Richard, sorry to burst your bubble but if Proki runs, its only going to be in order to project an image that Russian elections are free and fair.. which they most certainly aren't.

Proki is friends with the current leadership in Russia, as every billionaire better be unless they want to spend years in jail or in exile abroad, so if he runs, it will only be to play the role of runner up and tally the 2nd most votes in order to give a false sense of fairness.

What's the deal with Russia having both a President and a Prime Minister? Are they both elected positions? Which position has authority over the other?

This depends on who is the President and who is the Prime Minister. If Putin is in either of these positions, he is the boss. Putin is an ex-KGB officer and knows how to rule, with absolute power through the use of deadly force.

...or he might disappear like that oil tycoon that ran again Putin before

Death wish....

Putin has lasted in Russian politics because he is a known thug, he is former KGB - likely has a dossier on anyone of importance not to mention the allegiance of Police, military and all the other "Privileged worker classes" who would never be able to maintain a real job in a true market economy.

During his 1st election, he seemed to be actually trying to do the right thing. somewhere after Oil was discovered in Siberia, he realized the state was getting very little of the money - they had sold the leases way too cheap. He basically railroaded the men who held the leases and jailed those that didn't want to give him a piece of the action. There is at least one oligarch who is still locked away ... will likely never see sunlight again, if he signs his company over to Putin, he's as good as dead and if he doesn't he'll stay locked up until he dies.

The point is, - as soon as this guy sets foot in Russia, he'll be dead whether he runs for office, wins the office or has money ... he'll never set foot in the office as long as Putin sees him as a threat. Predators are not intimidated by laws, appearances or fairness. All that is important to Putin, is he is the "Boss" and has every intention of remaining so.

If he ever loses power, he knows his protection is gone. He is riding the Tiger, as long as he is on top he is safe, but he if he tries to get off - he's as good as dead.

I will look to see the final outcome of the election protest, which I think will show no problem with the election. Put your money on Putin, he is more heavily armed.

What a horrible outlook on life Dan. Of course no billionaires are smart and hardworking with a dash of luck...

Possibly, but even if not... it is likely Putin will ensure that the guy gets put under a ton of dirt one way or the other.

there are no honest billionaires in Russia... you can't go from a communists country to one with the most billionaires in less than 20 years...no matter how 'hard' you work...

Yup Dan, as said in the Godfather, "Every Fortune has it's crime".

Don't worry, if Putin can't find any dirt on Prokhorov, they will make some up. Prokhorov will be in jail before the next election.

You don't make $18 billion in investments without murdering a few people along the way. "Hard work" my a$$.

tkapo, I am sure he took that eighteen billion from Russian street sweepers. Everyone knows that is the ONLY way to be a billionaire. Where do the poor people hide all that money?

When communism fell apart connected comunist party members where given monopolys for almost nothing. Communism is a form of slavery where the slaves are told they are getting a good deal. So yes by being handed a monopoly he did steal from all the street sweepers who if communism was not slavery should have gotten a share of the wealth.

steve, someone who has no money, can't, by common sense, have billions stolen from him. Are Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, etc , all murderers? Why do you hate successful people? My guess is that you are an Obama voter.

Dman, if he is legit, he may need to get a full-face helmet, besides the Kevlar vest. Russian justice is usually a bullet in the brain! Owning an American business would make him an undesirable. He may also need a food taster--like Stalin had. And he better stay away from tea--I think that's how Litvinenko was 'dispatched.' He learned that fatal lesson the hard way, having died from radioactive poisoning in a London hospital. Putin may get him on tax evasion & throw him in some hacksaw hotel--the way he did Mikhail Khordovsky, one of their oligarchs, who was arrested as soon as he returned from the USA and who, I have read, was very philanthropic, which most of them are NOT--and who is still rotting in jail. The only advantage I can see (although he DOES present a bigger target) is that Mr. Prokhorov is 6 feet 8 inches tall. He could very easily grab Putin--who is, what? maybe 5'4" tall-- and screw him into the ground.

He may also be smoke, mirrors & window dressing, as was intimated by another here. He would make Putin's minions' stuffing the ballot boxes still look legitimate if the revote was "close."

Dr. Jacobs, while I agree with your assessment that Prokhorov would be a great choice, now that he has announced his intentions to go head to head with Putin, I fear that we will be counting the days until this young, intelligent man either dies suddenly or just disappears (tragically) from the face of the earth. I wonder that he doesn't appear to be concerned when more than one man before him has suffered from just one of those things. As much as I would love to see the change in Russian leadership, I fear that he has just sealed his own death sentence.

How do we really know that?

Not sure if he is an Orthodox Christian or not. What is known is that his maternal grandmother is Jewish. That makes his mother a Jewess. That makes him a Jew from Jewish point of view. No Jew can win Russian presidency. I'm not being Anti-Semitic. I'm just stating the facts. No Jew has a fighting chance of winning Russian presidency. Chances are Putin will win. Absolute majority supports him. Sure there are demonstrations of protest. There are some liberal fools in Russia who still believe in democracy. Putin and most Russians realize that Western style liberal "democracy" means making Russia a slave of International banksters. It means a bunch of ethnically non-Russian oligarchs taking over Russia's resources (just like it happened in the 90's), paying almost no taxes and funneling the profits to their Swiss accounts instead of investing in Russian economy. Russians still remember their old people begging on streets while the rich one percent enjoyed their champagne and caviar and flied their model whores to their private resorts in Switzerland (with money from industries stolen from Russian people). We don't need such "liberal democracy". U.S. has no right to criticize Russia on this subject. How is "democracy" working out in Iraq and Afghanistan? Stop pushing your way of life on the rest of the world.

All of the olligarchs that recieved monopoly's and russia's treasures when communism broke up where jewish, just like the russian mafia.

stevaaae - you are just another Anti-Semite idiot.

Excellent observation. Russia has vast natural resources that are desired by other nations, and resists western influences in Central Asia, these are motive enough to seek Putin's removal by extra-national interests who fund various ngo'. Remember what was tried in the Ukraine and Georgia, the influx of outside money to buy an election.

U.S. is a slave of international banksters and does what the masters order her to do. Putin however stands for independent Russia and does not allow the banskters to take Russia over. Thus, banksters don't like Putin. Therefore U.S. does everything in her power to remove Putin.

msnbc

I think most dangerous thing we have is ability to produce effective and capable leaders. All of a suddently we are flooded with sub par leaders with their subpar solutions. The vision, Courage, clarity, moral authority and ability to exite American people is just not there. Our people have succumbed to entitlement psychology that is more akin to communist populationm than capitalist.

Not only men have gone soft, the coutnry have gone soft. Even with more arms that are greater than all the world other coutnries combined and more expenditure, we cannot win war in a coutnry where they do nto have planes or big guns or intelligence capability like ours.

that is worrying thing.

TO BO,

actually anyone with a brain wants to defund those groups.

FDA--has become a huge bureacracy that makes it so many decent drugs never come to market because of costs. The FDA makes it that a drug company must not only prove safety, but efficacy too. Proving a drug is safe is admirable, but proving EFFICACY costs a fortune and takes years to prove. Why can't my doctor decide if the drug is effecitve? And here's an example of a travesty...a drug company comes up with a drug that is effective against cancer. in the clinical study to prove efficacy using a double blind study, many people who would benefit from this life saving drug are given a placebo to prove its effectiveness. Guess what happens to them? You guessed it. They DIE. Doctors should decide what works.

EPA--has grown completely out of control. They have absolute power, and we all know what happens with absolute power. They should be scaled back 90%.

OSHA--same as the EPA. and as far as minimum wage laws go, they are job killers. Inner city youth unemployment is around 50%. What's better...a job paying 4 bucks an hour or no job? Many businesses would hire more people if it didn't cost them so much. People need experience and they can work up the ladder. Did you hear about what happened at American Samoa? Most of their people worked for CHicken of the Sea. when the government came in and raised the minimum wage, the company packed up and left. NOw, instead of making a decent living, they now have nothing. On top of that, when the ships would come in to pick up the tuna cans, the ships would bring many other goods to sell. Now that that ship doesn't come anymore, the price of everything has skyrocketed. Government should stay OUT of the free market. If the government would follow the darn CONSTITUTION, we wouldn't be having all these problems. In a free market, there are plenty of jobs for everyone. RON PAUL is our only hope.

the epa is a lead foot on america and the economy and with carol browner in charge it has become onerus. they waste billions of dollars every year and do nothing more! not just republicans but most of america woud agree to not shut it down but rein in its powers. also this just passed un deal will not only suck more money out of the rest of the world it will actually do little to solve anything but redistribute the wealth to dictators and rebels nothing more. it would then sign us to agree to a world court to make sure everyone does what they say. another boondoggle. i am sure your guy and this women browner just love it! obam has already used taxpayer money to buy memorial pens for the occasion of signing it! he must go next year and take browner and holder with him!

Wow Dave, you hit it right on the head:

FDA: No doctors work there? You obviously nothing about the medical advisory boards that provide the opinions that the FDA bases most of their decisions on. I say most, because there was that Republican appointed FDA Director under President Bush who decided to impose religious beliefs to squash the doctor recommended approval of HPV vaccines that helps mitigate the risks of cervical cancer in young women. Oh and your doctor doesn't need any studies to tell him which drug works, because he automatically learned the molecular biology and chemical pathways of all drugs that have been and will ever be invented in the future. Hey why not prescribe Actomol with Prozac? I mean my doctor knows everything about how these work, they'd never cause coma and death if combined? My doctor obviously understands how the seratonergic effects of monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibition will amplify the potential of serotonin neurotoxicity when combined with a reuptake inhibitor. Right? I mean my doctor knows everything, no need for studies.

EPA: Why don't you talk to old mining communities who dealt with big businesses' sense of environmental ethics before the EPA was around? Hell sure is better to have double digit cancer rates due to pollutants than double digit unemployment (because it has all been caused by the EPA, the Employment Prevention Agency, not ridiculously high debt loads)

OSHA: Maybe it doesn't affect your paper-pushing job, but maybe blue-collar Americans do like to have someone making sure that appropriate safety standards are being met so that the large CNC machine they work on doesn't accidentally fire up when they're changing the bit and tear their hands to shreds. After all what's years of crippling disability compared to the supposed unemployment caused by ensuring job safety. Hell why don't we open it up and have our kids operate a milling lathe while we're at it, family needs more money, maybe grandma can pitch in and we can tie a broom to her walker and have her cleaning up scrap metal.

Gosh Dave, with all you're insight into how things work, I really think you should make all policy decisions. Government bad, business good, black and white just like that huh? Sounds like a well thought out approach to ensuring the well being of the American peple.

Ockysays--well said!! And with only a gentle dose of sarcasm, in my opinion. No one seems to remember all the horribly disabled children born in Europe years ago when (spelling, please?) thalidomide was prescribed for morning sickness there. That drug was not approved here, so our kids weren't born without hands, legs, eyes, spina bifida, or their stomachs outside their bodies. And maybe the next time there's an oil spill of the magnitude of the Valdez off the coast of Alaska and recently on the Gulf Coast we can just let all that ride. What the hell. Why should big business be responsible for screwing up our coasts & cleaning up the hell holes they created, right?? People don't remember much about Love Canal in Western New York. Hundred of barrels of poisons sprung leaks from what Durez/Hooker Chemical planted, and contaminated the soil and water there. Many homes are still uninhabitable, not to mention the extraordinary high incidences of cancer in the area. Nahh. We don't need the EPA. And why should the air quality in factories be improved for employees who work with carcinogenic products? Shoot. That's too expensive. Just let them all die. They can be replaced. So, we don't need OSHA either.

Dear Ocksays,

Actually everything I said was right. There are situations where these giant bureacracies do some positive things, but they would be done MUCH better by the private sector. If you give these groups such power, they will be corrupted with the power as fast as you give it to them.

Also, i never said that no doctors work at the fda. Are you putting words in my mouth? And didn't I say that they should do studies to check for safety? I could have sworn I wrote that. Oh right...i did. Obviously your little example, of which i'm sure you're so proud, is just an example of why they should check for safety. But what do you say to all those people who have died because of them getting placebos because the have to check for efficacy? Proving efficacy takes years, millions of dollars, and costs many lives. The Fda should only make a drup prove it's safe, and doctors can do the rest. How bout next time you use examples that are relevant, because clearly i had stated they should check for safety.

EPA--Again, use relevant examples. I did NOT say they should be disbanded. I DID say that they should not have nearly as much power. They answer to nobody. Even a dolt like you should be able to figure out that giving a bureacracy unlimited powers is suicidal.

Osha_I addressed minimum wage laws. Your response was completely irrelevant to what I wrote. You didn't say one thing about the minimum wage laws, but you decided to ramble on about hands getting cut off. Typical. I also don't remember mentioning children should be operating milling lathes. Do you have any more pointless arguments to make? Could you write anything stupider to give me a good laugh?

Dave - You are absolutely correct. Idiots that will not work or think are the real problem, Bo and Ockysays are examples of them.

So Dave, let me make sure I have this right. You want the FDA to JUST be sure that the new drugs coming out are SAFE and then put them out there for the doctors to prescribe not knowing if they'll even work or not? What a moron. I worked in the medical field for 20+ years and that is the MOST IDIOTIC thing I've ever heard come out of someone's brain (or in your case-no brain). Why would you want the drug companies to waste time and money manufacturing drugs that aren't even known to work? Not to mention the fact that people who need medications are usually sick and don't have money to waste on medications that may or may not work!! I'll tell you what-you get your drugs from another country, where they don't have all these "needless regulations" and let your doctor figure out if they work for you or not-I'm sticking with the FDA who, while they still have some medications that are found YEARS LATER to cause health problems and have to be pulled from the market (remember Fen-Phen?), have a lot better track record with medications than most doctors even begin to know. Like ockysays made so clear-doctors in this country have no idea what interactions the drugs they prescribe have with other drugs (that they also prescribe), nor the pathways by which those drugs work. I did medical malpractice law as a Nurse Paralegal for 5 years doing medical record reviews, and I can tell you from experience that the MAJORITY of physicians prescribe medications for their patients that should not be given together because of adverse side effects. And you trust your doctor enough to let him decide if an unproven new medication is the right thing to give you and be able to tell if it's working or not? If he doesn't know what kind of side effects the drug may cause, how is he going to know to look for them? If it doesn't work for the condition he's treating you for, you might as well be taking a placebo.

Owning a basketball team in not really up there in a list of legitimate concerns. Although I cannot recall the name of the company (discovered that info doing some investment research some time ago), a Russian corporation bought up a steel plant, somewhere in Ohio or Indiana, I believe. Now THAT is of more concern to me than pro sports. As long as Mr. Prokhorov had the money to have bought the Nets, so what. That really isn't as politically or economically concerning as buying up our INDUSTRIES or controlling interests in them, and pocketing the profits and shipping them to Russia.

@Tess: Have you EVER heard of the owner of a sports team who wasn't very tied into the owners of other businesses and industries? Ever pay the slightest bit of attention to who hangs out in the high-dollar seats at pro sports events? Ever notice who sponsors pro sports? Yes, I agree that in terms of social value sports teams are nothing. Unfortunately, in our society, pro sports is a significant player in other arenas. You can bet if this guy owns a pro basketball team, he is no stranger to much bigger things. Hell, this article alone says he made his fortune in metals and other trading.

I think you and I agree on the fundamental issue here. But, I think you're being naive if you discount his influence because he is merely the owner of a sports team.

Yes, we do fundamentally agree. And no, I'm not being naive at all, because I have no doubt that his activities and potential influence are watched carefully if only BECAUSE he is Russian, and viewed with substantial skepticism. And those with whom he associates in the "boxes" would be subject to scrutiny as well. If he were German or French, he would only be an occasional blip on the radar screen of our own 'KGB.'

No loyalty to Russia, Mike??? Divided interests & loyalties?? And you know this how?? How many AMERICANS from a company's management have moved overseas to run businesses when our corporations have expanded to other countries? Are they sellouts? In this case, Mr. Prokhorov just happens to be the EMPLOYER not the employee. How many wealthy Americans own homes overseas in other countries and live there, but keep their American citizenship? You can be sure PLENTY. How many Canadians and Canadian companies have invested in OUR country & maintained their Canadian citizenship? Are they sellouts?? Your comment has no merit whatsoever.

Isn't the Russian a PART owner of the Nets, not the sole owner?

None of the oligarchs that stole russias riches in the 90's where ethnic russians.

I think he is a lot more able then the last president we had. The mess Bush left is worldwide I think we see that with whats going on in Europe. I don't know what you can expect from the president with the do noting Congress we have that pledges to people like Grover Norquist and forgets about who they were put in office to serve.He can at least organize that is more then our last president could do. I forget he did organize two wars and a drug program we could not afford.

Challenge him to a hockey game.

We are NOT a Christian nation! True, the majority of the populace style themselves as Christian, but there is NO state sponsored religion like there is in Israel or Indonesia.

The Soviet Union styled themselves as Communists, but ran their country as Oligarchs. Russia is still an Oligarchy, regardless of their public face with so-called "elections". Atheism as nothing to do with it.

You're right, Neal! Atheism has nothing to do with it. If anything, I believe about half the current population of Russia is agnostic, thanks to Stalin & his cohorts. Stalin yanked children from the homes of Orthodox worshipers & had them 'educated' by the State. Hence, many of that generation consider themselves non-believers or agnostics. From what I have read, only about 5% or 6% of the population of Russia was true-blue Communist during Stalin's 'reign.' And only a fraction of THOSE were 'card carrying' members of the Communist party and atheists. However, if you check the 'votes' that were cast in Russia in this last farcical election, the percentage of Communist votes cast has increased.

I also think that HellNo is a little off in his presumption about bases. I doubt we had any AMERICAN bases on RUSSIAN soil!!!! We were allowed to fly over, but not park! We had base(s) in Kyrgyzstan, which now the new pro-Kremlin President will likely demand be shut down.

Well Neal in Denver, you can have your opinion, but not your own facts. What do you think tea partiers, republicans hold dearest after their racism? Religion and not just all religions, no siree, but they mean protestant. FYI, if you are Mormon, catholic, you have to explain yourself, because if catholic, how do we know the Pope is not going to take over the country? Or if Mormon, how do we know those Mormons are not going to bring their harems to the white house and who they kid? Protestants will rather side with nazis than with Mormons, they call their religion a cult. I guess and it's logic to assume by your comments, that you never heard of Rick Perry before. He is tea partier, republican and the only thing or obstacle to his presidencial ambitions are not his "Christian" beliefs, but he reminds them of that retard pervert from Texas and even though they voted for him in droves, they, everybody in the republican, tea parties and the "moral" right were afraid of been seen with him, specially at the end. MCShame and the retard pervert met at night, like thieves and they are also aware about the adage that the retard from Texas obvioulsy forgot, the one about: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me and the tea partiers, republicans as much as they love "Christianity" they don't want another retard in the WH. And who could blame them, Of course expecting intelligent men, intelligent women in those two groups is asking, or believing too much. Would you believe, pay attention to what a parrot recites? Well, by your comment, I have my doubts, but the rest of the country? No way Jose. Actually, let me quote Mr. Perry Como when he crooned: It's impossible. Last, but not least, Neal of Denver, I still remember the president of Alabama State supreme court refused to take down the efigy of the Ten Commandments and actually decided to resign and wait for better times when the real supreme farce makes Christianity the law of the land and then try again, but I won't hold my breath, neither yours. Remember, or better yet, let me inform you, because as lost as you are, if you didn't remember what Rick Perry or other presidencial candidates say about religion, but just in case you continue to ignore what tea partiers, republicans, the KKK crowd believe, let me copy this I found: "

The religious right returns

Just when you thought the Republican presidential primaries couldn’t get any Christian crazier, welcome to the next rounds of The Response. While Texas Governor Rick Perry headlined the first Response held in Houston the week before Perry announced his candidacy for president, these next round of responses do not bear the imprimatur from any presidential candidate. According to their Web site, “ How you like them apples!

Neal:

Like there we, the average man on the street, has no power. The laws are so complex that unless you have a pwoerful lawyer, that most of us cannot afford, you have no prayer. Kennedys can get away with murder and balck man with 5 grams of crack can end up in a slammer for months and get raped and learn gang tricks. President Obama sends me email every day, mostly for money but he never replies mine. Bank can screw you in the loans by take or leave it loan agreement that only big coporation with lawyers can udnerstand.

Yes we have freedom of speech. We can scream , shout , curse, call each other names, but that it is like a peacock dancing in the forest. It has no conequential impact on peoplemaking decision. We may be Susan Boyle's that never gets discovered.

That is the way it is here, there and everywhere.

Raj anyone with 5 grams of crack can end up in the slammer for months. But if you look at what happened in philly a "balck" cop killer only had to wait until a "balck" DA rose to power to get off death row. You do know that obama is not personally sending you emails right?