Yet the international pressure is muted.

The prospects of a stable future look increasingly dim.

It is like the difference between a bar or club where the lights are low, and a good make up mirror.

Today s marches and demonstrations are a feeble reminder of those times, while parties everywhere are hemorrhaging members.

Finally, the two events saw the emergence of two rival political courts, each exuding the faint but unmistakable odor of a looming conflict.

Ironically, because the traction of unconventional policies has always been limited, the fallout on real economies is likely to be muted.

In just ten years, Putinism, which was consciously designed by its image makers as a simulacrum of a great ideological style has run through all the classical stages of Soviet history.

COPENHAGEN Thirty years ago, the world got its first inkling of impending catastrophe when five young gay men in Los Angeles were struck down by the illness that became known as HIV AIDS.

PRAGUE As I listened to what some Europeans were saying as my country prepared to take over the presidency of the European Union, I heard dim echoes of Neville Chamberlain s infamous description of Czechoslovakia as a faraway country of which we know little.

Finally, the two events saw the emergence of two rival political courts, each exuding the faint but unmistakable odor of a looming conflict. For those with eyes to see, the two conferences presented a fascinating glimpse of a crumbling diarchy.

However, for those of you that are even the slightest bit squeamish even though you may not like to admit it in front of your friends the lights are down. This is a good time to look at your feet, check your Blackberry, do anything other than look at the screen.