Putin's Annus Mirabilis: Changing the Shape of Eurasia

Many foreign observers have joined with commentators within the Russian regime to declare Vladimir Putins performance on the world stage during 2013 a triumph. Russians of dissident persuasion have tended to acknowledge his successes, too, while accentuating the downsides in the hope of descrying a trend, and I will be attempting to do something similar. But first the triumphs