...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...says removing Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
from power would cause a civil war in the violence-hit country.
... as opposed to what they have now, which is... ummm... something else.
Putin said on Monday that Assad's ouster would be unconstitutional and "a civil war will stretch on for who knows how long."
The Russian president also urged the Syrian government and the opposition to sit down for talks that could help end the unrest.
"The Syrian leadership as well as the conflicting side, the so-called 'armed opposition,' ... should organize a negotiating process... to achieve a mutually acceptable compromise for the country's future," he said.