After Wagner, Is Putin Better Or Worse off?. . . The Russian Bear In His Lair Leaves ’Em Guessing
By DEXTER DUGGAN The Soviet Union as a lumbering bear was one symbol that had emerged of the vast, Communist-oppressed territory by the second half of the twentieth century — dangerous but slow on its feet, as epitomized by its elderly, ashen dictators.Western observers called “Kremlinologists” or “Sovietologists” offered their insights, such as they were, into the bear’s ways — insights that often were establishmentarian and neither predicted nor desired a sudden upset and end to the cunning beast’s domineering rule.After all, you have to be realistic and not perturb favored expectations during afternoon tea, some thought.It likely would have been considered at least irresponsible if not amazing by the foreign-policy elite in, say, 1978 for a Sovietologist to foresee…Continue Reading