Putin's Grand Chessboard

Vladimir Putin leaves no one indifferent.
Sometimes demonised by the West, sometimes admired — especially in Russia and Slavic countries — he is here to stay. On the global geopolitical chessboard, the Kremlin's leader is a grandmaster.
Putin is a pragmatist. He adapts to circumstances, to the strengths and weaknesses of his adversaries.
More than ever, Putin appears as an inescapable figure in international relations.
Having come to power with the new century, the Russian president is today engaged on every front — not only in Europe and Ukraine, but also in Eurasia and the Middle East.
For Agence France-Presse, with the Ukrainian conflict and Crimea's accession to Russia, East-West relations are going through their worst crisis in a quarter of a century. He is AFP's man of the year 2014. "President Vladimir Putin is indeed the central actor in this confrontation."
And as Moscow underlines, the vertiginous escalation of the threat posed by terrorist and extremist forces, including the Islamic State (IS), constitutes a direct challenge for the entire international community.
Yet the international community, by refusing to join forces with Russia, seems to behave like the catoblepas — that strange animal of ancient times which, it is said, devoured its own limbs without even noticing.
"Hating Putin does not make a policy. And one way or another, Russia will have to be reckoned with!"
"The Russian people are like grass: they bend in the wind, but they do not let themselves be torn from the earth." (Alexander Solzhenitsyn)