Russia just held its national elections, and the results are solid for Putin and his Russia United party.

His mandate has been reaffirmed. There are two years or so remaining, officially, in his third term, and a fourth is possible.

The notorious agency in which Vladimir Putin started his path to power is now in the process of being revived under his presidency, at a time when warfare is reaching new threshold of sophistication and specificity. Media and communications, as well as electronic warfare now plays a pivotal role, and modern Russia has spent a fortune to be on the cutting edge. The cyber and information war that the Pentagon has initiated formally in the age of Obama, was pioneered by Putin and his comrades in the Cold War spying days in East Germany.