Four steps to Russian 'Democracy'

Big moves in the motherland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin deftly ensured his place at the top of the Russian political apparatus by appointing loyal, no-name Victor Zubkov as Prime Minister, and then announcing that he himself will run for Parliament after his constitutionally-limited second term as President is up. When run through the Russian mystery political strategy formula™, this essentially means that Putin plans to play switcheroo with Zubkov using a four-step process:

1. Putin runs for Parliament and wins, being an obviously popular, affable man;
2. Zubkov runs for President and wins — unopposed, of course, thanks to the dirty work of Putin's cronies;
3. Zubkov nominates Putin as Prime Minister, allowable under the Russian Constitution; and
4. Zubkov de facto steps aside while Putin takes reign, as PM, over the Executive.

The real coup-de-grace is that the Russian Prime Ministership has no term limitations, meaning Putin can effectively run Russia from the Federal Assembly forever provided he maintains favour with the President. Should this plan go awry for some reason, Putin can run again for the Presidency after sitting out for a term — the constitution only limits consecutive terms. The success of all this back-door strategizing will be assured though the precise and meticulous application of bribery, threats, and cronyism, of course — all those Soviet-era tactics Putin's democratic rule has worn like an old jacket.

Machiavelli would be pleased.

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