All the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted -- if not controlled -- by the...
All the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted -- if not controlled -- by the men who at once advise and deceive him.
The regional governors and bureaucratic leaders are immovable objects, far more powerful in their fiefdoms than the president himself. So are the gatekeepers-those officials who guard the pathways to power-on whom Putin depends as much as they rely on him. The tenuous edifice is filled with all of the intrigue and plotting of a Medici court, as enemies of the state are invented and wars begun to justify personal gains, internal rivalries, or one faction's biased advantage.
A bestseller in Russia, All the Kremlin's Men is a shocking revisionist portrait of the Putin era and a dazzling reconstruction of the machinations of courtiers running riot.
作者简介
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Mikhail Zygar is the former editor in chief of the only independent TV station in Russia, TV Rain (Dozhd). Previously, he worked for Newsweek Russia and the business daily Kommersant. Zygar was awarded the 2014 International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Girkin,Igor (later Strelkov). Key figure in Russian occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbass; charged by the Ukrainian authorities with terrorism and sanctioned by the EU; now being sued by the families of passengers killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, allegedly by forcesunder his control. (查看原文)
History seems logical in hindsight, when the outcome is known and the events are traced back to their origins. It may even seem to have a purpose, a design, whereby what happens could not have been otherwise. Its protagonists retroactively invent grounds to justify their actions. They find cause where none existed and pluck logic out of the air.
It is logic that Putin-era Russia lacks. The chain of events that I have been able to link together reveals the absence of a clear plan or strategy on the part of Putin himself or his courtiers. Everything that happens is a tactical step, a real-time response to external stimuli devoid of an ultimate objective. (查看原文)
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