“Свет мой, зеркальце, скажи…”, или штрихи к портрету

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CARTOON: Yelkin on Putin’s Return

via La Russophobe by larussophobe on 9/27/11

Source: Ellustrator.

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September 30, 2011 — Contents | La Russophobe

via larussophobe.wordpress.com on 10/1/11

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God Save Putin

via Sean's Russia Blog by Sean on 9/25/11

Putin as Alexander III

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A Putative president for Russia, in for life..., Andrei Piontkovsky

via openDemocracy - oD Russia by Andrei Piontkovsky on 9/29/11

Putin’s recent announcement that he would be “standing for” president caught people off guard, as it was intended to. For Andrei Piontkovsky, it was a disgusting spectacle and test of the Russian people that will almost

U.S. diplomats had no illusions about the allocation of roles within the Russian duumvirate, according to WikiLeaks. President Medvedev was seen as the junior figure, playing 'Robin to Putin’s Batman'. The recent succession announcement confirms the correctness of this view.

The present Russian Federation Constitution allows Vladimir Putin to serve two terms as president i.e. until 2024. If Medvedev then succeeds him, the duumvirate’s power could last until 2036. Longer than Krushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev put together.

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:: RUSSIA, GOVERNMENT - Putin as Democracy :: JRL 9/29/11

via www.cdi.org on 10/1/11

Putin as Democracy
Matthew Van Meter | Russia Profile | Sept. 28, 2011 | JRL 2011-175-18 | JRL Home

Okay, so I was wrong. I've been saying since Dmitry Medvedev's ascendance to the presidency of Russia that Vladimir Putin had finally figured out how to be president for life without having to make Western allies unnecessarily squeamish about his inordinate power. Though Medvedev, to some extent, transcended his status as a Putin puppet, he was the perfect man to placate the sulking mass of allies and "allies" accrued by Russia in its 20 years of existence.

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The tandem: hope against hope dashed!, Alexei Levinson

via openDemocracy - oD Russia by Alexei Levinson on 9/30/11

The presidential election is still 6 months away, but speculation about who would stand i.e become president had reached fever pitch. A section of society really hoped that Medvedev would continue his liberal policies, even though signs that this could happen were few and far between. Now there is clarity – and disappointment, says Alexei Levinson

Vladimir Putin - the master showman. Russians have seen him on TV skiing, diving, singing, doing judo, playing hockey and even flying a modern fighter-bomber.

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Russia's Medvedev defends plan for Putin return - Globe and Mail

via Russia - Google News on 9/30/11

AFP

Russia's Medvedev defends plan for Putin return
Globe and Mail
Mr. Medvedev's remarks appeared intended to placate many Russians who feel their voices count for little in a political system dominated by Mr. Putin and his ruling United Russia party for more than a decade. “The choice is made by the people, ...
In Russia, Turning Back the ClockNew York Times
Russia bleeds cash as investors pull outBBC News
Russia Loses a Vital Cabinet MemberBusinessWeek
AFP -Bloomberg
all 307 news articles »

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Russia's Medvedev defends Putin swap plan (Reuters)

via Yahoo! News: World - Russia on 9/30/11

Reuters - President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to overhaul Russia's government next year and defended plans for a job swap designed to return Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin by saying on Friday that voters will decide who leads the country.

Russia's Medvedev: Putin is more popular (AP)

via Yahoo! News: World - Russia on 9/30/11

AP - President Dmitry Medvedev defended his decision not to seek a second term in an interview broadcast Friday, saying that the nation likes Vladimir Putin more.

 

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Russia Blog

via www.russiablog.org on 10/1/11

July 14, 2011

Micromanagement Instead of Leadership: "Manual Control" Goes On as Putin Visits the Site of Cruise Ship Tragedy

Yuri Mamchur

 

Today, Vladimir Putin paid a surprise visit to Kazan - a Russian Volga river town that witnessed the sinking of the river cruise boat that killed nearly 200 and left. Since the tragedy, a few more details on the sinking emerged: the ship was built in 1955, the operator didn't have neither a tourism permit nor a permit to operate the vessel, and the vessel itself was not licensed to even be on the water. All in all, in a normally functioning country (or, as they call it these days, "system") nothing would've happened as the business would've not been operating, tickets would've not been sold, the ship would've not sailed, and no one would've died.

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Russia's Medvedev defends Putin swap plan - Reuters

via Russia - Google News on 9/30/11

Reuters

Russia's Medvedev defends Putin swap plan
Reuters
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev meets with workers from the field of Russian culture industry in the town of Vyazma at the Gorki residence outside Moscow, September 29, 2011. By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to ...
Medvedev Defends Plan to Trade Places With PutinNew York Times
Russia's futureFinancial Times
Seat warmer: Russia's Medvedev stepping aside for 'more popular' PutinChristian Science Monitor
Toronto Star -San Francisco Chronicle
all 605 news articles »

Dmitry Medvedev: 'Putin is more popular than I am'

via World news: Russia | guardian.co.uk by Miriam Elder on 9/30/11

Outgoing Russian president denies political rivalry with current prime minister, claiming his ambition is 'to be of use to my country'

The outgoing Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, agreed to step down because he believes Vladimir Putin is more popular, he has said.

"I note that Prime Minister Putin, without a doubt, is currently the most authoritative politician in our country," Medvedev said in an interview with the country's three state-run television stations. "His rating is slightly higher."

Medvedev has been the target of ridicule in Russia since Putin announced that he would return to the presidency next year.

The interview is to be aired on Friday, but a transcript was pre-released by the Kremlin. Putin has said he will make Medvedev his prime minister.

"My main ambition is to be of use to my country and my people," Medvedev said.

He stressed that he and Putin represented "the same political force", and dismissed the idea of competition between them. "Can you imagine a situation where, for example, Barack Obama started competing with Hillary Clinton?" he asked, apparently forgetting the rivalry that divided the two in the run-up to the 2008 US presidential election.

Medvedev brushed off a question from the head of the state-owned NTV television channel, Vladimir Kulistikov, when he asked: "What's the point of elections if everything is already decided?"

The ruling United Russia party's support for Putin and Medvedev was "merely a party recommendation on who to support in the elections, and nothing more," he said. "The vote is exercised by the people – and these are not empty words. Any politician can 'fly' in the elections. No one is insured from anything – what predictability?

"Let the people decide whom to vote for, who has more authority," Medvedev said. "And only people, only our citizens, are able to place the final emphasis, voting for this or that person or political force, or rejecting it. That's democracy."

Putin is likely to win the presidential election, to be held in March 2012.

. Russia's main liberal opposition, the People's Freedom party, has been refused registration for a parliamentary vote, due in December. Other opposition parties, including the communists and the far-right Liberal Democratic party, are considered Kremlin-friendly.

• Dmitry Medvedev
• Vladimir Putin
• Russia
• Europe

Miriam Elder

guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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15:06 01.10.2011

Султан Путин: Государство – это Я, а не мини-ми!

Sultan Putin: The State is Me, not mini-me!

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11:30 AM 10/1/2011

gulfnews : Boosting power of the state

via gulfnews.com on 10/1/11

Boosting power of the state

By Ralph Peters

Putin saw that authoritarianism that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient

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Sultan Putin: The State is Me, not mini-me!

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11:30 AM 10/1/2011

gulfnews : Boosting power of the state

via gulfnews.com on 10/1/11

Boosting power of the state

By Ralph Peters

Putin saw that authoritarianism that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient

gulfnews : Boosting power of the state

• Image Credit: Ramachandra Babu/©Gulf News

There is one incontestably great actor on the world stage today, and he has no interest in following our script. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — soon to be Russia's president again — has proven remarkably effective at playing the weak strategic hand he inherited, chalking up triumph after triumph while confirming himself as the strong leader Russians crave.

Not one of his international peers evidences so profound an understanding of his or her people, or possesses Putin's canny ability to size up counterparts. Putin's genius begins with an insight into governance that eluded the ‘great' dictators of the last century: You need control only public life, not personal lives.

Putin grasped that human beings need to let off steam about the world's ills, and that letting them do so around the kitchen table, over a bottle of vodka, does no harm to the state. His tacit compact with the Russian people is that they may do or say what they like behind closed doors, as long as they don't take it into the streets.

He saw that an authoritarian state that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient. As for the defiant, he kills or imprisons them. But there are no great purges, no Gulag — only carefully chosen, exemplary victims, such as anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody, or the disobedient billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, imprisoned on charges Russians regard as black humour.

Article continues below

Reawakening Stalinism

Western consciences may be briefly troubled, but Putin knows the international community won't impose meaningful penalties. Seduced by Kremlin policies — from oil and gas concessions to cynical hints of strategic cooperation — western leaders have too many chips in the game. And at home, the common people, the chorny narod, don't mind. Instead, they gloat when the czar cuts off the beards of the boyars (old aristocrat) — or humbles an envied oligarch.

As for gadfly journalists, Putin wagered that they could be eliminated with impunity, as in the case of Anna Politkovskaya. Our outrage is pro forma and temporary. Domestically, Putin's tactile sense of his people is matchless. His bare-chested poses seem ludicrous to us, but Russians see a nastoyashi muzhik, a ‘real man.' And his sobriety makes him the fantasy husband of Russia's beleaguered wives.

Not least, Putin has renewed Russian confidence in the country's greatness. Consistently playing an international role far greater than Russia's capabilities warrant, he reawakened the old Stalinist sense that while the people may suffer, they do so in service to a greater destiny. Internationally, he sizes up interlocutors with the deftness of the skilled agent-handler he was in the bad old days. His outbursts of temper and brutal language make news (while, again, appealing to his base), but his policies are cold-blooded, ruthless — and strikingly successful. It's worth noting how much Putin has achieved: Like his hero, Peter the Great, he tamed the new nobility (of wealth) and consolidated the power of the state.

He returned Russia to great-power status — largely through bluff. He steamrolled a one-sided new START agreement over American negotiators who desperately wanted a deal. His manipulation of Europe has given him virtually every pipeline agreement he wanted while sidelining Nato's new members in the east and keeping Ukraine weak and disunited. He dismembered Georgia but paid no price for it.

He has even achieved a grip over supplies for American troops in Afghanistan second only to the chokehold US granted Pakistan in a fit of strategic ineptitude. If Putin has a weakness, it's his disdain for economics. Russia relies on oil and gas exports to a potentially fatal degree. Yet that, too, stems from calculated policy: A diversified economy and consequent diffusion of wealth would make Russia far more difficult to control.

Today's relative handful of oligarchs fit perfectly into the mould of the old czarist nobility (if with fewer social graces): They spend ostentatiously, party abroad and remain politically docile. Putin would rather risk a monopoly economy than a proliferation of power bases. For centuries Moscow called itself the ‘Third Rome,' after the cities of St Peter and Constantine.

The allusion may be particularly apt, since Putin has done what a series of strong emperors did after the first fall of Rome or the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople: He has restored, if briefly, a fallen glory.

Demographically, economically, developmentally, militarily, even educationally, Russia appears doomed to fierce decline. But one man of genius has brought his people a last, autumnal reprieve. Vladimir Putin is a dangerous man, but a splendid czar.

— Washington Post

Ralph Peters is a retired Army officer who specialised in Russia and its lost empire. He is an analyst for Fox News and most recently the author of Lines of Fire: A Renegade Writes on Strategy, Intelligence, and Security.

gulfnews : Boosting power of the state

via gulfnews.com on 10/1/11

Boosting power of the state

'Putin is more popular than I am' -... - Google News

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Full coverage

'Putin is more popular than I am' - Medvedev

Sydney Morning Herald - Miriam Elder - ‎1 hour ago‎

Russia's outgoing president, Dmitry Medvedev, agreed to step down because he believes Vladimir Putin is more popular, he said. "I note that prime minister Putin, without a doubt, is currently the most authoritative politician in our country," Mr ...

Medvedev bows to rival Putin's popularity

Calgary Herald - Andrew Osborn - ‎5 hours ago‎

Dmitry Medvedev, rear, says he will pass the Russian presidency back to Vladimir Putin due to his 68 per cent popularity rating. Russia's president has defended his controversial decision to step ...

Russian press pondering president's unexpected interview

RT - ‎7 hours ago‎

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Putin's second tryst with power

Malaysia Kini - Josh Hong - ‎9 hours ago‎

Why should everyone seem surprised when Dmitry Medvedev openly invited Vladimir Putin to run for president next year? Towards the end of his second term as Russian president in 2007, the strongman already made it clear he would not rule out a comeback ...

Sorting out U.S.-Russia relations

Washington Post - ‎9 hours ago‎

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Putin's return and Washington's reset with Russia

CNN (blog) - Andrew Kuchins - ‎21 hours ago‎

Editor's Note: Andrew C. Kuchins is Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program and is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC By Andrew Kuchins, Foreign Affairs With last Saturday's announcement, ...

Russia's “sultan” Putin

Reuters Blogs (blog) - Chrystia Freeland - ‎Sep 30, 2011‎

The next Russian Revolution started this month. It will be another two or three or even four decades before the Russian people take to the streets to overthrow their dictator — and the timing will depend more on the price of oil than on anything else ...

Edward Lucas on Vladimir Putin

ABC Online (blog) - Peter Gooch - ‎Sep 30, 2011‎

In late 1999 when Vladimir Putin was named Prime Minister, Russia was a budding democracy. Multiple parties campaigned for seats in the Duma, the nation's parliament. The media criticized the government freely. Eight years later as Putin completes his ...

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Moscow, Russia

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RT - ‎Sep 30, 2011‎

The leader of the United Russia, Vladimir Putin, has invited the party convention to make President Dmitry Medvedev the leader of the elections list in the forthcoming parliamentary poll. Prime Minister Putin has accepted Dmitry Medvedev's proposal for ...

President Medvedev's interview with major Russian TV channels: full transcript

RT - Dmitry Astakhov - ‎Sep 30, 2011‎

KONSTANTIN ERNST: Mr. President, last week, a major and long-awaited event happened in politics: at the United Russia convention, you suggested that Vladimir Putin should run for president. Many are wondering what your motives were. ...

“We want to win elections, not satisfy our ambitions” – Medvedev

RT - Dmitry Astakhov - ‎Sep 30, 2011‎

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US Political, Financial & Business News | FT.com

via www.ft.com on 10/1/11

September 30, 2011 10:41 pm

Russia’s future

Even before the abrupt job swap announced last week between Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, investor confidence in Russia was already running low. The subsequent departure of trusted finance minister and fiscal conservative Alexei Kudrin now risks shaking the faith of the most optimistic.

The signs of investor concerns are obvious. Russian shares have been hit sharply this week and the rouble has fallen significantly against the dollar. Over the past year capital outflows have grown to more than $70bn, and this week’s events give investors little reason to reverse that trend.

More

On this story

• Christopher Caldwell Putin and his timely lessons for western democrats
• Comment Europe urgently needs a new Ostpolitik
• Putin denies aiding oil trader
• Analysis Out of the shadows
• Lex Russia

The optimists will argue that Mr Putin’s return to the top job in Russian politics finally brings much needed clarity. And it is true that the oligarchs who control so much of the Russian economy have held off investing, in part due to the global crisis, but also to wait for the Kremlin fog to clear.

But in the longer term Mr Putin’s return, and Mr Kudrin’s departure send all the wrong signals on the future investment climate in Russia.

Though Mr Kudrin did much to instill a welcome sense of discipline in Russian public finances, his spectacular sacking has laid bare the pressures to return to less prudent policies.

And there are already signs that Mr Medvedev’s promised privatisation programme is stalling as the timetable is pushed into the long grass. Senior Kremlin advisers now admit that, as president, Mr Putin is likely to slow the process even further.

Mr Putin may attempt to present a more liberal image, but the truth is that his track record suggests otherwise. In eight years as president and almost four as prime minister, Mr Putin has done little to help the Russian economy become more competitive. It remains overly reliant on complacent and under-invested extractive industries, and corruption is rife. The biggest obstacle to foreign investment today is the country’s corrupt court system.

Such handicaps require reforms that a corporatist such as Mr Putin may find difficult to accept, let alone implement. Moreover, he will not have the favourable wind of rapidly rising oil prices as he did in his first two terms as president, when the opportunities were missed. This all threatens to mire Russia in Brezhnevite era of stagnation.

If investors needed any proof that nothing has changed, then the backroom manner in which the Russian leadership has been decided should be ample evidence.

Political and economic overhaul are vital. Otherwise, Mr Putin may be remembered as the heir of Leonid Brezhnev, whose reluctance to reform sowed the seeds of the Soviet Union’s demise.

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