By many measures, and despite some spectacular setbacks and missteps, Mr. Putin's years of rule were accompanied by a variety of accomplishments, all unforeseen when he stepped from spymaster obscurity eight years ago.
The road was long and bumpy, the setbacks spectacular and often self-inflicted.
The central character in your book has a spectacular rise and some setbacks that come with his wealth.
Despite recent setbacks, including a spectacular downhill spill at the Olympics in February, Paerson appears to have regained a high level of confidence in what could be her final season.
The British quickly abandoned the position they had just captured, but Jackson resented the setback in an otherwise spectacular victory.
Despite this setback, the Ulm Campaign had been a spectacular victory and had witnessed the elimination of an entire Austrian army at very little cost for the French.
Then, starting in early 2002, he suffered a series of puzzling setbacks: he lost badly to a couple of tough but not spectacular fighters, Vernon Forrest and Ronald (Winky) Wright; in each case, he took an immediate rematch, and lost again.
So you accepted the occasional spectacular failure (the sweet pancake sandwich, the maraschino-cherry-topped pizza, the sugared omelet) as setbacks in a noble cause.
WHO could deny that the spectacular collapse last weekend of negotiations in The Hague on the Kyoto treaty on climate change was a setback to those hoping to see concerted action on global warming?
It would be a major setback for China, and the global economy, if the long and proven track record of spectacular Chinese growth were to be undermined by waiting too long to make progress on financial liberalization and reform.
