as the russian chess grandmaster garry kasparov noted, the entire structure of russian political power died, after all, you knew the process by which a successor, his son, would be elevated. when the general secretary of the soviet communist party died, the standing committee in the politburo would select his successor. when putin dies, i almost said if, what will happen? no one knows. to understand putin you have to understand russia. the last 100 years for that country have seen revolution, war, communism, collapse. and then comes vladimir putin, who ushers in almost two decades of stability and popular perception, rising standards of living and increasing prominence in the world. russians have immense national pride. russia is, after all, the largest country on the planet. 48 times larger than germany. it encompasses 11 time zones and straddles europe, asia and the middle east. it craves a prominent place on the world stage. after the strange summit in helsinki, putin seems to have accomplished that, and much more. after the summit, donald trump ga gave perhaps the most embarrassing