November was a good month for those convinced of the Kremlin’s sinister intentions, apparent arrogance and enduring ability to summon up dark forces.
A crackdown on the opposition, the scratching away of individual liberties, even the suspicion that Russia is involved in mysterious deaths in the Home Counties: all this has led critics of Vladimir Putin to compare his methods with those of Josef Stalin. They are wrong. The Pussy Riot prisoners may be wearing the traditional gulag quilted jackets but 2012 is, mercifully, a long, long way from the 1930s. At the heart of all that is going on is weakness and confusion — the accelerating collapse of a system of rule, rather than the hefty maw of the Russian bear.
Mr Putin’s rule