In 2024, I’ll be middle aged, turning 40. Maybe filthy rich, much more probably struggling to feed the kids. Or without any kids. Or maybe even dead – who knows? The polar ice caps might be gone and the US broken up into individual chunks run by China and Norway. Maybe not. But one thing is for sure: Vladimir Putin will be President.
Reviving the old Soviet joke about the past ever changing but the future being certain, the ruling United Russia party has “nominated” current Prime Minister Putin as its candidate to “compete” in the 2012 elections, ending months of anxiety about how the Tandem will resolve itself. Current PM Medvedev was nominated as the Party’s candidate for Prime Minister.
Sample chatter on Russia’s internet:
kak2c: “I think the country could do with a stronger hand”
andrei_r: “what for?”
bigtow: “To root out corruption”
savchenkoff: “what, are they going to uproot themselves? With their own iron hands?”
While Putin had been away from the throne, the constitution was changed to increase the presidential terms from 4 to 6 year ones, all but guaranteeing him a quarter century of ultimate power (Putin will turn 70 in 2024). It will mean that Putin will have ruled Russia for nearly twice as long as Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet General Secretary famous for his senility and presiding over the era of stagnation.
In fact, if he manages to stick it out for another five years after that, he will not only beat Stalin’s record, but can finally fulfil author Vladimir Sorokin’s vision of Russia in 2029 as a properly tsarist, neo-Ivan-the-Terrible style petrostate!
His (joke?) remarks at the United Russia congress set the scene for what we can expect:
When it came time for delegates to approve the motion to put forward Medvedev to be the Prime Ministerial candidate, 582 to 1 voted in favour. “Who’s that dissident?” demanded Putin, who was reading out the results.
