Why Am I Studying Russian?

I get that question a lot. In Italy, especially, everyone seems really curious what the hell would make me want to do that.

Here is one reason - they aren't going away anytime soon.

Gorbachev's talk embodied some other reasons - replacing the two superpower system with one superpower clearly has failed. It's not a model for international success and whether US influence keeps declining, EU influence increases, Russian influence returns or someone else (China? India?) appears, we are going to be looking at a very different international community by the middle of my lifetime.

I read today that Putin seems likely to run for President again in the next election, when he would be eligible. How do you view his grip on power there and what's the right way to handle it? I've become awfully curious lately... we'll see what Obama ends up doing.