A Times reader, Lawrence DeVine, has a few questions about The Times’s publication of an Op-Ed article in Thursday’s paper by Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia. He asks: “Did he call up the editorial page editor and say, hey, how would you like 800 words on you, us and Syria, I’ll have it in by Wednesday night deadline, no sweat, I’ll take your usual freelance rates?” It didn’t happen just that way, the editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal told me Thursday morning, but it also wasn’t too much more complicated than that. The Times editorial department was approached Wednesday by an American public relations firm that represents Mr. … Continue reading Margaret Sullivan