The Russian president''s landmark speeches, interviews and policies borrow heavily from great Russian thinkers past and present, from Peter the Great to Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. They offer powerful visions of strong leaders and the Russian nation: they value conservatism and the Slavic spirit. They root morality in Orthodoxy, and Russian identity in the historic struggle with the West.Today, Putin manages and manipulates those same ideas in his ''defense'' of 130 million ethnic Russians against the world. With the annexation of Crimea, the war in Syria and shock election results across the West, the challenge of decrypting his worldview has become more pressing than ever. From a Eurasian Union to a new Russian Empire, this is a revealing tour of Kremlin doctrine and strategy, viewed through its philosophical roots.

The Russian president''s landmark speeches, interviews and policies borrow heavily from great Russian thinkers past and present, from Peter the Great to Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. They offer powerful visions of strong leaders and the Russian nation: they value conservatism and the Slavic spirit. They root morality in Orthodoxy, and Russian identity in the historic struggle with the West.Today, Putin manages and manipulates those same ideas in his ''defense'' of 130 million ethnic Russians against the world. With the annexation of Crimea, the war in Syria and shock election results across the West, the challenge of decrypting his worldview has become more pressing than ever. From a Eurasian Union to a new Russian Empire, this is a revealing tour of Kremlin doctrine and strategy, viewed through its philosophical roots.

What does the head of the Kremlin think about? What are his hopes and aims for the lands bordering Russia, for Europe, and even the world? In January 2014, the Kremlin sent its senior civil servants, governors and party bigwigs a special New Year’s present: philosophy books, by 19th and 20th century Russian thinkers. This reading list is not optional: the president himself has cited these authors in landmark speeches, and they need to understand what he means. The most persistent of the bunch will find these great works strangely familiar, full of the national leader's role in an 'authentic' democracy, the importance of being conservative, the urgency of rooting morality in religion, and the historic struggle of the Russian people against the timeless hostility of the West. President Putin is the man who manages and manipulates these existential anxieties. And since the annexation of Crimea, the need to decrypt his vision for the nation—propelled by the Kremlin’s Eurasian neo-imperialists and prophets of `Russian-way’ conservatism—has become more pressing than ever. In this revealing and engrossing book, Michel Eltchaninoff invites us inside the psyche of the Russian president for a better understanding of his doctrine and geopolitical vision. He offers answers to an urgent question for our 21st century world: what is Vladimir Putin thinking?

What drives Marine Le Pen and France's Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era? In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under 'Marine', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what's her secret? This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen's FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right--including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself. Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannised by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic 'beyond Left and Right', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin's Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN's roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

What drives Marine Le Pen and France''s Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era?In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under ''Marine'', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what''s her secret?This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen''s FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right-including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself.Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannized by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic ''beyond Left and Right'', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin''s Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN''s roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

What drives Marine Le Pen and France''s Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era?In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under ''Marine'', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what''s her secret?This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen''s FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right-including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself.Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannized by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic ''beyond Left and Right'', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin''s Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN''s roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

Wer die Gefahr durch Putin besser einschätzen will, sollte dieses Buch lesen.Putins Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine hat alle überrascht. Dabei waren seine Ziele schon viel länger erkennbar. Zum Neujahrsempfang 2014 schenkte Putin seinen 5000 wichtigsten Beamten drei vielsagende philosophische Werke. Der französische Philosoph Michel Eltchaninoff entwickelt daraus eine hellsichtige Analyse von Putins Denken. Mit einer kruden Mischung aus Logik und Willkür und auf der Grundlage eines rückwärtsgewandten Weltbilds soll ein eurasisches Großreich unter russischer Hegemonie entstehen.»Eltchaninoff beschreibt präzise die Wandlung Putins vom pseudoliberalen Pragmatiker zum zynischen Kriegsherrn und Propagandisten einer neuen großrussischen imperialen Idee.« Die literarische Welt»Eine intellektuelle Biographie dieses Profis der Maskierung.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung»Die kleine Studie erklärt gut, in welchem geistigen Kräftefeld sich der russische Präsident bewegt. Natürlich ist Putin kein Intellektueller; er liest Bücher mit bewaffnetem Auge und nimmt sich je nach Weltlage die philosophischen Brocken, die er braucht.« Die Zeit

¿Qué tienen en común el papel mesiánico que Vladímir Putin confiere a Rusia y el proyecto SpaceX de Elon Musk? ¿Qué relación hay entre el interés de Google por revertir el envejecimiento y la momia de Lenin celosamente custodiada en la plaza Roja de Moscú?La respuesta la hallamos en el cosmismo, una corriente nacida en las últimas y convulsas décadas de la Rusia imperial, cuya influencia ha atravesado la historia entera de la Unión Soviética y que aún hoy se hace sentir en los proyectos más audaces emprendidos en Silicon Valley.El filósofo Michel Eltchaninoff realiza un apasionante recorrido por la historia y las ideas de los cosmistas, un puñado de eruditos que con sus visionarias propuestas moldearon el siglo soviético: desde el leninismo, el estalinismo o la carrera espacial hasta las corrientes ultraconservadoras surgidas tras el hundimiento de la URSS y que sirven de guía a los dirigentes rusos actuales. Una historia tan desconocida como sorprendente, que halla su epígono en movimientos como el transhumanismo o en los más recientes avances por colonizar el espacio o hacer realidad el sueño –para algunos, pesadilla– de la inmortalidad.«Un libro que toda persona interesada en la historia de las ideas y el imaginario del futuro debería leer.» Blaise Mao, Usbek&Rica

El hecho pasó casi desapercibido. En enero del 2015, en Rusia, los altos funcionarios, los gobernadores regionales y los cuadros directivos del partido Rusia Unida reciben un singular obsequio de Año Nuevo procedente de la Administración presidencial: ¡libros de filosofía! Se trata de obras de pensadores rusos de los siglos XIX y XX. Si Gogol resucitara nos describiría a estos imponentes personajes, acostumbrados a los restaurantes más elegantes y a los buenos coches, sudando tinta con la lectura de unas páginas llenas de especulaciones sibilinas. Pero no queda otro remedio que aplicarse y pasar las noches devanándose los sesos. El mismísimo presidente ha citado recientemente a estos autores en varios discursos cruciales, así que hay que tratar de entender lo que ha querido decir. Por lo demás, los más perseverantes han encontrado en estos libros una serie de fórmulas que resuenan extrañamente, como una reminiscencia de otros tiempos: el papel de guía de la nación en una democracia auténtica, la importancia de ser conservador, la preocupación por anclar la moral en la religión, la histórica tarea del pueblo ruso frente a la milenaria hostilidad de Occidente...En este ensayo, Michel Eltchaninoff trata de responder a la pregunta que todo el mundo se hace desde la anexión de Crimea, episodio que en Rusia se ha elevado a la categoría de acto fundacional. ¿Qué le pasa a Putin por la cabeza en este comienzo de siglo imprevisible? La filosofía rusa bien podría ayudarnos a comprender su estrategia en el momento actual, cuando los profetas del conservadurismo, de la "Vía Rusa" y del "imperio eruasiático" cobran fuerte impulso en el Kremlin.

The Russian president''s landmark speeches, interviews and policies borrow heavily from great Russian thinkers past and present, from Peter the Great to Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. They offer powerful visions of strong leaders and the Russian nation: they value conservatism and the Slavic spirit. They root morality in Orthodoxy, and Russian identity in the historic struggle with the West.Today, Putin manages and manipulates those same ideas in his ''defense'' of 130 million ethnic Russians against the world. With the annexation of Crimea, the war in Syria and shock election results across the West, the challenge of decrypting his worldview has become more pressing than ever. From a Eurasian Union to a new Russian Empire, this is a revealing tour of Kremlin doctrine and strategy, viewed through its philosophical roots.

The Russian president''s landmark speeches, interviews and policies borrow heavily from great Russian thinkers past and present, from Peter the Great to Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn. They offer powerful visions of strong leaders and the Russian nation: they value conservatism and the Slavic spirit. They root morality in Orthodoxy, and Russian identity in the historic struggle with the West.Today, Putin manages and manipulates those same ideas in his ''defense'' of 130 million ethnic Russians against the world. With the annexation of Crimea, the war in Syria and shock election results across the West, the challenge of decrypting his worldview has become more pressing than ever. From a Eurasian Union to a new Russian Empire, this is a revealing tour of Kremlin doctrine and strategy, viewed through its philosophical roots.

What does the head of the Kremlin think about? What are his hopes and aims for the lands bordering Russia, for Europe, and even the world? In January 2014, the Kremlin sent its senior civil servants, governors and party bigwigs a special New Year’s present: philosophy books, by 19th and 20th century Russian thinkers. This reading list is not optional: the president himself has cited these authors in landmark speeches, and they need to understand what he means. The most persistent of the bunch will find these great works strangely familiar, full of the national leader's role in an 'authentic' democracy, the importance of being conservative, the urgency of rooting morality in religion, and the historic struggle of the Russian people against the timeless hostility of the West. President Putin is the man who manages and manipulates these existential anxieties. And since the annexation of Crimea, the need to decrypt his vision for the nation—propelled by the Kremlin’s Eurasian neo-imperialists and prophets of `Russian-way’ conservatism—has become more pressing than ever. In this revealing and engrossing book, Michel Eltchaninoff invites us inside the psyche of the Russian president for a better understanding of his doctrine and geopolitical vision. He offers answers to an urgent question for our 21st century world: what is Vladimir Putin thinking?

What drives Marine Le Pen and France's Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era? In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under 'Marine', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what's her secret? This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen's FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right--including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself. Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannised by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic 'beyond Left and Right', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin's Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN's roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

What drives Marine Le Pen and France''s Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era?In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under ''Marine'', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what''s her secret?This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen''s FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right-including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself.Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannized by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic ''beyond Left and Right'', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin''s Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN''s roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

What drives Marine Le Pen and France''s Front National? Has her party really changed its ways, or is she merely rebranding its old ideas and policies for a new era?In the age of Brexit and Trump, France too has seen a growing audience for identity-based politics. Under ''Marine'', the FN is enjoying unprecedented success. But what''s her secret?This is a probing investigation into the philosophy of Marine Le Pen''s FN. It seeks answers in her speeches, in the history of French nationalism and in revealing interviews with those on the far right-including Jean-Marie Le Pen himself.Michel Eltchaninoff exposes a vision of France tyrannized by liberalism and seduced by the offer of an uncompromising alternative: a Republic ''beyond Left and Right'', defined by its enemies and aligned with Putin''s Russia. Whatever Marine Le Pen is thinking, she has not forgotten the FN''s roots. The French far right is now stronger than ever.

Wer die Gefahr durch Putin besser einschätzen will, sollte dieses Buch lesen.Putins Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine hat alle überrascht. Dabei waren seine Ziele schon viel länger erkennbar. Zum Neujahrsempfang 2014 schenkte Putin seinen 5000 wichtigsten Beamten drei vielsagende philosophische Werke. Der französische Philosoph Michel Eltchaninoff entwickelt daraus eine hellsichtige Analyse von Putins Denken. Mit einer kruden Mischung aus Logik und Willkür und auf der Grundlage eines rückwärtsgewandten Weltbilds soll ein eurasisches Großreich unter russischer Hegemonie entstehen.»Eltchaninoff beschreibt präzise die Wandlung Putins vom pseudoliberalen Pragmatiker zum zynischen Kriegsherrn und Propagandisten einer neuen großrussischen imperialen Idee.« Die literarische Welt»Eine intellektuelle Biographie dieses Profis der Maskierung.« Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung»Die kleine Studie erklärt gut, in welchem geistigen Kräftefeld sich der russische Präsident bewegt. Natürlich ist Putin kein Intellektueller; er liest Bücher mit bewaffnetem Auge und nimmt sich je nach Weltlage die philosophischen Brocken, die er braucht.« Die Zeit

¿Qué tienen en común el papel mesiánico que Vladímir Putin confiere a Rusia y el proyecto SpaceX de Elon Musk? ¿Qué relación hay entre el interés de Google por revertir el envejecimiento y la momia de Lenin celosamente custodiada en la plaza Roja de Moscú?La respuesta la hallamos en el cosmismo, una corriente nacida en las últimas y convulsas décadas de la Rusia imperial, cuya influencia ha atravesado la historia entera de la Unión Soviética y que aún hoy se hace sentir en los proyectos más audaces emprendidos en Silicon Valley.El filósofo Michel Eltchaninoff realiza un apasionante recorrido por la historia y las ideas de los cosmistas, un puñado de eruditos que con sus visionarias propuestas moldearon el siglo soviético: desde el leninismo, el estalinismo o la carrera espacial hasta las corrientes ultraconservadoras surgidas tras el hundimiento de la URSS y que sirven de guía a los dirigentes rusos actuales. Una historia tan desconocida como sorprendente, que halla su epígono en movimientos como el transhumanismo o en los más recientes avances por colonizar el espacio o hacer realidad el sueño –para algunos, pesadilla– de la inmortalidad.«Un libro que toda persona interesada en la historia de las ideas y el imaginario del futuro debería leer.» Blaise Mao, Usbek&Rica

El hecho pasó casi desapercibido. En enero del 2015, en Rusia, los altos funcionarios, los gobernadores regionales y los cuadros directivos del partido Rusia Unida reciben un singular obsequio de Año Nuevo procedente de la Administración presidencial: ¡libros de filosofía! Se trata de obras de pensadores rusos de los siglos XIX y XX. Si Gogol resucitara nos describiría a estos imponentes personajes, acostumbrados a los restaurantes más elegantes y a los buenos coches, sudando tinta con la lectura de unas páginas llenas de especulaciones sibilinas. Pero no queda otro remedio que aplicarse y pasar las noches devanándose los sesos. El mismísimo presidente ha citado recientemente a estos autores en varios discursos cruciales, así que hay que tratar de entender lo que ha querido decir. Por lo demás, los más perseverantes han encontrado en estos libros una serie de fórmulas que resuenan extrañamente, como una reminiscencia de otros tiempos: el papel de guía de la nación en una democracia auténtica, la importancia de ser conservador, la preocupación por anclar la moral en la religión, la histórica tarea del pueblo ruso frente a la milenaria hostilidad de Occidente...En este ensayo, Michel Eltchaninoff trata de responder a la pregunta que todo el mundo se hace desde la anexión de Crimea, episodio que en Rusia se ha elevado a la categoría de acto fundacional. ¿Qué le pasa a Putin por la cabeza en este comienzo de siglo imprevisible? La filosofía rusa bien podría ayudarnos a comprender su estrategia en el momento actual, cuando los profetas del conservadurismo, de la "Vía Rusa" y del "imperio eruasiático" cobran fuerte impulso en el Kremlin.