From Soviet to Putin and Back

by Michael J. Economides, Donna Marie D'Aleo, Jonathan Clark (Illustrator)

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has taken a giant step backwards into its Soviet past, and nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of energy politics. Modern Russian politics and energy sources first oil and then both oil and gas have been inextricably connected in a way unmatched by any other major power in the history of the world. This time, however, the state is bare, without the fig leaf of legitimacy that its communist ideology once offered. One reason for Putin s overwhelming popularity at home, is that he has tapped into Russia s two strong a cultural affinity for strong, Tsar-like leadership quite different from Western European and North American predilections and an understandable hunger for prestige and world recognition a need to be relevant. In the course of 15 years, the Russian people saw their country go from superpower to junior partner, and then, thanks to Putin, through renaissance of power. Putin s sojourn has not been on the back of nuclear weapons which the country still owns in abundance but has been fueled by oil and gas. What Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev could not do with nuclear weapons and raw military power, Putin has attempted with oil and gas, in what can arguably be called energy imperialism.

Genres: Russia

464 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Davy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book by a local University of Houston Professor. Don't remember specifics from 10 years ago. Like Dylan said Putin's BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME. Such a shame.

I was in the valve business down here in Houston, and what the author says did ring true. I underlined a lot in my copy of this book as I read it, may go into book specifics at a later time.

Vignette added February 2024.

We were making some exotic forged severe service valves going into the Siberian east towards the end of Soviet times, about 1989 probably. We took a few of their engineers to view the forge shop we were using in Beaumont, drove 90 miles east from Houston. Not to mention the carbide trim manufacturer tour in East Houston.
We took them to a Luby's Cafeteria in Beaumont and I could tell that these guys were totally in awe of the food that was there. It may have been my imagination, but I sensed that they would have fought tooth and nail if somebody were to try to evict them prematurely from this paradise.
FWIW, I gave them several anti-communist paperbacks from my collection.