Vladimir Putin’s Wartime Presidency
Yes, we’ve seen it before: the meticulously scripted but utterly sterile twists and turns in Russia’s Potemkin “presidential” election campaign, Vladimir Putin’s fourth.
Once again we are being treated to the sight of the Russian president’s mighty torso as he steps into the icy water of Lake Seliger in the Russian Northwest to mark the Orthodox Epiphany, surrounded by black-cassocked priests with church banners aloft.
An old hat, indeed. Except for two things. First, by the end of his term Putin will have been in power as president or de-facto leader for 24 years — longer than any Russian ruler since Nicholas I (1825-1855) except for Stalin. And, second and more important, these six years are supposed by many to be his last.
Περισσότερα εδώ:
Vladimir Putin’s Wartime Presidency
Πηγή: aei.org
