Veteran journalist and author
Joseph C. Goulden offers a review in the Washington Times of Shaun Walker’s The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past.
Fellow writers take note:
Your work is being monitored every day by a Russian agency that formerly was
part of the Russian SVR foreign intelligence service, successor to the KGB of
the old Soviet Union.
Officers examine the world’s
press, searching for instances of what they term to be “Russophobia,” loosely
defined as anything critical of the regime of President Vladimir Putin.
The agency’s director, Igor
Nikolaichuk, maintains what is tantamount to an enemy list, ranking other
nations’ hostility to Russia. One listing he displayed to Shaun Walker, author
of this insightful look into Mr. Putin’s Russia, ranked Austria as the most
hostile, followed closely by the U.S.
Depicting the West — and its
“controlled press” — as an enemy scheming to overthrow Russia is one of the
methods enabling Mr. Putin to maintain a considerable popularity. He is
essentially unopposed as he seeks a fourth term in March, which would keep him in
office until 2024.
Mr. Walker, a reporter for
the Guardian, a British newspaper, has worked in Russia for two decades. His
portrayal of Mr. Putin’s rule is based on interviews throughout Russia, from
the Pacific shores to Europe. The man has astounding courage — seeking out, for
instance, Chechen thugs who would happily put a bullet into his head.
You can read the rest of the
review via the below link:
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