this is gps , the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i m fareed zakaria. today on the program, from the czars in czarrinas to soviet air come issars, to president putin. we delve into the nature of power in russia. looking at the past to help us understand the present. i ll talk to the new yorker s david remnick and professor nina khrushcheva. and also the prime minister of barbados on getting the west to pay for damage from climate change rising seas and wild weather. two degrees is a death sentence. and the president of kenya on why many nations in the global south are not taking a side on the war in ukraine. but first, here is my take. in his important book the third wave, samuel huntington pointed out the division among the ruling elite is a key sign of weakness in authoritarian regimes. when members of the establishment break with the system, it triggers a larger set of changes. conversely, when you do not se
the latest book is in putin s footsteps. what is the mood in moscow and what do people think about this issue of is putin consolidating his power or is he now substantially weaker? well, putin has been quite weak for quite sometime. and one of the reasons, of course, is the war in ukraine is a year and a half in. russia is not winning. despite all of the expectations. so how how not weak that power is, the choice in this and we talk about the coup or potential coup and mutiny that didn t work out, is that the choice was between hard core nationalists like yevgeny prigozhin, who in his calls to the military, his interviews, have been talking about cleansing russia with blood,
brutality against ukrainian civilians. with me now is a professor of international affairs at the new school, the co-author of the book, in putin s footsteps, and the great granddaughter of former soviet premiere, nikita khrushchev. thank you so much for coming back on this show. a few weeks ago, u.s. intelligence officials said that president putin was being misinformed by what s going on in ukraine by his kremlin advisers. and now we see this newly appointed russian ground commander. what does that signal to you about putin s mind-set about the war. do you think he s fully aware of how badly his forces have been doing in ukraine? i think he was aware of how his forces were doing in ukraine, but i m wondering if the same assessment is that, yes, we are de-nazifying and preventing genocide, it s going slowly, they have been explaining that it s going slowly, because they try not to bomb every city in its way, so they re being concerned about civilians, as they say. so i wouldn t sa
this is the first time that there is a single commander on the ground coordinating russia s military campaign in ukraine. after news of the appointment broke, jake sullivan said, quote, this general will just be another author of crimes and brutality against ukrainian civilians. with me now is a professor of international affairs at the new school, the co-author of the book, in putin s footsteps, and the great granddaughter of former soviet premiere, nikita khrushchev. thank you so much for coming back on this show. a few weeks ago, u.s. intelligence officials said that president putin was being misinformed by what s going on in ukraine by his kremlin advisers. and now we see this newly appointed russian ground commander. what does that signal to you about putin s mind-set about the war. do you think he s fully aware of how badly his forces have been doing in ukraine? i think he was aware of how his forces were doing in ukraine, but i m wondering if the same assessment is that, yes