Is it better to fight an authoritarian government and lose, or
work with that government and survive to fight another day? Bob
interviews Joshua Yaffa, Moscow Correspondent for the New
Yorker and author of Between Two Fires: Truth,
Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia, about the
mentalities of the people who brought Vladimir Putin to power, the
internal moral compromises they make to keep him there, and what
those compromises mean during a global pandemic.
Yaffa describes a pervasive wiliness among the people he met
through his reporting in Russia, from TV producers to zookeepers to
human rights activists: people who engage in "quiet games of soft
rebellion, acknowledging power and being outwardly loyal to
it, while at the same time trying to undermine it and eke out
personal benefit from it."
About the Podcast
International lawyer Robert Amsterdam and other members from the Amsterdam & Partners LLP team host a wide range of special expert guests to discuss leading international political and business issues.