Please explain it to me. Putin did manage a few petty insults but I don't see the big gains for Russia the writer implies and I don't see that the West gave up anything (folded their hand).
If Blair is Bush's poodle, then Putin is the G8's slobbery old St Bernard. He is too rude and ill-mannered for the NY Athletic Club, but they keep inviting him with the hope of good will, knowing full well that the old commie likes the company of the Chicoms and NK, and authoritarian Iranians too. The Europeans expect nothing different from Russians. And, to be honest, to expect Russia to be only European is to ignore her history and location in the world.
Somehow I missed the part where Putin did anything other than act like a craven bully, with no real bite at all.
Evidently the media has trasferred the knee pads from slick willie to putin.