India, Jan. 22 -- Five years ago somebody posted photographs on the internet showing a man who looked a lot like Vladimir Putin in photographs from 1920 and 1941. In both shots he was in military uniform, defending the interests of the Russian people then as he still does today. But how can this be? He wasn't even born until 1952. So the wave of faux speculation starts that Putin is an immortal hero who returns at intervals to save Russia. Or maybe just that he's an immortal vampire. At any rate, he'll be around forever. It was nonsense then and it's nonsense now.
Last week the Russian President announced a wave of constitutional reforms and the vast majority of foreign observers, especially in the West, immediately jumped to the conclusio...