The Kremlins Vote

A plot against the United States' election, born in Moscow . . . Two top US officials are gunned down while visiting London. A trail of deception misleads the CIA. And former intelligence operative Jayne Robinson is viciously targeted during a high-risk foray into Russia. Robinson, previously a long-term MI6 officer, is covertly deployed by the CIA in a deniable operation to handle one of its biggest assets in the Kremlin and to get to the bottom of a threat that seems likely to engulf the White House-just as the next presidential election looms. The mission becomes deeply personal for Robinson when it emerges one of the victims is married to one of her best and oldest friends. But nothing is what it seems in this vortex of deception and deceit. As she gets closer to the truth behind the killings, Robinson finds herself challenged to the core while fending off threats from unexpected directions. The Kremlin's Vote, book number one in the Jayne Robinson series, is a gripping modern spy thriller with unexpected twists that will be difficult to put down.

A defecting oligarch meets a grisly death in London over a game of chess. CIA investigator Jayne Robinson goes to Moscow on a high-risk mission to find out why. And the US president's on alert as Russia grabs part of Ukraine.

Intelligence operative Jayne Robinson investigates the killing of four cardinals in Washington, DC. There are deadly threats at the Vatican as she battles to find out the truth for a desperate pope.

"The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president-- of his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history." --

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes portrait of the court of Vladimir Putin, the oligarchs that surround it, and the many moods of modern Russia that reads like a "real House of Cards"(Lev Lurie). All the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted--if not controlled--by the men who at once advise and deceive him. The regional governors and bureaucratic leaders are immovable objects, far more powerful in their fiefdoms than the president himself. So are the gatekeepers-those officials who guard the pathways to power-on whom Putin depends as much as they rely on him. The tenuous edifice is filled with all of the intrigue and plotting of a Medici court, as enemies of the state are invented and wars begun to justify personal gains, internal rivalries, or one faction's biased advantage. A bestseller in Russia, All the Kremlin's Men is a shocking revisionist portrait of the Putin era and a dazzling reconstruction of the machinations of courtiers running riot.

Of Khans and Kremlins is the first scholarly book in English to fully examine the effort made by the leadership of the Russian republic of Tatarstan to build and retain state sovereignty in the post-Soviet period. Katherine E. Graney provides new insight into inter-ethnic relations, the politics of cultural pluralism, and federalism in Russia and beyond.

Connecting Virtues examines the significant advances within the fast-growing field of virtue theory and shows how research has contributed to the current debates in moral philosophy, epistemology, and political philosophy. Includes groundbreaking chapters offering cutting-edge research on the topic of the virtues Provides insights into the application of the topic of virtue, such as the role of intellectual virtues, virtuous dispositions, and the value of some neglected virtues for political philosophy Examines the relevance of the virtues in the current debates in social epistemology, the epistemology of education, and civic education Features work from world-leading and internationally recognized philosophers working on the virtues today

This revelatory and dramatic history of disinformation traces the rise of secret organized deception operations from the interwar period to contemporary internet troll farms We live in the age of disinformation—of organized deception. Spy agencies pour vast resources into hacking, leaking, and forging data, often with the goal of weakening the very foundation of liberal democracy: trust in facts. Thomas Rid, a renowned expert on technology and national security, was one of the first to sound the alarm. More than four months before the 2016 election, he warned that Russian military intelligence was “carefully planning and timing a high-stakes political campaign" to disrupt the democratic process. But as crafty as such so-called active measures have become, they are not new. The story of modern disinformation begins with the post-Russian Revolution clash between communism and capitalism, which would come to define the Cold War. In Active Measures, Rid reveals startling intelligence and security secrets from materials written in more than ten languages across several nations, and from interviews with current and former operatives. He exposes the disturbing yet colorful history of professional, organized lying, revealing for the first time some of the century’s most significant operations—many of them nearly beyond belief. A White Russian ploy backfires and brings down a New York police commissioner; a KGB-engineered, anti-Semitic hate campaign creeps back across the Iron Curtain; the CIA backs a fake publishing empire, run by a former Wehrmacht U-boat commander, that produces Germany’s best jazz magazine. Rid tracks the rise of leaking, and shows how spies began to exploit emerging internet culture many years before WikiLeaks. Finally, he sheds new light on the 2016 election, especially the role of the infamous “troll farm” in St. Petersburg as well as a much more harmful attack that unfolded in the shadows. Active Measures takes the reader on a guided tour deep into a vast hall of mirrors old and new, pointing to a future of engineered polarization, more active and less measured—but also offering the tools to cut through the deception.

Budget Superpower reveals how the Kremlin has applied and refined Russia's military strength, intelligence agencies, natural resources, political influence, and much more to drastically increase its power on the cheap. Preparing for Russia's next steps will be crucial for the United States to safeguard its own future.

Russian counterintelligence chief Colonel Dominika Egorova has been an asset of the CIA for over seven years. She has also been in a forbidden and tumultuous love affair with her handler Nate Nash, mortally dangerous for them both, but irresistible. In Washington, a newly installed administration is selecting its cabinet members. Dominika hears whispers of a Russian operation to place a mole in a high intelligence position. If the candidate is confirmed, the Kremlin will have access to the identities of CIA assets in Moscow, including Dominika. Dominika recklessly immerses herself in the palace intrigues of the Kremlin, searching for the mole's identity and stealing secrets before her time runs out.

This edited volume presents ground-breaking empirical research on the media in political transition in Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco. Focusing on developments in the wake of the region’s upheavals in 2011, it offers a new theoretical framework for understanding mediascapes in the confessional and hybrid-authoritarian systems of the Middle East. In this book, media scholars focus on three themes: the media’s structure as an expression of governance, the media’s function as a reflection of the market, and the media’s agency in communicating between power and the public. The result is a unique addition to the literature on two counts. Firstly, analysis of similar players, issues and processes in each country produces a thematically consistent comparative assessment of the media’s role across the southern Mediterranean region. The first cross-country comparison of specific media practices in the Middle East, it covers issues such as women in talk shows, media’s relationship with surveillance, and comparative practices of media regulation. Secondly, actualising the idea that media reflects the society that produces it, the studies here draw on field data to lay the foundations for a new theory of media, Values and Status Negotiation (VSN), which evolved from the region’s unique characteristics and practices, and offers an alternative to prevailing Western-centric approaches to media analysis. Media and Politics in the Southern Mediterranean will appeal to students and scholars of politics, sociology, Media Studies, Cultural Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.

This collection of essays reflects the personal experience of a Ukrainian intellectual engaged, since his Soviet-time youth, in a painstaking but fascinating process of the both cultural and political ‘Europeanization’ of his country. The title refers, ironically, to the notorious Chancellor Metternich’s quip that Asia presumably begins at the eastern fence of his garden (or, as another apocryphal version maintains, at the eastern end of the Viennese Landstrasse). This is a story of both exclusion and inclusion, of walls and fences, but also of a longing for freedom and a quest for solidarity. It is a book on different ways of being a ‘European’—at both the collective and individual level,—despite various challenges or, perhaps, thanks to them.

A fascinating, bottom-up exploration of contemporary Russian politics that sheds new light on why Putin's grip on power is more fragile then we think What do ordinary Russians think of Putin? Who are his supporters? And why might their support now be faltering? Alive with the voices and experiences of ordinary Russians and elites alike, Sam Greene and Graeme Robertson craft a compellingly original account of contemporary Russian politics. Telling the story of Putin's rule through pivotal episodes such as the aftermath of the "For Fair Elections" protests, the annexation of Crimea, and the War in Eastern Ukraine, Greene and Robertson draw on interviews, surveys, social media data, and leaked documents to reveal how hard Putin has to work to maintain broad popular support, while exposing the changing tactics that the Kremlin has used to bolster his popularity. Unearthing the ambitions, emotions, and divisions that fuel Russian politics, this book illuminates the crossroads to which Putin has led his country and shows why his rule is more fragile than it appears.

Memetic War analyses memetic warfare included in cyber war and aims to develop a framework for understanding the parameters included in utilising this concept in Ukraine as a part of civic resistance. In the Ukrainian war, an informal defence tactic has developed to uphold the information flow about the war and to debunk Russia’s communications. The war has enhanced the visibility of governmental and civic activation by using the advantages of social media architecture, networks, and communication forms. The book investigates Ukraine’s public and private abilities to develop cyber capabilities to counter propaganda and dis-and-misinformation online as a defence mechanism. This book uses military ROC doctrine to understand government authorities, the armed forces, and civic engagement in the Ukrainian resistance. Memetic War will have relevance for scholars, researchers, and academics in the cybersecurity field, practitioners, governmental actors, and military and strategic personnel.