This post jumps the queue and comes ahead of other “fluff” I was planning to write – simply because I happened to visit one of the world’s largest public libraries and read a really good book. “Putin’s Russia” by Anna Politkovskaya is truly an outstanding book. More of a human rights activist than a journalist, Anna paints a picture of life in a totalitarian society. Anna was bumped off in Moscow, because she knew too much, just like Litvinenko.
The book begins with a narration of some bone-chilling tales from the Russian army and goes on to describe civilian life in Russia’s far-flung provinces (not to mention, Moscow as well). Anna seems to mince no words as she describes the ruthless attitude exhibited by the Russian oligarchs – all down to the finest detail. I haven’t discussed this with other readers, but certainly the contents of the book cast a pall of gloom over my mind for a while. She has saved THE most shocking descriptions for the final chapters on the Chechen wars, nay, genocide I must say. Anna also seems to hold Europeans (Italians, particularly) in very low opinion, as evident from a line somewhere in the book.
The book is highly reminiscent of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four, and Putin’s KGB-esque behavior actually made me think of him as the new-age Stalin. With guys like Dubya and Putin in power, an Orwellian future doesn’t seem that distant after all.
