Russia's Pivot to the East Is Real

Anatol Lieven, Russia Matters
The conference of the Valdai Club in Sochi took place before the U.S. withdrawal from Syria and the new surge in Russian influence in the Middle East; but the increase in Russian confidence was already very marked. The mood, however, was one of sober confidence rather than arrogance. As Marc Champion remarked in his report for Bloomberg, President Putin delivered his least vituperative performance for a decade or more of annual speeches to the international gathering of policymakers, academics and journalists. There was in fact a good deal less for journalists at this year's Valdai than...