Nothing is True and Everything is Possible<\/a> is a grim, gripping tour through contemporary Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a country that transformed overnight from a place \u201cready to sell anything\u201d to a place where the superrich were able to buy anything they wanted. Pomerantsev says that no place had ever seen so much new money in so short a time.<\/p>\n
Despite his Russian name, Pomerantsev grew up in England, and the mystique of his British heritage and accent gave him a quick entree into the Russian film and television industries. He discovered that T.V. is central to Putin\u2019s politics; he has called it the \u201cnuclear weapon of politics.\u201d Television creates reality, remaking Russia\u2019s history and creating real-life drama that suits the Kremlin\u2019s agenda. \u201cThe news is the incense by which we bless Putin\u2019s actions, make him the president,\u201d T.V. executives like to say.<\/p>\n
And T.V. is used to promote a gangster ethos. During the 1990s, the gangsters ruled Russia. They were the only ones who knew who they were, knew how to get things done. Contracts couldn\u2019t be enforced without gangsters. The police wouldn\u2019t pursue thieves and rapists, but the gangsters would. Gangsters were the establishment that provided the \u201cglue\u201d holding Russian society together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pomerantsev says that around 2000, the gangsters were replaced by the government, which took over organized crime and put the gangsters out of business. But gangsterism remained the ethos of Russia. It explains Putin\u2019s efforts to cultivate a tough-guy image. \u201cWhom do the people respect the most?\u201d Pomerantsev asks. And the answer is: Gangsters. So it makes all the political sense in the world to spruce up Putin to look like a gangster.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter Pomerantsev\u2019s forthcoming\u00a0Nothing is True and Everything is Possible is a grim, gripping tour through contemporary Russia.\u00a0 It\u2019s a country that transformed overnight from a place \u201cready to sell anything\u201d to a place where the superrich were able to buy anything they wanted. Pomerantsev says that no place had ever seen so much new money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[405],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russia"],"yoast_head":"\n
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