Behind Putin S Curtain

"Journalist Orth delivers a jaunty description of his travels...[that] armchair travelers will enjoy." —Publishers Weekly “Funny, insightful, and mind-bendingly entertaining. Stephan Orth is a fearless and fabulous tour guide to the real Russia and its people." —Lisa Dickey, author of Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys across a Changing Russia

‘In the late summer of 2016,’ writes award-winning travel writer Stephan Orth, ‘a journey to Russia feels like visiting enemy territory.’ In this humorous and thought-provoking book, Orth ventures through that vast and mysterious land to uncover the real, unfiltered Russia not seen in today’s headlines: authentic, bizarre, dangerous, and beautiful. Sidestepping the well-trod tourist path by staying with an eclectic array of hosts, he bumps into gun nuts, internet conspiracy theorists, faux shamans, and Putin fans; learns to drive in death-defying Russian style; and discovers how to cure hangovers by sniffing rye bread. But he also sees a darker side of the country, witnessing firsthand the effects of Putin’s influence in the run-up to the American election and the power of propaganda in this ‘post-fact’ era. Weaving everything together with thoughtfulness and warmth, Orth follows the bestselling Couchsurfing in Iran with another complex, funny, and personal travelogue – a colourful portrait of a fascinating and misunderstood country. ‘Funny, insightful, and mind-bendingly entertaining. Stephan Orth is a fearless and fabulous tour guide to the real Russia and its people.’—Lisa Dickey, author of Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys across a Changing Russia ‘Quirky, subtly revealing ... Amazing reporting, generous pictures, and the author's true sense of connection with the locals add up to a truly honest view of Russia today.’—Kirkus Reviews

What happens when you take three award-winning improvisational comedians, (Illustrated Men) and with the use of improvisational methods have them create a wild assortment of hilarious tales involving out of work hotel managers, political impersonators and blind musicians, flying dragons and dancing bears, dashed Olympic dreams and mass alien abductions, all wrapped together in the form or funny letters and their corresponding materials? Read along through these streams of storytelling as David Huband, Adrian Truss, and Bruce Hunter weave an alternative reality that keeps you laughing and on your toes. As you read you realize you are in the moment like the characters themselves and especially the writers, who have no idea where the situations are going to go. But because of the Men's ability to move like water, in the final malaise, Illustrated Men bring all the stories together for a glorious and hysterical finale. Note: Trump is only mentioned once. You?re welcome.

This edited collection contributes to the current vivid multidisciplinary debate on East European memory politics and the post-communist instrumentalization and re-mythologization of World War II memories. The book focuses on the three Slavic countries of post-Soviet Eastern Europe – Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – the epicentre of Soviet war suffering, and the heartland of the Soviet war myth. The collection gives insight into the persistence of the Soviet commemorative culture and the myth of the Great Patriotic War in the post-Soviet space. It also demonstrates that for geopolitical, cultural, and historical reasons the political uses of World War II differ significantly across Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, with important ramifications for future developments in the region and beyond. The chapters 'Introduction: War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus', ‘From the Trauma of Stalinism to the Triumph of Stalingrad: The Toponymic Dispute over Volgograd’ and 'The “Partisan Republic”: Colonial Myths and Memory Wars in Belarus' are published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com. The chapter 'Memory, Kinship, and Mobilization of the Dead: The Russian State and the “Immortal Regiment” Movement' is published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

Cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton tells battlefront stories from the global war being conducted through clicks, swipes, internet access, technical backdoors and massive espionage schemes. She investigates the cyberwarriors who are planning tomorrow’s attacks, weaving a fascinating tale of Artificial Intelligent mutations carrying out attacks without human intervention, “deepfake” videos that look real to the naked eye, and chatbots that beget other chatbots. Finally, Payton offers readers telltale signs that their most fundamental beliefs are being meddled with and actions they can take or demand that corporations and elected officials must take before it is too late. The updated paperback edition, including new information on real world cases of AI, chatgpt, tiktok, and all the latest and greatest exploits of manipulation campaigns, will leave readers both captivated and chilled to the bone.

It's time for Americans to recognize, and accept, that Russia is waging war with America. In fact, President Vladimir Putin has already authorized an action plan for victory. Intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler--an expert on Russian doctrine and intelligence strategy who was born in the former Societ Union--shows us that Russia's subversive activity in America is increasing. Social media manipulation is a very small piece of a much larger puzzle that, when put together, reveals a highly-coordinated strategy to defeat the United States without firing a shot or sending missiles to awaken a sleeping populace.

In light of many crises in the last two decades, including democratic recession, climate change, economic crises, and massive waves of migration affecting perceptions of security around the world, this book examines the impact of cultural change in political communities on the global political and security environment. Through various case studies of political communities around the world, the book analyzes contemporary responses to cultural change, often culminating in the rise of political populism and extremism. The book is divided into two parts and presents a foreword by Larry Diamond and an afterword by Eric Shiraev. The first part focuses on the micro-level of cultural change in political communities and discusses conflict mechanisms and the role of political participation in producing changes. The second part features studies on extremism and populism, analyzing their impact on cultural change in Europe. The book is intended for scholars and students in a variety of disciplines, including international relations, security studies, cultural studies, and related fields.