Two books. The subtitle of Shadow State is "Murder, mayhem and Russia's remaking of the West." It is a rip roaring and thought-provoking read, summed up in a paragraph on the back cover: "Shadow State is a riveting and alarming investigation into the methods Russia has used to wage an increasingly bold war in the UK and beyond. Award-winning journalisr and bestselling author Luke Harding shows how Vladimir Putin helped elect Donald Trump, backed Brexit and now threatens the very basis of Western democracy itself."
The subtitle for Putin's People is "How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West." Again a paragraph on the back cover sums up the narrative: "The revelatory must-read account of how Vladimir Putin and his KGB entourage amassed seemingly unstoppable power. Investigative journalist Catherine Belton traces how Putin's cronies relentlessly seized control of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political power, shut down their opponents and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West." This book is heavier going than Shadow State but the two will give a good insight into how the regime has operated and refined its reach over the past two decades. Putin's People points out that even in the 1980s, when Putin worked as a Stasi officer running illegals and acquiring Western tech in East Germany, the KGB had looked ahead and was siphoning off USSR money into Western banks etc so that it could rebuild and gain control after the fall of Communism. The KGB and what it morphed into never went away. The lies and disinformation persist.
The subtitle for Putin's People is "How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West." Again a paragraph on the back cover sums up the narrative: "The revelatory must-read account of how Vladimir Putin and his KGB entourage amassed seemingly unstoppable power. Investigative journalist Catherine Belton traces how Putin's cronies relentlessly seized control of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political power, shut down their opponents and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West." This book is heavier going than Shadow State but the two will give a good insight into how the regime has operated and refined its reach over the past two decades. Putin's People points out that even in the 1980s, when Putin worked as a Stasi officer running illegals and acquiring Western tech in East Germany, the KGB had looked ahead and was siphoning off USSR money into Western banks etc so that it could rebuild and gain control after the fall of Communism. The KGB and what it morphed into never went away. The lies and disinformation persist.
