In 2016 it is fitting that we are enraptured by Russianness, for the country is on our minds: we are more disapproving and terrified of Russia, and Russia is more hostile and disdainful towards us than at any time since the death of Stalin. No figure in international affairs so fascinates and unsettles as Vladimir Putin. But if it seems that the tight britches and diamond necklaces of Tolstoyan drama belong to another Russia, think again. The hairstyles may be different but the war of power and culture now is the same as that described by Tolstoy.
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