MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin could return to the presidency next year, a Russian newspaper reported on Thursday citing a source close to the Kremlin, but Putin's spokesman said the report was untrue.
Now, a Structural Reallist will examine the Russian rule set and tell you that Medvedev is the President of Russia, but complexities exists. A cheerful Liberal Utopian, like me, will tell you that is bunk: Putin is Soveriegn in Russia, the rest is window dressing.
One outcome of our peaceful transfer of power is that our Foriegn Policy will switch from largely Liberal Utopian to Structural Realist. The problem I see is that Structural Realists are at heart managers and not change leaders. They need machinary to oil and the Liberal Utopian thrust of our policy, good or bad, has largely destroyed that machinary. The world is still in macrodecision, has been for ahile, and these things take decades to reach a new agreed framework.
The Structural Realists have been harping for the last 8 years and now the American people are giving them a chance. And the world is going to give them challenges.
Optimum outcome, from my perspective, is that the Structural Realist gets pushed in the Liberal Utopian direction, in much the same way Liberal Utopians have approached the S/R viepoint (not merge, but rather pick up the good and dispense with the bad). Have fun:
Seriously, though, macrodecision has not been reached: I think President Elect Obama's Administration will be wholly foriegn policy focused. Don't sweat the domestic stuff.
UPDATE: Made minor grammar corrections.