...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...said Thursday the Middle East was at risk of descending into "chaos" following a deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Libya and incidents in Egypt and Yemen.
"We are afraid that the region may descend into chaos, which is essentially what is happening already," he said in comments broadcast on state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
from his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Putin condemned Tuesday's attack in Libya that killed the ambassador and three other U.S. citizens as not only a crime but one that also broke conventions on the safety of diplomats working in dangerous conditions.
The culprits "not only put themselves outside the bounds of law, but outside the frameworks of contemporary civilization," said Putin.
... thereby dangling a lot more testicle than Mr. O'Bean...
He also urged the new governments that rose to power in the Arab Spring uprisings to accept greater responsibility for security.
"I would like to point out to the leaders of the new governments, the heads of states where serious changes took place -- they must also not forget about their responsibility for what is happening on their territories," he said.