Anne Applebaum came to Texas A&M on September 28th, 2015. She came to talk about Russia and Putin’s agenda. Russia is a paradoxical power that is both weak and strong. Putin controls the levers of the economy and media in a very authoritarian manner. Russia is weak in how Putin came to power and how he still holds onto this power. He was a KGB member and a member of the Russian mafia. His story is almost like a comic book villains. He stands at the center of a web of corruption and he rose by stealing money from his own country. Because of his illegitimacy he lives in a constant state of paranoia. To stay in power he represses opposition with targeted violence to people who speak out against him and he controls the media. There appears to be
