evidence: As far back as 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that global trends were "weakening the dominant role of the so-called historical West." Long brewing, Moscow's war on Ukraine from 2014 onward saw Putin's simmering frustration with Western rivals break violently into the open. [...] Speaking after being inaugurated for his fifth presidential term this week, Putin told Russia's political elite that the West can either "continue trying to restrain the development of Russia, continue the policy of aggression, incessant pressure on our country for years, or look for a path to cooperation and peace."