Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia cover art

Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia

Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia

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Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia

By: Stephanie Baker
Narrated by: Jennifer Jill Araya
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About this listen

‘A brilliant book’ Alastair Campbell, The Rest is Politics

'The essential, must-read insider account of the West’s cat and mouse economic warfare against Russia and how it is changing the face of global trade. Magisterial and gripping’ Catherine Belton

‘A brilliant, engagingly written and timely book’ Owen Matthews

‘A very good book’ Mark Galeotti

Undeterred by eight years of timid US sanctions, Vladimir Putin ordered his full-scale assault on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In the hours that followed, Western leaders weaponized economic tools in a world-changing financial experiment. The goal was to sap the strength of Putin’s war machine by damaging its economy, without risking a global recession in the process.

In Punishing Putin, veteran journalist Stephanie Baker uncovers how this furious financial war has unfolded, from seizing superyachts to manipulating the global price of oil to blocking the sale of military technology. Baker reveals how the West mobilized an army of white-collar-crime investigators to crack down on illicit Russian money, targeting oligarchs and their enablers for sanctions evasion.

Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin takes us into the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a whole new era of economic statecraft and radically rearranged global alliances, influencing world order for generations to come.

©2024 Stephanie Baker
Career Success Conflict Resolution & Mediation Politics & Government Russian & Soviet War & Crisis World Russia War Military Taxation Law Capitalism

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Critic reviews

'A gripping narrative and an outstanding book.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘The riveting inside story of the unprecedented economic war to take down Putin and save Ukraine. Anyone wishing to understand the complexity and difficulty of battling Putin on the global economic stage will find Baker’s exposé an essential read.’ – Bill Browder, bestselling author of Red Notice and Freezing Order

‘An authoritative and gripping investigation that reads like a detective novel. I found myself reading it in the elevator.’ – Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan

‘A compelling account of the West’s economic war against Russia, from oligarchs’ superyachts to the world’s oil market … Essential reading for understanding Russia’s war and how it is remaking the world economy.’ – Chris Miller, bestselling author of Chip War

‘Deeply reported and deftly written, Punishing Putin brings you inside a critical front in the new cold war … No one writing about sanctions today has a stronger grasp of this terrain than Baker or a better knack for untangling its complexity.’ – Simon Shuster, bestselling author of The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

‘A captivating economic detective story that describes in great detail how the West tried to confront Putin and explains why the sanctions didn’t work: the war didn’t stop, and the Russian army continues to advance. A very important book for anyone pondering what will happen next.’ – Mikhail Zygar, author of War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

‘Few reporters understand post-Soviet Russia the way Baker does. She has produced a definitive account of the war behind the war – the desperate struggle to restrain Russia's violence through economic sanctions.’ – Peter S. Canellos, author of The Great Dissenter

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Most relevant
The EU, Britain and the USA have to find a way of being far more decisive, when dealing with rogue states such as Russia (and Israel?). This book describes the story behind sanctions against Putin and Russia.

This is complicated…

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Nothing to dislike did exactly what the title proclaimed and read and presented in an unsensational way

Clear concise no unnecessary embellishment would recommend

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It was fascinating to listen to all the workings behind the scene’s politically…. The last quarter of the book was most interesting seeing how the western governments need to compromise on the principles

The level of knowledge and research

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Great if you want to know what's really happening. Amazing that someone (the author) knows so much about everything!

a good book

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