Review: Freezing Order by Bill Browder

Freezing Order

Right now, as we speak in 2023, there are four major ‘bad actors’ in the whole world as per the inward-looking, sycophantic, illiberal, left-leaning Western media: Trump, Putin, Xi, and, latest addition to the list, Elon Musk. If these paranoid, leftist ecosystem is somehow able to de-fang these four people, then the world would be a heaven until time’s end. The others in the list include, of course, Modi, Erdogan, Boris Johnson, Kim, Orban, and Lukashenko.

Reading Bill Browder’s book felt as if he is the centre of Putin’s and Russia’s attention. Nothing else matters except Browder, his fights for ‘truth’, his ‘sufferings’, his paranoia, his travels to the U.S. (especially to New York and Aspen, Colarado) and Europe. He was operating Hermitage Capital in Russia and made a good buck, but then had to pull out due to the Russian State coming after him after the death of Magnitsky. Surely Putin and his cabal hated Browder and what he was trying to do alongwith several Russian dissidents. Surely Putin is no saint and neither is FSB a love-spreading agency. But Browder surely has an imagination that’s gone a little too wild, and often his facts converge into far-stretched mind-games.

This surely is an interesting book to understand to what lengths Browder had to go to, to bring Magnitsky act being enacted. Surely he and his family and his several associates have suffered (with many ending up dead). Poisons and falls are the favourite methods of FSB, followed by assassinations. The book itself is fast paced, and there is not one chaptre which will not leave you gawking at the enterprising Russians and the evil machinations of how law works around the world. But in many places you are also left with a bad taste when Browder goes on venting about Trump and how, despite the fact that the Trump Russiagate has been found to be not only lacking and even a disinformation campaign by Democrats and left-leaning media and probably Russian funded sources too, he just concludes, because he feels so, that Trump was colluding with Putin. He does not even spare judges in the U.S. who don’t side with him. Browder is the only and the sole upholder of truth, and anybody disagreeing with him is either incompetent, evil, or both. That’s it. That’s it.

He comes up with a number of $1 trillion based on guesstimates as the amount of money laundered through Russia since 2007. He says various estimates peg Putin’s wealth at $200 billion or even more (yes, billion with a ‘b’). But he does not care to give any sources or calculations. Nothing. He says, and you better believe it. If you don’t, you are dumb. I was glad that I happened to read Spooked which rubbishes the Trump dossier by Steele. But I guess that does not suit Browder and the publisher.

The icing on the cake is epilogue of the book, where Browder goes on a tangent so self-suiting that one would laugh out loud reading it. His hypothesis is that Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 because he wanted to increase his approval ratings and save himself from being persecuted by the Russian system or even being killed after losing power because he (i.e. Putin) is akin to a thug in a jail and if he loses power, he’s just going to end up being overpowered. He (i.e. Browder) makes it clear in no simple terms that “we need to say to the “neutral” countries of the world – China, India, Turkey, nations in the Middle East and Africa – that they have a choice. They can do business with the West, they can do business with Russia – but not both”. That’s surely a nice “choice” with such soothing words.

Browder surely has suffered and and is right to some extent in his pursuit against Putin and Russian State, but he surely is hallucinating as well when he extends all evils in Russia to Putin’s feet and makes him the ultimate embodiment of all things evil. Never trust just one side of the story. Do read the other side as well where Browder himself has been accused by the Russians of embezzlement. Of course that happened as retribution for Browder’s diligent actions to get Magnitsky enacted.

Interesting book for sure, but don’t take all of it at face value. Because Browder surely has a grudge against whom he doesn’t like, which surely includes Putin and Trump.

Some interesting links which I found on the internet which are related to Browder-Russia episode: Atlantic Council report on FSB, tour of FSB Museum, FSB and religion, Lubyabka FSB building, article in The New Times about Vladimir Kara-Murza, deposition of Browder, Browder’s claim of a deep-fake call, some perspective on Trump-Russia controversy, more context via Youtube, Browder going tangential, a website with some material, a different movie on Magnitsky act, some more the last mentioned movie.

Review: The Divider by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser

The Divider

It has become fashionable to criticize Trump and get away with it. Most of the book covers about Trump (and Putin and Xi / China) have a blazing red or blood red cover. This one, for a change, has a more classy white with a sliver of black. This book is hefty, and will take a good amount of time for one to cover, because it is so detailed as to literally have statements in double-quotes on almost every page.

When Trump won in 2016, I was quite happy and still sort of support him because he was an outsider in the sense of being a non-politician. Politicians have milked the system for too long for their own benefits, and hence an outsider, an entrepreneur at that, was a good thing. Of course Trump has an abrasive personality and he did not tone it down when he became the most powerful man on earth. I first saw Trump in the Apprentice show back in 2000s. I loved his style and his signature line “you are fired”. I remember reading in New Yorker in 2015 how paid actors were asked to appear at a Trump rally and the author was sort of happy that they (or whoever) had exposed it. Am sure New Yorker was stunned at the election results.

The book covers the entire period of Trump in White House and does manage to show that there was lot of infighting and chaos behind the scenes. To top it, Trump’s habit of tweeting to the world and then his team getting to know of his decision did not help one bit. But he surely did take lot of strong decisions and rankled up the leftist ecosystem who had led the country astray with their stupid policies. The most powerful nation cannot stop illegal immigrants from crossing over the border? Trump promised the wall, but of course could not complete it because of obvious lack of support in the House.

However, the focus of this book and its authors (they wrote for NYT itself should be a clear indicator) is to show that Trump and his White House never did even one thing correctly. No wonder I don’t take these kinds of books too seriously lest they cloud my thinking. Obama and his administration lied about how Osama bin Laden was killed and then even supplanted their fake theory in Zero Dark Thirty. Whereas Trump got Baghdadi and Soleimani killed, yet never got any credit in NYT or WaPo. Am not getting into the merits or demerits of killing Soleimani, but just bringing forth the point that when you read only NYT and WaPo, you will never read one thing positive about Trump or Republicans. That Trump ordered the pull out from Afghanistan did not merit praise, that he did not start any new military operations anywhere did not merit praise, that he cornered China did not merit praise, that he did as best as could to combat Covid pandemic and the economic fallout did not merit praise.

So with that in mind, you should definitely read this book for understanding how Trump operated and his antics upset many leaders like Merkel and Trudeau.

Review: Spooked by Barry Meier

Spooked

It has become fashionable to appear anti-Trump to sell anything, from t-shirts, to Netflix shows, to books, to magazines, to newspapers, to news shows, to slogans, and even politicians. There only rallying point? Anti-Trump-het. Credence? Anti-Trumpism. Validity? Anti-MAGA. I am surprised that people in US have become so dumb that they can be sold any potion with ‘anti Trump’ properties and it will instantly become a best-seller.

This book is no different, even though it is somewhat balanced in its criticism of newspapers, journalists, even agencies of all kinds. However the cast of central characters in this book is as spooky as it can get: ex-spies working as spies-for-hire, journalists using these spies as sources, weak primary sources being presented as gospel of truth. They say that there are lies and then there is journalism and this book proves that.

The central theme of this book deals with the Steele dossier which was released when the Democrats were trying their best to pull down Trump. All media houses covered it as if that so-called dossier had the ultimate truth within it. Yet none even issued an apology when years later it was discovered that the primary source of the that dossier was unreliable and the author Christopher Steele never even bothered to meet his primary source.

However, this book is not just about that, but covers way more breadth than one can comprehend in one reading. It is astounding to see the underbelly of journalism and I am surprised that this book hasn’t gained that kind of traction it deserves. I have consistently lost confidence in today’s journalism, but after reading this book, there is no way I am ever going to trust all these mainstream newspapers and their so-called “exclusives” and “expose”. It is mind-numbing to read about the politicking that goes behind lobbying and how journalists collaborate with private spies to dig out dirt on politicians and political parties they don’t like. And you thought journalists ought to be neutral? Good luck with that.

This is a must read book for anyone out there who is trying to form an opinion about the kind of world we have created, and especially those who espouse journalists as the beacons of truth (whatever ‘truth’ means). The kind of sordid and murky details that are covered by the author, and the extensive references (in terms of books and articles and even documentaries) make this a great read and no amount of praise would be enough, notwithstanding the fact that Meier was himself associated or maybe still is with New York Times whose bias is as clear as the sky on a starry night. Yet, despite of Meier’s own inclinations, this book will reward you by making you believe in often quoted CIA agents’ supposed famous line: welcome to the real world.