Conversation

Assad has been granted asylum in Moscow on ironic – “humanitarian grounds”, says Mark Galeotti in The Spectator. Putin is offering a “rather opulent” life, if you don’t mind joining one of the world’s most rarefied zoos: “Putin’s collection of ex-dictators”, all cooped up in the village of Barvikha, a little way west of Moscow. From the road it’s unremarkable, but as you turn into the side streets you notice the oddly grand dachas behind high walls and “ornate but very functional” metal gates.