Are the tsars out tonight?  High in the sky, the tsars climb.  For policymakers in Washington, it is useful to compare two individuals who have risen in the Russian sky. On May 7, 2018 the 65-year-old Vladimir V. Putin was sworn in as president of Russia for another six-year term, his fourth term of office, having been elected with 77% of the vote.  He had a relatively low-key ceremony, attended by about 6,000, including sundry personalities – Gerhard Schroeder, former German chancellor and critic of sanctions against Russia; Steven Seagal, Hollywood black belt in aikido and citizen of Russia since November 2016; and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, who gave Putin an 18th-century icon.  After the inauguration ceremony, the secular Putin attended a prayer service at the Cathedral of the Annunciation. Vladimir Putin has been in power, as president or as prime minister, since the last day of...(Read Full Article)