On March 24th, British police arrested Boris Berezovsky, an exiled Russian media tycoon and bitter enemy of Mr Putin's, who has accused the Russian security service of causing the explosions, with Mr Putin's knowledge.
Mr Putin's critics, though, believe the Russian president secretly enjoys the public displays of affection - and they warn that, with open opposition to the Kremlin becoming increasingly rare, all the praise and presents may soon go to Mr Putin's head.
In particular, Obama's reset with Putin's Russia has failed to diminish the Kremlin's continuing commitment to the modernization of its arsenal of strategic and tactical nuclear weapons.
Mr Medvedev's article and Mr Putin's comments on 2012 may reflect a tension between the two men and their teams that has brought Russia into a state of inactivity caused by competing forces.
Mr. Berezovsky's television channel turned its attention to Mr. Putin's opponents, systematically taking them down ahead of an election that Mr. Putin handily won.
Mr Kudrin's resignation, after Mr Putin's promise to make Mr Medvedev prime minister, also lowers the chances of the sort of authoritarian modernisation that some liberals had once hoped for.
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As the Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist William Safire observed in the New York Times, China may have been encouraged to take this step by the Clinton-Gore team's feckless response to Vladimir Putin's ruthless bid to consolidate his political position.
But after Putin's election, the two fell out over Berezovsky's reported attempts to control the Putin.
The ad was taped Thursday inside the barn at Bush's Crawford ranch following Russian President Putin's departure.
Many observers believe the company's problems stem from President Vladimir Putin's desire to discourage political threats from Russia's super-rich business magnates.
For Mr Khodorkovsky's real offence, in Mr Putin's eyes, is neither his role in the privatisation and subsequent running of Yukos, nor his vast wealth.
In the past few months some of Mr Medvedev's supporters have defected to Mr Putin's camp, arguing that modernisation is possible under the prime minister's leadership.
Orlando Figes, professor of history at London's Birkbeck College, says Mr Putin's home city of St Petersburg may be a window on Europe, but it can also been seen as a fortress against foreign opponents.
Yet it is unclear whether Mr Medvedev's order marks an offensive against Mr Putin's state capitalism or is a cosmetic measure to make it look more civilised.
Mr Medvedev's September manifesto marks no break with Mr Putin's legacy.
Russia's economic bounce-back since 1999 owes as much to high oil prices, a big devaluation and the country's hardy businessmen as it does to Mr Putin's new stance.
Russia's remilitarization not only testifies to Mr. Putin's resolve to press on with the war in Chechnya, but signals a return to the besieged, us-against-the-world mindset that Russia had begun to leave behind.
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Barring a few appeasers, most governments in Europe, including Germany's, have no illusions left about Mr Putin's Russia: its weak property rights, high corruption and the symbiosis of state power with private financial interests.
Moves by the Kremlin to nationalize the country's energy sector by pressuring a Royal Dutch Shell-led consortium to relinquish control of the Sahalin-2 natural gas project to Russia's state-controlled monopoly Gazprom, and Putin's meetings with Arab leaders last month to explore the creation of a "natural gas cartel" demonstrate an authoritarian view of energy management that is undeniably confrontational.
Yet for all its quirks, Mr Tuschi's film conveys the venal brutality that underpins Mr Putin's rule.
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They included Igor Sechin, chairman of Rosneft, Russia's state oil company, and one of Mr Putin's most trusted deputy prime ministers, in charge of energy.
Even more significant, Mr Medvedev's team managed to reverse the coverage of Libya on Channel One, Russia's main television channel, which is controlled by Mr Putin's friends.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns responded by calling Putin's accusations "preposterous, " saying Washington would "not give a millimeter" to any proposal that would weaken the monitoring organization.
Some see Mr Medvedev's new activity as an attempt to pull away from Mr Putin's influence.
The Belarussian president's strident anti-western language does not chime with Mr Putin's tough but friendly approach.
Since the announcement of Putin's return for a third presidential term 12 months ago, Putin and the Kremlin have demonstrated a remarkably tin ear.
In November Russia rescued Belarus's crippled economy with a generous package, as part of Mr Putin's grand plan for a Eurasian Union that will also include Kazakhstan.
In the meantime, an orderly world will look to Beijing to assist in hemming in the planet's rogue regimes, rather than performing a supportive duet with Vladimir Putin's Russia to spite the West.
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