but even before that, before he got his start, he got his start in the soviet intelligence services in kgb, where of course deception were the norm. as a russian journalist recounts in a fantastic piece in the atlantic about putin's rise to power, here is how one left dissidents academic in russia describing putin at the time of his ascension, he is a checklist, meaning an agent to the secret police. once a check is, always a checklist. he is pure evil. once the member of the secret police, always a member of the secret police. it is how putin operates. he appears to retain within him a tie to the worst aspects of soviet union shadowy totalitarianism. at least, according to his behavior in recent weeks. you see, there is an entire field of study -- it was all the rage for a while, called criminology. it rose during the cold war because there was no free press in the soviet union at the time.