Walter LaqueurReseñas

900 LAQ 1/2

1/26/23

Putinism: Russia and Its Future with the West, by Walter Laqueur is a fascinating exploration of the reasons that Russia, whether under the Czars, the former Soviet Union or post-Soviet iterations has never been “able to get its act together.” Russia default mode is towards entropy of one kind or another, with a rich history of alcohol abuse, xenophobia, and zapadophobia (fear of the West). This has resulted in an ability to form alliances or relationships with other countries that are not contentious; unless they are in a dominating or controlling mode.

This malevolent history harks back at least to such Czarist era author and poets as Nikolay Danilevsky (1822-1885), Alexander Pushkin (author of, among other poems, To the Slanderers of Russia) and Georgy Fedotov. The core belief is of Russia being a “great” country, an empire. Russia is not content to be a country with a comfortable standard of living, but not much dominant power.
Around 1990-1, there was great expectation for Russia to democratize, to become a “normal” country, a member of the community of nations. Laquer makes a great case that this was a triumph of hope over experience, much like a third marriage after a succession of divorces.

Among other shortcomings, Russia lacks a real economy. Instead it is a gas station, a petrostate. Laquer expresses little hope for its economy if oil prices remained in the $50 per barrel area. The book was written in 2015; oil has fluctuated around $55-$60, far below the level of $90 - $140 which would be optimal for Russia.

Some international theorists have postulated that the West lost a historic opportunity by not integrating Russia into NATO, and expanding NATO’s reach to the Baltic states. Walter Laquer dismissing these as wishful thinking.

The book earns “four stars” on Goodreads from me. The book was excellent but could have used a proofread. The book has typographical errors. Even within the space of two pages, the book frequently diverges from chronological order; confusing in any book partially about history.
But recommended, even mandatory reading for those with a serious interest in Russia or international politics.

Újabb recenzióm az Azonnalin, a változatossag kedvéért egy kis kremlinológia.

https://azonnali.hu/cikk/2022052_mivel-hoditotta-meg-putyin-az-oroszok-tulnyomo-...

Published in 2015 in the wake of Russia’s seizure of Crimea, this book provides key background on the causes of Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It reviews Russia’s intellectual, political, religious and economic history in examining Russia’s current political and economic conditions and prospects as well as the emergence of “putinism” as the current ideology.

While the book goes back into the very beginnings of Russian history, the main context is provided by the collapse of the Soviet Union and Putin’s acquisition of power. Laqueur focuses on the economic conditions which played a key role in these developments. The decline of oil and gas prices in the 1980s contributed to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, and their recovery in the 21st century made possible Putin’s attempt to restore Russian greatness. One of the might-have-beens he discusses is whether the Soviet Union might have muddled through with less reformist leadership in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., a Chernenko rather than a Gorbachev) until the recovery of oil and gas made its economy viable again. Another theme is the disillusionment with democracy in Russia. The initial period in the 1980s was characterized by chaos in the political system and oligarchs taking advantage of the cheap sale of state assets. As a result, many Russians today continue to believe that strong central leadership is more important than democracy to the governance of the country.

Laqueur clearly lays out the current power structure in Russia. The oligarchs, while wealthy, are dependent on Putin and do not have an independent political base. The real power structure consists of the sloviki, the individuals who serve in government and are the key advisors to Putin. Because of corruption, these individuals have wealth that may exceed that of the oligarchs, but they keep their wealth in Russia and have a lower profile.

But the central theme of the book is the effort to develop an ideology for Russia in the 21st century. Laqueur examines each of the elements that contribute to this effort including traditional Russian nationalism, distrust of the West, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church, the myth that Russia is a Eurasian society and the theory of geopolitics. The result is what is called “the Russian idea” which in its extreme (and perhaps current) forms views Russia as having a Messianic mission. And part of that mission is restoring the greatness of the Russian Empire, including reasserting Russia’s dominance over the geographic coverage of the Soviet Union.

Ranging back and forth across Russia’s history, Laqueur introduces us to the thinkers and movements that extend primarily from the 19th century to the present. It is a fascinating range of characters but also foreboding for the extreme ideology that has emerged from their work.

The book reflects the author’s long engagement not only with Russian history but with the nature and history of fascism and European and global politics. But the book is marred by a lack of editing. Laqueur bounces back and forth between individuals and historical factors which leads to some confusion as well as repetition. Nevertheless, this is still an excellent book for understanding the causes of the current conflict.½

JG-6

JG-6

This is a history of the fringe right in Russia. Laqueur sketches out some nineteenth Century background but then digs in deep for the period around 1905. He then skips pretty much from 1915 to 1985. A bit about Solzhenitzyn in the 60s and 70s and a few other biographical sketches through those years in between. But then he dives in again with considerable detail, up until 1992. He sketches some possibilities for the future, seen from that time when he wrote this book.

I am far from any kind of scholar of Russian history. My knowledge is pretty much high school level. There are a lot of Russian names in this book! I looked up on-line where the Don River flows! Certainly I am in no position to guess what Laqueur might have skipped over or distorted. I will say, he goes through the history in a way that he doesn't leave behind even a rather thorough ignoramus such as myself. This is a pretty interesting perspective from which to catch up on a bit more world history than a person probably learns in a high school in the USA!

Vladimir Putin does not appear in the book, but Alexander Dugin does several times.

Laqueur doesn't quite foresee the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world, and the spread of fringe thinking. Well, the world wide web hardly existed in 1993. But the political dynamics in the USA today does eerily echo that of Russia around 1990. Anybody interested in exploring the parallels sketched by Dmitri Orlov would do well to look at this book. I just saw some comments by Peter Turchin on current events - things can get a lot worse! History may not repeat - actually Laqueur discusses how Russian will have developed some immunity to any attraction to e.g. Nazi memorabilia... but history sure can rhyme!

«Non sapevamo, e quando abbiamo saputo era ormai troppo tardi». Quante volte abbiamo sentito questa risposta quando abbiamo domandato perché‚ sei milioni di ebrei sono stati lasciati completamente soli nelle mani del mostro nazista! Questo libro dimostra che non era affatto vero che nessuno sapeva. Gli Alleati sapevano, i neutrali sapevano, gli ebrei dei paesi liberi sapevano. Ma nessuno voleva crederci, nessuno voleva parlarne. Chi sapeva non ha voluto alzare la propria voce, chi sapeva non ha voluto far nulla per chi soffocava nelle camere a gas. Si è preferito il silenzio alla denuncia, al soccorso, all'azione. Così Hitler ha potuto attuare indisturbato la sua «soluzione finale». E quanti uomini, quante donne, quanti bambini avrebbero potuto essere salvati se almeno fossero stati avvertiti in tempo dell'atroce destino a cui andavano incontro? (fonte: Giuntina)

Questo "Dizionario" rappresenta un risultato degli studi sul genocidio degli ultimi vent'anni e intende offrire con estremo rigore scientifico un'analisi globale delle persecuzioni naziste contro gli ebrei, concentrandosi sugli argomenti cruciali senza trascurare specifici avvenimenti politici, luoghi e individui (fonte: Google Books)

I wish I could rate this higher. I came to it through Walter Laqueur's association with the Wiener Holocaust Library, and I have the utmost respect for his work there. I also think this is a subject growing in importance, and I wanted some insight. But I really struggled with this book's writing. As another reviewer stated, it raises more questions than it does answers--and not in the good way. Laqueur makes many references to things that he doesn't explain and even from sentence to sentence, things don't always seem to relate to each other or seem to contradict each other. In fact, it felt more like a stream-of-consciousness journal entry than a book; that could be an excellent starting point, but whoever the editor was did not do their job and turn it into a book. At the very least, footnotes would have helped a lot; I read with my phone by my side so I could look up an unfamiliar minor historical figure or event every few pages, but I wish I hadn't had to do that. Weirdly for a book that I felt did not go into enough detail about anything, there was a lot of repetition as well.

I really think this is a case of an editor not doing their job. There is a lot here that's worthwhile (such as the various kinds of antisemitism throughout history), but the shapelessness of the writing makes it difficult to get to.

Really interesting book. Worth reading if you want to know more about the current Russia.

This excellent interpretation of the Soviet Union does not provide a strict narrative but organizes the story around important topics. Laqueur reviews the initial romance and enthusiasm for the revolution that wore off overtime, whether there were other options in 1917, and how and why the Soviet Union fell. He discusses the totalitarian nature of the Soviet Union and whether it had ceased to be totalitarian. He criticized Western Sovietology, not for failing to see the collapse coming because that entailed accidents of history (such as the rise to power of Gorbachev) that cannot be predicted by social science, but for the use of models and ideological bias that prevented it from seeing the seriousness of the problems faced by the Soviet Union. Individual chapters also address the calculation of the number of victims, the nationalist revival that was the final but not only cause of the end of the Soviet Union and a case study on the collapse of East Germany in which he again criticizes Western social scientists.

Book Review from the December 1956 issue of the Socialist Standard:

http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2017/09/communism-and-nationalism-i...

I used this book as a part of a term paper. Being that it was published in 1959, it provides strong insight into Soviet policy and events prior to then, namely the late Stalin and early Khrushchev years. For that, it has a strong discourse, but lacks historical hindsight. So, if you are looking for events and a policy overview from WWII to the late 1950s, this book suits your needs.

Spændende overvejelser om Europas fremtid i lyset af krisen og indvandringen.½

Laqueur's main thesis in the book is to answer the question of how Europe recovered from the destruction of the Second World War and why it went as it did. As he notes, it was widely believed in 1945 that it would take decades for the continent to recover, and even then it would never recover its position within the world.

To answer the question, Laqueur heavily involves economics; indeed it is the predominant aspect of the book. He details why certain political parties were able to come to power in the states of Western Europe (naturally focusing above all on the UK, France, Italy and West Germany). At the same time he examines the economics of the Communist Bloc, and why they were not able to keep up with the west.

The book was published in 1992 and though it mentions the August 1991 coup attempt in the USSR, it doesn't have much information past 1990. But that makes it a useful resource to gain an insight into the mood and historiography of the time towards post-war Europe. It also notes several trends that are still of concern today, notably the future of the EU (or EEC, as it was still known at the time), integration of the former communist states with the rest of Europe, immigration, and the effects of a recent recession.

As noted, it places a heavy focus on the four major states of Western Europe, while only briefly touching on the others (Scandinavia, Spain, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland), and while it does discuss Eastern Europe, details are, as noted, hard to come by and verify. As well it places almost an undue amount of focus on economics, with a lot of numbers and figures listed but not always placed in the right context. Other than that, it makes for an interesting read, especially with the benefit of two decades of hindsight in regards to the collapse of communism and the USSR.

Durante gli anni della Repubblica di Weimar ( 1918-1933) la Germania elaborò la prima cultura autenticamente moderna, le cui realizzazioni ebbero profondi e duraturi effetti in innumerevoli settori, dall' architettura al teatro e al cinema, dal pensiero sociale alla scienza. Fu il periodo dell'espressionismo e di Einstein, di Thomas Mann e di Bertolt Brecht, della psicoanalisi e del neomarxismo della musica atonale e della Bauhaus, di Max Reinhardt e di Marlene Dietrich: anni quindi di vitalità creativa senza precedenti, ricchi di contenuti ma tuttavia non privi di contraddizioni intrinseche e di ombre inquietanti. L'evoluzione della Repubblica di Weimar, infatti, rappresentò in un certo senso la parabola della prima società permissiva della storia, che, forse proprio in quanto tale, produsse essa stessa gli impulsi che ne avrebbero provocato la violenta dissoluzione. Le strutture dell'establishment accademico rimasero sempre, nel loro complesso, sostanzialmente ostili alla Repubblica e a tutto ciò che essa rappresentava. Parallelamente alla cultura d'avanguardia e, in senso lato, « di sinistra », ne andò quindi gradualmente emergendo un'altra, di ispirazione contraria, rivolta contro tutto ciò che si configurava come « modernismo », assimilato in pratica al «bolscevismo » e con esso poi completamente identificato; e fu questa seconda cultura, che si richiamava ai valori dell'irrazionalismo, del sentimento, della «fede », a polarizzare intorno a sé strati sempre più vasti di un'opinione pubblica che istintivamente avversava gli innovatori fermenti politici e culturali e auspicava
una società « ordinata » che esprimesse uno Stato « forte ». L'opera di Walter Laqueur costituisce la prima, penetrante indagine della « cultura di Weimar» nella sua globalità, intesa nel senso più ampio di vita sociale di quel complesso e turbinoso periodo. Ne risulta, in un'avvincente esposizione dove l'approccio critico ai problemi si unisce felicemente a un'elegante agilità narrativa, un panorama esauriente delle ideologie, delle tematiche e dei movimenti che sono alla radice della cultura contemporanea.

From my perspective, the book was valuable in that it discussed difficult topics for the avg. citizen to assess when confronted with the information about Genocide; determining the legitimacy of the information, validation, belief/acknowledgement, and what to do next and/or what can be done next dependent upon your station in life.

An important addition to any collection about Hitler.

Decent commentary, but more of an overview. Very objective, a good read for amateur historians.

In these book Laquer traces Zionism from its beginnings with the emancipation of European jewry from the ghettos in the wake of the French Revolutioin.

2448 Europe in Our Time: A History 1945-1992, by Walter Laqueur (read 27 May 1992) This is a survey and doesn't mess around with too many specific facts. It did not tell me too much I did not know, but it was fun to realize there was to be an upbeat ending to the book. The transformation of Europe is one of the great stories of the age. The author is a Georgetown professor. This was a good book to read.½

Interesting for covering some of the more obscure fascist groups