[lumberjack]

https://news.sky.com/story/sky-views-vla...y-11129453

Bardzo ciekawy artykuł:

The nation's oligarchs have been neutralised and it is Putin, a working-class boy from Leningrad, who controls both the flow of oil and gas and information in the state media.

This reservoir of power at home has not translated into influence on the world stage however.

Russia's economy is weak, its bureaucracy sclerotic and corrupt and a huge portion of the national budget (38%) is consumed by the military and domestic security forces.

With an economy about the same size as Canada's, President Putin is unable to claim a seat at the world's top table with the likes of the United States, the European Union and China.

Therefore, the Russian leader has been taking extraordinary short cuts to achieve the power and prestige he thinks Russia deserves.

Take sport for example. A few days ago the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed it had obtained a database containing information which proves that Russia was running a massive doping operation across dozens of sports between 2012 and 2015.

[...]

But the truth is, they got caught. Instead of putting in the necessary money, time and expertise to turn promising athletes into champions, Russia took a glory-seeking short cut and now risks being excluded from Olympic competition altogether.

As with sport, so with its attempts to impact the political debate in the United States and Europe.

Damaged by sanctions and crippled by the low price of oil, Putin's inner circle has sought power and influence through hacks and leaks and disinformation campaigns.

They have pushed and in some cases funded those considered sympathetic to their conservative, nationalist agenda.
Such tactics would never be accepted in Russia but they are used by the Russian state because conventional methods have failed to bring about desired results.

International diplomacy and big power summits have not cancelled the sanctions or regularised Russia's occupation of Crimea. Instead, President Putin and his team tried an innovative short cut.

Here's how Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ives put it.

"Tactically, great job," he said.

"Strategically, what they have done is a failure. They managed to alienate may of the biggest countries in the West, the same countries they launder their money to."

Building on the theme, British Prime Minister Theresa May sent Russia a "simple message" in her speech at London's Mansion House on Monday.

She said: "We know what you are doing and you will not succeed because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies."

President Putin may get a few seconds with Donald Trump on the side lines of trade meetings as he managed to recently in Vietnam - but he will not get a substantial hearing with world leaders until he decides to follow the same rules and procedures that other countries do.

But that would require a re-evaluation of Russia's place in the world, a fresh analysis of its future prospects - and that is something Vladimir Putin is highly unlikely to do.