No doubt -- Putin still in charge

David Hagberg, a leading expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union, says there's little doubt that Vladimir Putin will still be running Russia despite stepping down as president.On the day Dmitry Medvedev became Russia's new president, Russian lawmakers overwhelmingly confirmed Vladimir Putin as prime minister, the number-two political post in the country. Putin essentially handpicked Medvedev, 42, to succeed him when he stepped down on May 7 after serving two four-year terms as president. David Hagberg, a former Air Force cryptographer who has spent the last 30 years studying America's enemies and their militaries-especially the Soviet Union-believes Putin is no number-two man. "He's de facto running the show," says Hagberg, adding that like several Soviet rulers before him, Putin wants centralized control of the government. "Right now people in Russia love him-because he's got the trains running on time, he's got food in the grocery stores and all that," says the expert on Russia."But centralized control is going to change all that. And slowly but surely, the food will run out and the inefficiencies will creep in and they'll reopen the gulags-and it will be business as usual."Hagberg alleges that Putin "pulled in all his old buddies" from his previous administration-"a lot of KGB guys"-upon being appointed prime minister. Sooner or later, Hagberg believes the Russian people will begin paying the price with their money, their happiness, and their lives. He thinks there could be another bloody Russian revolution eventually.
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As in the days of Noah....