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Russia Explained, and It’s Not a Pretty Picture

Yahoo!

If you have ever had the feeling that we never quite get the whole truth about Russia, Edward Lucas, in his new book, will explain why you have that feeling. Supposedly Russia is a democratic, market-driven capitalistic society, yet the country never makes any news other than when it’s shutting off gas supplies to Western Europe. Brazil makes business news. So do China and India. Those countries are making the world a more productive place. Russia, on the other hand, declares itself to be an economic power, but as you will learn in Lucas’s Deception: Spies, Lies and How Russia Dupes the West, Russia verges on being nothing but a huge criminal organization.

While he’s painting a horrific picture of Russia, Lucas also gives a detailed accounting of the espionage business. “Outsiders catch only fleeting glimpses of life in the shadows,” Lucas writes. His book takes readers into the shadows where almost comical ineptitude mixes with harrowing accounts of spies who met their ends at the hands of the Russian intelligence agencies.