VLADIMIR PUTIN recently took advantage of Peter the Great’s 350th anniversary, celebrated on June 9, to claim to be continuing that emperor’s work.
Speaking after visiting an exhibition in Moscow entitled Peter the Great: Birth of an Empire, Putin told an audience of young entrepreneurs that Peter’s conquests had been defensive in nature and that Russia today needed to defend itself in similar fashion.
Appeals to the legacy of the Romanov dynasty are nothing new for Putin.
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
GUILLERMO THOMAS enjoys a survey of the current state of the CIA (aka Langley) from an expert and insider of sorts


