Propaganda: Explanation of What Goes on in Putin's Mind
Critically acclaimed and awarded prizes, Giuliano da Empoli's latest novel has become a bestseller. His "The Magician in the Kremlin" tells about contemporary Russia and the emergence of its "media-staged and completely fictitious, but also deadly reality, an empire of lies". However, da Empoli is himself the magician. Through his "illusion" he reinforces a concentrated prejudice about political machinations in Russia. He knows that by doing so he will create enthusiasm among a certain audience. In this respect, his book has a toxic effect because it cements resentments and stereotypes instead of helping to dissolve them.
No sooner had the German edition of "Le Mage du Kremlin" (Gallimard, Collection Blanche [1]) been published by Beck Verlag than the feuilletons and literary circles between Berlin, Vienna and Zurich overflowed with hymn-like criticism: "The Magician in the Kremlin is a great novel about contemporary Russia and the emergence of its media-staged and completely fictitious but also deadly reality, an empire of lies. It not only reveals the background to the Putin era, but also offers a clear-eyed contemplation on power." [2]
No sooner had the German edition of "Le Mage du Kremlin" (Gallimard, Collection Blanche [1]) been published by Beck Verlag than the feuilletons and literary circles between Berlin, Vienna and Zurich overflowed with hymn-like criticism: "The Magician in the Kremlin is a great novel about contemporary Russia and the emergence of its media-staged and completely fictitious but also deadly reality, an empire of lies. It not only reveals the background to the Putin era, but also offers a clear-eyed contemplation on power." [2]
Russia's political stage
Da Empoli's book is timely. At a time when simple explanatory patterns are booming politically, it delivers one: "With a great deal of background knowledge and drawing on the entire historical personnel, from Mikhail Khodorkovsky to Yeltsin to Clinton - da Empoli recounts the last 30 years from the logic of the Kremlin. They lead directly to the war in the Donbass..."[3]
Feature writers in France as well as in Germany hail a novel that "throws a sharp light on the current geopolitical situation" [4] because "in this situation, only literature is capable of shedding light on the darkness." [5]
In his fictional novel, Giuliano da Empoli wants to show how Putin came to power and became the "healer" of a Russian soul that feels humiliated. He is supported in this by his media advisor, the "magician" named Vadim Baranov. This character is modelled on Vladislav Iouriévitch Sourkov, who was Putin's personal advisor from 2013 and 2020. In addition to the Russian president, numerous people from contemporary history appear with real names, including Boris Abramovitch Berezovsky or Mikhaïl Borissovitch Khodorkovski. The action takes place over one night. The aforementioned novel character Baranov lives in a villa near Moscow. There he describes to a French scientist how Putin came to power and stayed in power.
"This novel takes us to the centre of Russian power, where intrigues are constantly being spun. And where Vadim, who has become the regime's main spin doctor, turns an entire country into a political theatre where there is no reality other than the fulfilment of the president's wishes." [6]
Warning against Putin
Can we understand Russia politically? It is a very simple explanatory pattern that Giuliano da Empoli provides, but it resonates well: "A boxer is taught that he should not only study his opponent's punching technique carefully, but also his opponent's mental state. This is exactly what Giuliano da Empoli's novel does."[7] Da Empoli himself had intended the novel as a "warning against Putinism," but in his estimation it now "comes too late." [8]
The author with Swiss-Italian roots studied in Florence and Paris, was a cultural councillor in Florence and an advisor to the social democratic politician and prime minister Matteo Renzi. He appears as a columnist for some Italian dailies, is a sought-after talk show host on radio and television, and is a professor of political science at Sciences Po in Paris. In 2019, in Les ingénieurs du chaos (JC Lattès), he described how "smart social media experts are helping the right-wing populists and manipulating our democracy." In German-speaking countries, this book is recommended "if you want to protect yourself against manipulation from the right (...) Our democracy is at stake." [9]
Indeed, one wonders why Giuliano da Empoli's books have such a great resonance. His latest work has reportedly sold over 400,000 copies in France alone so far, and the rights have now been granted to almost 30 countries. The author was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in autumn 2022. He narrowly lost out to Brigitte Giraud's "Vivre vite" at the Prix Goncourt. Politicians seek his proximity. Feature writers and talk show hosts clamour for his contributions.
Threads to Washington
Giuliano da Empoli is the founder and director of the Italian think tank Volta. [10] According to its own information, it is part of the Global Progress Network, an initiative of the Center for American Progress. This Washington-based liberal think tank has close ties to the Democratic Party establishment and was founded in 2003 as a left-wing alternative to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. [11] Notable financial supporters include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Sandler Foundation, the JPB Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and numerous well-known figures in the technostructure.[12] In 2017, da Empoli appeared with Volta as a co-host of the Global Progress Summit in Canada.
The latest novel by da Empoli would not be worth mentioning. It joins the large group of those stories about Russia written by people who know very little about and in Russia. The Magician in the Kremlin" is peppered with Western narratives, stereotypes and prejudices. When reading it, media reports or other digital finds inevitably come to mind, which must have been the source and inspiration for the author. For the critical reader, his explanatory model is untenable: how should one be able to reduce Russia's political history of the past three decades to media productions?
However, da Empoli makes this easy. His book constantly ignores Russia's social and economic development since the turn of the millennium, including the increased life expectancy of its people and a GDP that has risen from $278.26 billion (2000) to $2215.29.[13] It ignores the fact that it was only during Vladimir Putin's first term in office that some stabilisation was achieved in the transition from a planned economy to a market economy. The creation of an economy with corporatist features, in which the leadership lies with the state, had and has supporters and opponents, including in Russia itself.
The book also ignores any form of domestic political development over the past decades - unless they were echoed in Western media coverage, such as the 2011-2013 protest movement.
But it also ignores - and this is indeed problematic in the context of current events - the geopolitical environment, especially with regard to Ukraine. Da Empoli manages to accuse Putin of CIA-directed paranoia in connection with the Euromaidan. At the same time, he manages not to mention the Minsk Agreement or the role of international organisations such as the EU or NATO.
Inside Putin's head
The Western elite has been pondering for some time what goes on inside Putin's head. This question was asked by The Guardian[14] and Politico [15] in late February 2023 or Newsweek in early March 2022 [16], the BBC still last autumn [17], as well as the Riga-based media platform "Meduza". [18]
When Giuliano de Empoli tries to explain what really drives the Russian president, his explanatory patterns are reduced to Western narratives and stereotypes, between Cold War-era spy thrillers and fantasies of violence in the tradition of Ivan the Terrible. But this does not disturb the recipients at all: "In a disturbing way, Giuliano da Empoli understands how to lend a kind of inevitability to Putin's terrorist rampage, which is the result of persecution mania, both within Russia and externally," writes Die Welt, for example.[19] Libération speaks of a "breathtaking account of Vladimir Putin's mental system and the logic of war. He tells everything that led to the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February."[20] You see: the simpler the explanatory pattern, the more popular it is.
"Fiction or not, this haunting book, written before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, makes clear what Putin is aiming for: the establishment of a totalitarian reign of terror on the ruins of the chaos he created," concludes Foreign Policy. [21]
The illusion of the magician
Looking at da Empoli's background and profession, one has to conclude that it is a purposefully placed work. For why would a professor at Sciences Po want to explain Russia's political development under President Putin only with media staging and deception? Why would he want to ignore the manifold forces acting on the Russian Federation both internally and externally? Why would he actually want to make us believe that the political fate of a highly complex state system is actually determined by only a handful of people?
Basically, there Empoli himself is a magician. For what is the nature of the magician? It is a deceiver who, through skilful distraction, draws the audience's attention away from an actual course of events. Da Empoli uses the cloak of art to make himself unassailable as far as actual events are concerned. He is not telling us anything new either, but through his "illusion" he is reinforcing a concentrated prejudice about the political machinations in Russia. He knows that by doing so he will create enthusiasm among a certain audience. The hymn-like criticism and wide distribution of his work confirm him in this knowledge. In this respect, his book has a toxic effect because it cements resentments and stereotypes instead of helping to dissolve them.
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[1] https://www.gallimard.fr/Catalogue/GALLIMARD/Blanche/Le-mage-du-Kremlin#
[2] https://www.chbeck.de/da-empoli-schattenmann-kreml/product/34659393
[3] https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendungen/radiotexte/empoli-100.html
[6] https://www.chbeck.de/da-empoli-schattenmann-kreml/product/34659393
[10] http://voltaitalia.org/?lang=en
[11] https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-american-progress-cap/
[12] https://www.americanprogress.org/c3-our-supporters/
[13] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/19373/umfrage/bruttoinlandsprodukt-in-russland/
[14] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/26/valdimir-putin-russia-ukraine-inside-his-head
[15] https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-nato-nuclear-inside-putins-head/
[16] https://www.newsweek.com/what-going-inside-vladimir-putin-head-experts-weigh-ukraine-russia-1684059
[17] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63230338
[18] https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/11/18/we-have-no-sources-inside-putin-s-head
[21] https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/30/le-mage-du-kremlin-novel-french-putin-russia-vladislav-surkov/