The bear switches heads

According to the New York Times, "Dmitri A. Medvedev, the Kremlin insider and unprepossessing lawyer who had never held elected office before, was sworn in as Russia’s president on Wednesday inside the Grand Kremlin Palace. The ceremony, mixing czarist splendor with signs of renewed Russian confidence, marked the passing of formal power from departing President Vladimir V. Putin to his young and untested protégé." "In a departure from past inaugurations, the outgoing leader addressed the audience of more than 2,000 guests before the new president took his oath of office, saying that he had lived up to his promise, made eight years ago, to serve the country and its citizens faithfully. His remarks appeared to presage the continued presence of Mr. Putin’s hand on the levers of Russian power." "The Kremlin plans to crown the occasion of the swearing in of the new president on Friday with a triumphant military parade in Red Square of a sort not seen since the cold war years, complete with flyovers of strategic bombers and rumbling columns of tanks." "By many measures, and despite some spectacular setbacks and missteps, Mr. Putin’s years of rule were accompanied by a variety of accomplishments, all unforeseen when he stepped from spymaster obscurity eight years ago. Personal incomes for many Russians rose sharply, Russian troops and their proxies defeated and marginalized the bulk of separatist forces in Chechnya, and the Kremlin paid down foreign debts ahead of schedule. The value of the Russian stock market skyrocketed. The country’s main cities entered construction booms, and urban shops filled with goods. Consumer lifestyles and foreign vacations became available to a large segment of the population for the first time."

Rico says he longs for the old days, when all you had to do was look at who was standing closest to the middle of Lenin's tomb on May Day...