The best
Historical Russia Biographies:
Reddit reviews
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The best of Historical Russia Biographies by number of unique Reddit comments:
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Historical Russia Biographies:
People, if you haven't read Bill Browder's <em>Red Notice</em>, it's high time you do. This lead to the Magnitsky Act, which is one of the biggest things that Putin and Russia's oligarchs want removed.
If you think that any US citizen that Russia wants to "question" will come back the same person (or come back at all), you're deluding yourselves. Russia has repeatedly tried to get Browder arrested and sent to Russia using fraudulent Red Notices, which Interpol have repeatedly refused to honor because they're so obviously corrupt.
Russia wants Browder, and they'll use any means to get him. Sending Americans over to be "questions" gives the sham of an "investigation" they're running legitimacy.
Don't let them succeed.
Also worth checking out his book: Red Notice. I listened to the audiobook and it was short but really entertaining and informative about all the shit that goes down in Russia
https://www.amazon.com/One-Soldiers-War-Arkady-Babchenko/dp/0802144039
Amazing book on the 1st and 2nd Chechen war. Gave guys a bunch of old soviet equipment, not enough food or other supplies, told them to go off and fight Chechens.
They ended up having to trade gear to the Chechens just to have something to eat.
Because they are aggressive, good at what they do and often times very reckless. Andy Greenberg wrote a very good account of the activity of a single Russian military intelligence unit in the fanatic book Sandworm
Yes, everyone should pick up Browder's book, crazy crazy story
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Notice-Finance-Murder-Justice/dp/1476755744
I'm not apologizing for him. His acceptance of Palin is a crucial step to why we are here now. I'm pointing out that of everyone in recent American politics, he's one of a significant few that did the literally one thing that has significantly angered putin. Read Red Notice [1], its insane the lengths Putin went to to punish Browder for unveiling his criminal antics and McCain was one of only a few that stood behind him (Browder).
You saying he's been completely asleep against Russian agents trying to take advantage of us is wrong by dint of this. However, Your underlying sentiment that he's not doing enough though isn't wrong. But we just have to be careful that we don't become so desirous of seeing things in black and white that we take on the stupider and purposefully ignorant aspects of the dumb right.
We should be able to see in nuance. We should still condemn but we shouldn't need to speak in grandiose terms of evil to make our point. The point is makeable while still being cognizant and not dismissive of the facts. The only people that need to bend facts and timebox peoples actions are people who don't have enough of truth on their side to make their point. We're not that and we don't need to be that to make the point that Republicans needed and need to do more.
[1] Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice https://www.amazon.com/dp/1476755744/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IT.gBbEKYT9ZY
I highly recommend Bill Browder's book, aptly named Red Notice: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Notice-Finance-Murder-Justice/dp/1476755744/
It goes into great detail about his background, his investments in Russia and subsequent uncovering of widespread corruption, what happened to Sergei Magnitsky, and the process of getting the Magnitsky Act passed with the assistance of John McCain.
A thrilling, inspiring, sad and infuriating read.
I mentioned this below, but I’d just like to add to the top comment that Babchenko’s memoir of the Chechen War, ‘One soldier’s war’, is available in English translation, bloody well-written and a fascinating soldier’s-eye-view of a brutal, filthy and complicated conflict. (Not saying all wars aren’t like that, but this one seems to have under the radar for a lot of people, also because the Russian government hasn’t been open about the death toll).
Sorry for hijacking the top comment, but I’d just like people to remember his work. Honestly, I read the book years ago and I can still remember lines from it to this day. There’s this part where he talks about the sheer terror he feels in the middle of a particular battle, and how the land must be so irradiated with people’s terror and pain that he can’t believe anything will ever grow there. Could be a metaphor for modern Russia to be honest.
The capitalists parties don’t just believe government programs can’t work. They think they shouldn’t work. Honestly things like housing, healthcare, heavy industries, transit, education, all benefit and are run on central planning and socialized labor. It’s just the planning is done by corporate boardrooms elected/hired by the handful of millionaires who own voting stock, and their goon politicians
Public options for most capital-intensive or durable good type developments almost always out perform the private sector.
You’re gonna be too busy soon, but this book is pretty good.
Beria was a big western fan as well, he identified with Pancho Villa and his Banditos - interesting the commonalities he saw in his rise to power as an outsider. Source
Let's not forget all the Soviet soldiers summarily executed or sent to die in gulags for "political crimes," like being captured by the enemy, or retreating to save their own lives, or writing in private letters about the hardships of Soviet army life.
Bill Browder's Red Notice is a great look into the world of how Russia in general is Cronyism/Oligarchy to the extreme. His experiences led to the Magnitsky Act in an attempt to counter some of this corruption on the world stage.
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie is a classic, I highly recommend it!
You should read Sandworm by Andy Greenberg. Or this free article. It explains all about the largest cyberattack in history, who did it, how, and why. I'll bet you never knew that in 2017, 80% of the world's shipping was suddenly paralyzed for weeks.
It’s laughable to read a lot of you don’t think they’re linked to the Kremlin. You can turn a corner and run into evidence. There are literal books written on this very subject.
https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-Hackers/dp/0385544405
Don’t be naive
I'd recommend everyone to read the book "Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers" ( https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-Hackers/dp/0385544405 ) - although it focuses mainly on Russian hackers, a significant portion talks about the capacity of other players as well.
The book says that there are three major players - the US, Russia and China (after them Iran, Israel and North Korea)
But each uses cyber weapons differently and with different purposes.
The US uses specific surgical attacks on specific targets and most covertly.
China uses them on a large scale, hitting all sorts of targets en masse, but their primary target is industrial espionage, patents, know-how, just about anything that can be acquired.
Russia uses attacks as part of an ideological method, they make little secret of the fact that they are perpetrating them and combine them with political and psychological influence (as with other types of attacks) - basically saying - Look what we can do, be afraid, leave us alone. That's also why the most publicly known info is about Russian hackers.
Those interested in the subject might want to check this out: https://www.amazon.com/Sandworm-Cyberwar-Kremlins-Dangerous-Hackers/dp/0385544405/ref=nodl_
I just finished it and while it’s not exactly conspiracy focused it seems very relevant to the now and future. These guys could bend a whole country over a barrel (and have) with a handful of lines of code.
Civil War in the United States, slavery ended. A milita was a large part of this, no a militia alone did not do this but it seriously helped.
The formation of the United States also in large part was due to a militia.
The russian revolution as well.
Additionally most of those homicides are from illegally gotten handguns, and gang violence.
>your own crime statistics prove that
millions of fatal incidents are stopped each year with firearms, by our own statistics.
​
Again, read this:
Communism the theory, and communism in real practice, are very very different. I base my idea of communism on what always happens in practice, as do most scholars and historians.
The defining work on the topic would be Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago
That's the condensed version, the full 3 volume version is even better. This is what living under communism is actually like, and an analysis as to why it is that way.
Since the USSR we still don't have a counter case where am attempt has caused anything but poverty and misery. Without freedom and a profit motive, society cannot function. Look also to the original settlers of America, who tried a form of socialism and almost all starved.
The story behind the Magnitsky act is so crazy, if you haven't heard much about it check out Bill Browder. He was the biggest western investor in Russia and his Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was horribly murdered in jail after uncovering massive amounts of corruption. They expected to be lauded for bringing it to the attention of the state, but instead they tried to pin the corruption/theft on Browder and Magnitsky. After Sergei was killed, Bill made it his life's mission to pass laws in as many countries as possible (Magnistky acts) that take away corrupt Russian assets. Putin hates it, and has made Bill Browder enemy number one, put in something like 7 'Red Notices' on him, and tried multiple times to extradite him back to Russia. He has a few books on it, including one called Red Notice in fact https://www.amazon.com/Red-Notice-Finance-Murder-Justice/dp/1476755744
Yes.
Stalin and Hitler wanted to divide up Europe first. People think World War II was a technological warfare - a total war. But the war was just a vehicle for the Third Reich. They had one political goal to achive: Lebensraum, and eradication of whole ethnicities on the East. Had they crushed Moscow (they were close, if you read Simon Sebag Montefiore's non-fiction book on Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar you can see how Stalin prepared for his immediate capture by the nazis) I think they would have tried to broker a peace with the Western allies. And I just speculate but through regime changes Germany would have preserved the demented fascist ideology.
------
Also, we know Stalin himself prepared for the bolshevik invasion of Europe back in the 1930's: They produced troop carriers with wheels for the Western roads (there were no usable roads in Eastern USSR for them), they produced troop carrier trains with Western track gauges. They also produced a huge number of tanks, even before WWII.
The problem is Stalin started the purge first. But technically they were supposed to be prepared when years later the nazis attacked. Practically they were not.
At the end of WWII Stalin has started building up forces on the western borders, but he died before he would have been able to deport the Jews (he planned that) and attack the West.
And the Russian Federation today is the successor of the USSR.
​
Fascist dysopias are all around the globe. We just hypernormalise them.
I consider this book on Stalin to be the best on his life. It's very illuminating on the development of the current Russian way of doing things.
https://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Court-Simon-Sebag-Montefiore/dp/1400076781
Excellent summary.
I read Bill Browder's book Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice shortly after it came out, so my recollection of the exact details of what went down is a little faded by time.
Highly recommend it.
I highly recommend Bill Browder's book Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice.
He's the reason the Magnisky Act happened. It was his lawyer.
And he's on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Billbrowder
> So about economics, price of oil before putin dropped to 10$. During next 10 years it was going up and up to 150$ in 2008. With liberal reforms of 90s and professional PM and ministers in 2000-2004, Russia could be rich as Norway (at least be closer to Norway then to Turkmenistan)
Norway also had circumstances that very were particular to itself at that time. I get what you're saying, but in no way just by observing the ways Norway benefitted from it, would the same opportunity have just been 'given' to Russia. Canada has more tar sands than Saudi Arabia does. You're directly extrapolating policies again.
> But he believes in government programs, wasting trillions (stadiums for world cup 2018 are good example). What he doesn't believe is private property, from 2003 any business can be taken by FSB (the last example is michael calvey, who was just investing in russia with no politics involved. now there is no businnes -- no investment in russia).
I'm curious, have you read Bill Browder's book?
> I've given just some examples, but to sum up you can open IMF and see their projected GDP growth for Russia, which drops from 3% now to 1.6% (and part of it is just manipulation with statisctics, russian opposition talks about it a lot and their economists like Aleksashenko gove a lot of proofs).
Right, I know how fucked up generally they are.
> Putin is the garant of that stagnation.
This is hardly 'solely' on Putin's shoulders alone.
> He also really hates to see rich Ukraine, doing everything to break us in economics wars (since 2006). So yes, Putin isn't a fanatic, but he makes a lot of lives worse
This I have no doubt about.
The wikipedia page lists a source for my first claim (and possibly the second, haven't checked). I already knew about the event and those details, however, from <em>The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin</em> by Masha Gessen.
One of my favourite movies ever. So many laugh out loud moments.
Afterwards, read “Stalin - In the court of the Red Tsar” for some depressing factual history on this monster.
I’ve heard that particular study has been heavily criticized in Russia for its methodology and glaring flaws. Robert Allen has done comprehensive research into Soviet Industrialization and came to the conclusion that it was remarkably successful, so I’d suggest y’all to give Farm to Factory a look since it’s some of the best work we have on it in English.
Doing a quick search on amazon we can find the book that /u/IHateConspiracists mentioned: with 785 pages
and another one with the same title and ISBN 846 pages
So it can be arranged in a different maner causing the page difference.
The citation should include the version of the book, otherwise the next guy to check might have a different version and with the same thinking change it