Of course Russia will always be Russia! The country doesn't have to struggle for its "identity". It's art, literature and music are renowned all over the world! What Shlomo Ben-Ami has not said is that Vladimir Putin has assumed such a status that any attack on him would be seen as an attack on Russia itself. Although Putin said Russia could survive without him, but he wouldn't survive without Russia. So this fear may shape his "strategic behavior" and urge him to stay in power, because he would otherwise feel a sense of emptiness in life.

It's obvious that Putin questions the current global order and denounces the US role in the world. As he is said to have told Joe Biden, Russia may not be strong enough to compete for global leadership, but could yet decide who that leader might be. The question is how much can he do to rail against the US, even though its hegemony is declining.

What is amazing is that Putin preaches water and drinks wine. Last year he urged the US to respect international law, while Obama was contemplating a military intervention in Syria following Assad's chemical attacks on civilians. During the meeting of the Valdai Club in October, he said: "Unilateral dictatorship and obtrusion of the patterns leads to opposite result". He doesn't consider himself authoritarian and acts unilaterally. While urging for "conflicts settlement", he endorses an escalation of the fighting in Ukraine and doesn't respect Ukraine's sovereignty and stability. He also blames Washington for the current crises aroung the world. Then he accuses the West of supporting "very dubious people, such as neo-Nazis and Islamist extremists".

When Putin said "the unipolar world had been a means of justifying dictatorship over people and countries", he was only grieving the demise of the Soviet Union, which was a counterpole to the US during the Cold War. Then he contradicted himself, saying a multipolar world would likely be still more unstable. Putin has reasons to resent the NATO eastward enlargment after the Cold War and the US global dominance. Perhaps it's time for the US and its Western allies to respond to the call for a new system of global rules, for the sake of peace and stability. Apart from Russia, China is seemingly joining this anti-liberal club.

Putin’s nationalism may not have much global appeal, but his call for a counterweight to western supremacism shouldn't be ignored. Russia's oil and gas are good currency to buy support from countries like Brazil, India, China and South Africa of the BRICS.