Life After Vladimir Putin

Yet another set of rumors have entwined Russia: Friction between the Putin and Medvedev factions is corroding its amphisbaenic power structure. Indeed, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has become increasingly aggressive.

In a recent interview, Putin claimed Dmitry Medvedev was ``poriadochnyi" which could signify either ``decent" or ``subordinated to the hierarchy." In the low-brow Russian Pioneer, Putin adumbrated optimal methods to fire subordinates ― apparently pointing another barb toward Medvedev.

Meanwhile, President Medvedev has been charting a separate course: he granted interviews with opposition newspapers, released Svetlana Bakhmina (a former Yukos lawyer), castigated powerful police lieutenants and published the incomes of government bureaucrats.

All this has generated talk of a Khrushchev-style thaw, a premise now guiding the Obama administration's tactics.

But the legendarily sinuous path of Russian history has often spawned empty hopes for grand change. Memorably, the sudden implosion of the Soviet Union was framed as a panacea.

Nonetheless, the world soon faced a multitude of fresh threats. The downfall of the Putin regime might create analogous, if less spectacular, conundrums.

What would be the consequences of an oppositional victory over Putin? For President Obama, ``change" is made a popular slogan by flourishing bailouts and subsidies.