Supplement scandal with Putin profile

NYT reporter Steven Lee Myers delivers a definitive profile of the Russian president.

Supplement scandal with  Putin profile

Sean Hanson, Senior Columnist

There is a faint noise worming through the air—do you hear it? It is the high-pitched whine of the Trump Automaton Model-RU5K13’s emergency alarm, buzzing in anticipation of impending destruction at the hands of a Congress forced into action by mounting evidence of collusion with Russian officials. Indeed, as of writing this, General Michael T. Flynn has fallen from grace, a potential scapegoat for a GOP that has found itself in a pressure cooker.

Who can say what else will come to light in the week until this article sees publication? The Automaton continues to whine. It aims its orange transceiver East and awaits commands from a modest figure glistening from cosmetic surgery, wielding nationalized oil companies and stained with the blood of Chechens–it is President Vladimir Putin.

Putin’s puppeteering of Trump is officially still speculation, of course, but as details of the infamous dossier released by Buzzfeed potentially become corroborated with an increasing number of information leaks, I will be hedging my bets that the dossier is more true than not. The future looks golden with the prospect of impeachment.

I would be remiss to not recommend reading material, as I do in this column, to supplement this growing scandal, and Putin is the perfect subject.

He is a figure steeped in propaganda and misinformation and deserves a harsh light trained upon him, as all grotesque creatures of the night do. Despite Trump’s insistence that The New York Times is a failing publication, the newspaper remains a reliable news source with fantastic reporting, and it is Times reporter Steven Lee Myers who brings the light to bear against Putin in his book, “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin.”

“The New Tsar” details, as the title would suggest, Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, beginning with his parents’ survival of World War II and ending with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Myers illustrates in clear terms, and to the reader’s horror, Putin’s transformation from a dark horse president appointed by the unpopular Boris Yeltsin, to a totalitarian snake of a man with a rule to rival all recent predecessors in duration and infamy, with the obvious exception of Joseph Stalin.

Putin formed a personality cult with appeals to nationalism propagated by a state-controlled media. He offered disingenuous explanations for the corrupt tendencies of his cadre of St. Petersburg associates, who he appointed as the heads of various state-controlled agencies and businesses. He relentlessly persecuted his opposition within Russia, imagined or otherwise, with trumped up charges, lengthy prison sentences and the looming specter of assassination.

He justified the war crimes perpetrated by Russian soldiers in the Russian-Chechen War by pointing to the United States’ invasion of the Middle East as justification for Russia’s own incursions. Evidently for Vladimir Putin, two wrongs do make a right.

I can really only scratch the surface of Putin’s monstrous behavior in such a brief forum; that would be Steven Lee Myers’ job, not mine. Myers spent seven years working in Russia, and “The New Tsar” shows it. It is meticulously researched, carpet-bombed with citations and includes a bibliography that takes up a fifth of my copy’s page count. It is credible stuff.

I would consider the book to be essential reading if one wishes to understand the motivations of a man who, according to United States intelligence agencies, undoubtedly had a hand in influencing the election that put Donald Trump in the White House. It is also good reading material for those with an interest in who is on Trump’s speed dial.