There is nothing irresistible about him. He threatens us, brandishes his nuclear arsenal and claims to see “declarations of war” in our economic sanctions and upcoming arms shipments to Ukraine, but let’s observe him for a moment.
Read MorePutin is on the ropes. This is as worrying as it is pleasing, since he will stop at nothing to try to regain control, but we must already think about the new relations that we could propose to post-Putin Russia.
Read MoreHe is often called “strong” to suggest even more clearly that democracies, on the other hand, are supposed to be weak. There are those who judge him as “patriotic” and admire him for it. Some others predict that he will soon have reconstituted the USSR, and still others prefer him to the United States, which they accuse of bringing war to Europe by wanting to “annex Ukraine to NATO”.
Read MoreThere is still a chance left for him not to destabilise Europe and lose everything. Whether he enters Ukraine or gives up without having obtained anything, today Vladimir Putin is checkmated, but he could still choose to come out on top and go down in history as a man of peace and not of war.
Read MoreThey fascinate as much as they alarm. Xi, Putin and Erdogan are stirring the Westerners’ slumber, but far from being as strong as they would have us believe, they are running out of steam and skidding because the sky is darkening over their heads.
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