Well the United Russia Party (the country's ruling - we swear we're not Communist we promise - party) held it's annual conference this week (it seems to be conference season) and yesterday there were a pair of twin annoucements that will I'm pretty sure have most of you going WHAT!!
To start with incumbant President Dimitri "I'm Not a Puppet or Anything" Medvedev gave his backing for the current Prime Minister Vladamir "Cult of Personality" Putin to run for the Presidency in the elections next year.
Shortly afterwards Mr Putin urged the Party to put Mr Medvedev at the top of the Electoral List for the Parlimentary elections in December. When United Russia win those elections (and it is When not If) that would make Mr Medvedev Prime Minister.
I'll let you figure out what that means for a moment. While you do, have a pictue of the pair.
Guess which one's in charge
Figured out what it means yet?
That's right. Putin and Medvedev are essentially SWAPPING roles.
Now I know what you are thinking. Hasn't Putin been President before? And you would be right in thinking that. Putin was President for two terms between 2000 and 2008 following the resignation of Boris Yeltsin. The Russian Constituion barred him from holding a third term. However unlike the American Constitution (which holds to the Two Terms and your out rule no matter how you split it) the Russian Constitution seems not to prevent him from taking the job again after a break. A break in which he oddly become Prime Minister.
His rapid rise to the Prime Ministers office and the fact that Putin has been quoted as saying that he and Mr Medvedev came to an agreement about what to do in the future "several years ago" seems to suggest both that Mr Medvedevs time as President was simply a stop gap until Putin could stand again and that for the last few years it has been Putin who has really wielded the power in Russia.
Oddly the Russian people seem to have no problem with this state of affairs. The Russian Orthadox Church has also endorsed Putin's return to the Presidency and Putin himself is quite popular within Russia. Over the last few years he has built up a Stalinist style "Cult of Personality" (only without the purges). Just Google, "Putin with Motorbikes" or "Putin and Horses" and you'll see what I mean.
And we won't even get into that whole "Let's do Judo with Putin" video that apparently exists.
If anyone has any clue how Russia has succeded in becoming such a powerful nation considering the amount of corruption that seems to pervade it's politics, please put your answers on a postcard. Cause I don't have a cluie.
I suspect it's something to do with Putin's time in the KGB though.
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