Word: quinn
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...sneezed. Now, in a sure sign of the ailing president's ebbing power, the capital is just ignoring his latest health problems. "Even if Yeltsin were forced out due to illness, that would no longer make a difference to Russia's political direction," says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. "The currency markets indicated today that they don't care, and Yeltsin's approval rating now stands at 2 percent, compared with an 89 percent disapproval rating." Physically and politically enfeebled, Yeltsin has relinquished control of much of his government, but that doesn't mean there's been...
...will be "strictly limited" to refloating Russia's stricken banking system is the financial equivalent of a recovering alcoholic's "just one drink." "Once you start printing money, it's very tempting to keep printing more because you need to pay unpaid wages," says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. "Fear of social unrest, which will grow if the government is seen to be bailing out the banks but not paying wages, adds to the pressure to print more...
...West has warned that printing rubles will plunge the country back into hyperinflation. If Moscow's money presses start rolling despite the warnings, investors may regard the country as beyond the pale. "Russia is headed on a path of economic introversion, even isolation," says Quinn-Judge. Unless, of course, the West decides that the geopolitical consequences of such a development are even more disastrous than Russia's current economic tribulations...
...play them allows Boris Yeltsin to control the game. Yeltsin kept Russia on tenterhooks Wednesday, waiting to hear whether the president would renominate Viktor Chernomyrdin or accept a compromise candidate as prime minister. "The reason for Yeltsin's silence isn't clear," says TIME Moscow bureau chief Paul Quinn-Judge. "He's known to withdraw and get depressed when he's under pressure. But it could also be a maneuver to keep everyone off balance -- it's certainly having that effect...
...Yeltsin is running out of time. "He is no longer a powerful individual," says Quinn-Judge, "but his presidency remains all-powerful. So Yeltsin can retain the initiative simply by doing nothing." But the political deal that will underwrite a new government -- whoever is at its head -- is likely to strip the presidency of many of its executive powers, including the right to appoint and dismiss the government. So the current silence could be Yeltsin's autocratic swan song. And constitutionally, it can last only until Monday...