David Remnick on war in Ukraine and Russia, possible Kremlin coup, and speculation on Putin’s death
Today’s “After Tomorrow” interview is with David Remnick, an American journalist and writer, who got Pulitzer Prize in 1994. I consider myself as the biggest fan of his book “Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire”. And of course I had a lot of questions about what he sees today. We talked about war in Ukraine, Putin’s death, possibility of a coup in Kremlin and courage.
00:00 Is Putin the new Stalin or the new Lenin? The thesis from Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History and the Last Man” seemed absurd, but in 1991 I was extremely optimistic.
03:37 Is Putin's death the only solution? When Mark Galeotti and others tell us about Putin's Parkinson's disease or cancer that is more of a wish, not a real analysis. Past coups in the Kremlin: Brezhnev and Khrushchev, putsch to overthrow Gorbachev.
06:44 How the war can be stopped? Contradiction: common sense for Putin was to get a significant portion of Ukraine, Donbass and Crimea. Why would Ukraine put up with that in any which way? Henry Kissinger said in Davos that for the sake of peace, Ukraine must give up a significant part of its territory. Ukraine will not give up. So this will go on for quite some time
10:03 Why was everyone wrong about Ukraine? Or overestimated Russia? The operation in Crimea created the impression that the Russian military had become innovators. But don't underestimate what Putin is willing to do.
12:29 Can Putin press the button and use nuclear weapons?
14:10 Is Vladimir Zelensky the new leader of the free world? The Ukrainian nation and the strengthening of the state is Putin's great historical achievement.
15:28 The future of Russian culture and a new attitude towards it, not only in Ukraine, but also in the West or around the world. Putin's propaganda war and the flow of those who left Russia. In addition to a huge blow to the Russian economy. I think this is extremely important. I don't know if you agree with me. People in high or middle positions have the courage to speak out against the war. Such conflicts may be a sign of something deeper that we have yet to see.
19:37 Are those who remained in Russia accomplices of the war? The dissident movement in the USSR was tiny. Navalny is not like Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov. Who is ready to risk and go to jail?
23:39 Cancellation of Russian culture. The difference between Gergiev and Sorokin. But it is banal and stupid - a general condemnation of Russian culture.
28:14 Timothy Snyder's thesis that today's Russia is a fascist state. Timothy Snyder's role for many years has been to wake up the West
30:29 Democracy is a fragile phenomenon. And not everyone loves her. Right? We have had experiences where all three branches of government have been involved in an attempt to cancel popular elections. And now, when the investigation of this moment is already underway, 40% of the country still believes Trump. We have our own Solovyov, Kiselev
32:44 American attention to the war is declining? The New Yorker, CNN, The New York Times, Washington Post continue to write about the war.
34:21 Is Russia doomed to dictatorship? The damage done after the Ukrainian invasion, to political thinking, to institutions that were very, very immature, is enormous. It will take a long time to recover.
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