Russia, a world power!

In a report this month for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Gustav Gressel argued that Putin had overseen the most rapid transformation of the country's armed forces since the 1930s.

"Russia is now a military power that could overwhelm any of its neighbors, if they were isolated from western support," wrote Gressel, a former officer of the Austrian military.

Russia's fighter jets are, for now at least, conducting nearly as many strikes in a typical day against fighters opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad as the US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State has been carrying out each month this year.

Check out my three books on Russia and Ukraine, wherever books are sold. Follow me on twitter @bengfrank