Prime Minister Putin
Monday - Dec 17, 2007 - 10:58 PM
It is now almost certain that Putin will become the Prime Minister of Russia after the next year's presidential election. He announced publicly on Monday that if the people of Russia chose Medvedev for the next president, he will be ready to change the title. He already has the endorsement of Mr. Medvedev, just like Medvedev has previously been endorsed by Putin. Right now it looks like nothing would be able to change that course. Russia doesn't have a strong enough opposition to challenge the status quo. The policy of Putin's government has prevented anybody from gaining significant political support. Things are being run hard handed centrally from Kremlin by a narrow group of people all loyal to the current president.
Is this a good thing for Russia? Things have definitely improved for the Russians over the last decade. The country was able to pay off it's international debt, people enjoy higher incomes. I think the question people should ask is whether things could improve even more had the political system been fully transparent and democratic. Russia remains a major international power player and nobody has the resources to openly interfere with its domestic situation. It would be a political and most likely an economic death sentence. For now all hope that things will develop towards a positive direction for the people in Russia rests mainly in the hands of NGO's and other non-state organizations. Unsurprisingly, those political actors are under a very careful eye and scrutiny of Putin's governing system.
source: International Herald Tribune
