Multipolarity matures, but not according to Putin's plan

Trump’s propensity to resolve entrenched armed conflicts by negotiating quick “peace deals” is also far from encouraging. The trend of uneven diffusion of power among multiple “poles” in the inherently unbalanced world system is progressing and accelerating, and the hope that ambitious leaders firmly set on putting their parochial interests first and making their domains “great again” would show responsibility in managing proliferating conflicts implies a stretch of strategic imagination. Russia has praised and promoted multipolarity for many years, but with its depressed economy, disastrous demography, and corrupt bureaucracy, it is destined to be a designated loser in this ruthless world system.