The Diplomat: Putin’s shadow looms over world
It seems only natural that with current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin set to return as Russia’s president for another dozen years, government spokespeople have begun praising the protracted rule of Leonid Brezhnev as head of the Soviet Union. Indeed, Putin himself has said that one of his main ambitions is to create a ‘Eurasian Union’ among the former Soviet republics. Putin once called the Soviet Union’s collapse the greatest catastrophe of the 21st century, and his ambitions to recreate it could make life tough in the Asia-Pacific—and beyond. Read full text here.