We all know that Russia has been f**king up in the last few months. This ridiculous business with Georgia during the Olympics (pretty convenient timing if you ask me), the angry comments made towards the NATO countries while discussing the cease fire and paranoia about anti-missile defenses in ex-soviet States has the whole country giving off a ‘mad scientist/GI JOE villain’ vibe.

All of that aside, there is one thing that cannot be denied. Russian Prime Minister Vladdy Putin is one bad mother. He likes to fly in fighter jets, he’s a judo black belt, loves to fish shirtless and now he’s into hunting Siberian Tigers. What’s that, you say? Those are endangered? No worries, Vlad is only hunting them to aid in the tranq/tag/release effort to protect these animals. He has, apparently, found the perfect way to attract women. Manly sensitivity. (more…)

Russians will go to the polls on Saturday, March 2, to elect a new president. Unlike our suspenseful US elections, in Russia it is all but a foregone conclusion that Dmitry Medvedev will be the winner.

Why such a farce? While hardly anybody claims to “get” the Russian political system, it’s generally agreed that Putin’s power over the Russian public stems from the state’s chaotic transition during the 1990s.

Russia emerged from the ruins of the USSR on January 1, 1992 led by reformist Boris Yeltsin. Economically speaking, it was an entirely new country.

The Russian nouveau riche established their positions through purchasing the most lavish of cars, furs, and mansions. The most flamboyant were members of an elite group of young, big-spending billionaires known as the “Oligarchs”. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, names that conjure up images of kitschy 1970’s spy flicks, dominated Russian business interests. (more…)