Putin is looking at re-election with a lot better numbers than Georgie

And if I could understand what was going on there, I'd tell you.

Putin has "dismissed the government" and appointed a new Prime Minister. Here. The view from China. You figure it out for yourself. I got you past the Georgian Rose Revolution and the jailing of Khodorkovsky. There's a picture in that article of the interim P.M. doing a Shiva impersonation. Maybe he'll be good for some theater.

By the news that I'm seeing, and lord knows that could be quite slanted, it would appear that Vlad has a great approval rating and is expected to be re-elected handily. Reuters takes the approach that he's just getting an early jump on installing a new government, devoid of Yeltsin connections, although I would have thought he might have already done that. The report indicates also that there is some talk about the interim P.M. being a candidate for the full time job. But, since he came from the Yeltsin cabinet, that doesn't fit with the former premise.

I don't know. It's too many for me. But I think we'll be dealing hot and heavy with Mr. Putin in the coming years.

...do what you want....I'm going to bed.