From his love of Deep Purple to his penchant for Savile Row suits, Medvedev's a bit of a Brit at heart.
And today, our Personable Putinist boldly followed his Cuddly Conservative soul-mate into the final frontier….the cyber-frontier!
History was made as President Medvedev became the first head of state to have a Video Blog, or Vlog.
OK, so if you were expecting Julia Allison, you might have been disappointed, but in many respects, it was a fine effort.
The brief clip, which appeared on Medvedev's official site, features an outline of some of the topics he hopes to address at an upcoming meeting in France.
Despite not being set in Medvedev's kitchen, and the protagonist's rather stiff demeanour, it does aim, like David Cameron's WebCameron, for a direct communication with the audience.
One gripe is that, as the Moscow Times's Francesca Mereu reports, as yet, the Vlog has not enabled comments.
Which is definitely nowhere as macho as David Cameron's vlog, which allowed people openly call him Dodgy Dave and crack jokes about his lack of policies.
Although, in light of what Medvedev's mentor has been known to do to defenceless animals, let alone offensive posters, that ban might have been designed for the commenters’ own protection.
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Well, that is one step into the 21st century.
What do you and your readers think about Putin's choice for US president? Ivan Krastev has a convincing perspective that the Kremlin wants McCain in this article:
http://www.motleymoose.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=342
“If The Kremlin Could Vote, It Would Vote For McCain “
While I appreciate the tongue in cheek nature of some of these blog posts I would love to see some serious post about some of the serious issues occurring in Russia these days. The economy of Russia is struggling; the Russians are making overtures to the Cubans and the Venezuelans. The Ukrainian government just dissolved and is likely to shift towards a more pro Russian stance. Germany has made its voice heard in NATO and will more likely then not refuse to push forward on NATO membership for both the Ukraine and Georgia (which may or may not be a good thing). The Russians are attempting to project power with there navy by sending of their most powerful Nuclear Powered Destroyer (which I believe is called Peter the Great) on a tour of the Mediterranean and South America. Putin continues to consolidate the banking industry and economy as a whole in fewer and fewer hands. Russia is becoming a lender of last resort for at least one EU member (Iceland) as the EU proves yet again that it is little more then a useless bureaucratic mess.
These are all events and issues currently unfolding, I would love to see some more serious discussion.
Very funny.
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