Putin: A Biography

Guest: Philip Short has written several definitive biographies including Mao:
A Life and Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare. He latest biography is called Putin.

[@rashmigupta9]

Interesting interview but there are a few points I would like to raise.
1. Putin did say the collapse of USSR was the worst thing, but the next part of his sentence was...because millions of Russians living in other parts of Soviet Union overnight found themselves outside Russia in other countries any of which ended up being hostile.
2. Russia/Putin has same feeling of exceptionalism as USA? I have never seen any evidence of that in last 20 to 30 years. Even in present, when Russia can exercise its authority and power, they don't aim for exceptionalism but want to be treated at par, with respect and fairness.
3. Putin being ruthless dictator, ordered assassination etc...how did the author verify this as a fact?
There were a couple more, that I can't recollect right now 😀
Thanks for the nice insight.

[@brianwheeldon4643]

Great Mitch and thanks to Philip Short, a great interview and discussion.

[@fadista7063]

I will likely buy this biography as the author seems focused on balance and as he stated doing the work of gathering the facts and letting readers make up their own minds. One question I would have liked to have heard was what other route could a leader of a post soviet Rusdia have taken after having been treated with disfain by the west? Is there another path the author thinks coukd have been taken considering the deep history of western encroachment that has occurred for centuries--and still is occurring today? In other words, seeing the Minsk agreements trashed for almost a decade, what move should Russia have made and what should the Russian leadership have looked like?

[@charlesmaximus9161]

Of course you’d think it was “balanced”; you’re a leftist. As such, you and all your ilk are totally incapable of any serious or honest self-critique.

[@carriermaster1]

Thank you for the interview. It was very good!

[@brandonross400]

Despite the author's claims of being objective, which earlier made me buy and read this book, I found "Putin" to be an artful political roasting, a book very slanted against its subject. Many swipes are taken against Putin with little or no source or with just plain hearsay. It's not all this way, but the author clearly has great prejudice in writing this.
In this interview, Short frames Russia's involvement in the already 8 year civil war in Ukraine as Putin''s making a point to the U.S.; but really, the U.S., McCain and Nuland and others, were urging the nationalists in western Ukraine to "revolt," which resulted in the 200 deaths, the running out of office a democratically elected president, and the taking over of the government. In the U.S. only one person died in a direct skirmish at the White House and the event is referred to as a brutal siege by right wingers. Yet what was the Maidan Coup but a take-over by self-avowed neo-Nazi's (Right Sector, Svoboda, ....)? Putin waited 8 years, the shared 1200 mile border under duress, and Donbass Russian-Ukrainians under heavy fire. It was a response to real events, not a show of dominance. It seems plain to me that the Kremlin did not want to go into Ukraine, and Putin refused the secession of Donbass 9 years ago.
Short's summary of 2016 here is disingenuous. The Mueller Report (3 year study) and Fiona Hill as well as the recent Twitter files have completely debunked collusion between Trump and Putin. Short's talking about "whataboutism" is besides the point.
Finally, I find Short's most telling point to be "Putin is geared toward stability." I believe the U.S. State Department and Military, make Putin look like the only adult in the room, one who is deliberate and measured.
Anyway, read this book, but with both eyes.

[@roxannamarinak3156]

I really enjoyed and loved what Philip Short had to say. Nothing is ever black and white, but more gray. As he clearly pointed out to say our idealism of "American Exceptionalism" is as deadly as Russia's. It is all most karmic. We need to reevaluate how we have treated Russia in the past. Thank you so much for having him on it was very enlightening!

[@HT-zx8dn]

Great

[@nitinarvind]

Prejudice I sense.

[@user-er8dw4kq5p]

🤗👑️👁️

[@ilhamrahim9269]

26:34 this is hilarious, of course as everywhere anti semetic views existed in the USSR but Jewish people not only disproportionately supported the Bolsheviks and joined the party, after the revolution until the 1991 they were the ethnic group which was the most represented in the intelegensia and the wealthiest as well