| Unexpectedly -- at least for The Smartest Men in the Room. |
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...is proving a hard man to snub.
The Russian leader was supposed to be the outcast, booted from the rich nations club and disinvited from the G8 party he was planning in the Olympic City, Sochi, his pride and joy.