Ep. 5: The New Nobility Faces a Crisis
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3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher
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Ep. 5: The New Nobility Faces a Crisis
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Misha Glenny
When Putin came to the Presidency, he didn't leave his KGB past entirely behind him. The secret services quickly became “the new nobility” of Russia. When the biggest terrorist attack in Russia happened - hundreds of children held hostage at a school - this new nobility was put to the test.
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AMAZING 5*****
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Mr. Glenny clearly knows his subject well but he tries to tell a story a bit to much. He suffer from the classical narrative bias were everything has to fit the story he tries to tell instead of just explaining what is known and admitting when stuff are simply not known.
You will learn a lot through this podcast but you might also get frustrated by the simplifications and shortcut took in the story. For example, when they tell you that one particular early rival of Putin (no spoiler) is defeated, a long tension of rivalery is built as one would do in fiction and then it just ends with "and he is forced out and defeated". No explaination of why what or how, just "he is defeated".
On a side note, there is little to no development of Putin's psychology. To me it's a strength, I prefer this to someone projecting whatever he wants on a historical figure as is too often done, but I expect this can be a deal breaker for some people.
I complain about all this but I did listen to the 7 episode almost in a row. The nice side of trying to sell a story is that... well it's a nice story and it's easy to listen. So it's quite enjoyable, but I don't feel like I understand enough of Putin's life and trajectory given that I've spent 3h listen to a full podcast on the subject.
A final note on the musics and "dark effect" they try to put with the montage. It's a classical trope of documentary and podcast but if this is a deal breaker for you, then move on.
Despite all I say, I do not regret listening to it but would probably not recommend it to someone.
ok~ish
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