Disclosure: this is a super long read, but absolutely worth it. Together with Christian Neef's recent piece for Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/wor

Disclosure: this is a super long read, but absolutely worth it. Together with Christian Neef's recent piece for Spiegel (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/understanding-moscow-the-mysteries-of-the-russian-mindset-a-1162072.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/understanding-mosc...), it covers just about everything you need to know about Russia today.