http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/4411195/Thousands-of-Russians-march-in-protest-over-Vladimir-Putin-and-the-economy.html
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Thousands of Russians have marched in protests demanding the resignation of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, for his handling of the country's flailing economy.

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The head of the National Bolshevik Party, Eduard Limonov, is arrested by police in Moscow Photo: AFP/Getty

The biggest display of public disaffection with Russia's normally popular prime minister prompted a violent response in Moscow, the capital.

Pro Kremlin youths brutally beat some protestors, while others were detained, including Eduard Limonov, a prominent Kremlin critic and leader of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party.

But the largest turnout was in Vladivostok, the focal point of anti-government protests over the past six weeks.

A protest march led by Communist party officials and civil rights leaders was allowed to go ahead at the last minute in an apparent change of heart by the Kremlin. A rally last month was violently dispersed by riot police, and over 200 people were detained.

The march was sanctioned on the condition that demonstrators kept off the road, carried no banners and chanted no slogans.

The marchers blithely ignored the restrictions. Marching down the city's main street, they chanted "Putin resign!". Some banners compared even compared the prime minister to Hitler.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/4414018/Vladimir-Putin-faces-signs-of-mutiny-in-own-government-as-protests-break-out-in-east.html

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, faces signs of an unprecedented mutiny within his own government that threatens to undermine his once unassailable authority, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

By Adrian Blomfield in Vladivostok
Last Updated: 8:07PM GMT 31 Jan 2009

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A member of the National Bolshevik Party is arrested by police earlier today during an opposition rally in the center of Moscow Photo: AFP/GETTY

Vladimir Putin faces signs of mutiny in own government as protests break out in east
Mr Putin is facing the germs of an unexpected power struggle which could hamper his ambition to project Russian might abroad Photo: AGFP/GETTY

Subordinates have begun openly to defy Mr Putin, a man whose diktat has inspired fear and awe in the echelons of power for nine years, according to government sources. Meanwhile a rift is emerging between Mr Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, the figurehead whom he groomed as his supposedly pliant successor.

As Russia's economy begins to implode after years of energy-driven growth, Mr Putin is facing the germs of an unexpected power struggle which could hamper his ambition to project Russian might abroad.

Mounting job losses and a collapse in the price of commodities have triggered social unrest on a scale not seen for at least four years, prompting panic among Kremlin officials more accustomed to the political apathy of the Russian people.

The unease was deepened yesterday after thousands of protestors marched through the Pacific port city of Vladivostok and other cities, including Moscow, demanding Mr Putin's resignation for his handling of the flailing Russian economy.

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A nation with a dying population and a dying way of life,
propped up on a fantasy and an oil price
like a 19th century power in WW1 - ill prepared for
the reality of its own weaponry in real warfare.

Every generation needs a world war to test its metal...
testes.. testes..

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/weekinreview/01levy.html?hp

February 1, 2009

MOSCOW — Over the last eight years, as Vladimir V. Putin has amassed ever more power, Russians have often responded with a collective shrug, as if to say: Go ahead, control everything — as long as we can have our new cars and amply stocked supermarkets, our sturdy ruble and cheap vacations in the Turkish sun.

But now the worldwide financial crisis is abruptly ending an oil-driven economic boom here, and the unspoken contract between Mr. Putin and his people is being thrown into doubt. In newspaper articles, among political analysts, even in corners of the Kremlin, questions can be heard. Will Russians admire Mr. Putin as much when oil is at $40 a barrel as they did when it was at $140 a barrel? And if Russia’s economy seriously falters, will his system of hard, personal power prove to be a trap for him? Can it relieve public anger, and can he escape the blame?

“We talk about a lack of democracy in Russia, but I like my own formula for the country, which is authoritarianism with the consent of the governed,” said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “And it can be taken away.”

“The present rulers know that they will not be toppled by Kasparov,” Mr. Trenin said, referring to Garry K. Kasparov, the former chess champion whose political challenges to Mr. Putin can seem quixotic. “But if the working people of Russia decide that they have had enough, that will be the end of it. It happened to Gorbachev, and it almost happened to Yeltsin.”

Few are predicting Mr. Putin’s downfall any time soon, especially considering how methodically he has undermined the opposition. Many Russians believe he rescued them from the misery of the 1990s, and the polls say his popularity remains very high.

But those polls also show his popularity slipping a bit, amid far darker indicators. The unemployment rate is soaring, banks are failing and the ruble has dropped so fast in value that Russians are again hiding their money in dollars in their apartments. Sporadic protests have broken out as some factories close or cut production.

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Trouble brewinf with all the satellites, Lithuania especially, nipping at Putin's ankles.

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