With Sunday’s presidential election returning him to the Kremlin for another six years — making him the longest ruling Russian leader since Joseph Stalin — Vladimir must certainly be Putin on the Ritz. Voter turnout was put at 68 percent, with Putin having reportedly secured some 76 percent of the vote; his highest score to date. There were allegations of electoral fraud and the polls themselves were marked by the opposition having been effectively removed from the race. Meaning that what Russians have got is more or less the same as before. Whether this translates into stagnation rather than development remains to be seen. But what does this re-run mean for the rest of the world? While President Trump will undoubtedly be chuffed that the bro-mance is still on — for most of the West, including Washington elite circles, a prolonging of Cold War rhetoric is likely to be on the cards. For from Syria to Afghanistan to Iran, Moscow is not playing ball. Then there are outstanding pesky details such as whether or not Putin had a hand in the election of his unquiet American buddy. Not to mention the current collision course with the Theresa May government over the question of poisoning a former double agent on British soil. Indeed, the man of the unnecessary-snap-election-moment, Jeremey Corbyn, has said that Downing Street still needs to do business with the Kremlin. And why not? After all, the not un-small matter of the Americans picking up innocent Brits and rendition-ing them all the way to Guantanamo Bay never saw the bilateral relationship falter. But be that as it may, what Putin’s re-election means for Pakistan — coming as it does in the wake of China’s President Xi now being at the helm for ‘life’ — is a period of quiet stability; regardless of Islamabad’s own political upheaval come this summer’s elections. For both developments represent the continuance of a buffer zone to counter possible US belligerence towards this country. In addition, it signals the retreat of the American hegemon in this region. The trick, however, is for Pakistan to play smart. Meaning that it should do within reason what Washington asks of it. At the same time, Islamabad needs to understand that it holds the key to both Russian and Chinese regional ambitions. In other words, the time has come to set a place for itself at the Big Boy table of moving-and-shaking decision-makers. What Pakistan must not do is overshoot and play these competing powers off one another. Just as it must not fall into the trap of forgetting that it is beholden to parliamentary democracy. The world will have to wait and see what the next six years have in store. * Published in Daily Times, March 21st 2018.