And of course he quoted Tolstoy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin once again had to pull all stops at the International Valdai Discussion Club’s 12th annual meeting in Sochi to highlight the tremendous seriousness of the current geopolitical juncture.
As a compact Greatest Hits on comparative foreign policy and military strategy, this already qualifies as required reading in political science courses everywhere. Putin’s full speech, plus a crucial Q&A, is here. The speech on video is here.
Let’s go straight to some of the unmissable highlights.