In politics, even the inevitable can take you by surprise, turning victory into disaster. This is what Vladimir Putin has yet to understand.
The Russian system of personalized power has demonstrated an amazing knack for survival, by changing its costume and pretending to be its opposite for a while, after which it returns to its predatory ways. Beginning with Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the Russian system has been reincarnating itself in this way: first it was the Communist power; then in 1991 it dumped the Soviet state and proclaimed liberal slogans; and then in 2013–14 it hunkered down once again in …read more
Source: Brookings