In the last year, we’ve been witness to the slow-motion downfalls of two hapless lieutenants of contemporary dictatorships, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Dmitri Medvedev, both of whom are likely to face further isolation—if not worse—in the months ahead. Both have come into disrepute for distinct reasons, but the methods used to scapegoat and marginalize them are strikingly familiar. As case studies, they ought to edify Western policymakers for whom policies of “engagement” or “reset” were premised on subordinates’ winning out in power struggles with their hard-line masters.
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