That isn;t a teaser for a MEdvedev challenge. That's a stark example of how transparently cynical this revolving door constitutional molestation is. Russians see right through it, but Putin has made it impossible for an effective opposition to emerge. I mean, the guy changed it so governors are all appointed rather than elected. That means he personally controls the politics not just of the federal government, but the federal subjects as well. There is no effective alternative to Putin and one cannot emerge in the near term, certainly not in the form of his stooge Medvedev.

It's worrying that a country like Russia will still be dominated by such politics for the foreseeable future. In a time of the Arab Spring etc, Russia could be such a positive role model but instead it's a country that chooses to bully and intimidate its neighbours rather than cooperate with them and still chooses to support authoritarian leaders that run oppressive regimes elsewhere.

Being cynical here, your last sentence could apply to the USA as well haha

Oh indeed - but every country has to deal with the rough to get the sunshine for its people but at least the US wants to try to be a force for good in the world. Russian leaders just don't care about the latter at all.

Not at all in the same way. Russia's isolation from the world system cannot be overstated (it isn't even in the WTO), and the intimidation of its neighbors is of the steal-your-territory and outright-annex-you variety. America is far from perfect, but its sins are dramatically different from Russia's.

"the US wants to try to be a force for good in the world."

???

Standard Sicarius.

Well, I think he's going along the fact that even though the USA supported Saleh in Yemen, for example, when the people democratically want him out, we remove our support and ask for him to step down. Same with Syria. Russia hasn't done that.

I absolutely agree with Invictus' point. Every country's government first and foremost duty is to its own citizens (or more cynically, its electorate) and it's unfortunately sometimes necessary for governments to have to deal with countries and people we don't necessarily agree with - like Britain and Germany setting up trade deals with Germany or America propping up Hosni Mubarak in Egypt because the glove fitted better than most for those decades he was in power. At the same time though, countries like the US, Britain, and Germany, try to balance that by helping in areas where they can make a difference: the Balkan wars or, more recently, Libya. The Russian leadership just doesn't care about other people's problems at all - partly because their electorate don't care for other people's problems either because their state media doesn't see the need to discontent them with images of Syrians being massacred by their own army or Somalians dying of famine - Syria and Somalia are good weapons trading countries for Russia and images of fame wouldn't do well for the poor in Siberia and so too would news of oppressive armies in foreign countries be all too reminiscent of Russia's own use of its military on its people. Russia doesn't care one bit about the world outside of its own interests and that outlook will most likely, unfortunately, remain with Russia if Putin stays in power for another 6 to 12 years.

@Sicarius: Yes. Please read above.

*like Britain and Germany setting up trade deals with China. (typo, it's very late here)

Yeah Sarg, its gotta be 3 or 4 am for you right now

Yeah lol, oh dear - with that fact now in writing, I shall make my way to bed. Good night :)

Nothing like a pile of Russophobic bullshit at 11:45 at night.

America is the bestest. We round up dissent with orange plastic nets.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203890804576591364076524234.html

But nevermind, you winners only care about "dissent" if it's in another country. I can't wait until goldfinger and co starts wailing about the plight of labor unions in some country he hates.

France has had terms of 7 years and has had Presidents who have ruled for nearly two decades. Ditto Finland. But omg Putin is a dictator for following the constitution.

He's manipulating the constitution and extending his term limits. No matter who does that, whether it's Mayor Bloomberg or Premier Putin, I don't like it. The Russian constitution was poorly written in this case to allow him to serve more than two terms, which was what its intent was. Now, if it was a case such as Grover Cleveland, where he had one term, took a break, then went again, then I wouldn't have a problem. But Putin served to the limits of the Constitution and then installed a lackey so he could bend the rules.

And I hate labor unions Putin. If you forgot, I'm a bit right-leaning. So no matter what, I don't have pity for unions.

I do care about the welfare of the people of Russia and its neighboring countries. Russia shut off natural gas to Ukraine and neighboring countries a few years ago, right? Whether they were justified in doing it or doesn't given Russia causation to do that. Its like bringing a gun to a knife fight. Its unfair

Tell me Putin, does Russia commit troops to UN peacekeeping forces (besides the peacekeepers on its border in the Caucasus)? What has Russia done under Putin that is beneficial to the world?

Ukraine was stealing gas (in addition to not paying for gas they legitimately got) and selling it for themselves. First they lied about it then they admitted it. If any other country was the target except Russia you'd be bitching about Ukraine. This is the same country that threatened to shut down Russia's black sea port during the middle of Georgia's genocidal war against South Ossetia (if you sympathize with Georgia's aggression, watch the bloody youtube videos of them shooting anything and everything that moves). Medvedev is no "lackey", which is why they've been talking up the divisions between the two men for quite a while now. Medvedev has contradicted Putin on a number of policy issues.

The United States has fostered a bunch of anti-Russian coups along Russia's borders, installed a bunch of hothead nutcases like Saakashvili and Yushchenko (an ally of neo-Nazis, by the way) who attack minorities for sport, and then everybody cries about Russian "aggression" and "dictatorship". Shameless, shameless hypocrisy.

"Tell me Putin, does Russia commit troops to UN peacekeeping forces (besides the peacekeepers on its border in the Caucasus)? What has Russia done under Putin that is beneficial to the world?"

Russia has sent peacekeepers to Haiti, Kosovo, and recently southern Sudan. It also has some troops in the Middle East.

Beneficial? Blocked US imperialism in a number of areas, for one. Sent humanitarian aid to starving Kosovo Serbs who are being terrorized by the Albanian mafia, when no one else gave a damn. Protected the South Ossetians from being annihilated by Saakashvili.

Anyway Russia is a developing country trying to fix itself after the Yeltsin privateers wrecked it, so obviously it's foreign policy is going to be relatively limited until it gets back on its feet. And it has more to worry about with hostile pro-NATO thugs on its borders so it can't spare a ton of troops to random spots around the globe. Anyway, even if it did help out with "UN peacekeeping" more, you'd bitch about that.

Just because a government does harm though, doesn't mean you have the right to punish its people. Impose sanctions, take it to the ICC, or something, but you don't just shut off power. The UN has created legal channels for this to go through. Its bad PR for Russia, and hopefully you can admit that.

And one side's war of aggression is another side's reconquest of lost territory. I don't favor one side over the other, but I do not condone unjust force against a population. Against a government, yes, but there was a massive loss of civilian life that can be directly attributable to Russian forces. When the US initially invaded Iraq, while I do not support it, at least there wasn't a huge loss of civilian life during the invasion. Occupation is a whole different story.

And if he's not a lackey, why did Medvedev accept Putin's "propos(al) that Medvedev head the party list for the December elections. Medvedev then proposed that Putin be the party's presidential candidate, and Putin returned to the stage to accept the proposal and express support for Medvedev as prime minister."

That sounds like some lackey type of thing to do. But I do agree that Medvedev and Putin have their clashes, but Putin usually wins those, right? I just think that Medvedev is the better leader of the two for Russia's standing in the world.

And please don't think I'm one-sided. If you look earlier to where Sarg said (about Russia) "it's a country that chooses to bully and intimidate its neighbours rather than cooperate with them and still chooses to support authoritarian leaders that run oppressive regimes elsewhere," I said that the USA could be described as thus as well.

I was unaware of the troops positions that you mentioned besides the South Ossetians. So I recant my claim

What "massive loss of civilian life" can attributable to Russian forces? Russian forces saved Ossetians from certain death. The capital of South Ossetia was utterly destroyed by Georgia. There has never been more propaganda than in that blatant war of aggression by Georgia. The western media lapped up any attempt to demonize Russia, even claiming Russia invaded totally unprovoked. Completely failed to mention anything about Georgia's actions, in particular Georgia's blatant murder of Russian peacekeepers.

Why did Medvedev accept? Because the alternative was a bitter internal fight within United Russia and because this was the understanding all along. Medvedev has been quite critical of Putin, and the only reason this thing has been in the news so much is precisely because Medvedev does seek to retain the Presidency. Medvedev simply doesn't have the support within the party to challenge Putin. Anyway, the system has a dual-executive, so the PM is not without power. Actually the PM heads up domestic policy. That said I think Medvedev will be gone once Putin is elected. Medvedev was a mistake.

When I read the title I thought it was a joke, as I assumed it was referring to our Putin, not the good one...

Vlad the Impaler is the *good* Putin?

I agree with Fasces on that one.

" I mean, the guy changed it so governors are all appointed rather than elected. That means he personally controls the politics not just of the federal government, but the federal subjects as well."

Russia had an unworkable system of byzantine federalism prior to the streamlining of the federal subjects. Yeltsin signed treaties with individual oblasts/regions. Some of them drafted blatantly anti-constitutional laws and a great number of them extracted an extraordinary amount of concessions from the federal government. Not to mention that they used the federation council as a means to lobby for the advancement of themselves and their cronies. Regional corruption allowed the Breslan attack to occur in 2004. Putin ended that nonsense. Many executives appoint governors. Anyway the legislators can reject the appointments from the center if they so choose.

"Russia's isolation from the world system cannot be overstated (it isn't even in the WTO),"

Isn't it even in the WTO? You act as if it's somehow easy to get in. It took China 15 years of lobbying to get in. The US won't even rescind its cold war era trade policy with Russia. Russia doesn't need the world system, really. It has enough resources to be more than self-sufficient. Russia will emerge as a model for others to follow.

Really? it has enough resources to be self-sufficient? Well, it probably does in the sense that it could get by on its own, but I just read some articles on how Putin is going to get them away from their natural-resource driven economy