Vladmir Putin, a man of many talents
Will Cameron
The Paw Print
This weekend, in a not-so-shocking newsflash from Russia, we find that Vladimir Putin will once again be running for president of Russia next spring. Putin’s previous eight year term as president, and his consecutive run as prime minister, put him in position to secure these high political offices for 24 years running.
For those who don’t know Putin here is a little history. After graduating university in the 70’s Putin went on to join the KGB where he went into counter-intelligence. He spooked around Leningrad and in West Germany until the collapse, then went on to work as a recruiter and informant at Leningrad State University.
From there Putin moved up through various political positions in city governments with a few scandals but nothing without plausible deniability. In 1999 he used videotape that allegedly showed the Prosecutor General, Yuri Skuratov, cavorting with two young ladies, to remove Skuratov from office. Skuratov was known for his quest to stop government corruption, but Putin claimed that criminals paid for the sex party.
On Aug. 9, 1999, Putin was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. From there he quickly advanced to Prime Minister, was endorsed by the current president to be his successor, and agreed to run. These four events occurred within 24 hours, and four months later, when the president unexpectedly resigned, Putin stepped into office.
Now, 12 years later, Putin looks once again to take on the main post in Russia’s ridiculous “democracy.” On Saturday, at the United Russia Party Convention, President Dmitri Medvedev gave his recommendation.
“I believe it would be right for the congress to support the candidacy of Vladimir Putin in the presidential election,” said Medvedev, who will likely take the empty office of prime minister, completing Russia’s own version of musical chairs.
New legislative laws (no doubt pushed by Putin and Medvedev), allow Putin to come back for this 12-year victory lap, but the true travesty is that these events may have been in the planning for years.
“I want to say directly: An agreement over what to do in the future was reached between us several years ago,” Putin said, reinforcing the puppet theories that have floated around Moscow.
Throughout his stint as Prime Minister, Putin managed to stay top dog in Russian politics with a series of sweet publicity stunts. The man has darted everything from tigers to whales, dumped water on forest fires, cruised a F-1 racecar, and, in short, produced more manly photo ops than Papa Hemingway.
All we can do is wait to see what happens. Putin and Medvedev may have something new planned, but it looks like the leadership will remain the same. It’s not easy to build a new government. I just want to see Putin wrestle a bear.
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