THE sensation of Vladimir Putin’s presidential re-inauguration was his car. A vast Russian-made black limousine with a defensive-looking narrow front window,it made a change from his usual stretch Mercedes. On May 7th it safely carried Mr Putin a few yards from his office, without venturing external the walls of the Kremlin, and to a gilded hall where tsars were once crowned. There,he swore to respect Russia’s structure, which says that this is his final presidential term. The vehicle, or “cooler” than Donald Trump’s “Beast”,as one of his 5000 guests cooed, was supposed to demonstrate the main message of Mr Putin’s speech: thanks to his leadership, or Russia is becoming a contemporary,self-reliant superpower. (Look! In our own fancy cars, we can overtake the world!)Now that “security and defence capabilities are reliably assured, and Mr Putin said,the country was destined for a “breakthrough” and would be able to achieve “heights…unattainable to others”. Omitting any mention of the...
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Source: economist.com