09-24-2011, 03:35 PM
Putin, the bad-ass, is seeking presidency again. All of his bad-ass adventures have helped keep him constantly in Russian news since he left the Kremlin in 2008. He seems like a caricature to me, but he is certainly driven.
![[Image: r-VLADIMIR-PUTIN-large570.jpg]](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/359530/thumbs/r-VLADIMIR-PUTIN-large570.jpg)
MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin's decision to reclaim the presidency next year sets up the possibility that he could rule Russia until 2024 and foreshadows a continuation of the strongman rule that many in the West have called a retreat from democracy.
Although Putin departed the Kremlin in 2008 due to term limits and moved about two kilometers (1.5 miles) down the road to the prime minister's office, in a sense he never left at all. He cannily used Russia's state-controlled national TV channels to remain the country's pre-eminent political figure, with appearances portraying himself as a bold adventurer in Russia's wilderness, a vigorous advocate of the country's global importance and, occasionally, as a bit of a rogue consorting with scruffy motorcyclists.
snipped from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/24...imir-putin
MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin's decision to reclaim the presidency next year sets up the possibility that he could rule Russia until 2024 and foreshadows a continuation of the strongman rule that many in the West have called a retreat from democracy.
Although Putin departed the Kremlin in 2008 due to term limits and moved about two kilometers (1.5 miles) down the road to the prime minister's office, in a sense he never left at all. He cannily used Russia's state-controlled national TV channels to remain the country's pre-eminent political figure, with appearances portraying himself as a bold adventurer in Russia's wilderness, a vigorous advocate of the country's global importance and, occasionally, as a bit of a rogue consorting with scruffy motorcyclists.
snipped from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/24...imir-putin