Indeed, Putin has the survival instincts of a mobster, and the subversive skills built up from a career in the KGB. He knows how to play a weaker hand to his best advantage. Domestically, he has destroyed Russian independent media, as well as judicial and economic institutions that might have constituted a threat to his personal power. In the process he has made himself one of the richest men in the world and coopted his country’s elite by including them in the spoils. Those who have threatened this arrangement can find themselves dead. On the international stage, Russia does little to facilitate the smooth diplomatic and commercial interaction between states and is instead satisfied to seek attention through subversion and bullying. For Putin, “win-win” means “I beat you twice.”