In any negotiation you have to have an idea of what you want, but you must also have an idea of what you would be happy to trade back down to.

Putin should be happy, because if all he’s secured from Xi’s visit to Moscow is a lot of photographs of the theatre of international diplomacy, then it’s all showing that he has the support of the rising star of the century - China - and that’s good enough.

Of course, Putin isn’t the type of man to be happy with good enough. He does want everything.

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