Putin lives at the pleasure of the oligarchs and the military. Did you see his fearful leaked speech to them the other day? Read the Dictators Handbook. Great book about how dictators keep power.

The authors of this book make a bold claim: leaders do whatever keeps them in power, regardless of the national interest. And while there are clear differences between a liberal democracy and a dictatorship, the common thread through both is the same — scratch the right backs, and keep the people in the dark. This is an entertaining, yet at times unsettling, manual for gaining and preserving power — akin to Machiavelli’s The Prince.