Oh, it's not due to cowardice, because I know Russia will kick ass when needed. But the leaders talk hard because it still makes people shit themselves a little and the last thing the culture respects is weak leadership. Even with some fruitloops, though, the leaders are sane and know how to balance out the stick-carrying, the use of the stick and the speaking. I hope...

See? It works. If the mob got cleared out and the economy was cured of Dutch disease, it'd be pretty clear sailing.

Well, you know Medvedev is one of the calmest people in Russian politics, he is young, intelligent, gentle, modest and kind, and surely does not look or talk bad-ass (just like Putin in the beginning, but unlike Putin, he does not have KGB background - but instead a much more peaceful profession, a lawyer and teacher), and yet he won elections with over 70% of votes, and people mostly like him as a person. Although I'm sure he'll get tougher with time. It's not because of the people. The country is just too big - too many problems, so your word should be powerful to come across and do something. Like Putin yesterday - just a few negative words about one company, and it goes down in market value $5 Billion on Wall Street, and others go down $58 Billion. That was cool. Don't save on taxes and never play with the state!