If you want to understand Putin, learn about Alexander Dugin, the fascist Russian charlatan beloved by the U.S.'s far-right

Most Americans don't know of Aleksanr Dugin (often spelled Alexander). I'd never heard of him until I read Gary Lachman's excellent book Dark Star Rising in 2018.

Here's what I wrote about Dugin back then: "Dugin is a very influential Russian fascist philosopher who is a kind of Rasputin figure for Putin and who pushes the idea that the only way to return Russia to greatness is by wiping liberal democracy off the face of the earth. — Read the rest