Betrayal
Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest
An unparalleled guide to the shattering of the international order.
Betrayal charts the dramatic collapse of the post-1945 international system. Ours is now a world in which Trump’s America has endorsed Putin’s land-grab in Ukraine, painted Europe as an enemy, and toppled and kidnapped Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro. Meanwhile, an anti-western alliance has taken shape featuring China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Countries find themselves in an uncertain and dangerous era. It is a return to nineteenth century imperialism and spheres of influence – but with withering modern
firepower.
Written in thrilling style, this vital and clear-eyed book reports from the frontlines of a new age of conquest. Luke Harding visits villages in eastern Ukraine under Russian bombardment, talks to Greenlanders about a US takeover, tours the divided Korean peninsula and sits down with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Betrayal tells the story of presidents and ordinary people, caught up in conflict and war. Harding offers an essential guide to brutal Great Power politics and how it came back.
Reviews
“Rarely can a nonfiction book be more gripping than a good thriller. But Betrayal is precisely that! Luke Harding, who knows Ukraine and all its front lines like the back of his hand, hasn’t limited himself to military action and the unknown details of special military operations. This book weaves together the global military history of the last eighty years and the current reality of global politics, in which the war in Ukraine has become a lever capable of changing the future of many countries, including the United States.”—Andrey Kurkov, internationally bestselling author of Death and the Penguin
“War reporting at its finest. Luke Harding tells the story of the largest war of the twenty-first century like no one else, moving from Kyiv and the front lines of Ukraine to Moscow, Washington, D.C., and Pyongyang to reveal the war’s global reach and the stakes it has raised.”—Serhii Plokhy, leading expert on Ukrainian history at Harvard University