A Czar Is Born: Make Way For Dmitry
In less than a week, 42 year-old Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s hand-picked successor will be inaugurated as Russia’s new president to deal with a whole host of troublesome issues: what to do about the country’s declining population (already causing an acute labor shortage); how to mend a failing education system; dealing with the recent wave of hate crimes (57 have been killed in Russia, and another 116 injured by skinheads in 2008); having to decide whether to make the branches of government more independent (don’t laugh, he’s thinking about it); and the mighty task of launching a pipeline project, which will link Russia to Europe.
A very tall order, indeed, for the five-foot-four president-elect.
Since it’s a little early in the day to ponder such weighty issues that have been placed on the youthful bureaucrat's plate, Pravda has provided readers with everything you wanted to know about Medvedev but were afraid to ask primer.
Here are a few highlights
1.) He doesn’t land in the sack until the wee hours of morning, around 2:00 a.m.
2.) Swears off the spirits (ok, a little red wine now and again), but much prefers an ``Al Gore'' highball over a ``Molotov cocktail', which is to say, he like his green tea.
3.) He’s a homebody: prefers to vacation in his motherland, he doesn’t even like to venture out to a movie theater, favoring instead to stay at home and watch European dramas and American comedies.
4.) He enjoys his share of classical and jazz music, takes a strong liking to the Heavy Metal bands: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin; and shows no passion with the music of American pop tarts: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, or Mariah Carey.
5.) He doesn’t like to drive. In fact, Pravda reports he hasn’t been behind a wheel for a number of years. And who’s to blame him? Russia has 10 times more traffic accidents per vehicle than Germany or Britain, according to a 2007 Reuters report, resulting in 36,000 deaths annually.
While Medvedev, a former St. Petersburg lawyer, and son of two university professors, sounds downright warm-and-fuzzy, compared with the stoic, steely-eyed Putin, who ruled with an iron fist--I’m still suspicious about Russia’s new benevolent dictator, even with his new and improved brand of ``controlled democracy’’.
Nowhere in this Pravda article does it mention he’s head-over-heels in love with Maria Sharapova, or is planning to dump his wife, Svetlana, for a young gymnast.
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
A very tall order, indeed, for the five-foot-four president-elect.
Since it’s a little early in the day to ponder such weighty issues that have been placed on the youthful bureaucrat's plate, Pravda has provided readers with everything you wanted to know about Medvedev but were afraid to ask primer.
Here are a few highlights
1.) He doesn’t land in the sack until the wee hours of morning, around 2:00 a.m.
2.) Swears off the spirits (ok, a little red wine now and again), but much prefers an ``Al Gore'' highball over a ``Molotov cocktail', which is to say, he like his green tea.
3.) He’s a homebody: prefers to vacation in his motherland, he doesn’t even like to venture out to a movie theater, favoring instead to stay at home and watch European dramas and American comedies.
4.) He enjoys his share of classical and jazz music, takes a strong liking to the Heavy Metal bands: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin; and shows no passion with the music of American pop tarts: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, or Mariah Carey.
5.) He doesn’t like to drive. In fact, Pravda reports he hasn’t been behind a wheel for a number of years. And who’s to blame him? Russia has 10 times more traffic accidents per vehicle than Germany or Britain, according to a 2007 Reuters report, resulting in 36,000 deaths annually.
While Medvedev, a former St. Petersburg lawyer, and son of two university professors, sounds downright warm-and-fuzzy, compared with the stoic, steely-eyed Putin, who ruled with an iron fist--I’m still suspicious about Russia’s new benevolent dictator, even with his new and improved brand of ``controlled democracy’’.
Nowhere in this Pravda article does it mention he’s head-over-heels in love with Maria Sharapova, or is planning to dump his wife, Svetlana, for a young gymnast.
-Bill Lucey
billlucey@bellsouth.net
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