First as tragedy. Putin is executing a strategy reminiscent of Stalin’s era, purging perceived threats and dissenters rather than demoting or firing them. There is an emphasis on a deepening autocracy and a rise in state propaganda.
The speaker notes that Putin views himself as a strong leader who will restore Russia’s place in the world. Beyond the military, the Russian civil society has also seen a steady increase in restrictions and suppression. Websites are being blocked, arrests are more frequent, and harsh sentences are being given to dissidents.
📻 Listen to Times Radio – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio
📍 Subscribe to our channel – http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTjDhFuGXlhx9Us0gq0VK2w?sub_confirmation=1
🗞 Subscribe to The Times Times.Radio/Subscribe
📲 Get the free Times Radio app https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/how-to-listen-to-times-radio/app
source
Once again, an excellent, informative interview with an expert on Russian history, Anna Reid. Ms. Reid provided the historical context of Stalin’s heinous governance and purges with regards to Putin’s Mass imprisonments and disappearances of Russians and Ukrainians.
As an American who is a Republican and Trump supporter with leanings towards isolationism, Times Radio interview of Russian historian, Anna Reid, on the history of the Russian-Ukrainian War educated me on its historical context and opened my eyes regarding the nature of this conflict. Consequently, I have moved away from my isolationism and am more supportive of my country’s ongoing support for Ukrainian victory and survival as a free, sovereign nation. Thank you, Times Radio, for your valuable service! I wish more Americans would listen to and watch your substantive interviews. Most American news broadcasts are short, shallow and cursory presentations of the current, surface facts of the Russian-Ukrainian War.
An interesting idea I heard once, was that in dictatorships, even the dictator is ,in some ways, a victim. The dictator (be it Putin, or NKoreas dictator, or Xi of China) has very few options in dealing with situations. They are not free and are victims of this form of government that forces them to always be afraid of the "security services" throwing them out a window.
Remember, Putin's goal is not to win the war. It is survival.
Russia can lose, but if he survives, that is success.
Simply brilliant
Ukraine has outgrown Russia and is tired of Russia's controlling and disrespectful behavior and that is putting these issues mildly considering the immensity of Russia's sins !
Russia is such a predator, they deserve the same treatment they give to others. Fortunately, there are not many cultures as brutal as them. Mordor just eats itself, that is their worse punishment
I think the reason that the West persistently gets it wrong is because they don't understand Russian mentality. Also I think Russians are very proud of their country, and don't feel inferiority at all, in fact I believe they feel the opposite. They feel moral and philosophical, and educational superiority. This is how they can ignore so much from the West. And the West has been ignoring Putin's complaints about NATO expansion, and the end of the ABM treaty for decades. I don't think we'll ever figure each other out if we keep ignoring each other.
You little liar saying Trump was persuaded that Ukraine was not a country. Obama GAVE Putin Crimea. Hot mic video: "Tell Vladimir I'll have more flexibility after the election." THEN Crimea was invaded. Obama would NOT give Ukraine lethal aid to defend itself. Trump gave them the anti-tank missiles to defend themselves without which there would be NO Ukraine today. Trump went after NATO deadbeats. Trump told Germany in the UN that they are setting themselves up for political blackmail in which the German delegation is on video laughing and wagging their heads. Trump is on video in the NATO meeting later saying, "You want us to help defend you but you are feeding the forces you want us to help you defend against." (crickets). See them for yourself. Trump rebuilt US nuclear and conventional forces and got the corruption out of the F-35 program and to be a real product. Trump took out the caliphate and the #1 terrorist of Iran. Trump brought peace out of the Democratic Party "Arab Spring", Benghazi lies, and peace between Israel and their neighbors. Trump forced a level playing field which got the Europe, Japan, and China from living off the backs of Americans which made him hated. Trump championed parent-enabled education back to school instead of the decadent social engineering of today and the EU.
YOU TUBE: THE MAN FROM LA MANCHA: "Don Quixoto chasing windmills." _ Don Quixoto subdued the windmills in order to win Dulcinea's love and establish the kingdom. Putin went to war to win the Ukraine for his mistress. _ Prigozin was a failed Sancho, …. a bumbler!
Since after the Cold War, there has been a faction of intelligence communities that warned that Russia hadn’t changed its spots. But humans have an inability to act upon facts that clearly define an entity’s evil intentions, yet are unable to act. Cults are like that. Humans become mesmerized and fall into line behind the insanity any kook, just as long as they are relieved of critical thinking. Great interview!
Read “Stalin’s Daughter” by Rosemary Sullivan about his youngest child, Svetlana Alliluyueva. She defected from the USSR in 1967 to the US carrying her memoir when she was 40 and lived and died in the US in 2015. It’s very well written and gives a fascinating view of Stalin, the father, the dictator and how she viewed the events around her from the view of a little girl, a teenager and then a young woman. Stalin had most of her mother’s family exterminated as part of his paranoid purge. It’s a great read and because it was published in the US, it escaped Putin’s army of misinformation it’s.
Hopefully, the other top ranking Russian officers will be thinking – I may be next – and act accordingly. But that would be wishful thinking. They are like lemmings and will be blindly led to the cliff’s edge and when told to jump, will jump! So. That’s a good thig!
Kate in red oh my gosh, a direct hit
No deal.
Russia out.
The empire is finished.
He hasn't learned much. Putins an altar boy in comparison to Stalin. IE. Stalin would have had murdered 75 to 100,000 by midnight, before talking top a camera.
British establishment hate the French and Russians, Nazis and Japanese are their chums.
Free Julian Assange.
❤ to Russia from the UK Hasta La Victoria Siempre ✌
700,000 people died during Stalin's great purge. Putin's actions are not reminiscent of Stalin's actions.
I dislike experts who just talk to fill air time.
Trump and DeSantis aren't as much genuinely isolationist as they are pro-Putin. They admire him. They want to be like him. They see him as an ally. They want their own private mercenary/militia groups like Putin. They welcome and amplify Russian propaganda. They constantly gaslight and project like Putin always shifting blame for their misdeeds to their enemies with baseless conspiracy theories about false flag operations and promoting dubious "what-about" false equivalencies. They want to be above the law, but want to lock their opposition up like Putin. They use revisionist history and bigotry for political gain like Putin. They oppose democracy and human rights like Putin. They pretend to be manly tough guys like Putin. They pretend to be victims like Putin.
We in the west need to wake up to the fact that many of the far-right movements in our countries align themselves politically and philosophically with Putin and his hatred of Western values.
Is Anna Reed describing the UK or USA from 20:40 to 22:00?
47,000 casualties? Errr?
Great interview. I wish we all had the noble courage, solidarity and unity of the Ukrainian people facing terrible circimstaces. In France, where I live, I see a country divided, selfish people who would readily sacrifice the lives of others just to pay less at the pump, I see young people only desiring more consumerism and fashionable brands and those who will smash shop windows to satisfy that desire.
Astonishing !The level of disinformation, outrageous lies, absolutely disgusting ! So called, interviewer and SO CALLED HISTORIAN. Well, when you have an incredible ignorant, xenophobic public, you have to feed them more and more lies. Again, is astonishing the level of brain washing done in the west by so called "free Media" and those trolls of it.
Power is important of course, but he has all the power, and, so now he's trying to create the myth. There's no empire without Ukraine. But Ukraine is now prepared and united so they aren't interested in Putin's dreaming. We have to give them everything they need. They are going to bury Putin.
Yes, it's not just propaganda. It's still the same pre-modern, Tsarist horde it was when the Bolsheviks seized control of what was left of it in 1917. There's no need to decipher anything. Russia masquerades as a nation-state and the West goes along with the charade. The political arrangement has not changed in over 400 years. It's a pyramid of power, 1/2 the population as civil servants / enforcers and enablers of that power, and the other 1/2 slaves to that power who thanklessly and cynically are used and manipulated to maintain the existence of their powerful overlords. There could have been over 100 years of progress in that "incredibly large country" since the end of ww1, instead, we get nothing but men whose minds are cemented in the past, and incapable of absorbing or considering anything new or different. In other words, power is transferred, then fought over, then secured, built, and protected, just like the Romanov-Soviet horde has been doing since at least 1613. They can call it whatever they want. There's nothing democratic about it and there never was, the "Soviet" era of this horde never had anything to do with "the people," so we need to stop imagining Russia through our assumptions. We need to stop expecting anything different from these men other than what we have gotten from them and those like them over the last 400 years.
All historians agree Russia steals land
Why do we keep letting them get away with it?
It sounds like wealthy people both west and east are behind it!
I could watch Kate 24/7. I think there are 2 things people need to keep in mind that she mentioned. 1)The population of Russia does not know the real facts. 2)And if you look at history, as she mentioned, MILLIONS of people were executed, and millions died in the war with Finland and WWII. Losing millions of troops does not change the way the ruler thinks. Not 1%. Ukraine trying to bleed Russia into quitting in Bakmut, etc, is a waste of time.
Everyone is smaller than Russia. You can’t be wrong saying that lol
This lady is brilliant and knows history from a to z. She’s remarkable.
The guest is a wonderfully interesting person – please invite her more🙏.