The Incoherence of Foreign Policy

When Putin returned to the presidency in 2008, he was ambivalent about whether he wanted to return. Medvedev's entourage was pushing him to actually stand in a contested election against Putin. Many around Putin who had benefited from his largesse were very worried and unhappy about the thought of Medvedev becoming a real grown-up president. When it came down to it, though, if Putin has a strength - as regular listeners would know, I'm not especially impressed by many of Putin's notional abilities. But nonetheless, he does have a pretty good handle on reading people and knowing how to control, manipulate and use them.