Russia's Medvedev backs Putin for president

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin should run for president next year, current President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

He made the announcement at the annual congress of the ruling United Russia party.

There have been months of speculation about which man would stand as candidate for the post.

Mr Putin had already served two terms as president before Mr Medvedev took over in 2008.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15045816

[joshcryer]

1. Putin was always in charge.

[xchrom]

2. Who would've thought? Nt

[rpannier]

3. No surprise

Putin went after Medvedev because Russia didn't vote against the resolution creating a no-fly zone.
He has been critical of the Russian President in other areas as well
Every time the President backed away
He saw the handwriting

[Crowman1979]

4. I wonder if RT is gonna say anything critical about this?

Probably not.

[ProgressoDem]

5. But America's the dictatorship...!

:silly:

[Odin2005]

6. I wonder when Putin is going to drop the pretenses and crown himself Tsar.

[bemildred]

7. Smart move. nt

[cowcommander]

8. If only Russians had balls...

[Crowman1979]

9. I'd like to see Russians go all Egyptian-style protest on Putin's ass.

[backtomn]

13. I would love to see Obama.........

....do the Bush thing, but say that he "sees into Putin's soul"........and "sees a very dark place". Apparently, W's vision wasn't too good. Hopefully O will not make the same mistake........no matter how many time the old man runs around without his shirt....hahahaha.

[Bucky]

15. Putin's very popular. He's corrupt & owns the media, but he's winning on merit.

Mubarak didn't exactly face genuine elections or organized opposition like Putin does.

I'm no Putin fan. His model for economic growth is essentially Saudi Arabia's. In the long run, Russia will be more vulnerable because of his all energy-production & export policies. But they're getting the leader they want & deserve.

[Xolodno]

18. I'd say they are following the Saudia Arabia....

...for current economic stability. But are heavily investing in other industries at the same time. Makes sense too, use your abundant resources to gain immediate stability and then use that income to invest as well, into education, technologies, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia

Wiki seems a bit outdated, but, they seemed to have weathered the "Great Recession" better than anyone else.

I read a lot of doom and gloom articles for Russia...but, they address only how they can't maintain energy exports forever or what would happen if energy prices suddenly collapsed. And ignore everything else they are doing for the long term. Then when you add a lot the same writers also believed in "too big to fail", "corporations will regulate themselves", etc. Their credibility goes down the toilet. It just seems like they are purposely trying to down play their stricter market controls, increased spending in education, investments into software, nano-technology, rebuilding their auto and aerospace industry, etc.

I even read one report from the World Bank that offered as a proof, that they didn't obtain GDP growth at expected levels...umm....yeah, but they still grew fairly well in comparison. And buried in the report was that the poverty level remained flat and their manufacturing also grew. Shoot, it even had two doomsday scenario's for Russia. It was almost as if they were hoping the Russian Economy would collapse.

I also read about criticism of their smaller and heavily state owned banking system...and I'm thinking "this worse than our system how?"

If your living in Russia and see whats going on in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, etc. And then look at the issues right here in the good ol' USA...is it a surprise they think they are better off with Putin when they haven't had to feel the full brunt of what affected the western world?

Not condoning a semi-dictatorship, but, if you were in their position I would say its understandable why they accept it. We could also learn from their success of being energy independent, investing in education, manufacturing, stimulus, etc. But then, maybe that's what the IMF and World Bank is trying to hide?

[FreeStateDemocrat]

10. Russkies love Czar Putin, he's in there until they kill him like they did the last czar.

[Muskypundit]

11. When I think about places that seemingly really dont want democracy

Russia tops the list. This guys approval ratings are insane, and its so blatantly obvious what he is doing.

[cowcommander]

12. It's because the standard of living rose dramatically under Putin

Can't really blame them. The 90s were a horrible time for many Russians under Yeltsin, it really scarred them. Putin brought back order and economic stability, and Russians are too scared of any more changes.

[Bucky]

14. "Good puppy. Good boy"

[pampango]

16. Putin’s political tactics trigger Moscow protest

http://www.euronews.net/2011/09/25/putin-s-political-tactics-trigger-moscow-protest/

A group of demonstrators gathered in central Moscow on Sunday to protest at political manoeuvres ahead of next year’s election. One protester said “Yesterday I listened to a meeting of United Russia and the speeches of Putin and Medvedev and I couldn’t not come here. It is outrageous.”

On Saturday, at a meeting of the ruling United Russia Party, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Medvedev agreed to effectively swap positions. Putin will run for president and Medvedev would be his prime minister.

Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has now rebelled, saying he will not serve in the next government.

Critics of United Russia say the development proves what many had suspected – that Medvedev never was the real president and that he was just keeping the chair warm for Putin’s return.

[AverageJoe90]

17. Too bad Medvedev had no balls.........

He actually seemed to be somewhat decent, too.:(

Time for United Russia to disappear, it's already becoming obvious that they're the equivalent of the GOP here in America.