海角大神

Dispense with any doubts about who the Alpha Dog in Russia is.

For that matter, you might as well apply that characterization to the world stage, where a former mid-ranking KGB officer, black-belt judo master, and is showing himself capable of performing diplomatic jujitsu on the West one day and the next, waxing philosophical on everything from gays and Syria to chemical weapons and political opponents.

Make no mistake: Vladimir Putin is at the top of his game these days, a veritable oracle offering counsel and scoldings about the right and wrong way to do things in the world.

Give him a platform and he鈥檒l run with it. Last week, it was the . On Thursday, it was a forum called the , a formerly closed-door affair in a provincial town that in the past featured scholars typically from the West sitting down for off-the-record banter with Russia鈥檚 leaders.

This year, the Kremlin has pulled back the curtain on Valdai, giving President Putin yet another platform from which to opine, for example, Europe鈥檚 demographic crisis:

鈥淓uropeans are dying out. Don't you understand that? And same-sex marriages don't produce children. Do you want to survive by drawing migrants? But society cannot adapt so many migrants. Your choice in many countries is the way it is: recognition of same-sex marriage, adoption, etc. But let us make our own choice the way we see it for our country.鈥澛�

On the corruption of Western values:

鈥淲e can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the 海角大神 values that constitute the basis of Western civilization. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan.鈥�

On the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb that most Western governments and independent analysts believe was committed by Syrian government forces:

鈥淲e have every reason to believe that this was a provocation. You know, it was clever and smart, but at the same time, the execution was primitive. They used an ancient, Soviet-made projectile, taken from the Syrian army鈥檚 armaments from a long time ago 鈥� it even had 鈥淢ade in the USSR鈥� printed on it. But this was not the first time chemical weapons were used in Syria. Why didn鈥檛 they investigate the previous instances?鈥�

On his 鈥済ood friend鈥� Silvio Berlusconi, the disgraced former Italian prime minister convicted for, among other things, paying underage prostitutes during .听

鈥淏erlusconi faces trial for living with women. If he was a homosexual, no one would ever lay a finger on him.鈥�

In the 12 plus years since Putin has reigned, either as prime minister or president, he has cut a wide swath at home and abroad. His public persona as a 鈥渕uzhik鈥濃�� basically, a regular, ol鈥� 鈥済uy鈥� 鈥� has been finely chiseled by the Kremlin (with help from the US public relations giant, ), burnished by well publicized adventures as a , , , and . His annual news conference with the Russian press corps routinely stretches , and his attracts tens of thousands of viewers and listeners across Russia, as he scolds officials, comforts the poor and responds to requests like a king and his subjects. He has also acquired a well-deserved reputation for his prickly wit and sharp tongue, with acerbic comments about , , and the in Russia鈥檚 long troubled North Caucasus.

Putin is in his third six-year term as president (the interim period between his second and third terms were spent swapping places with the now-prime minister, , and waiting for the constitution to be amended so Putin could return to the presidency). Assumptions are always dangerous to make, particularly where Russia concerned, but , meaning he could remain Russia鈥檚 predominant political personality, and a force on the world stage, until 2024, well beyond when US President Obama is out of office.

In coming years, it may make for an increasingly brittle political system, which by some accounts is taking on . Regardless, Putin鈥檚 longevity means there will be plenty more opportunities for him, and the entire Kremlin policy making machinery, to out-maneuver the White House, .

Having seized the fickle attention of the American public with his Times morality lecture on the dangers of American exceptionalism, Putin also found time to swat away Sen. John McCain鈥檚 riposte, published earlier this week in the online Russian newspaper Pravda.ru:

鈥淭he fact that he chose to publish his article in Pravda 鈥� and he wanted after all to publish it in the most influential and widely read newspaper 鈥� suggests that he is lacking information. Pravda is a respected publication of the Communist Party, which is now in opposition, but it does not have very wide circulation around the country now. He wants to get his views across to as many people as possible, and so his choice simply suggests that he is not well-informed about our country.鈥澛犅�

Vintage Putin.