Senior Economist editor Lucas (The New Cold War) offers a well-researched, engaging, and eerie collection of reportage and cultural analysis examining the current state of Russian corruption. Though post–cold war battle lines are hazy, Lucas argues that the West has grown complacent, if not oblivious, to an increasingly corrupt Russian “autocracy” of organized crime—with key players having deep ties to the ghosts of the KGB. He aims to “unveil the hidden side of Russia’s dealings with the West: the use espionage for knowledge, for influence and ultimately power” and to issue a wakeup call. How the West responds, Lucas claims, will have tremendous effects on Russia’s relationship to the future of world politics. For the novice, Lucas provides helpful historical context, lending gravity to his assessments of several Putin-era conspiracies, many of them “white collar” or “economic crimes” committed with the brute and often clumsy force of the FSB (described as Russia’s “regime-enforcers”). Lucas details bogus corporate takeovers, fraud-exposing lawyers unjustly imprisoned and fatally neglected, “legal illegals” (spies) infiltrating Western think tanks, with the aim of befriending the wealthy and politically connected—a harrowing read. Agent: Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd. (June)
