As we touched upon �Mr. Putin� on the Rasputin thread Anna wonder what you think of the latest news about him, that despite the Russian election being �rigged� he still lost face and votes.

Fell about laughing at them using erasable ink and locking an election observer in the toilet���..talk about corrupt.

Good article here, that is also very funny in places, because honestly you couldn�t make it up.

Putin suffers a poll setback amid claims of electoral fraud

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Sounds like they may need to have another election.

As for the antics.....funny!

Just the other day, I caught an interview with a retired Russian doctor. She collects a paltry sum for a pension, and needs to scrape by just to live. The impression she gave was that communism had its perks in certain respects: at least if you called for an ambulance, you were picked up and transported to a hospital and everyone was entitled to a state sponsored vacation.

Nowadays, she claims that one is asked how old you are when you call for the ambulance, and if over a certain age (she was over 70), they laugh and hang up on you.

This poor woman was told, "Poshla, Babushka" meaning... "Get going."

And, of course, you and I know who truly is the puppeteer, and who pulls the strings, both in public and in private. The BIG P.

Hi Francine,

What validity your statements have -- there is much suffering that persists.

As for the BIG P - the demonstrations continue.

The billoinaire Mikhail Prokhorov even speaks of the elections and the future in his blog. Here is my translation:

"It's clear that on the whole the legitimacy of the authorities/those in power is on the decline. If nothing changes, then the design will disintegrate on its own. The system will not last another five years. And this means that there is a wide open field for new political thought, for new faces and new ideas. They must appear in the power of the party through the development of new parties, movements, independent centers of political and economic expertise."

Mikhail is an interesting man, a tycoon, an elusive bachelor and there is a special on him on CNBC tonight @ 9 pm EST.

I've also written about Prokhorov who was once asked: �what gift of nature he would like to have?�

His answer was to understand women. Obviously, a very wise man to boot.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art58335.asp

Hi Francine,

Thanks for the post! It will be interesting to follow the post-election developments!

I watched the CNBC special -- 60 minutes -- last evening about Mikhail Prokhorov and it was an updated special from a previous one a few months ago. He is well spoken if not brief in his responses and speaks both English and Russian well.

This is a wonderful trait that I especially admire in Europeans: their fluency in multiple languages. (I'd love to have heard the interviewer conduct the interview in Russian!)

This metals tycoon made a lot of $$ by selling ownership in a company he co owned prior to the market's decline. He's educated and we see the results of some luck, some work and ingenuity and friends in high places.

The incident with the models in the Alpine resort of Courchevel was discussed too and apparently it was some sort of "misunderstanding."

Trustworthiness? Your guess is as good as mine.

I don't really catch much news on Prokhorov here, so you are much closer to the action than I. BBC is the best chance I have of getting a taste of what's going on or the net.

In the end, I suppose that the same old story repeats itself throughout the ages: the haves and the have nots. The mob exists in varying degrees in many countries, no?

Who knows, the Mayan prophecies may come to pass and there could be a change in consciousness, an awakening worldwide that will restore equilibrium in this crazy world we live in.

An update:

It appears that Mikhail Prokhorov announced December 12th that he would be running against Putin in the presidential election on March. They say that he doesn't have a chance, but who knows what will happen in this continuing saga.

On December 12th, Prokhorov's states in his blog: "This is the most serious decision of my life. I am running in the presidential elections. Thank you to everyone who has supported me."

Interesting.....

Hi Anna,

Mikhail Prokhorhov, the majority owner of the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets (soon to be the Brooklyn Nets) potentially the President of Russia. Muy Interesante!

Perfect!!!

Oh I wish this was a commercial for the upcoming elections!

With so many countries and people in the cross-roads of uncertainty, it's a bit like...

Well, it's a bit like drowning in the Ocean, scrambling in desperation and GRABBING the first 'doughnut ring' thrown to them.

As things are, health-wise/care, ambulance, etc...

I don't have health insurance. well, guess what?

If I dialed 911? An ambulance would be dispatched to my whereabouts. I would be taken to the hospital and made to wait, just like EVERYONE else (who does have healthcare) until they get to me.

I know this as once upon a time I did have healthcare and I had something that ruptured on the inside and was bleeding internally.

Waited for hours! I was conscious though, in and out and a strong personality. The staff was laughing and going back and forth in the operation room and I had it within myself to say,

"YOU KNOW WHAT? NONE OF YOU ARE MAKING THIS ANY EASIER! WHERE'S THE DOCTOR?"

Their response?

"We don't even know if what you're experiencing is drug withdrawal! And we have limited doctors on staff tonight."

So I asked for a blood test to move things along and 2 more hours later a doctor arrived.

Whatever ELECTIONS drive for, across our lands, there's a much, much bigger organization going on.

Believe it or not, but where single communistic, democratic civilizations have failed...they're trying to find a way to herd everyone into a world order that isn't going to be much different.

You may get excited along the way, and even ticked off with whatever your current situation is, but there's a reason dictatorships, communism and tyrancy fails.

In the end THE SOURCE, the individuals running the show are doing so in the name of control and greed.

They don't live like the common person and wouldn't want to. Your efforts are going to their ends of mean...living on top of the world (litterally)!

The answer, recognizing your common neighbor as the human being they are and not the enemy heads of state would like for you to believe. Power in numbers

Hi Anna, Here is the latest update from this side of the pond, it is a short but to the point article.

There is a strong feeling that Mikhail Prokhorov is not quite what he says he is, and that he could be part of a conspiracy to draw away focus from the protests and protesters.

It is a bit like a European fairy tale where 'the plot thickens' before everything is solved..........one way or the other, after all fairy tales from Europe do not always have 'happy' endings

Billionaire to stand against Putin � but whose side is he really on?