Unlike US politics this year where the nominees in both parties are taking far longer to determine than usual, in Russia today, in a surprise to nobody. Medvedev (pronounced Med-ved-yev) won the Russian presidential election. He is the chosen successor to the wildly popular Putin. Most people in Russia know very little about him other than that Putin said to vote for him and they trust Putin so they did. As a Russian Studies major I feel obliged to at least mark the event with a post. What remains to be seen is if this is a temporary post for one term of office before a return of Putin to power (which wouldn't violate their constitution) or whether Medvedev will be his own man with his own policies. Medvedev is a lawyer with a background in the legal rather than spy fields unlike Putin with his KGB background. I can only hope that this will result in more of a strict interpretation of Russian laws and less consolidation of power within the Presidential office and clamping down on individual freedoms. I really respect what Putin has done for his country, guiding them from a time of economic troubles to a much more stable and prominent place in the international community. I hope that his goals will be furthered under Medvedev, but with a focus on more enabling of people and companies to determine their best courses of action with less state interference, censorship, etc. towards that better future. Another interesting point is that 2/3rds of eligible voters participated in what was essentially a rubber stamp election. If we had that kind of turn-out in the US it would be phenomenal. It shows that Russian's really care about the direction of their country, even if they don't care if they know that much about the person selected by Putin to take them there.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/02/russia.election/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
