The man without a face
by Masha Gessen, Marcos Pérez Sánchez, Juan Manuel Ibeas Delgado · first published 2012
100% recommend
This is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. Handpicked by the "family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progr
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…https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VMZYK13/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... 2) Bill Browder: Red Notice https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O30HFT2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... 3) Masha Gessen: Several books, but I particularly liked Man without a Face https://www.amazon.com/Masha-Gessen/e/B001H6MBXK
on “The Suspected Poisoning of Alexey Navalny, Putin’s Most Prominent Adversary” ↗…the CIA in charge, imprisoned the Koch brothers, invaded Mexico twice, held a series of sham elections, stayed in power for decades, and was rumored to be one of the richest people on the planet. "The Man Without a Face" by Masha Gessen is a great read on Putin's rise to power. http://smile.amazon.com/The-Man-Without-Face-Unlikely/dp/159...
on “Let Snowden Come Home” ↗I really enjoyed parts of Man Without a Face, especially the details on his early life and how/why he was chosen by Yeltsin.
on “The Suspected Poisoning of Alexey Navalny, Putin’s Most Prominent Adversary” ↗…is written by an American, John O. Koehler "Stasi, the Untold Story of The East German Secret Police". The second is written by Markus Wolfe, who was a Spymaster for the Stasi, and it is called, "The man without a face". Both are particularly good as resources, and cover the time period in the various perspectives up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in the 90s (starting late 1989). The threats which sparked McCarthyism…
on “Prelude to McCarthyism: The Making of a Blacklist (2006)” ↗…your looking for a good starting point historically on the Communist perspective, reading about the Stasi and then moving backwards from there might be beneficial. Markus Wolfe from the Communist Side (Man without a Face), and John O. Koehler on the American Side as a useful comparison.
on “The bewildering phenomenon of declining quality” ↗