Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he has accepted a proposal to stand for president in March 2012. Addressing the ruling United Russia party’s annual congress, Mr. Putin and current President Dmitry Medvedev backed one another to switch roles.
That is the official news. It is not reported that there is so much dissatisfaction with the Putin-Medvedev regime that there is talk of a Russian Spring. (Source: Word of Mouth)
The BBC reported yesterday: “News of the candidacy generated a wave of Russian-language traffic on Twitter, much of it enthusiastic, such as a tweet by @xurinlev that read, ‘The man who pulled Russia out of the crash is coming back!
“However, along with genuine messages of support, a #putin2012 hashtag appeared that raised suspicions of manipulation among bloggers.
“It was being promoted, in part, by tweeters who had registered on Twitter on the same date, June 27, 2011, some within seconds of each other, with account locations that spanned Russia.
“‘It’s very easy to tell real public opinion from fake,’ tweeted @samklebanov after noticing the pattern. ‘Compare searches for “Putin” in Twitter with searches for #putin2012.’”
The New York Times mentioned yesterday hat the governing United Russia Party has been gradually losing popularity, dropping nine points since January, according to the Public Opinion Foundation.
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
With the Tsar the outcome is tsertain.
Without him, would Russia be hurtin’?
Should they put up with Putin
Or face oligarch’s lootin’?
The choices with which they are flirtin’.
Since I know no word that rhymes with Schatzky I will reluctantly refrain from responding.
In yesterday’s The Simpsons, a very brief vignette in the streets of Kiev showed a coffeeshop, Tsarbucks.
Somewhere on the internet are pictures of Putin’s new palace circulating. I guess they are paying politicians better in Russia than in Canada.