Kremlin Kontrol

Russia's Political Military Reality

By: Timothy L. Thomas

Narrated by: Luis Ayala

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) serves as the United States Army’s global scouts. We leverage direct observations of the operational environment, emerging threat capabilities, and friendly gaps to advise the operational force. Our observations inform doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leader development, personnel, facilities, and policy solutions. Since our establishment in 2006, part of our mission has been anticipating asymmetric threats and “seeing over the next hilltop”.

One of the threats we see on the horizon is that posed by Private Military Companies (PMCs). PMCs are proliferating worldwide and play an increasingly important role in competition and conflict. Specifically, PMCs based in the Russian Federation have been active in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. They are of increasing concern to commanders worldwide, from the tactical to the strategic level.

©2017 Asymetric Warfare Group (P)2022 Luis Ayala

Excellent information read like a professor reading their dissertation

The content of this book is very well researched and provides an excellent look at how Putin appointed the right subordinates, had laws and policies approved to his benefit, and changed governmental structures in the 2000s and early 2010s in order to solidify the Tsardom he now enjoys.

Unfortunately the delivery of this audiobook is that of a professor reading their dissertation to an interested but distracted class. The content is full of facts and statistics that are difficult to follow in an audiobook format. The content would be better presented in a more narrative form that explains what happened instead of listing the details of what happened when. Further, someone who actually speaks Russian should be reading this book—the reader’s mispronunciation of common Russian words left me exasperated and I ultimately gave up after listening to only half of the audiobook.

The information in this book is important and gives a detailed account of how Russia has transformed in the past 20 years. It would be best to buy the print book and explore the richness of the research on its pages. That’s what I’ll be doing instead of trudging forward through the rest of the audiobook version.