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Nothing is true and everything is possible : the surreal heart of the new Russia / Peter Pomerantsev.

by Pomerantsev, Peter.

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New York : Public Affairs, [2015]

Interviews -- Russia (Federation)

Social change -- Russia (Federation)

Social problems -- Russia (Federation)

Power (Social sciences) -- Russia (Federation)

Corruption -- Russia (Federation)

Authoritarianism -- Social aspects -- Russia (Federation)

Russia (Federation) -- Social conditions -- 1991-

Russia (Federation) -- History -- 1991- -- Biography.

Russia (Federation) -- Economic conditions -- 1991-

1610396006 (paperback)

9781610396004 (paperback)

ix, 243 pages ; 21 cm

Act I: Reality Show Russia -- Act II: Cracks in the Kremlin Matrix- Act III: Forms of Delirium

Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible is a journey into the glittering, surreal heart of 21st century Russia: into the lives of oligarchs convinced they are messiahs, professional killers with the souls of artists, Bohemian theater directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, supermodel sects, post-modern dictators, and playboy revolutionaries. This is a world erupting with new money and new power, changing so fast it breaks all sense of reality, where life is seen as a whirling, glamorous masquerade where identities can be switched and all values are changeable. It is a completely new type of society where nothing is true and everything is possible -- yet it is also home to a new form of authoritarianism, built not on oppression but avarice and temptation. Peter Pomerantsev, ethnically Russian but raised in England, came to Moscow to work in the fast-growing television and film industry. The job took him into every nook and corrupt cranny of the country: from meetings in smoky rooms with propaganda gurus to distant mafia-towns in Siberia. As he becomes more successful in his career, he gets invited to the best parties, becomes a friend to oligarchs and strippers alike, and grows increasingly uneasy as he is drawn into the mechanics of Putin's post-modern dictatorship. Meet Vitaliy, a Mafia boss proudly starring in a film about his own crimes; Zinaida, a Chechen prostitute who parties in Moscow while her sister is drawn towards becoming a Jihadi; and many more. These 21st century Russians grew up among Soviet propaganda they never believed in, became disillusioned with democracy after the fall of communism, and are now filled with a sense of cynicism and enlightenment. Pomerantsev captures the bling effervescence of oil-boom Russia, as well as the steadily deleterious effects of all this flash and cynicism on the country's social fabric. A long-nascent conflict is flaring up in Russia as a new generation of dissidents takes to the streets, determined to defy the Kremlin and fight for a society where beliefs and values actually count for something.

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