Ah, there’s nothing better the beginnings of a catty new fight among Russia academics. A few days ago we had the Andreas Umland smackdown of Eric Kraus, and today, Juliet Johnson of McGill University in Canada takes a few light potshots at Marshall Goldman’s bloated ego in a review of his book Petrostate. [I'll eventually do my own review of Petrostate, most likely during a summer vacation.]
Getting carried away with his own prose, he asserts, “President Vladimir Putin, with his control of Gazprom [the state gas monopoly] as well as another state-owned petroleum company, Rosneft, had become a real-life Dr. No – an archetypal James Bond villain, complete with a yacht and retinue.” One pictures Goldman’s Putin giggling evilly and stroking a cat, à la Bond’s Cold War-era nemesis Blofeld. (…) In another slightly overwrought moment, Goldman writes, “With its natural gas and oil pipelines that tie Europe to Russia like an umbilical cord, Russia has unchecked powers and influence that in a real sense exceed the military power and influence it had in the Cold War.” While East Europeans may beg to differ, the oft-made point that Russia has re-emerged on the international stage as a force to be reckoned with is well taken.
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2 Comments
I actually think Ms. McGill’s comment is extremely poorly written, and unfortunately yours doesn’t do much to clear up the issue.Why is it “hyperbole” to analogize Putin to a Bond villain? Is it because Putin’s isn’t evil, or because his brand of evil is so real that comparing it to comic book character is misleading (would a better comparison be Osama bin Laden?).And she misses the mark on her other comment as well. The important observation is now how the outside world is reacting to the Putin government but how the people of Russia are. Their situation is no better now than it was when Putin took power due to any policy Putin has implemented; McFaul and others argue Russians would have been far better off without Putin.
Her name is Juliet Johnson, and she teaches at McGill University.I think if you carefully research what Goldman has argued in the past with regards to Putin and the current Russian government, you may find yourself in similar disagreement.