Search:

Results 51 to 60 of 120 | « previous |

The Siberia job / by Haven, Josh,author.;
"A Texas businessman travels to the furthest reaches of post-Soviet Russia in search of the country's new wealth--and finds new dangers as well. Based on true events. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the newly-established Russian government privatized its industry by issuing vouchers to all of its citizens, allowing them the chance to be shareholders in the country's burgeoning businesses. The slips are distributed among the population and auctions are arranged where they can be exchanged for actual shares. For the country's rural populations living in abject poverty, the vouchers appear to be little more than pieces of paper, totally separated from the far-off concept of potential future fortunes. But for Texas businessman John Mills and his Czech companion, Petr Kovac, the seemingly-valueless chits suggest a lucrative potential, worth much more than what the current owners are willing to sell them for. They travel to the furthest, coldest reaches of the country to acquire vouchers for the country's national oil company, Gazneft, roving from town to town with suitcases full of cash. But they quickly learn that the plan has complications--for example, the fact that the auctions at which these vouchers are traded for actual shares have been planned at the most remote, inaccessible locations possible to deter outsiders from buying in. And when the Russian mafia and the oligarchs in charge of Gazneft catch wind of their successes, the stakes become suddenly more deadly. A thrilling adventure inspired by true events, The Siberia Job charts a course through one of the most impactful periods in recent Russian history, whose reverberations continue to be felt in the present day"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Businesspeople; Businesspeople; Oil industries; Organized crime; Privatization;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Conflict in Ukraine : the unwinding of the post-Cold War order / by Menon, Rajan,1953-author.; Rumer, Eugene B.,1958-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Ukraine Conflict, 2014-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The lost pianos of Siberia / by Roberts, Sophy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Siberia's story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos--grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood. How these pianos travelled into this snow-bound wilderness in the first place is testament to acts of fortitude by governors, adventurers, and exiles. Siberian pianos have accompanied extraordinary feats, from the instrument that Maria Volkonsky, wife of an exiled Decembrist revolutionary, used to spread music east of the Urals, to those that brought reprieve to the Soviet Gulag. That these instruments might still exist in such a hostile landscape is remarkable. That they are still capable of making music in far-flung villages is nothing less than a miracle. The Lost Pianos of Siberia is largely a story of music in this fascinating place, following Roberts on a three-year adventure as she tracks a number of different instruments to find one whose history is definitively Siberian. Her journey reveals a desolate land inhabited by wild tigers and deeply shaped by its dark history, yet one that is also profoundly beautiful-and peppered with pianos"--
Subjects: Piano;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Near abroad : Putin, the West, and the contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus / by Toal, Gerard,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Vladimir Putin's intervention into the Georgia/South Ossetia conflict in summer 2008 was quickly recognized by Western critics as an attempt by Russia to increase its presence and power in the "near abroad", or the independent states of the former Soviet Union that Russia still regards as its wards. Though the global economic recession that began in 2008 moved the incident to the back of the world's mind, Russia surged to the forefront again six years later when they invaded the heavily Russian Crimea in Ukraine and annexed it. In contrast to the earlier Georgia episode, this new conflict has generated a crisis of global proportions, forcing European countries to rethink their relationship with Russia and their reliance on it for energy supplies, as Russia was now squeezing natural gas from what is technically Ukraine. In Near Abroad, the eminent political geographer Gerard Toal analyzes Russia's recent offensive actions in the near abroad, focusing in particular on the ways in which both the West and Russia have relied on Cold War-era rhetorical and emotional tropes that distort as much as they clarify. In response to Russian aggression, US critics quickly turned to tried-and-true concepts like "spheres of influence" to condemn the Kremlin. Russia in turn has brought back its long tradition of criticizing western liberalism and degeneracy to grandly rationalize its behavior in what are essentially local border skirmishes. It is this tendency to resort to the frames of earlier eras that has led the conflicts to "jump scales," moving from the regional to the global level in short order. The ambiguities and contradictions that result when nations marshal traditional geopolitical arguments-rooted in geography, territory, and old understandings of distance-further contributes to the escalation of these conflicts. Indeed, Russia's belligerence toward Georgia stemmed from concern about its possible entry into NATO, an organization of states thousands of miles away. American hawks also strained credulity by portraying Georgia as a nearby ally in need of assistance. Similarly, the threat of NATO to the Ukraine looms large in the Kremlin's thinking, and many Ukrainians themselves self-identify with the West despite their location in Eastern Europe."--
Subjects: Geopolitics; Geopolitics; Geopolitics; South Ossetia War, 2008.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Putin's people : how the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West / by Belton, Catherine,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.A chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB's renaissance, Putin's rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world. In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia and built a new league of oligarchs. Through exclusive interviews with key inside players, Belton tells how Putin's people conducted their relentless seizure of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political powers, shut down opponents, and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West. In a story that ranges from Moscow to London, Switzerland and Trump's America, Putin's People is a gripping and terrifying account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.
Subjects: Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti.; Presidents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Independence Square : Arkady Renko in Ukraine / by Smith, Martin Cruz,1942-author.;
While dealing with his Parkinson's disease diagnosis, Russian detective Arkady Renko agrees to search for an acquaintance's missing daughter whom he discovers was an anti-Putin activist, as the country's leaders begin to plot an invasion of Ukraine.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Missing persons; Police; Renko, Arkady (Fictitious character);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

House of Trump, House of Putin : the untold story of Donald Trump and the Russian mafia / by Unger, Craig,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Trump, Donald, 1946-; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; United States. President (2017- : Trump); Political science.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Daughters of victory : a novel / by Saab, Gabriella,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.Decades after defying her aristocratic family to join the Russian revolution, Svetlana Petrova opens her home to her eighteen-year-old granddaughter, Mila, who falls under the spell of the resistance when their remote village is overrun by Nazi invaders.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Granddaughters; Grandmothers; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Daughters of victory [text (large print)] : a novel / by Saab, Gabriella,author.;
Decades after defying her aristocratic family to join the Russian revolution, Svetlana Petrova opens her home to her eighteen-year-old granddaughter, Mila, who falls under the spell of the resistance when their remote village is overrun by Nazi invaders.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Large type books.; Novels.; Granddaughters; Grandmothers; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Shadow state : murder, mayhem and Russia's remaking of the West / by Harding, Luke,1968-author.;
A thrilling account of how Russia is waging a hidden war against America and the West, using espionage, corruption, fake news, and KGB-style murder. March 2018. Two Russian assassins arrive in a provincial English city to kill a former officer from Russia's GRU intelligence agency. His crime? Passing secrets to British spies. The poison? A lethal nerve agent, novichok. The attempted execution was a reminder - as if one were needed - of Russia's contempt for international norms. The Soviet Union and its doctrine are long gone, but the playbook used by the Kremlin's spies during that long confrontation with the West is back. And the underlying goal remains the same: to undermine democracy and exploit divisions within American and European society and politics. Moscow's support for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election has grown into the biggest political scandal of modern times. Its American players are well-known. In Shadow State, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Luke Harding reveals the Russians behind the story: the spies, hackers and internet trolls. Harding charts how the Kremlin has updated Communist-era methods of influence and propaganda for the age of Facebook and Twitter, and considers the compelling question of our age: what exactly does Vladimir Putin have on President Trump? Similar to those of the Cold War, Putin's ambitions are truly global. His emissaries include oligarchs, bankers, lawyers, mercenaries, and agents of influence. They roam from Salisbury to Helsinki, Ukraine to Central Africa, London to Washington, D.C. Shadow State is the singular account of how the Kremlin seeks to reshape the world, to divide the US from its European friends, and to remake America in its own dark and kleptocratic image. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand how our politics came to be so chaotic and divided. Nothing less than the future of Western democracy is at stake.
Subjects: Espionage, Russian; Political corruption; Political campaigns;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Results 51 to 60 of 120 | « previous |