Eric Walberg: Putin and Russia's "White Revolution"

All the plotting to avoid Ukraine's Orange Revolution merely show that Russia is not Ukraine: Russia's electoral scene has been transformed in the past two months, without a doubt "inspired" by the political winds from the Middle East and the earlier color revolutions in Russia's "near abroad". Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's casual return to the presidential scene was greeted as an effrontery by an electorate who want to move on from Russia's political strongman tradition, and to inject the electoral process with ballot-box accountability. Putin's legendary role in rescuing Russia from the economic abyss in the 1990's, staring down the oligarchs, reasserting state control over Russian resource wealth, and repositioning Russia as an independent player in Eurasia, not to mention in America's backyard. These signal accomplishments assure him a place in history books. He and Dmitri Medvedev are considered the most popular leaders in the past century, according to a recent opinion poll. He will very likely pass the 50 per cent mark in presidential elections March 4, despite all the protests during the past two months calling for "Russia without Putin". So why is he back in the ring? It appears he was caught by surprise when the anti-Putin campaign exploded in November, fueled by his decision to run again, and the exposure of not a little fraud in the parliamentary elections in December. For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the opposition was able to unite and stage impressive rallies, one after another.