A
thrilling account of how Russia is waging a hidden war against America and the
West, using espionage, corruption, fake news, and KGB-style murder
March
2018. Two Russian assassins arrive in a provincial English city to kill a
former officer from Russia’s GRU intelligence agency. His crime? Passing
secrets to British spies. The poison? A lethal nerve agent, novichok. The
attempted execution was a reminder – as if one were needed - of Russia’s contempt
for international norms. The Soviet Union and its doctrine are long gone, but
the playbook used by the Kremlin’s spies during that long confrontation with
the West is back. And the underlying goal remains the same: to undermine
democracy and exploit divisions within American and European society and
politics.
Moscow’s support for Donald
Trump in the 2016 presidential election has grown into the biggest political
scandal of modern times. Its American players are well-known. In Shadow
State, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Luke Harding reveals
the Russians behind the story: the spies, hackers and internet trolls. Harding
charts how the Kremlin has updated Communist-era methods of influence and
propaganda for the age of Facebook and Twitter, and considers the compelling
question of our age: what exactly does Vladimir Putin have on President Trump?
Similar to those of the Cold
War, Putin’s ambitions are truly global. His emissaries include oligarchs, bankers,
lawyers, mercenaries, and agents of influence. They roam from Salisbury to
Helsinki, Ukraine to Central Africa, London to Washington, D.C. Shadow State
is the singular account of how the Kremlin seeks to reshape the world, to
divide the US from its European friends, and to remake America in its own dark
and kleptocratic image. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to
understand how our politics came to be so chaotic and divided. Nothing less
than the future of Western democracy is at stake.
"Shadow State reads like a thriller and abounds with spies, dubious businessmen, politicians and crooks in various exotic settings."
