Putin had planned to make this union the cornerstone of his foreign policy after he became prime minister once again, said Fyodar Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs. Until the protests against the recent parliamnetary elections in Russia, Putin had reason to be optimistic. Russia had seen relative economic and political stability the past few years, making it an attractive partner to a bankrupt Belarus and an already economically close Kazakhstan. Indian officials say that if a Eurasian Union comes through, Indian goods and services would be able to use their near-completed free trade agreement with Russia to access all these countries as well. For Putin, it's a matter of time By Eric Morse, Ottawa CitizenDecember 19, 2011 2:08 AM Vladimir Putin's days are numbered, but probably not to the extent that his opponents would like. Judging by his recent public performances, if the anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow continue to be treated as tolerantly as those of the past week have been, they are still not going to overthrow any regime. And warning signs have been given that there are limits; local media coverage was heavily censored and influential editors were summarily fired. A cynic might be waiting for the mass arrests to start, but Putin is probably more subtle than that - for now. Putin will probably win his March presidential election with a "managed majority." He will then have - nominally - up to 12 more years in power. The "revolving-door tsardom" looks like a guarantee of regime stability. In reality, it is anything but. Putin is in a weak position in the long run, because he has no real institutional legitimacy. To survive into succeeding generations, even an authoritarian regime needs institutional legitimacy of some sort. Although it lasted only 70 years in the end, the Soviet regime had this, mainly conferred by the Communist Party's much-distorted but very real leadership in the Second World War. Toward the end, no matter how grungy day-to-day existence got, or how sour the jokes were in the street ("Did you hear Ivan changed jobs? He used to steal in the tailor shop
Putin had planned to make this union the cornerstone of his foreign policy after he became prime minister once again, said Fyodar Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs. Until the protests against the recent parliamnetary elections in Russia, Putin had reason to be optimistic. Russia had seen relative economic and political stability the past few years, making it an attractive partner to a bankrupt Belarus and an already economically close Kazakhstan. Indian officials say that if a Eurasian Union comes through, Indian goods and services would be able to use their near-completed free trade agreement with Russia to access all these countries as well. For Putin, it's a matter of time By Eric Morse, Ottawa CitizenDecember 19, 2011 2:08 AM Vladimir Putin's days are numbered, but probably not to the extent that his opponents would like. Judging by his recent public performances, if the anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow continue to be treated as tolerantly as those of the past week have been, they are still not going to overthrow any regime. And warning signs have been given that there are limits; local media coverage was heavily censored and influential editors were summarily fired. A cynic might be waiting for the mass arrests to start, but Putin is probably more subtle than that - for now. Putin will probably win his March presidential election with a "managed majority." He will then have - nominally - up to 12 more years in power. The "revolving-door tsardom" looks like a guarantee of regime stability. In reality, it is anything but. Putin is in a weak position in the long run, because he has no real institutional legitimacy. To survive into succeeding generations, even an authoritarian regime needs institutional legitimacy of some sort. Although it lasted only 70 years in the end, the Soviet regime had this, mainly conferred by the Communist Party's much-distorted but very real leadership in the Second World War. Toward the end, no matter how grungy day-to-day existence got, or how sour the jokes were in the street ("Did you hear Ivan changed jobs? He used to steal in the tailor shop