The Putin Doctrine

Vladimir Putin. © RIA Novosti. Alexei Druzhinin

Russia: Introducing The Putin Doctrine -- Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast

Russia’s president flexes his muscle at home and abroad.

Six months after returning to power in the face of mounting opposition, Russian President Vladimir Putin is exercising his political capital—and doing so in imperial fashion. The most recent example: earlier this month, sitting at a small table in his ornate, oak-walled office in the Kremlin, Putin announced that Russia was creating the world’s largest publicly traded oil company. The goal: to restore the glory of Russia the only way Putin seems to know how—the raw acquisition of power. “He is trying to keep stability, as he sees it, with billions of dollars in oil,” said Evgeny Gontmakher, an analyst at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, a Moscow-based think tank. “I predict chaos.”

Read more ....

My Comment: He is going to Russia's President for the next 6 years .... maybe 12 .... so his doctrine and intentions need to be watched very closely.

Russia's Future?

Russia’s Future - Grumpy Petro-Giant Armed-to-the-Teeth with Social Unrest -- Michael Lee, Transhumanity

Although Russia’s population has peaked and is now decreasing, this resource-rich Eurasian giant will not go gently into the good night of decline.

Nor will the rich tapestry of Russian history, populated with larger-than-life autocrats such as Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin, Stalin and Putin, and defined by world-shaking events like the Russian Revolution, the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, become uneventful in the 21st century.

Read more ....

My Comment: Is Russia becoming a grumpy economic powerhouse that is armed-to-the-teeth filled with social unrest country? My nationality is Russian .... so I am talking from a certain perspective .... and what is my perspective .... cough, cough .... Russia throughout it's history has always been a grumpy country that is armed-to-the-teeth and filled with social unrest (I left out economic powerhouse).

Russia Will Not Be A Super Power Under Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev watch the Victory Parade on Moscow's Red Square. Russia celebrates the 67th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. REUTERS/Vladimir Rodionov/RIA Novosti/Pool

Putin's Russia Won't Achieve Super Power Status -- Scheherazade Rehman, US News & World Report

While Mother Nature (super-storm hurricane Sandy) was causing destruction throughout the north-eastern seaboard of the United States on Monday, across on the other side of the world Russians were remembering a man-made destruction. Over a period of two years (1937-38), approximately 1.7 million people were arrested and sent to gulags, and of which more than 750,000 were executed under Joseph Stalin's brutal crackdown. Why is this Remembrance Day particularly poignant for the Russians this year? In all likelihood Russian efforts to regain superpower status is going to be associated with increased state repression. (This is the third of a series of articles on potential superpowers.)

Read more ....

My Comment: I concur with this analysis .... Russia will remain Russia (i.e. nothing will change).