Returning the favor
Putin to Be Named Next Prime Minister of Russia"A day after President Vladimir V. Putin endorsed a loyal protégé, Dmitri A. Medvedev, as his successor, Mr. Medvedev went before the nation today and declared that he in turn would name Mr. Putin as his prime minister...
"Mr. Medvedev has no background in the state security services and virtually no power base in the Kremlin, and he is seen here as a relatively weak figure beholden to Mr. Putin. With Mr. Putin as prime minister, it would appear that little will change in who controls Russia..."In his speech today, Mr. Medvedev said that Russia had to continue on the path set by Mr. Putin since he took office in 2000...
"While Mr. Medvedev is clearly a Putin loyalist, Russia has never had leaders who have wielded decisive authority from the background. Power has traditionally emanated from the office — be that of the czar, the Communist Party general secretary or the Russian president. Whether Mr. Putin would be able to keep control over the government even as Mr. Medvedev retained legal control over its levers is an open question..."
Labels: elections, leadership, politics, Russia
posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:19 AM
1 Comments:
This will be interesting to watch as it plays out. We've all been watching to see if Mr. Putin follows Russia's constitution even though it appeared that he would try. This "solution" may lead to greater autocracy but we have to ask why a youthful, energetic, successful leader should step out of the picture. We didn't ask FDR to step aside during WWII. Old hands have kept an eye on the changing relationship between France's president and prime minister as the control of parliament shifted. It is certainly not the same in Russia but a government with a relatively dominant prime minister and a relatively less seem prime minister is not unheard of. They may even carve out separate areas of dominance. Thoughts??
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