He "can't imagine himself in the role of Khrushchev": no, because for all his flaws (and there were many) Khrushchev had the balls to speak truth to power inside the party room about what clearing house after Stalin required. And, for all his bizarre antics, was at least pragmatic about social reforms. He was also pushed aside by people Putin idolises: they installed Breshnev and Kosygin. Kosygin was significantly more flexible too, Putin has a hill to climb if he wants to be that good at the job.
Breshnev provided the model for fundamentally corrupt governance Putin has followed. Systemic corruption was a norm.
The quote focuses on the brinkmanship. Khrushchev was about more than the Cuban missile crisis. He was no angel, and Putin is no Khrushchev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the world faced the most dangerous decade since World War Two as Western elites scrambled to prevent the inevitable crumbling of the global dominance of the United States and its allies...The historical period of the West's undivided dominance over world affairs is coming to an end
Says who? There is nothing inevitable about it. The evidence is in that a more free and a open society allows people to express their creativity and inventiveness, then share their discoveries with each other, compounding the invention.
China is a closed society by comparison to the West. The CCP is friction and drag that will mean China will keep lagging as the West capitalizes on new technologies like artificial intelligence. Who knows what force multiplier that will turn out to be?
Breshnev provided the model for fundamentally corrupt governance Putin has followed. Systemic corruption was a norm.
The quote focuses on the brinkmanship. Khrushchev was about more than the Cuban missile crisis. He was no angel, and Putin is no Khrushchev.