Posted on 09/24/2011 12:32:01 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Vladimir Putin declared on Saturday that he planned to reclaim the Russian presidency in an election next March that could open the way for the former KGB spy to rule until 2024.
The announcement, greeted by a standing ovation at a congress of the prime minister's ruling United Russia party, ended months of speculation over whether he or President Dmitry Medvedev would run. The two have ruled in a power 'tandem' since Putin was forced by the constitution to yield the presidency in 2008 after serving a maximum two consecutive terms, and Putin said they had agreed several years ago how to divide power between them.
It was Medvedev who proposed his mentor return as president before thousands of party members in a Moscow sports stadium. "It is a great honor for me," Putin told the audience. "Thank you, I hope for your support."
(S)ome Russians complain there is still a lack of democracy and media freedom in Russia, and that they have little say in who runs the nuclear power of 142 million people. "Our opinion does not count, as (the outcome) of both the current and the previous elections was predetermined," said Anna, a Muscovite in her 20s.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Unexpected.
Humor aside, can you imagine Obama negotiating with somebody as hard-ass as Putin? Putin will chew him up and spit him out. Putin has people like Obama for breakfast. Scary times.
I'm guessing there's no pics of Putie like this one, either LOL
Put out Medvedev, put in Putin....
Vladimir “Plutonium Tea” Putin returns to power, entirely by popular demand, I’m sure. I’m so glad Baraq Hussein 0bama gave away our missile defense option; it has kept fascist Russia from helping our enemies in Iran and elsewhere. /s
Oh great, just what we need, a MASTER in making our current leader spin like a top. Obama is no match for Putin.
He isn’t fooling anybody. Why not cut the crap and just declare himself “dictator for life”?
This is the face of an utterly ruthless, cold-blooded KGB-trained killer. Vladimir Putin is the penultimate product of the system that trained him and to whom he once swore obedience to. Putin would kill his own mother if ordered to or if he felt it served ‘’the needs of the state’’. The twit on the bike couldn’t grab his own butt with both hands.
A lot of people dont realize the significance of Putin believing that the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th Century was the fall of the USSR. Not WWII or anything else; just that. Only a mind that operates just as you describe could feel that way about the events of the last century. And another thing that needs to be watched out for is how he has been pandering to the orthodox church; if he corrupts them to his side, then that would just give him too much power.
This is the face of an utterly ruthless, cold-blooded KGB-trained killer. Vladimir Putin is the penultimate product of the system that trained him and to whom he once swore obedience to. Putin would kill his own mother if ordered to or if he felt it served the needs of the state
Like watching two wrestlers in a tag team match tag each other in....
The odd thing about geo-politics, is that the leadership is never unbalanced; when that silly drunk Yeltsin was in power, so was Clinton and they were so similar it was uncanny. Same with GW and PUtin being in power at the same time. If Putin wins, I think we’ll have strong leadership, since if we had Obama for another four years, the balance of power in teh world would be disrupted in favor of Russia. America could not survive if in fact it were to be Putin VS. OBama and even Medvedev probably says unpleasant things behind Obama’s back.
“Putin would kill his own mother if ordered to or if he felt it served the needs of the state”
Well, it’s stuff like that, that sometimes makes a great leader; great leaders are not often good people. The real problem wiht it, is that his self discipline is inhuman; Yeltsin might have been a silly drunk, but Yeltsin was human. With Putin there is a coldness to him that isn’t natural.
“With Putin there is a coldness to him that isn’t natural’’. Tell me about it. Putin would have put the fear of God into Stalin and Ivan The Terrible himself.
Stalin and Ivan the Terrible were not trained by the KGB as Putin was.
No they weren’t. But they created the climate. Putin is uniquely Russian and the image, the soul of what Russians want in their leader a “Stalin’’, a ‘’Man of Steel who rules with an iron fist’’.
That he is in such demand is telling; he is just the type that Russians yearn for when there are as many problems as Russia has. He’s a staunch Russian patriot and the Russians respond well to it and there’s a reason he is so successful with them. He’s tough and doesn’t try to be their friend, he cares more about results than being buddies with various factions.
As long as the average Russian is left reasonably alone with enough food, enough vodka and smokes he really doesn’t care who is in charge be it a czar, the Communist party or a strongman like Putin. Russians generally don’t go for involved political machinations like constant election cycles, etc.
I find that to be an admirable view of life; give me enough freedom here at the bottom and do waht you want at the top.
Nah. Live like that and along comes that day and it’s “Hey, whats going on? Why are you taking away my freedom, my home, my car and cow’’ and on and on.
Disagree. Great leaders are moral people. Such a characteristic as described by jmacusa is a highly immoral one. The USAs founders would never sacrifice anyone, especially of their own families, on the altar of the stateand especially not at the whim of a demagogue.
Well, its stuff like that, that sometimes makes a great leader
Putin would kill his own mother if ordered to or if he felt it served the needs of the state
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