Word: putin
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Some U.S. officials reportedly suggested recently that the shame of being the odd man out when G8 leaders convene on his turf in July might help bring Russia's President Vladimir Putin on board over imposing sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program. But such misguided optimism harks back to the Boris Yeltsin era, when the newly democratic Russia played a subordinate role to the West. If anyone needed more evidence that times have changed - and perhaps retreating to the antagonism of the Cold War days - they only had to listen to Vladimir Putin's state of the nation...
...biggest polling organization, Romir Monitoring, says his polls suggest that most people don't feel better off even though they are consuming more. Everyone grumbles about inflation, currently at about 12%. Apartment prices are soaring faster than in Shanghai or New York City. But for all its uncertainties, the Putin era seems less erratic than the tumultuous years of the previous decade, spanning the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Yeltsin-era crisis in 1998, which wiped out most people's savings. "Putin's our Teflon President," says Milekhin, pointing to a chart that shows how even...
...drives a silver Renault Scenic SUV while his wife, who has stopped work to remodel their apartment, dodges potholes in her new lime green Daewoo. "You can never be optimistic about anything in our country because if you're optimistic, it will end badly," he says. But he credits Putin with instilling confidence in the market: "There is no alternative to him. Stability is important for business...
...hovering by his collection of wrenches, screwdrivers and metal widgets, says he can barely pay the rising rent and utility bills, which eat up about $75 of his $95 monthly pension. On a good day, he can earn $8 from sales of his hardware, but that's not enough. Putin this year has promised to boost spending on social services, and the Kremlin has raised some state pensions. But in the market's food section, Gulfara Shakhulovna, 59, isn't impressed. She's worried about the health of her husband, a carpenter who retired but went back to work...
...sell the first one. Today she has a cramped boutique on Lenin Street next to a hat shop. In the wedding season, she sells as many as 20 dresses a month at prices of $100 to $400 apiece. Is she confident about the future? What does she think of Putin? She squirms uncomfortably, claiming not to know anything about politics. How about business? She flashes a broad smile. "Yes," she says, "I believe in the future of that." Today's Russia depends on a few million more catching that optimism...