keith gesson is a professor at the columbia school of journalism here at morningside. stephen kotkin is professor of history and international affairs at princeton university and maria murillo is a professor of science at columbia and is also serving as director for the institute of latin american studies. without further ado i will hand it over to tim to talk about his book before. >> thanks a lot. it's really a pleasure to be here and i want to thank you in the palace for taking time out of your busy schedules particularly during a pandemic. i really appreciate your effort and hearing what you have to say about the book. the simplest way to describe "weak strongman" the limits of power in putin's russia is that it's explainable. translate what i think is the best academic research over the last decade for a general audience on a host of interesting questions. spuyten really popular? do you elections matter? the's propaganda ineffective cliques why are relations with the left so fraught. the book should have something for you whether you identify as a russian or is so