Word: putin
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...before it began: Dmitry Medvedev will be Russia's next President. Only two things can stop him. One would be a serious medical emergency. This is unlikely, since the man looks as fit as a flea; it has been centuries since any Kremlin ruler - except for the incumbent, Vladimir Putin - has looked in ruder health. The second snag would be any change of mind by Putin. Medvedev owes his projected elevation to the favor of just one man. Such is Putin's dominance that Medvedev has immediately begged him to serve as his Prime Minister after the elections in March...
...people before he's shown such deferential treatment. Critics also contend Gaddafi isn't the only suspect foreign leader Sarkozy has offered such friendly approbation to. Earlier this month, for instance, Sarkozy placed what media reports have described as "a warm telephone call" to Russia's authoritarian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on victorious parliamentary elections that many observers describe as tainted by fraud. No other European leader followed his example. It's doubtful they'll be picking up their phones to place a call to Gaddafi either...
...stage of a process by which Russia's President, who is due to leave office next year (though he has suggested that he will continue to be a "national leader" of some sort), has consolidated power. The West could have seen it coming at any time from 2001, when Putin began a state takeover of the national television news, to more recently, when he tightened rules about how parties can win seats in parliament. But whatever implausible returns there were--like the 99% turnout with a 99% vote for Putin's party in war-torn Chechnya--Putin won because...
...West won't complain too loudly or for too long about the elections. Russia's natural gas is still vital to Europe. The U.S. still hopes Putin can be a better partner on matters like sanctions against Iran. So expect the criticisms of the day to fade, paving the way for Putin and the West to continue talks about energy, trade, international diplomacy. Whatever the state of its internal politics, Russia, these days, is too important to leave out in the cold...
...citizens of those countries, and with outright hostility by the Russians who see it as aimed at blunting their own missile capability in the event of a showdown with the U.S. The plan has helped freeze U.S.-Russia ties to Cold War levels of enmity, with President Vladimir Putin just last week suspending Russia's participation in 1990s Conventional Forces in Europe treaty...