is it just the old one with a hand puppet cald Medwedew?

Its kinda scary who Putin owns the Place.......but then....Russia always has been in the hand of one strong man with his friends......so what....

technically yes there is a new president but the man named Putin the new prime minister so Putin still controls everything.

He is just a Putin's puppet. Russia doesn't really have a democracy anymore. The place is controlled by Putin and the Russian Mob.

Cold War part II is going to be even colder. WOOOOO!!!

It's terrible. The dude ran practically unopposed. In fact, I read he didn't have to even campaign or anything. I can't believe their country is so stuck right now. They get a taste of democracy early on with Yeltsin but it was during such a turbulent time with their economy in the tubes during the transition that now the russians have ended up reverting back to the old ways/leadership.

Yup, pretty much. Medvedev pretty much won because Putin said so. I saw this interview with random Russians in Moscow on Russian TV about how they don't even want to vote because there is no point and how little school children already knew who the president was going to be well before the electrons and were referring Medvedev as President..lol

But from what I've seen on Russian TV Putin has changed the country and people like him there.

What I really hate about it is that Putins program is clearly the Military.
So expect further military armamaent until 2012...and then.....ummhhhh wait 2012 the candidate will be Putin again....

I give it 2 years before Medvedev and Putin go in opposite directions and a major political crisis breaks out in Russia. Maybe I'm being too generous with t years...

Medvedev would just be removed.

Or Putin. The president has the power to dismiss the parliament.

Don't forget that Putin started out as a complete unknown who was appointed by Yeltsin first as his Prime Minister and then as his successor. Then within a year Putin established policies that were exact opposite of Yeltsin's. Medvedev, at least on the face of it, is far more liberal than Putin.

Putin has the entire inner circle of power stacked with his supporters, Medvedev doesn't have any ability to do that. The Yeltsin situation differed in old Boris didn't have the will or push to hold on to the reins in the background, Putin does.

If Yeltsin wanted to retain the power, then the whole Russia situation would be far uglier that it is now. The fact is that Putin does want to retain power, and that's why I think there will be a political crisis in Russia. Medvedev is not KGB, he doesn't seem to have delusions of grandeur, but he doesn't look like a pushover either. It will be a very interesting dynamic between him and Putin, to say the least.

You forget Yeltin at the the time was a drunk and was starting to lose it when Putin gained power. Yeltsin could hold on to his own house at the time let alone the country. Putin has too much power, if he Medvedev got too ambitious he just have his buddies in the Russian Mob put a hit on him.