500 years, great powers have found themselves in "Thucydides's Trap" 16 times. In 12 of the 16, the results have been catastrophic.
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Balances, Counter-Balances and Traps
- By Joyce U. Olewe on 10-09-17
By: Graham Allison
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The Cold War
- A New History
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Jay Gregory, Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on new and often startling information from newly opened Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives, this thrilling account explores the strategic dynamics that drove the Cold War, provides illuminating portraits of its major personalities, and offers much fresh insight into its most crucial events. Riveting, revelatory, and wise, it tells a story whose lessons it is vitally necessary to understand as America once more faces an implacable ideological enemy.
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WOW
- By Cordell eddings on 10-13-07
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The China Challenge
- Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power
- By: Thomas Christensen
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 15 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Many see China's rise as a threat to US leadership in Asia and beyond. Thomas J. Christensen argues instead that the real challenge lies in dissuading China from regional aggression while eliciting its global cooperation. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience as a senior diplomat, Christensen offers a deep perspective on China's military and economic capacity. Assessing China's political outlook and strategic goals, Christensen shows how nationalism and the threat of domestic instability influence the party's decisions about regional and global affairs.
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UNDERSTANDING CHINA
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 03-03-23
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Pakistan on the Brink
- The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
- By: Ahmed Rashid
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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What are the possibilities—and hazards—facing America as it withdraws from Afghanistan and reviews its long engagement in Pakistan? Where is the Taliban now in both of these countries? What does the immediate future hold, and what are America’s choices going forward? These are some of the crucial questions that Ahmed Rashid—Pakistan’s preeminent journalist—takes on in this follow-up to his acclaimed Descent into Chaos.
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A Very Long NPR-like Interview and History Lesson
- By Harry Zimmer on 04-23-12
By: Ahmed Rashid
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Losing an Enemy
- Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy
- By: Trita Parsi
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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This timely book focuses on President Obama's deeply considered strategy toward Iran's nuclear program and reveals how the historic agreement of 2015 broke the persistent stalemate in negotiations that had blocked earlier efforts. Drawing from more than 75 in-depth interviews with key decision-makers, including Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry, this is the first authoritative account of President Obama's signature foreign policy achievement.
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required reading
- By Seth K on 07-18-19
By: Trita Parsi
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Asia's Reckoning
- China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century
- By: Richard Mcgregor
- Narrated by: Steve West
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard McGregor's Asia's Reckoning is a compelling account of the widening geopolitical cracks in a region that has flourished under an American security umbrella for more than half a century. The toxic rivalry between China and Japan, two Asian giants consumed with endless history wars and ruled by entrenched political dynasties, is threatening to upend the peace underwritten by Pax Americana since World War II.
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Good info to learn, but...
- By Neal on 02-24-18
By: Richard Mcgregor
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Democracy
- Stories from the Long Road to Freedom
- By: Condoleezza Rice
- Narrated by: Grace Angela Henry
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union to the ongoing struggle for human rights in the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice has served on the front lines of history. As a child, she was an eyewitness to a third awakening of freedom, when her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, became the epicenter of the civil rights movement for black Americans. In this book, Rice explains what these epochal events teach us about democracy.
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A Case for Democracy
- By Jean on 05-18-17
By: Condoleezza Rice
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Collapse
- The Fall of the Soviet Union
- By: Vladislav M. Zubok
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
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Hopefully Not Prescient
- By Joshua on 01-29-22
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very good
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Nothing new. Author has zero credibility
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From Russia With Love
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Botched Attempt on Russian Stress
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In 1945, the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army four million strong, 5,000 nuclear-tipped missiles, and was the second biggest producer of oil in the world. But soon afterward, the union sank into an economic crisis and was torn apart by nationalist separatism. Its collapse was one of the seismic shifts of the 20th century.
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Hopefully Not Prescient
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It would be 5 stars
- By Michael Polevoy on 01-31-19
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Secondhand Time
- The Last of the Soviets
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When the Swedish Academy awarded Svetlana Alexievich the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing "a new kind of literary genre", describing her work as "a history of emotions - a history of the soul". Alexievich's distinctive documentary style, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, records the stories of ordinary women and men who are rarely given the opportunity to speak, whose experiences are often lost in the official histories of the nation.
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The Heart, Soul & Iron Fist Of Russia
- By Sara on 02-22-17
By: Svetlana Alexievich, and others
What listeners say about Putin's World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gary
- 02-23-22
Outstanding
An unbelievable amount of insight, detail & history of Putin & Russia. Also why & wherefore with other Nations.
Highly recommended!
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- Sir Paul McCartney
- 04-20-23
Female narrator would’ve been nice
Great narration but I would have preferred if a woman narrated it as the book was written by a woman.
Helps give clarity to the strange world we live in
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-06-19
Very good
More of a story about The Russian mentality than Putin himself. Explains the most powerful 3rd World country very effectively.
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- Will
- 07-11-22
Perspectives about Russia
very informative about each Contry's personal situations and how they handle Russia and Putin.
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- William
- 07-01-22
Understanding Putin's paranoid aggression
This is the perfect time for a book like this, although it was actually published in 2019. Angela Stent is a professor at Georgetown and has worked in foreign policy planning for both George Bush and Bill Clinton. She later was the National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council and a member of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe advisory panel.
She gives President Putin credit for reasserting Russia’s position after “a decade of political chaos and an economic meltdown,” when Obama had called it a regional power, to its emergence as a global player, protecting the country’s sovereignty, gaining respect from non-Western actors, and overcoming the West’s attempts to isolate Russia and in this book explains how he accomplished such a difficult task . She shows how Russia’s unique historical outlook is the key to understanding Putin’s foreign policy. Russians have historically felt underappreciated by both the east and the west and Putin spoke directly to the angst of the average Russian while exploiting his Western rivals’ missteps and lack of unity. She helps ust understand why he has led Russia in such a paranoid and very aggressive manner. Stent discusses the ups and downs of its relationship with both the U.S. and many European countries. With the fall of the Soviet Union, many had hoped Russia would become join the rule’s based international order as a responsible stake-holder. Putin however, saw that as an “order” that was created by the West according its own rules and he wanted to adapt those rules more to Russia’s liking, focusing more on Russian exceptionalism rather than democratic exceptionalism and was especially rankled at an any idea of American exceptionalism.
Stent gives us a short history of Russia’s own turbulent past, going back to its earliest history , entangled with its neighbors, particularly Ukraine, and how that has influenced him as well as the Russians’ understanding of their place in the world as well as their sense that the West has unfairly tried to keep them sidelined since the collapse of the USSR. She also has sections dealing with some of the other major players, including Germany, the US, Japan, and China, as well as Ukraine and its other continental and Nordic neighbors. She notes that he has been particularly successful in handling relations with China and the countries of the Middle East partly by refusing to judge them or interfere with their own internal affairs. Thus the book’s subtitle, “Russia Against the West and with the Rest.” It’s easy for the West to focus on the unity, particularly right now during the invasion of Ukraine, while ignoring that there is still a large part of the world that is either supportive or at least ambivalent about the invasion or any sanctions. That includes some quite varied nations from China and India to the Arab world as well as Israel. But there are also many nations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas that are at least less committed.
She makes one comparison that is quite interesting. Westerners often train people in strategy by using the game of Chess, which is ironically a game that Russians are well known for. Putin took a different direction. He was always much shorter and more wiry than his peers and chose to study judo. Judo is a form of fighting that relies less on strength and more on using the weight and strength of your opponent against them. Putin earned a black belt and even made the local St. Petersburg newspaper as a youth for his victories. That training has affected how he faces off against the world. Russia may have been weak and may still be weak in terms of resources, but Putin understands how to make the most of the West's lack of unity and indecisiveness. He led Russia to look for any vacuums left as the West turned its focus to domestic problems with the end of the Cold War and particularly the gradual withdrawal from the global stage by the U.S. which grew under Obama and exploded under Trump. With his further training in the KBG, he became a master at looking for his opponents’ weaknesses. In his first meeting with Germany’s Angela Merkel, he knew of her intense fear of dogs (because of a previous attack) and revelled in watching her as he purposely arranged for his Black Labrador to bound into the room and run straight to her as she sat in a chair. When Obama backed down from his “red line” in Syria, the Russian Air Force rapidly moved in to defend Assad. He quickly learned how to stoke Trump’s ego without actually giving in on any policy issues.
Stent doesn’t spend much time on Putin’s failures, but I would say that’s because that is not the focus of this book. However, even though there are many nations that are ambivalent about Russia at the moment, it’s hard to think of any real allies. Partners of convenience, yes, but not really allies with common goals. And, Russia’s economy is very narrowly focused. Most of its earnings come from energy and little else.
I wish the book had been published after the current full-blown war against Ukraine, but that wouldn’t have been practical anyway. But, Stent’s analysis seems so prescient, it’s almost eerie. However, Stent (probably wisely) doesn’t make policy recommendations. What she does suggest is that we both be patient and not back off or lose hope. And, she suggests that we be ready and prepared for anything and everything. It’s not chess. It’s judo. Putin is patient and watchful and any weakness can and will be exploited when the time is right. Excellent book and very readable.
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- RDN
- 05-04-20
The reader destroys the focus
The reader mangles every foreign personal name, place name, you name it. He switches between poorly pronounced attempts at correct pronunciation and Americanized versions, and then some that are clear out of left field. One example: He named the German capital, Bonn, “bone”. Not the Amero-Anglicized “bahn” and certainly not the correct German way. That’s the tip of the iceberg in a performance that serves to distract from the story and actually confuse the reader. Several times found myself wishing I had the text version of this book just to be sure I understood what he was talking about. Performers of important works about foreign affairs should have some language coaching.
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- Maxim
- 07-07-22
Nothing new
there are 2 conflicted ideas in the book, summarized in its conclusion: Putin is not Russia and Russia is Putin (Russians are not westerners and they don't want western style democracy) Also, it was painful for Russian speaking reader to endure narrator's pronunciation of every Russian name. Very unprofessional
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- Felis N
- 01-18-20
More like The West against the world
The book is just full of US centric bias towards not just Putin's Russia, also Russia as USSR or Empire. There are not so much of in-sights that cannot be picked up from free daily news under Western MSM "Russian narratives".
To save everyone some Audible credit l, let me sum it up:
US good, Russian Bad, the World must follow US.
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8 people found this helpful