Czar Vladimir

I know I suggest you read this or that article for your political or diplomatic edification, probably more often than I should. It's a professor's weakness. Many of those, if truth be told, are optional.

I just finished an article that is honestly not optional, if you would understand modern Russia. Our old friend Ralph Peters here writes about Russia for the Washington Post; he calls Vladimir Putin Russia's new czar.

Peters admires Putin without approving of him, if you can wrap your mind around that seeming contradiction. See Peters' conclusion:

Demographically, economically, developmentally, militarily, even educationally, Russia appears doomed to fierce decline. But one man of genius has brought his people a last, autumnal reprieve. Vladimir Putin is a dangerous man, but a splendid czar.

You owe it to yourself to read the reasons Peters gives for reaching that conclusion.