Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Story of much-circulated photo of boy facing line of Russian riot police. "I saw a small boy on what looked like a tricycle moving through a scrum of people raining abuse on the police. Then he just stopped"
Outgoing Russian president was never the liberal reformer many hoped he was or would be. His presidency was a farce and will be a mere footnote in history. He leaves Russians demoralised, frustrated. And growing in anger
Nikita Khrushchev had the biggest chip on his shoulder of any modern leader. Which shows in this account of a visit to Chairman Mao's swimming pool, that led to a disastrous separation of Russia and China's Communist parties
Another good piece on Putinism, and Masha Gessen's new book, The Man Without a Face. Read it as a review, or just a fascinating window into the secret police mentality and milieu the Russian leader inhabits
Gregarious, smooth-talking polyglot. Ran legitimate air freight company, ferrying food and peacekeepers into world's trouble spots. Expanded into arms. Supplied both sides in Angolan civil war. Not cruel; just utterly amoral
Game theory of electoral fraud. If you put up webcams, it's a sign that you can rig the vote in less visible ways. And if the voters expect fraud, always commit more fraud than they expect. If you do less, you will seem weak
Vignette from Gessen's forthcoming book revisits death of Putin's former boss, ex-mayor of St Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak. Why did Putin ask him to go urgently to Kaliningrad, and what happened in his hotel room when he got there?
"Putin has staked his legitimacy on prosperity and order, but he seemed not to understand that a prosperous population would demand respect, too. In declaring that he would be president again, he insulted the Russian people"
Former BBC correspondent considers recent Russian history. Like many, he got the 1991 coup and Yeltsin years wrong. "I’d forgotten the lesson of history, that in Russia, attempts at reform are followed by a return to autocracy"
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the richest man in Russia when he dared confront then president Vladimir Putin. He was convicted in two Kafka-esque trials and remains in prison. This terrific piece charts the two men's clash
"Here is a not entirely frivolous suggestion: How about skipping the political science textbooks when it comes to trying to understand the former Soviet Union and instead opening up the pages of Gogol, Chekhov, and Dostoyevsky?"
German film-maker wins Vladimir Putin's confidence, shoots intimate profile. Behind the tough-guy facade he claims to discover a "joyless, exhausted" loner, soon to turn 60 and "stubbornly fending off physical decline"
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