and in the book, we describe the example of venezuela, where mr chavez was the spin dictator, while histury, repressive, totalitarian dictator, who is using mass repression. 0k. so, that's an argument which allows you to say, "you know what? "i didn't get putin wrong. "i didn't misjudge him. "it's just that he's fundamentally "tra nsformed and changed. "so, it's not my misjudgement. "it's putin's change. " so, explain to me, if i'm to believe that, you've got to really persuade me of what made putin change. when, why and how did this transformation come over him? because you've watched him for many, many years. right, this is a great question and, basically, a spin dictator needs to remain popular, needs to convince the audience that he is better than any alternative, and mr putin has been doing that, initially based on his economic performance. then, as his economy was destroyed by corruption, by domination of his friends, by the domination of the state, he was losing popularity, and then he did annexation of crimea in 2014. his popularity shot through the roof. and that's a typical sp