The Guardian’s Luke Harding is live now replying to your questions – from his new book on Trump and Putin to the state of the war in Ukraine, his explusion from Russia and his career as a foreign correspondent
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Churchcar72 asks: How safe is Putin’s position? Like Trump if he goes the house of cards falls – yet he seems unassailable – only age and death can bring him down. Is he really that secure?
Luke:
He’s safe. There was much speculation around the time of the full-scale invasion that Putin was sick and possibly dying. This turned out to be wishful thinking. Similarly, there is little prospect of a palace coup or popular revolution in Russia. The reality is Putin will stay in power for life. Most people support him, state propaganda is as potent as ever, and the security services keep a close eye on dissent. Many of those who oppose him left the country in 2022. The majority are passive and fatalistic. The fate of Alexey Navalny – murdered in a Siberian gulag in 2024, likely on Putin’s orders – sent its own grim message.
I visited Afghanistan in 2000, when the Taliban were first in power. One image haunts me: when I ate at a restaurant in Kabul I noticed the diners were all men. Outside by the entrance, women in blue burqas begged for scraps. I subsequently covered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, when I was based in Delhi for the Guardian, and visited schools for girls.
Five years on from the Taliban’s return, there is no easy answer. Governments need to raise the restrictions on women’s rights and freedoms. And the home office should lift its unjust visa ban on Afghan nationals who want to study in the UK.
