Anne Applebaum - Autocracy, Inc. (Allen Lane, 2024) ****

If one book describes the strings that determine the global geopolitical powerplay, it is this one. Aptly titled, "Autocracy, Inc" it is all about the financial streams that feed the hunger and the power of autocrats around the world. Anne Applebaum explains how for instance Putin as an ex-KGB man had access to all the secret bank accounts of the Soviet regime around the world, with which opposition in local communist parties were financed, and how this network suddenly became a tool to syphon money out of the country after the Soviet Union collapsed. She explains how naive the West, and especially Germany has been with regard to deals about gas transport with Russia. She explains the deep financial connections between Russia, China, Iran and other regimes around the world, such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe. How a few elites in each of these countries sacrifice their own citizens to keep growing their personal wealth, which allows them to buy power, to oppress and manipulate their citizens. 

Informed citizens in the West are aware of these connections, often in a fragmented way, by reading news articles left and right, or by possible links that are claimed by some to exist but without clear evidence. Many of the elements in this book will not be hard news. Yet, the picture that Applebaum depicts in this book brings it all together, and provides much more. She has been a privileged journalist and historian, witnessing things first hand when she lived in Poland, and having interviewed and met many of the protagonists in the book. 

I already recommend her "The Twilight Of Democracy" when it appeared in 2020, but this one is even more relevant. It's well written, easy to read despite the many factual information that she provides. But the strongest message of the book is a wake-up call to anyone who's interested in democracy and justice and prosperity for all: if we don't realise what's happening, if we don't open our eyes and start acting to protect our Western democracies, the few countries in human history that actually generated prosperity for all citizens, we risk to be eaten from within by all the smear campaigns, polarisation campaigns, manipulation and interference campaigns that remain largely hidden but are all too present, led by the autocrats of the world who have found their common interest in destroying the liberal mind. Not to mention their funding of extremist political parties. 

The book was published before Elon Musk starts funding Trump's campaign and distributing money to his voters. I wonder what she has to say about this. 

Next to highly recommending this book, I can also recommend that you follow her on "X" and read her frequent articles in The Atlantic, including her recent podcast with Peter Pomerantzev. 

Anne Applebaum - Twilight Of Democracy (Allen Lane, 2020) ***½

 I saw an interview with Anne Applebaum on CNN earlier this year, discussing the attitude of Republicans towards the importance of facts and the antics of Donald Trump. She is a Republican, but then one who has lived abroad, one who is well-read and open to different perspectives. In "The Twilight Of Democracy", she tells her personal story as an American expat living in Poland and the UK. In her direct environment, she notices the shift among her friends to consolidate power by changing the judiciary and the media, trends which are entirely anti-democratic but clearly supported by the new conservative fractions of nationalists and the extreme right. 

She asks the right questions about how a democratic society can protect itself from anti-democratic forces who manipulate the system so that they can take advantage of democracy. To her credit she does not have final answers. She denounces the lying and the liars, the stifling of rational debate, the lack of respect for people with different opinions, the brutal power politics and the deliberate undermining of the foundations of democracy. To her credit she rather loses friends than her principles. Her insider stories about meetings, dinners and parties with the political elite in Europe are interesting. 

For liberals, like myself, her discourse appears obvious, and I often wondered why she called herself a republican, and now, I can only hope that she will have more credibility among her fellow republicans and be read.