In Moscow's Shadows 12: Drift in Russian Politics and the Decay of the 'Hybrid Regime'; on Cheating, in dissertations, politics and the underworld

What is going on with Putin and his regime? Less of a distinct answer to that question, and more a pondering of what we can read into the mishandling of a series of recent events, from the Navalny poisoning to Belarus, I discuss why I think Russia is likely at a crossroads, but one where I am unsure where the roads necessarily lead... And after the break, I riff off the widespread practice of plagiarising dissertations and consider where it came from and what wider lessons one can learn. Wha...