From The Daily Mail:As ex-President Putin settles in to his new role as Prime Minister, he has every reason to congratulate himself.
After all, he has not only written the script for his constitutional coup d'etat, but staged the play and given himself the starring role as well.
Of course, he has given a walk-on role to Dmitry Medvedev, his personally anointed successor.
Update: A Russian Documents the Truth About Russia -- Pajamas media
My Comment: Here is a disclaimer -- my background is Russian. My mother was born 100 kilometers west of Moscow, taken to Germany during the Second World War to work as a nanny in a German Officer's home. My father was a Soviet soldier, who after fighting for four years had the opportunity to escape to the West at the end of the war .... ending up in Canada where he eventually met my mother.
Since 1992, I have visited Russia on a number of occasions, meeting my huge and extended family, and they in turn have visited us in Canada and the U.S. My relatives are .... what we would call .... middle class in Russia. They work hard, do not have much to show for their efforts, but are proud of what they are doing, and they personally feel confident that their lives are improving. For example, one of my aunts, who after living in a very very very small 1 and a half, was given a brand new 3 and a half in a new apartment complex that is filled with retired seniors of her generation. This action by the state has naturally made her and my extended family (of about 150 members) extremely loyal to Prime Minister Putin.
But Jonathan Dimbleby is right when he mentions in his article that everyone should be even better off. That the rule of law and democratic principles is the way to go, not security and perceived stability. But while this is the way to go .... for the moment Russia will not change. It will take a few more generations before the young have accepted the Western culture of open government, a completely free press, and tolerance of those who disagree with us. In the meantime, we must be patient, but we must also openly give our moral support to those who are working for a positive change in Russia.