I have mentioned before Angelo Codevilla’s persuasive argument
that the central problem with all of the various schools of American foreign
policy is that they all assume that other nations and other cultures think much
as we do, have similar expectations and values, and will react as we would to
threats and incentives. That is certainly clearly not true of Russia, which as Churchill
once famously said “is
a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.
Peter Pomerantsev, who now lives in London, is of Russian extraction
and spent a decade in Russia working as a writer and producer. His new book Nothing
is True and Everything is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia,
is a revealing look into Putin’s new Russia, part Tsarist empire, part Mafia
gang, part surreal PR construct. It is a
well written book, almost lyrical in parts, but it is a very important book in
light of Russia’s new aggressive stance in the world.
Russia, of course, is a wounded bear, perhaps even a
mortally wounded bear. Its economy and its infrastructure are in shambles, massive
corruption is endemic at all levels from the President himself to the lowest bureaucrat
or policemen, and it faces a serious demographic decline with a rapidly aging
population. President Putin or whomever replaces him will have to use extreme
measures to maintain power amidst the decay and decline, and aggression toward
the West will no doubt be a central feature for years or decades to come.
Russia lacks the economic power to support a major war, but it is still quite
capable of causing endless troubles along its own borders, and given its (historically
understandable) paranoia about the West, will no doubt do so.
In the light of that, anything which helps us understand the
differing world view of Russians is
important, and that is why this book is important.
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