Dmitri Trenin, author of some books about Russian politics, has a series of online Q&A sessions with readers of the Financial Times. Although we generally like the analysis coming out of Carnegie, and believe that Trenin can occasionally offer some good insights, there are also instances of baffling absurdity in his statements, such as “Putin evidently cares for the system that he has built,” “Putin is the only leader of the past 20 years who is serious about Russia’s national interests,” and “the Kremlin is concerned about the spending of the allocated funds.” For an analyst, Trenin sure has a lot of trust in that black box that contain’s Putin’s intentions, but then again he works in Moscow, where one surprise inspection from the tax or regulatory authorities can shut down any think tank.