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The Putin Question
As war fever returns in Ukraine, the question of why Russian President Vladimir Putin went from would-be modernizer to aggressive autocrat is being revived. Whatever the reason – fear for his safety, a sense of historical grievance, or both – Putin’s inability to reform Russia’s economy seems certain to be his downfall.
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WASHINGTON, DC – Russian President Vladimir Putin has at times garnered as much attention in the US presidential campaign as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. By having his minions hack into Democratic Party computers and pass the results to WikiLeaks, as credible security experts believe, Putin appeared to be trying to tilt the election Trump’s way. And Trump, besides calling on Russia to hack Clinton emails, seems to have returned the favor by accepting Putin’s reasons for annexing Crimea and denying the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine. In Putin, many observers see Trump’s ideal of leadership: autocratic, unconstrained, and very idiosyncratic.