Tuesday, March 25, 2008

More on the power of two

Свежий номер
[image source]

The cover of the latest issue of the New Times calls the current (and perhaps future?) period "Междуцарствие" - which I might translate as something like "interkingdom" or "interregency," although that doesn't really capture it which means "interregnum" - and, rephrasing Snoop's classic query, has several articles on the general theme of the subhead on the cover: "Whose chair is tougher."

And in an intriguing development which suggests that finely honed Russia-watcher skills might soon become transferable to US politics, a recent article in e-magazine Slate discusses how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "could run together and take turns being president" for the next 16 years by "creatively using the constitutional rules created by" the little-known 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.

6 comments:

Emil Perhinschi said...

The translation could be either "interregnum" or "poliarchy": a politely malicious pun.

Scraps of Moscow said...

Well, you're right, of course, it's actually a real word (I didn't even think to look it up until your comment), and I just assumed it was some sort of play on words. I was trying to get at the pun on "interregnum" with my invented "interregency." Thanks for the comment.

മരമാക്രി said...

ഇത്രേം വന്നതല്ലേ, ഇതും കൂടി കണ്ടേച്ചു പോ

Jesse said...

I feel like this whole discussion is premised on a contradiction - that a system - both constitutionally and historically - predicated on the personification of power will somehow continue with two individuals filling or competing for the role of one.

I think the only scenarios are:
1. Medvedev as puppet or caretaker
2. Putin actually relinquishing power, and just sticking around for the first term to make sure nothing hits the fan
or
3. An adaptation in the Russian system, where power and responsibilities will be divided b/t the president and PM.

I don't think that even 'Putvedev' knows which scenario will play out yet. Still, the inquiry of whose chair is tougher is false - we already know the President's chair is the toughest in Russia.

Anonymous said...

Extremely nice..
It's really street art photography..

a regard from Pekanbaru City - Indonesia

Scraps of Moscow said...

Jesse, I agree with you completely. All of this is just idle speculation and wordplay while we wait for whatever is going to happen to happen.

By the way, a family member and sometime reader of this blog has suggested another moniker for the current Russian political system: hypocracy.