Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Once upon a time, British Airways was known as the world's favorite airline, not so anymore,

yet it's remained a highly profitable company.

As both low cost and super luxury carriers nip at its heels, we'll be a try to keep passengers happy or shareholders.

And there are a lot of leaders out there claiming to speak for the people, promising to deliver what the people want.

We take a look at why voters should be wary of the phrase.

Often when it's invoked, it's not in the people's best interests.

But first, last night as a US-brokered ceasefire expired in northern Syria, a new agreement took its place, hammered out by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

I would like to express hope that the level of Russian-Turkish relations, which has been recently reached,

will play its role in the solution of all complicated issues in the region as of today.

It's the latest twist in a frenzy of international negotiations since Turkish forces poured into northern Syria earlier this month.

American troops had suddenly pulled back, following a hasty decision by the Trump administration that abandoned Syrian Kurdish forces allied to America.

Turkey wants to crush those Kurds who took control of the area during Syria's civil war.

But there's been international outrage at Turkey's rapid incursion, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called Mr. Erdogan a thief.

Mr. Putin reportedly sat with Mr. Erdogan for six hours at the Russian President's summer residence on the Black Sea before striking a deal that he then shared with Mr. Assad.

It's not only in the Middle East where Mr. Putin is flexing his diplomatic and military influence. He's playing a canny game all over the world.

Vladimir Putin sitting in his summer residence in Sotchi must be feeling pretty good about himself and Russia's place in the world.

Arkady Ostrovsky is a Russia editor.

Particularly if you think where he has come from five years ago he was a lonely isolated figure frozen out from world politics by his own actions and in Ukraine the annexation of Crimea, the bring down of MH17, the West imposed sanctions kicked him out of G7.

He was almost a pariah and today it looks very very different picture. He's receiving Ed O'Anne the Turkish President in his Sotchi residence talking about the future of Syria, a delegation of some 40 African leaders are flocking to Sotchi to shake his hand and Putin is sitting if not in top of the world, certainly in top of the castle, certainly at the center stage of world politics.

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