“…Russia has been an economic failure for years. A kleptocracy, meaning a state in which corruption and thievery are institutionalized, and state agencies and private businesses are plundered to enrich the rulers, can hardly be deemed a successful economic operation.”
—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Price of Mythologizing Putin, and Some Resistance Lessons from Ukraine
#russia #putin #kleptocracy #economy

“Corruption had long ravaged the Russian military. It was amazing to me that so many military and security analysts were shocked when the first months of the invasion of Ukraine revealed the true state of affairs.”
—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Price of Mythologizing Putin, and Some Resistance Lessons from Ukraine
#russia #military #corruption

“We hear that Putin’s “aura of invincibility” has now been tarnished, as though he ever had any legitimacy…”
—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Price of Mythologizing Putin, and Some Resistance Lessons from Ukraine
#putin #vladimirputin

“From the start, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a war not only of territorial expansion, but Russification and identicide. … We cannot understand the behavior of Ukrainians without this knowledge of the stakes of the conflict. …Ukrainians have responded with a new sense of patriotism and investment in their country.”
—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Price of Mythologizing Putin, and Some Resistance Lessons from Ukraine
#russia #ukraine

“A society arranged around protecting the man at the top of the “power vertical,” where experienced elites are regularly purged, is unlikely to have a military with the flexibility to respond quickly to an adversary who is playing a different game. …Ukraine has adapted far faster than Russia…”
—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Price of Mythologizing Putin, and Some Resistance Lessons from Ukraine
#putin #russia #ukraine #military