Edward Lucas - Russia's Descent into Authoritarianism and Imperial Delusion: Inevitable or Avoidable

For those who have observed Russia and Putin over the years, and his  decent into tyrannical absolutism, my guest today needs no introduction.  Edward Lucas was one of the first journalists to raise the alarm about  Putin’s actions and motivations. While most of the world still thought  of Putin as ‘someone we could do business with’, Edward published a  prescient and insightful book in 2008 called “The New Cold War – Putin’s  threat to Russia and the West”. It remains one of the most insightful  and informative accounts of Russia today and depicts the regime's  crushing of independent media, institutions, and the silencing of its  critics, taking Russia far away from the European political mainstream.  That journey has now brought Russia into direct conflict with Ukraine,  and to an extent with the West. Today we will examine these immediate  issues, but also the way in which Russian money and resources were used  to weaken the West's will to resist. Edward Lucas is a full-time Liberal Democrat is a Prospective candidate  for the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, on a platform  that includes defending democracy against dirty money and corruption. He  is a columnist for The Times and has been a Senior Editor on the  Economist. Edward is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for European Policy  Analysis, and of course is a renowned author.