President Vladimir Putin has plunged the political future of Russia into confusion by sacking his government and appointing a virtually unknown bureaucrat as prime minister.
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The unexpected appointment raises the prospect that a bureaucrat whose name and face are almost totally unknown to the Russian public could emerge as president of the world’s largest country when Mr Putin steps down next year.
Read it all at The Telegraph.
Vladimir Putin keeps his friends in high places
The appointment of Viktor Zubkov as Russia's new prime minister has intensified speculation that Vladimir Putin harbours ambitions of remaining in office beyond next year's presidential election.
Although Mr Zubkov, 65, an economist, is a member of the so-called St Petersburg set, the cabal of former KGB officers and Putin loyalists that has seized control of key levers of power at the Kremlin, no one in Russia - not even those who have heard of him - regards him as a serious contender for the presidency.
Read it all at The Telegraph.
Via ¡No Pasarán!:
Politicus: America's misplaced hopes on Russia
WASHINGTON: Suppose the Russians, as Iran's monopoly supplier of nuclear wherewithal, decided they could live with a few atomic weapons in the hands of the mullahs.
Suppose the Russians, flush with money and superpower fantasies, believed that weakening and humiliating the United States was well worth the instability that might come with Moscow's refusal to help block Iran's drive toward nuclear arms.
Where's the downside? From Vladimir Putin's point of view, it's win-win.
With Russia's obstructive tactics encouraging Iran to plunge ahead, he may figure the Americans will eventually strike Iranian nuclear installations. The Yanks would harvest opprobrium in much of the world.
Still, if their strike does eradicate the Iranian nuclear program, that's fine, too. Russia's oil and gas prices are sure to shoot up. Russia becomes Iran's key reconstruction contractor, and sets out a rare claim to international righteousness.
Read it all at the International Herald Tribune.
What a thug. Shouldn't he be having heart troubles about now?
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