Putin dissolves Russian Government...

[6SpeedTA95]

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday replaced his long-serving prime minister with an obscure Cabinet official -- a surprise move that could put him in the running to succeed Putin in next year's presidential election.

The nomination of Viktor Zubkov, who currently oversees the government's fight against money laundering, appeared to have caught much of the Russian political elite off-guard.

Putin had been expected to announce in December whom he would back to run for president next year -- and Russia's two first deputy prime ministers -- former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and gas giant Gazprom board chairman Dmitry Medvedev -- were widely considered to be the leading contenders.

"All expected successors had an awkward moment as Putin again showed that he's a master of disinformation," analyst Stanislav Belkovsky said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

The unexpected choice left pundits guessing whether Zubkov would serve as a stopgap figure without any political weight or would be groomed as the next president. Putin is constitutionally barred from a third straight term, but could seek to return in 2012 or even earlier if his successor steps down before his term ends.

Some analysts and political figures suggested that Putin may have picked up Zubkov as a convenient figurehead to keep ruling from behind the scenes after stepping down as president.

"The appointment of a person without political face as prime minister of a great nation in this difficult time means that the president is the only source of power," said Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the liberal Yabloko party. "The appointment is a move toward the effective extension of Vladimir Putin's rule even after his authority formally ends."

Sergei Ivanenko, a leading member of Yabloko, said the appointment of Zubkov resembled Putin's own appointment as prime minister by former President Boris Yeltsin in 1999. Several months later, Putin took helm as acting president and then won his first election.

"That gives a deja vu feeling," Ivanenko said.

Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, meanwhile, said Putin would be unlikely to name Zubkov as his successor and his appointment meant only that the president was still hesitant about the choice.

Putin dissolved the Cabinet of his long-serving Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov earlier in the day, saying he needed to appoint a government better suited to the election campaign and to "prepare the country" for life after the parliamentary elections on December 2 and the presidential vote three months later.

State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov backed the 65-year-old Zubkov's nomination, saying his "life path and professional activities in various fields undoubtedly allow him to lead the Cabinet of the Russian Federation."

He said the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, would vote on the nomination Friday.

Zubkov's position in the Cabinet was relatively obscure; the Financial Monitoring Service he headed is an arm of the Finance Ministry that investigated money laundering.

Zubkov also served under Putin when the two worked in the city administration of St. Petersburg in the early 1990s. Putin has regularly tapped former colleagues from St. Petersburg to head top posts in the government.

Putin is wildly popular among Russians, having brought stability and relative prosperity to the country after the often-chaotic Yeltsin years. As a result, whoever is nominated for the presidency by Putin is expected to win easily.

Putin is beginning to get a little crazy in my opinion. He's dissovled the Russian government while simultaneously testing a ridiculously large bomb. He's also begun flying the old cold war bombers again and selling arms to Iran.

What if anything should we do about this? Should we wait till Iran or Russia attacks/invades another country? Should we just let them continue to sabre rattle?

This whole ordeal is becoming more disturbing.

[garbagemanlb]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Putin is beginning to get a little crazy in my opinion. He's dissovled the Russian government while simultaneously testing a ridiculously large bomb. He's also begun flying the old cold war bombers again and selling arms to Iran.

What if anything should we do about this? Should we wait till Iran or Russia attacks/invades another country? Should we just let them continue to sabre rattle?

This whole ordeal is becoming more disturbing.

It is sabre rattling. Putin is pussyhurt because he sees his country as not getting the respect it deserves, and this whole thing is basically a PR move. While I'm not concerned with the military changes coming out of Russia, the regression of the democratic process in the country is troubling.

[Stylerod]

Originally Posted by garbagemanlb

It is sabre rattling. Putin is pussyhurt because he sees his country as not getting the respect it deserves, and this whole thing is basically a PR move. While I'm not concerned with the military changes coming out of Russia, the regression of the democratic process in the country is troubling.

I agree. They haven't become the economic powerhouse he would like so he is falling back on the old way of trying to show how many bombers he has and how big he can make a bomb. The funny part is we now know that many of their weapon systems during the cold war were complete shit or didn't work at all. They even fooled us with one of their bombers. We estimated they had hundreds because during a military parade them kept flying over, but it ended up the same 6 just kept making circles over the parade. They only had like 20 of the things.

[thomez]

I'm not seeing the dissolution aspect here, what am I missing.

[Nonphixion]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Putin is beginning to get a little crazy in my opinion. He's dissovled the Russian government while simultaneously testing a ridiculously large bomb. He's also begun flying the old cold war bombers again and selling arms to Iran.

What if anything should we do about this? Should we wait till Iran or Russia attacks/invades another country? Should we just let them continue to sabre rattle?

This whole ordeal is becoming more disturbing.

Their bomb is smaller, lighter, and more efficient -- yet it is 4 times more powerful in yield than our MOAB Satellite-Guided very sleek and sexy Mother of All Bombs. If anything, ours is ridiculously large -- as it is nearly 2,000 pounds larger yet is 4 times weaker than the Russian counterpart.

[Publius]

Originally Posted by thomez

I'm not seeing the dissolution aspect here, what am I missing.

I'm seeing that he replaced the prime minister with one of his cronies, but I'm not seeing a dissolution?

edit: nevermind, i see it now tucked into the bottom of the article.

Putin dissolved the Cabinet of his long-serving Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov earlier in the day, saying he needed to appoint a government better suited to the election campaign and to "prepare the country" for life after the parliamentary elections on December 2 and the presidential vote three months later.

Interesting...

[avsp]

The fact that the new guy worked on some financial regulatory authority speaks volumes

Originally Posted by 6speed

What if anything should we do about this? Should we wait till Iran or Russia attacks/invades another country? Should we just let them continue to sabre rattle?

What if anything could the west do anyway?
The options seem limited to stepping up arms development, rearming etc

Russian sabre-rattling & pride issues are probably at least partially linked to an ever larger NATO anyway.