27.03.16 A quotation from "The Spectator":

Putin is authentic and authoritarian, the type who wins wars, a spontaneous and courageous leader who has shown up the West as a paper tiger. Let’s face it. When was the last time a world leader did something really bold? And he didn’t declare mission accomplished, a declaration that has proved fatal in the case of Iraq and Libya. This is the man the clowns in Brussels tried to bluff with Circe-like songs to Ukraine, so he took back Crimea as a bonus. His standing by Assad has shown up Uncle Sam yet again as an unreliable ally when the going gets tough.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/03/putin-has-shown-the-west-up-as-a-paper-tiger/

Compare the units underlined in the original and the translation. Is it really the case for dropping an allusion?

Путин — это человек настоящий и авторитарный, из тех, кто выигрывает войны, импульсивный и смелый лидер, который показал, что Запад — это бумажный тигр. Давайте смотреть правде в глаза. Когда в последний раз мировой лидер действовал по-настоящему смело и дерзко? При этом Путин не говорил, что миссия выполнена, не делал заявлений, которые в случае с Ираком и Ливией оказались фатальными. Это тот человек, с которым клоуны в Брюсселе пытались блефовать, заигрывая с Украиной и соблазняя ее чарующими обещаниями. Поэтому он и вернул себе Крым в качестве бонуса. То, что он поддержал Асада, в очередной раз показало, что когда дела принимают крутой оборот, дядюшка Сэм — союзник ненадежный.

21.03.16  If you compare units in bold type you will see that the nature of correspondences is different in the headline of the article:  for All Seasons - всегда  (it illustrates contextual equivalence) while in its image - по своему образу и подобию  in the body of the text illustrates vocabulary equivalence:

Russia, Europe’s Scapegoat for All Seasons

Unlike the US and EU, Russia does not seek to remake the world in its image. That doesn’t stop the EU from blaming Russia for its own problems.

By Matthew Dal Santo March 18, 2016 http://www.thenation.com/article/russia-europes-scapegoat-for-all-seasons/

Для Европы Россия всегда была козлом отпущения

В отличие от США и Евросоюза, Россия не стремится переделать мир по своему образу и подобию. Однако это не мешает Европе обвинять Россию в своих проблемах

http://inosmi.ru/politic/20160321/235783082.html

19.03.16 The theory of translation has a rich story of relentless and ruthless blows dealt against equivalence as the notion that puts translation correspondences on a sound linguistic footing. The skopos theory, “Translation studies”, “The Manipulation School” produced a lot of noises, but failed to deliver the coup de grâce to equivalence as the major notion of translation. The importance of equivalence becomes clear when we come across instances of steering away from it in “ideological translation” that by trying to manipulate the Receptor dumps the equivalent in favour of deliberately false ideologemes.

Not long ago van Rompuy used the word burgeroorlog (the Dutch burgeroorlog has one Russian equivalent: гражданская война):

Na Janoekovitsj' weigering braken begin 2014 hevige protesten uit rond het Maidan-plein in Kiev. Daarbij vonden zeker honderddertig burgers en achttien politieagenten de dood. Janoekovitsj werd verjaagd. Vervolgens brak een burgeroorlog uit in het oosten van Oekraïne.

The Ukrainian mass media did not like this description of the events in the Ukraine and, true to their despicable practices they went on a binge with their own false correspondences the function of which is to “improve” van Rompuy and manipulate Ukrainians:

1) революция и последующие события в Украине,

2) революция и военный конфликт на Донбассе,

3) трагические события в Украине,

4) революция достоинства и последовавшая за ней война России против Украины,

5) революция Достоинства, аннексия Крыма и война на Донбассе.:

13.03.16  From  "The Guardian":

"There is a common thread that links the government’s irrational economic behavior – the understandable desire to spite Vladimir Putin. Alas, it is the average Ukrainian citizen who pays the price".

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/09/ukraine-needs-russia-nicolai-petro?CMP=share_btn_fb

Возможный перевод с опущением There is a common thread that links:

В основе иррационального экономического поведения правительства лежит вполне понятное желание досадить Владимиру Путину. Увы, расплачивается за это средний гражданин Украины.

11.03.16 Western mass meadia are notoriously partial where Putin is concerned against their vowed belief in the so called "inclusive language" that forbids the use of insults. An examle from the "quality paper": 

The Financial Bungler in the Kremlin

Long and wrong on energy, with a currency bet so bad his nickname should be Vlad the Impaler.

<:time class="timestamp">March 9, 2016 6:12 p.m. ET http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-financial-bungler-in-the-kremlin-1457565147

This is one of the ways to deal with the translation challenge:

Финансовый «сапожник» в Кремле

С учетом потери доходов в области энергетики и ситуации с национальной валютой, ему следовало бы дать прозвище Влад-сажатель-на-кол.

http://inosmi.ru/economic/20160310/235672292.html

8.03.16 Congratulations to all on the 8th of March! Let's do something really special for our WOMEN!!!

1.03.16  Spring has come and with it a few reasonable ideas of an American journalist:

"In Crimea, the attitude was so slack that there was no resistance whatever. When “green men” in buses with no insignia just pushed their way right into army bases and told everybody to go home, off they went! In the east of the country, where I was, it is hard to imagine that if there’s a sequel things will be completely different, although recruits are being enrolled and sent off with as little as one week of training. Alas, the top military are often incompetent. If the Russian-made tanks roll in, and officers fan out to take over city halls, police headquarters, TV stations, and public utilities, there seems little chance of significant resistance. 

A long-term solution might well have been for everybody to forget about Crimea, which was only handed over from Russia as a gesture by Nikita Khrushchev, and then negotiate a status for Ukraine like that of Austria under its State Treaty: in foreign affairs neutral, and in business and thought whatever it likes". http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/02/report_from_ukraine.html#.VtU4ovE7yDw.twitter

Most people in the West understand that if Russia had plotted to annex Ukraine it would have done it without much ado!