[Alia]

From article: t was “a shame,” Mr. Putin said, that the crisis had fallen to Mr. Medvedev, whom he described as “an intelligent, contemporary man of liberal views.” He said the decision to invade was Mr. Medvedev’s; not a single tank, Mr. Putin said, would have moved without direct orders from Mr. Medvedev.

If this is so, then our own MSM led me astray in comprehending that it was Putin running the military/Medvedev running the economy -- when, reading the above, it appears it is just the opposite.

Now, things make MUCH more sense to me. If Putin is indeed more in charge of those matters Economic, as covered in the remainder of the article, Medvedev has royally mucked up Russia's economy through his orders to invade Georgia.

[Alia]

From article: Traditionally, the Russian president controls foreign and security policy, and the prime minister acts chiefly as a manager of the economy. Yet it was Mr. Putin who rushed to the Caucasus battlefield, flying back from China to meet with Russian generals and visit the Russian wounded.

I got it. The above, as worded is SPIN by the NY times. As manager of the economy, why wouldn't Putin want to assess the damages and the monies which may be necessary to "fix" things. I don't think were I he, I'd be trusting a General or So Ossetian to give me the damage assessments.

Yes, NY Times has spun the above. This tells me that someone, somewhere at the NYT wouldn't mind at all seeing another Cold War.