Putin is winning on Snowden, Syria and Sochi… but so what? - Vladimir Putin’s having a hell of a summer. Before writing the most talked-about New York Times op-ed in months, he embarrassed his chief rival, the United States, by harboring its most high-profile dissident, Edward Snowden. He then came out ahead on negotiations over what to do about Syria’s chemical weapons attack that killed 1,400 people. The general consensus is that Putin and Russia are winning. But what, exactly, are they winning?

http://blogs.reuters.com/ian-bremmer/2013/09/19/putin-is-winning-on-snowden-syria-and-sochi-but-so-what/