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MOSCOW-President Vladimir Putin's favorite party rejects any comparison with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), but at United Russia's Ninth Conference on Monday it looked just the part. Delegates held up white cards to rubberstamp every single one of the party leadership's proposals, including the creation of a new post of party chairman to offer to Putin on Tuesday.United Russia, which boasts nearly 2 million members, describes itself as "the party of power", controls parliament and proclaims itself a key driver of reform in Russia, just as the CPSU presented itself as the arbiter of political life.Books of Putin's speeches were given away free, alongside a new collection of speeches by president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who is due to be sworn in on May 7.Party members spent hours on Monday in debates about how to make Russia a "great power" with an innovative economy with no corruption and a large middle class.It was unclear whether they were humming the Soviet national anthem or the reworked Russian version-with the same music-when they stood up later to open the conference."I would like to say that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, one of the founders of the party, has always been beside United Russia and the party has always supported Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin," United Russia chief Boris Gryzlov told delegates.Gryzlov, a former Interior Minister who often looks uneasy in public, asked them to support the creation of a new post of party chairman to offer to Putin.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
