The Foreign Service Journal, May 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2016 73 The Why of Putin The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin Steven Lee Myers, Knopf, 2015, $32.50, hardcover, 572 pages Reviewed By Josh Glazeroff When you open this comprehensive biography of Vladimir Putin, you’ll see a map of the Soviet Union before 1991. This map is a striking reminder of how much has changed for Russia in 25 years. If you, like Putin, believe that “the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century,” then the map represents a lost world, some- thing to be remembered and treasured. It’s an almost fantastical experience to look back, and then realize that today the Baltic nations not only no lon- ger answer to Moscow, they are members of NATO. These changes to the world map, whatever one’s view of them, are central to Putin’s world view and his reign as the new “tsar.” That is at the heart of this excel- lent book by longtime Russia watcher Steven Lee Myers. Putin, the son of a World War II fighter, grows up without resources or huge opportuni- ties. He moves from being a low-level KGB operative in Germany to managing the administrative work of the senior politician in St. Petersburg, and then (almost miraculously) becomes Boris Yeltsin’s prime minister and successor. Putin’s rise is not predictable or reproducible, but its effects on his reign are significant. He is tied to the people he can trust, those he knows from his days in St. Petersburg (once Leningrad), those who have worked with him or for him for years. He is not beholden to money men as much as he is tied to them intimately. He derives much of his political power from his knowledge and insight into everyone’s affairs. He manipulates events to further his vision of the country as a strong actor on the world stage. He steps into a position occupied by a seriously ailing drunk, Yeltsin, and exudes a sense of stability and rigor. The set-piece photo shoots—Putin bringing amphorae up from the Black Sea, Putin leading migrating birds to their new home, Putin always with his shirt off—dem- onstrate the cleverly controlled spectacle and vision of the man and his office. Accountability is hard to find in an atmo- sphere of deliberate obfuscation. Putin’s move from the presidency to the prime ministership and back to the presi- dent’s chair is political masterwork, but unthinkable in our definition of a democ- racy. Putin not only has a ghostwriter complete his dissertation, but plagiarizes entire sections; his approach to academ- ics is just as indifferent to Western norms as his approach to war in Ukraine. It is difficult for Americans to under- stand Putin or his worldview. We cannot anticipate action A will lead to response B when we do not see “A” as the same letter. I appreciate the insights Steven Lee Myers offers. I recommend the book highly for those who have not studied Russia and also just as highly for those who already have Russia experience. The level of detail and discussion of person- alities is deep and thoughtful. Picture the world of 2020—will that map be the same as today’s? After read- ing this book, I am not so certain. With President Putin in his chair for perhaps many more years to come, there is a level of uncertainty that U.S. policymakers must internalize and resolve. Josh Glazeroff is a Foreign Service officer who has served in Santo Domingo, Durban, New Delhi and Washington, D.C. He previ- ously served on the FSJ Editorial Board and is a current member of the AFSA Governing Board. The How of Soviet Spies Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence Jonathan Haslam, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2015, $30, hardcover, 400 pages. Reviewed By James Morris In 2014, Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Volodin ominously declared, “There is no Russia today if there is no Putin.” In Western media, Putin can be many things: a KGB spymaster outfox- ing the hapless West at every step, a doomed Soviet-era Don Quixote chasing Brezhnev-era windmills or a post- modern Big Brother building an empire of lies. But there is little disagreement among pundits that Putin is central to Russia’s current course, and that the two BOOKS Putin’s move from the presidency to the prime ministership and back to the president’s chair is political masterwork, but unthinkable in our definition of a democracy.