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Using plastic surgery and botox among the world’s most feared leaders: fashion or rational choice?

  The trendsetter in Moscow: Vladimir Vladimirovich (61)
Source: Celebchanges.com

Putin’s testosterone is bad for democracy – we wrote in a post on Ukraine a few weeks ago. That testosterone level has kept us thinking. […]

Yanukovich’s overthrow is a warning to Putin as well: something similar may yet happen in Russia. In a post published last year we examined which countries may become more democratic in the mid-term. Ukraine was among them… and so was Russia. […]

Imagine that you are a political entrepreneur in a poor country with a population that is internally divided and has a high discount rate (is very short-sighted). What is your optimal strategy? We deliberately did not say “politician”, because that may give the wrong idea. Serving the country and all that shit. We are not talking about Nelson Mandelas here. Think rather “Prince” – not the artist formerly called, but as in Machiavelli. Or think of Ukraine. […]

“The only free cheese is in the mousetrap.” Who profits from politicizing gas prices in Ukraine? How much is a country’s sovereignty worth?

Guest post by András György Deák, Associate Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs. […]