[Category:Books]
Trip 1
Putin is reluctant to criticize his predecessors, his rivals, and other individuals who come up during the interview. Rather, he tends to criticize decisions, organizations, and outcomes, but speak positively or neutrally about individuals who come up.
After graduating from High School, Putin attended law school. This must have something do with the frequency with which he responds to events from a legal perspective (rather than a realpolitik perspective, for example). Examples:
- In the first interview, Putin claims that, after the fall of the Soviet Union and before he came to power, there was rapid, corrupt privatization of many industries. Putin claims that when he came to power, he met with the business leaders and told them that he would not reclaim the property that was taken, since what happened was legal, if corrupt, but that a new era was beginning in which there would be greater social responsibility from these companies. Interestingly, he claims that most business leaders were supportive of this policy, and that the ones who were not supportive were those who were not good at business, but rather in making money through corruption with the government.
- He cites the UN Charter and UN legal precedent when comparing the cases of Kosovo and Crimea, and how these similar cases were handled with regards to the right to self-determination (Article 1, Section 2).
- He cites international law having to do with cases in which a foreign vessel is considered sovereign territory (e.g. military vessels) and when they are not (merchant vessels in international waters), in the context of whether or not a hypothetical passenger plane carrying Edward Snowden could be rightfully forced to land by the United States (it could, in Putin’s view). Also notable about this was that the United States did force Bolivian leader Evo Morales’s plane to land in response to rumors that Snowden was on board.
- He sites extradition law with the United States, and contrasts it with the treaty Russia has with Armenia. This is also in regards to whether or not Edward Snowden would, under any circumstances, be extradited to the U.S. Putin says that he would not under any circumstances be extradited, even if a new extradition treaty were signed between the U.S. and Russia, citing ex post facto laws as his rationale.
The time in which he most seems to be deliberately and clearly lying so far is in the case of what party was responsible for shooting down a Malaysian Airlines plane over Ukraine, using Russian weapons. Besides that, while his interpretation of events can be argued, the facts he sites are for the most part confirmed by the publisher/fact-checkers.
So far, this is one of the most fascinating books I’ve started for some time.
Memorable Quotes
- “The important thing is not how much power you have, but how you use the power you do have.” (paraphrased)