Buxton Books is excited to be the bookseller for the Charleston Library Society and The World Affairs Council as they welcome Stephanie Baker for a discussion of her book, Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia. For tickets and more information, please click here.
Since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II has grabbed headlines across the world. A senior writer at Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Business Week, Stephanie Baker, joins the Charleston Library Society in the Main Reading Room just a few weeks after the paperback publication of her latest release, Punishing Putin, to explore her introspective on the unrelenting shadow war between Russia and Ukraine. Baker will share insight on how this war started, its execution, as well as the power it has to affect the course of history. For fans of Angela Stent’s Putin’s World and her visit with us last year, Punishing Putin is not to be missed. This program is in partnership with The World Affairs Council.
For tickets and more information, please click here. If you are unable to attend the event, but would like to purchase one or more signed copies, please click here.
About Punishing Putin:
An in-depth, authoritative, and timely look at the unprecedented economic war the US and its European allies are waging against Russia after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—written by a veteran journalist with unparalleled access to Western and Russian sources. Undeterred by eight years of timid US sanctions, Vladimir Putin ordered his full-scale assault on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In the hours that followed across the world, Western leaders weaponized economic tools to counter an unprecedented land grab by a nuclear-armed power. What followed was an undeniably world-changing financial experiment that risked throwing the world into a devastating recession. The end goal was simple: to sap the strength of Putin’s war machine and damage the Russian economy—once the eleventh largest on the planet. Here, Russian expert and veteran journalist Stephanie Baker explains in fascinating detail how this furious shadow-war unfolded: its causes, how it is being executed, and its ability to affect Russia and the course of history. From seizing super-yachts to manipulating the global price of oil to trying to block the sale of military technology to Russia, we learn how the White House coordinated with top officials in London and Brussels to freeze a staggering $300 billion in foreign currency reserves accumulated in the West by Russia’s central bank. Mobilizing an army of white collar-crime investigators and experts on international law, Baker explores how the West has cracked down on illicit Russian money by targeting oligarchs, one super-yacht at a time, and their enablers around the world. Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin takes us into the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a whole new era of carefully calculated “economic statecraft” and shows how these new strategies are already radically rearranging global alliances that will influence the world order today, and for generations to come.
About Stephanie Baker:
Stephanie Baker is a veteran journalist who began her career reporting from Moscow in the 1990s. Her work has been recognized by the Gerald Loeb Awards, the Overseas Press Club, the UK Society of Editors, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, and the UK’s Foreign Press Association. She is a fixture across all Bloomberg media, including Bloomberg television, radio, and podcasts, and she has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, PBS, Sky News, and the BBC.
About The World Affairs Council:
The World Affairs Council of Charleston (WACC), formerly the Charleston Foreign Affairs Forum, was founded in the early 1980s as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Membership represents a cross-section of individuals from business, education, and civic backgrounds. Through thought-provoking presentations and discussions, participants of all ages and backgrounds are invited to challenge and enhance their understanding of the world. WACC is a 501(c)(3) organization and is a member of the World Affairs Councils of America, a network of 93 independent, nonpartisan councils across 40 states.