Opinion: Life’s a beach for the G7′s Biarritz summit – but Russia is a dark cloud overhead

Aurel Braun is a professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto, and an associate at the Davis Center at Harvard University.

First, Russia is exhibiting classic symptoms of imperial decline. The gap is growing rapidly between Russia’s limited capabilities – with its energy-dependent, unidimensional economy stagnating – and Mr. Putin’s unhinged ambitions and overreach. And his “successes” in Crimea and in Syria, for instance, impose ever greater burdens on the long-suffering people of Russia.

Fourth, the zone of democracy is continuing to shrink at an alarming rate, while the ersatz ideology promoted by Mr. Putin based on ultranationalism, authoritarianism and the Russian Orthodox Church loses traction. As problems in Russia multiply, nearly all polls show Mr. Putin’s popularity plunging, while protests continue to roil. On Aug. 10, as many as 60,000 demonstrators turned out in Moscow, angry about rigging in upcoming local elections.

Russia has also been increasingly brazen in its military’s prodding and probing of the West. On an almost weekly basis, Russian military aircraft have engaged in provocative and risky challenges that at times may be accidents waiting to happen.

GlobeDebate The scary thing is China and Russia are up to no good, if we look back on history.....Germany and Japan where aliases and the spot light was only on Germany not really Japan. Now it's on China but Russia supports what China is doing, politically as well as Economically with power

GlobeDebate This bad actor has no place among civilized Countries. On that note, let's boot the USA too.

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