Normal service may or not be resumed after the Olympic Games – I am hooked on all sorts of sports I never knew existed.

Anyway, I previously have analysed Russian negotiating techniques:

Russian negotiators aim to neutralise that approach by conveying a very different proposition: “It doesn’t matter how much you try to pressure us. First, we can withstand more pressure than you can possibly exert, or even imagine. Second, whatever you do to hurt us, we will do something far worse to hurt you".

It is always a pleasure to see it working so relentlessly and accurately in real life: