With a preface by Norman Davies, author of Europe: A History. Revised and updated following Russia`s attack on Georgia. No longer the sick man of Europe, Russia is run by an authoritarian ex-KGB regime with the cash to put its ideas into practice. Under Vladimir Putin`s autocratic rule, it silences its critics and bullies its neighbours. The murders of Anna Politkovskaya and Aleksander Litvinenko have sent a grim warning to other critics and the sham presidential `election` in 2007 that put Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin as Putin`s hand-picked successor showed how Russia`s rulers, not the voters, dictate the country`s political future. The New Cold War explains the Kremlin`s use of energy blockades and trade sanctions, military sabre-rattling and propaganda wars against its neighbours - and why a divided and demoralised West is responding so feebly. It is an incisive and disturbing account of why we are perilously close to defeat - and how we can still win.