Having been relatively quiet for a while, Russia's leader Vladimir, speaking in Sochi (following meetings with Middle East crown princes who confirmed Russia as a key partner - "isolated"?), has unleashed his most aggressive statements with regard the failing world order:

*PUTIN SAYS U.S. DOLLAR LOSING TRUST AS RESERVE CURRENCY

*PUTIN: WORLD WITHOUT RULES IS POSSIBILITY; ANARCHY GROWING

Adding that the risk of major conflicts involving major countries is growing, as well as the risk of arms control treaties being violated, Putin exclaimed that the US-led unipolar world is like a dictatorship over other countries and that "US leadership brings no good for others," and calls for a new global consensus.

Having met Crown Prince Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi in Sochi, who confirmed that Moscow “plays a very important role in the Middle East," and added that he had no doubts that his country and Russia “are bound by a privileged relationship," it appears Russia is less "isolated" than the West would have many believe.

As Bloomberg reports:

*PUTIN SPEAKS AT MEETING OF VALDAI CLUB IN SOCHI

*PUTIN SAYS WORLD GROWING LESS SECURE, PREDICTABLE

*PUTIN SAYS NO GUARANTEE OF GLOBAL SECURITY

*GLOBAL SECURITY SYSTEM IS WEAK, DEFORMED: PUTIN

*COLD WAR ENDED WITHOUT PEACE BEING ACHIEVED: PUTIN

*PUTIN SAYS COLD WAR `VICTORS' DISMANTLING INTL LAWS, RELATIONS

*U.S. HAS WORSENED DISBALANCE IN INTL RELATIONS: PUTIN

*PUTIN SAYS U.S. ACTING LIKE NOUVEAU RICHE AS GLOBAL LEADER

*PUTIN SAYS WORLD LEADERS BEING BLACKMAILED BY `BIG BROTHER'

*U.S. LEADERSHIP BRINGS NO GOOD FOR OTHERS: PUTIN

*PUTIN SEES GLOBAL MEDIA UNDER CONTROL, UNDERMINING TRUTH

*PUTIN SAYS WEST CLOSED EYES TO INTL TERRORISM ENTERING RUSSIA

*PUTIN CALLS U.S. SELF-APPOINTED LEADER

*PUTIN: UNIPOLAR WORLD LIKE DICTATORSHIP OVER OTHER COUNTRIES

*PUTIN SAYS MANY COUNTRIES DISENCHANTED W/ GLOBALIZATION: PUTIN

*PUTIN SAYS U.S. DOLLAR LOSING TRUST AS RESERVE CURRENCY

*RUSSIA WON'T BEG FOR ANYTHING: PUTIN

*SANCTIONS UNDERMINING WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION RULES: PUTIN

*RUSSIA ISN'T WALLING ITSELF OFF FROM WORLD, PUTIN SAYS

*RUSSIA READY FOR DIALOGUE ON NORMALIZING ECONOMIC TIES: PUTIN

*PUTIN: WORLD WITHOUT RULES IS POSSIBILITY; ANARCHY GROWING

*PUTIN CALLS FOR NEW GLOBAL CONSENSUS, INTERDEPENDENCE

*PUTIN: CONTINUED USE OF FORCE IN UKRAINE MAY LEAD TO DEAD END

*PUTIN SAYS U.S. CAN'T HUMILIATE ITS PARTNERS FOREVER

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Fighting talk?

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Escalation? It seems sabre-rattling is picking up as The Washington Times reports,

Russian military provocations have increased so much over the seven months since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine that Washington and its allies are scrambling defense assets on a nearly daily basis in response to air, sea and land incursions by Vladimir Putin’s forces. Not only is Moscow continuing to foment unrest in Eastern Ukraine, U.S. officials and regional security experts say Russian fighter jets are testing U.S. reaction times over Alaska and Japan’s ability to scramble planes over its northern islands — all while haunting Sweden’s navy and antagonizing Estonia’s tiny national security force. “What’s going on is a radical escalation of aggressive Russian muscle flexing and posturing designed to demonstrate that Russia is no longer a defeated power of the Cold War era,” says Ariel Cohen, who heads the Center for Energy, National Resources and Geopolitics at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington. “The more we retreat, the more we are encouraging Russia to behave in a more aggressive way,” Mr. Cohen said. “We need to be engaging more deeply with our Central Asian allies, but instead we are in the process of abandoning turf to Russia, and it’s wrong — it’s against our interests geopolitically to let Russia feel that they all of a sudden have won all the turf without firing a shot.”

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