Afghanistan: Putin's Games: Influence Peddling at the Feeding Troughs of Sochi --- Though the Olympic Games in Sochi don't begin until next week, the victor is already clear: Vladimir Putin. The president has used the spectacle -- and the vast construction contracts involved -- to secure his own power and to rid himself of rivals. -- With his broad shoulders and massive head, the boss of Russia's railway system looks like the kind of man who is afraid of nothing and nobody. When his company lays track in Iran and North Korea, he is like a second foreign minister. With his massive budget, he is also among the most influential politicians back home in Moscow. And with a million people working for him, he is the country's largest employer. -- Yakunin is fond of wearing a uniform to festive events. The silver, oak-leaf embroidery on his collar recalls the time when the heads of the Soviet rail system held the rank of general. But for the recent opening of the modern new train station in the Olympic city of Sochi, he came in civilian attire: a dark blue suit with a pink silk tie. Even without his uniform, however, he stood as stiff as a tin soldier next to his president.