Petrostate or The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia

Author: Marshall I Goldman

In the aftermath of the financial collapse of August 1998, it looked as if Russia's day as a superpower had come and gone. That it should recover and reassert itself after less than a decade is nothing short of an economic and political miracle.
Based on extensive research, including several interviews with Vladimir Putin, this revealing book chronicles Russia's dramatic reemergence on the world stage, illuminating the key reason for its rebirth: the use of its ever-expanding energy wealth to reassert its traditional great power ambitions. In his deft, informative narrative, Marshall Goldman traces how this has come to be, and how Russia is using its oil-based power as a lever in world politics. The book provides an informative overview of oil in Russia, traces Vladimir Putin's determined effort to reign in the upstart oil oligarchs who had risen to power in the post-Soviet era, and describes Putin's efforts to renationalize and refashion Russia's industries into state companies and his vaunted "national champions" corporations like Gazprom, largely owned by the state, who do the bidding of the state. Goldman shows how Russia paid off its international debt and has gone on to accumulate the world's third largest holdings of foreign currency reserves--all by becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum and the world's second largest exporter. Today, Vladimir Putin and his cohort have stabilized the Russian economy and recentralized power in Moscow, and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) have made it all possible.
The story of oil and gas in Russia is a tale of discovery, intrigue, corruption, wealth, misguidance, greed, patronage, nepotism, and power.Marshall Goldman tells this story with panache, as only one of the world's leading authorities on Russia could.

Table of Contents:

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction Russia - Once Again an Energy Superpower 1

Ch. 1 Russia as an Early Energy Superpower 17

Ch. 2 World War II to 1987: Russia Looks Inward and Outward 33

Ch. 3 Pirates Unleashed: Privatization in the Post-Soviet Era 55

Ch. 4 Post-1998 Recovery: The Petroleum Export Bonanza 73

Ch. 5 Putin Takes Over: The Return of the Czar 93

Ch. 6 Natural Gas: Russia's New Secret Weapon 136

Ch. 7 Russia: The Unrestrained Super Energy Power 170

Notes 211

Glossary of People and Companies 225

Index 231

Interesting textbook:

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Library of Essential Reading Series)

Author: Benjamin Franklin

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the most important and influential works in American history. It tells the story of Franklin's life from his humble beginnings to his emergence as a leading figure in the American colonies. In the process, it creates a portrait of Franklin as the quintessential American. Because of the book, Franklin became a role model for future generations of Americans, who hoped to emulate his rags to riches story. The Autobiography has also become one of the central works not just for understanding Franklin but for understanding America.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a man of many roles-printer, author, philosopher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and politician to name only a few. He lived a wide and varied life and found himself at the center of virtually every major event involving America during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was so successful as a businessman that he was able to retire at the age of 42. He proved equally adept at science, and his experiments in electricity made him the most famous American in the colonies. Politics and diplomacy occupied him for most of the latter half of his life.