> I'm gathering that people here see Vladimir Putin's Russia as some
> kind of counterweight to Capital.
It's not about counterweights, I'd argue we're in the midst of a seismic geopolitical shift. Russia, China, Brazil and the entire rising semi-periphery (about 3 billion people, or half the planet) - are opening up a whole new stage of history, effectively breaking the shackles of the US Empire, its military-industrial complex and Wall Street neoliberalism. Commentator Parag Khanna has an interesting take on the process:
http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/0036.html
-- DRR