Putin may be back!

From the BBC:

A bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years has been backed by Russia's upper house of parliament after regional assemblies endorsed it...The bill's rapid progression is being seen as a sign Vladimir Putin may return to the presidency soon. The changes needed the backing of at least two-thirds of the country's regional legislatures but were approved unanimously, according to Russian news agencies... Mr Putin became prime minister this year after being obliged under the constitution to step down after two consecutive presidential terms. He was succeeded as president by Mr Medvedev.

Anaylsts say it has always been assumed that Mr Putin may return after Mr Medvedev has completed one term. But the apparent rush to get this constitutional amendment through is being seen by some as a sign that Mr Putin is in a hurry and may return much sooner. Then he could potentially serve another two six-year terms.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7795310.stm

Another article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7730179.stm argues that Putin will very likely be back.

From Putin himself: "As for who will run for office and when, it's too early to talk about that now"

(For those of you who don't want to read the articles in full, basically Russia has changed its constitution to extend the Presidential Term and also allow previous incumbents (Putin) who had completed the now obsolete maximum limit of two terms to have another go at the Presidency.)

Putin never really left, Medvedev is his puppet.

Its odd. Putin looks almost exactly like the imperial officer in Gav's avvy.

Originally posted by Sadako of Girth
Its odd. Putin looks almost exactly like the imperial officer in Gav's avvy.

hahaha

He does a bit!

Originally posted by Robtard
Putin never really left, Medvedev is his puppet.

Apprentice, rather than puppet.

Putin picked Medvedev out years and years before Putin had anything to do with Presidency or politics and polished him and thought him the ''Putin Way'' sort to speak.

...

Contrary to popular belief, Putin has carefully planned everything that is currently going on in Russia's political scene, including Medvedev's presidency and his return. Only he knows how far in advance has Puttin mapped out his future and influence in Russia's politics.
That is why Russia has not been this strong in years.
Go Putin!!

So... Putin is Darth Sideous?

Originally posted by lil bitchiness

Contrary to popular belief, Putin has carefully planned everything that is currently going on in Russia's political scene, including Medvedev's presidency and his return. Only he knows how far in advance has Puttin mapped out his future and influence in Russia's politics.
That is why Russia has not been this strong in years.
Go Putin!!

Nobody should ever be surprised by this. Russia is, after all, a democracy on-paper-only.

He is an incredible judoka.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Apprentice, rather than puppet.

Putin picked Medvedev out years and years before Putin had anything to do with Presidency or politics and polished him and thought him the ''Putin Way'' sort to speak.

...

Contrary to popular belief, Putin has carefully planned everything that is currently going on in Russia's political scene, including Medvedev's presidency and his return. Only he knows how far in advance has Puttin mapped out his future and influence in Russia's politics.
That is why Russia has not been this strong in years.
Go Putin!!

Not been this strong in years?

Russia has suddenly become very quiet right now because what the West knew would happen has happened- as soon as energy prices fell, suddenly Russia's foundations of bravado are kicked out from under it.

The credit crisis has hit Russia pretty damn hard. Now it needs a happy West again.

Russia is still close to nothing, strength wise. It is (relatively) poor, backwards and over-dependent on energy markets.

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
From the BBC:

A bill to extend the presidential term from four to six years has been backed by Russia's upper house of parliament after regional assemblies endorsed it...The bill's rapid progression is being seen as a sign Vladimir Putin may return to the presidency soon. The changes needed the backing of at least two-thirds of the country's regional legislatures but were approved unanimously, according to Russian news agencies... Mr Putin became prime minister this year after being obliged under the constitution to step down after two consecutive presidential terms. He was succeeded as president by Mr Medvedev.

Anaylsts say it has always been assumed that Mr Putin may return after Mr Medvedev has completed one term. But the apparent rush to get this constitutional amendment through is being seen by some as a sign that Mr Putin is in a hurry and may return much sooner. Then he could potentially serve another two six-year terms.

[b]Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7795310.stm

Another article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7730179.stm argues that Putin will very likely be back.

From Putin himself: "As for who will run for office and when, it's too early to talk about that now"

(For those of you who don't want to read the articles in full, basically Russia has changed its constitution to extend the Presidential Term and also allow previous incumbents (Putin) who had completed the now obsolete maximum limit of two terms to have another go at the Presidency.) [/B]

Originally posted by Strangelove
Yeah, Putin was always planning to go back to the presidency after one term.

Are you ready for another 12 years?

The fact that Putin will be the true power in Russia as long as he's alive is a simple political reality.

Originally posted by Strangelove
The fact that Putin will be the true power in Russia as long as he's alive is a simple political reality.

Is that good or bad in your opinion?

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
Is that good or bad in your opinion?

Originally posted by RedAlertv2
How is that contrary to popular belief? I was under the impression that its common knowledge

Popular belief seems to be that Putin is this dictator KGB who bullied his way to the top and now he won't leave.

Whereas it is not like that at all.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Not been this strong in years?

Russia has suddenly become very quiet right now because what the West knew would happen has happened- as soon as energy prices fell, suddenly Russia's foundations of bravado are kicked out from under it.

The credit crisis has hit Russia pretty damn hard. Now it needs a happy West again.

Russia is still close to nothing, strength wise. It is (relatively) poor, backwards and over-dependent on energy markets.

Ah right, because Yeltsin was bending over for the West, Russia was good then.

I wouldn't think so. If Russia is so pathetic, why has noone done anything in Georgia - all West did was say ''Russia is naughty - but we won't get involved''.

Now Putin is selling defence missiles to Iran, and is publicly advertising it.
What is West going to do? Nothing.

Besides, Europe is heavily dependant on Russian gas - hence Germans not daring to upset Russians.

And also, Moscow houses more billionares than any other city in the world (possibly thats why it is the most expencive city in the world). SOMETHING must be right/favourable somewhere in Russia.

But I do believe it is at Russia's up most advantage for West to keep considering it weak and undeveloped.

What is this fantasy world you have started living in, Lil? Where Russia is some sort of brilliant mastermind that can confound all the other countries into such deceit? It's such arrant nonsense!

No-one intervened in Georgia because no-one is going to start a war over GEORGIA of all places. Ukraine- maybe,. But not Georgia, and certainly not when Georgia made the braindead move it did. Did you seriously think anyone was ever going to send troops to protect it? In today's climate? What with Iraq and Afghanistan, it will take something MUCH bigger than that to get another troop intervention from the West- something that actually matters, rather than just something where Russia is trying to show what a hardass it can be, like the loudest kid in the class.

No-one is doing anything about the arms sales because the whole darn world engages in such arms sales. That's nothing special as pertaining to Russia; the arms trade is simply something that's never going to be shut down so.

Europe is indeed dependant on gas- but as I said, that means Russia is dependant on that depenedence. This dependence on energy markets is a massive weakness to Russia- and whenever energy prices fall, as they have done now, it is in serious trouble. As I say, that's why Russia has gone very quiet lately.

When it comes to money, the facts of the matter are simple. Russia's econimic strength is still low- and its defence budget is lower than Europe's. For that matter, it is lower than the UK's alone. Is this because Russia has entered some new era of peace and low military spending?

No- it's because they can't afford it. Russia is a shadow of what the USSR was. Their armed forces are still only based around high manpower- their equipment is lacking, their maintenance poor, the military infrastructure underfunded. They are desperatrely trying to increase their military budget year by year, but at this rate it will be many, many years before they become even comparable the Soviet Era. Compared to US might, Russia is almost nothing.

If Yeltsin had been producing a viable energy market then that would have gone much better for him. No point comparing two entirely different situations.

The facts are these-

Russia is increasingly becoming a nationalistic and hostile place

It is entirely dependent on high energy prices for any form of power. When the prices drop, its power disppears. They have no alternatives.

It therefore needs the West as a permanent ally

Dismissing any of these things as propoganda (or worse, some brilliant plot of feigned weakness) just shows you are in fantasy land. The ironic thing about such statements is that western propoganda is, if anything, going the other way- portraying Russia as much more powerful and scary than it really is. Well, it's always politically useful to have enemies you can point to, I guess.

now u look here pardner Russins didnt invade georgia...they caant woop tha south! the south will rise again damn it...jus kidding...you just reminded me of the internet posts from people who live in Georgia that honestly thought the russians invaded them...I drink alot but not even all the backwoods moonshine even the stuff that makes you go blind would make me believe Russia invaded the state of Georgia of all places...sorry YALL but damn..lol...okay back to my drink..🍺..Im still laughing about that... 😂

As if I am going to read all that post. It all just says ''Russians are bad, we are good''.

Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Popular belief seems to be that Putin is this dictator KGB who bullied his way to the top and now he won't leave.

Whereas it is not like that at all.

Why else would Putin want to extend the number of terms that a president can serve?

Originally posted by lil bitchiness

I wouldn't think so. If Russia is so pathetic, why has noone done anything in Georgia - all West did was say ''Russia is naughty - but we won't get involved''.

Now Putin is selling defence missiles to Iran, and is publicly advertising it.
What is West going to do? Nothing.

Besides, Europe is heavily dependant on Russian gas - hence Germans not daring to upset Russians.

And also, Moscow houses more billionares than any other city in the world (possibly thats why it is the most expencive city in the world). SOMETHING must be right/favourable somewhere in Russia.

But I do believe it is at Russia's up most advantage for West to keep considering it weak and undeveloped.

Why has no one done anything for Georgia? What are they suppose to do? Start a nuclear war with them over it?

Russia has already been slapped in the face by the US and POLAND. Russia threatened and ruffled its feathers and then when Poland actually agreed to the missile shield Russia just backed down and did nothing.

As for the billionaires? Yeah something went right..its called communism collapsing and a select view grabbing all the goodies for themselves.