The challenger.

The article comments on Vladimir Putin and the outlook for a new cold war. The drama playing out in the streets of Ukraine in recent weeks has been gripping in its own terms. But its bigger significance for the West lies in Russia. As the tide moves towards a presidential election victory for the opposition leader, Victor Yushchenko, on December 26th, the efforts of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to thwart him have looked ever more cack-handed. But they have also depressed those who still hoped that Mr Putin's Russia might move on to a path leading to political liberalism--and that he might prove an ally not a foe of the West. As if Russia's intervention in Ukraine were not enough, the Kremlin's anti-western rhetoric has also risen. In an excess of hypocrisy even by Soviet standards, Mr Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, have accused the West of meddling in Ukraine in order to destabilise the region. That Mr Putin is more of an autocrat than a democrat has been clear ever since he became Russia's president in 2000. The evidence that Mr Putin is more interested in reasserting state control over the economy than in pursuing economic liberalisation are making many pause once again. One of the least appealing features of Mr Putin's Russia has been a rising tide of corruption. Far from being a political and economic reformer who runs an admittedly flawed but still recognisable democracy, Mr Putin has become an obstacle to change who is in charge of an ill-managed autocracy.