Wow! This sounds nifty!

Russia could be poised to become a super power again after agreeing with the US to launch what amounts to a joint air campaign against the two main extreme Islamist groups in Syria. If the ceasefire that starts at sunset on Monday holds for seven consecutive days and the UN is able to deliver aid to besieged people in Aleppo, then the US and Russia will establish “a joint implementation centre” that will organise joint military targeting by American and Russian aircraft directed against Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda which has relabelled itself – with al-Qaeda publicly assenting to a break with its affiliate – as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

But wait a minute. Isn’t the Independent, where this “wish a little wish for once-mighty Russia” was published, owned by Alexander Lebedev, a “former” KGB officer, and his dashing son Evgeny Lebedev?

I won’t even bother to ask the stupid question of why a “former” KGB officer was allowed to buy one of England’s leading newspapers.

In case you’re wondering why I’ve put “former” in quotation marks, I’m drawing on no less an authority on the subject than Vladimir Putin, who once famously said, “There is no such thing as a former KGB man.”

I’ll ask another question instead.

Does this sound like a “superpower” to you?

Pain and despair have seized the country. Russians are losing their jobs. They cannot pay back their debts and feed their children. Due to constant problems and the lack of apparent prospects, families are falling apart. Some make desperate decisions, finally putting an end to their lives. Russia is losing people.

Image courtesy of Susan Baroncini-Moe and MyFBCovers.com