Medvedev’s Challenge to Putin: Oh, Never Mind

It was impossible to pinpoint the exact moment of the transformation, but by the time Russian President Dmitri Medvedev left the podium after his first big press conference on Wednesday, he had morphed into a lame duck. The problem was not so much that he failed to state his plans for re-election next year, but, as some members of his own circle now admit, the President seemed to be courting a constituency of just one man — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will alone decide whether Medvedev stays or goes

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A Standoff in Yemen: Can Saleh Negotiate His Departure?

Calm and composed in a sharp suit and dark sunglasses, Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh took to the podium on Friday and before a massive crowd announced that he was ready to transfer power — but only to the right people. And yet, while that may have sounded cynical to most of his opponents, Saleh also chose to address the heart of the popular movement against him, directly speaking to the young activists who had begun the calls for the collapse of his regime in January

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