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Putin's Virtual War: Russia's Subversion and Conversion of America, Europe and the World Beyond
With his elfin poker face, receding short golden hair, diminutive but muscular body, and stiff clipped gait, Vladimir Putin is among the world's most recognizable leaders. He has tightly ruled Russia since 31 December 1999, and will firmly assert power from the Kremlin for the foreseeable future. Many fear and loath him for his brutality, for ordering opponents imprisoned on trumped up charges and even murdered. Yet most Russians adore him for rebuilding the economy, state authority, and national pride.
What drives Putin? Much more than greed for money and power animates him. He is a zealous nationalist deadset to make Russia great again. He mourns the Soviet Union's breakup as 'the greatest political catastrophe of the twentieth century.' Putin's nostalgia is understandable. The Russian empire peaked in territory, population, military power, and prestige when it was called the Soviet Union.
Putin has mastered the art of power. Depending on what is at stake, that involves the deft wielding of appropriate or 'smart' ingredients of 'hard' physical power like armored divisions, multinational corporations, and assassins, and 'soft' psychological power like diplomats, honey-traps, cyber-trolls, and fake news factories to defeat threats and seize opportunities. Russian hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's campaign organization, extracted tens of thousands of potentially embarrassing emails, and posted them on WikiLeaks.
As the Kremlin's latest ruler, Putin, like most of his predecessors, is as realistic as he is ruthless. He knows the limits of Russian hard and soft power while constantly trying to expand them. He is doing whatever he can to advance Russian national interests as he interprets them. In Putin's mind, Russia can rise only as far as the West can fall. And on multiple fronts he is methodically advancing to those ends. Putin's Virtual War reveals just how and why he does so, and the dire consequences for America, Europe, and the world beyond.
What drives Putin? Much more than greed for money and power animates him. He is a zealous nationalist deadset to make Russia great again. He mourns the Soviet Union's breakup as 'the greatest political catastrophe of the twentieth century.' Putin's nostalgia is understandable. The Russian empire peaked in territory, population, military power, and prestige when it was called the Soviet Union.
Putin has mastered the art of power. Depending on what is at stake, that involves the deft wielding of appropriate or 'smart' ingredients of 'hard' physical power like armored divisions, multinational corporations, and assassins, and 'soft' psychological power like diplomats, honey-traps, cyber-trolls, and fake news factories to defeat threats and seize opportunities. Russian hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's campaign organization, extracted tens of thousands of potentially embarrassing emails, and posted them on WikiLeaks.
As the Kremlin's latest ruler, Putin, like most of his predecessors, is as realistic as he is ruthless. He knows the limits of Russian hard and soft power while constantly trying to expand them. He is doing whatever he can to advance Russian national interests as he interprets them. In Putin's mind, Russia can rise only as far as the West can fall. And on multiple fronts he is methodically advancing to those ends. Putin's Virtual War reveals just how and why he does so, and the dire consequences for America, Europe, and the world beyond.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
Published February 13, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 5, 2023
A good report showing where Russia stands in global terms and how it got there. There is a good, detailed view of the history along the way starting from more than a 1,000 years ago. Putin, politics, the balance of global power and trade get varying degrees of coverage, but the average citizen in Russia is scarcely mentioned. Relationships with many other global leaders and their countries are well covered.
It does not take long for the reader to establish where the author’s loyalties lay. Difficult as it may be, readers appreciate a book like this to appear to be written by an autonomous author who probably lives on the moon.
The title was the reason I chose the book and was well into it before I realised the title is to be understood in an erstwhile context.
Understandably there is a chapter covering the position between Russia and USA (annoyingly titled as ‘America’.) which briefly covers dealings with Clinton, Bush, Obama, and then Trump. The bulk of the chapter deals with the Trump saga and becomes horribly bogged down with how Trump was bad for USA and the world but good for Putin. This chapter degraded the book , so I subtracted one star.
The book clearly leans in the direction of a downhill slide for Russia, commencing during the cold war but indicates in some ways Putin has slowed the slide, but not so in matters like economy, infrastructure and the brain drain.
A good read………..if you avoid the Trump section.
It does not take long for the reader to establish where the author’s loyalties lay. Difficult as it may be, readers appreciate a book like this to appear to be written by an autonomous author who probably lives on the moon.
The title was the reason I chose the book and was well into it before I realised the title is to be understood in an erstwhile context.
Understandably there is a chapter covering the position between Russia and USA (annoyingly titled as ‘America’.) which briefly covers dealings with Clinton, Bush, Obama, and then Trump. The bulk of the chapter deals with the Trump saga and becomes horribly bogged down with how Trump was bad for USA and the world but good for Putin. This chapter degraded the book , so I subtracted one star.
The book clearly leans in the direction of a downhill slide for Russia, commencing during the cold war but indicates in some ways Putin has slowed the slide, but not so in matters like economy, infrastructure and the brain drain.
A good read………..if you avoid the Trump section.
March 8, 2022
The title suggests a discussion of the digital prowess of Putin, and though it does discuss it somewhat, I believe it falls short of the mark.
The chapter on Russia and America seemed nothing more than a rant against Trump. This makes one wonder about the objectivity of the remainder of the book.
Some topics also appeared repetitive throughout the book.
I was hoping to better understand Putin after reading this book. That goal was only somewhat achieved.
The chapter on Russia and America seemed nothing more than a rant against Trump. This makes one wonder about the objectivity of the remainder of the book.
Some topics also appeared repetitive throughout the book.
I was hoping to better understand Putin after reading this book. That goal was only somewhat achieved.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews