One tends not to think of Vladimir Putin as a sensitive soul, but with the level of negative energy surging towards him this week, many have taken time to consider what political coping mechanisms he may employ to deal with his new-found unpopularity.  Among the possible options: shifting the blame onto tweet-happy Medvedev (who seems to be doing rather a good job of it himself at the moment), shifting the blame onto United Russia, or, as Bloomberg suggests, rebranding himself entirely.  It seems, however, that today’s preferred option, is that of turning on Hillary Clinton.  In a ‘strikingly personal’ attack on the US Secretary of State, Putin rebuffed her suggestion that Sunday’s elections were ‘neither free nor fair’ with the following comments about the motivation of the protest movement.   From the Guardian: