--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> There's going to be some regime change, soon, right?
> Putin's term is
> coming to an end. What's the word on succession?
>
> Doug
In my view, Putin will try to appoint a successor that he thinks will continue his project. The likely person is Dmitrii Medvedev. All Putin will have to do to get him elected is stand near him on TV, given Vladimir Vladimirovich's phenomenal approval rating. The Communists will nominae somewhat (probably not Zyuganov) who will get 5-8% of the vote. Zhirinovsky will nominate hisbodyguard again, or whatever MTV VJ or pop singer with connections in his party he thinks will keep him in the limelight. He'll get another 5% of the vote. The "liberals" will nominate some clown that they think will get them Western support, who will get about 1% of the vote. A Just Russia (the new center left party) is a wild card, but I think they'll probably endorse Putin -- don't run against success. Then Putin will be given an influential (and lucrative) job, probably somewhere in the natural resources sector, like CEO of Gazprom or something like that.
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