A more realistic Russia

RUSSIA has long thought of itself as a singular power. At the G8 summit of rich, democratic nations, which opens in Okinawa on July 21st, it will indeed be the odd one out. While the other seven leaders from North America, Europe and Japan fret about the digital divide, and the poor health and bad debts of the world's hard-up nations (see article), Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, by his own admission, knows he is struggling to avoid his country's relegation from the big-power table to the ranks of the third world.