What Should You Know #13: Vladimir Putin

Ethan Bloch: Welcome to WSYK #13, What Should You Know. I am Ethan Bloch and What Should You Know. Rapping Voice: What Should You Know? You are watching What Should You Know because let us be honest, What Should You know! So someone comes up to you know like “Hey, you know about Vladimir Putin? This is what you should you say. “Of course I know about Vladimir Putin, are you serious? You are talking about the newly appointed Prime Minister of Russia who just wrapped up an 8-year tenure as a 2nd President of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union!” He is a 55-year-old ex KGB Lieutenant Cornel who holds a 6 degree black belt in Judo! Breaking the world record for world leaders with martial arts achievements, previously held by Theodore Roosevelt who himself was a brown belt in Judo and he use to practice his craft in the basement of the White House, but that is a story for a whole another day. Back to Putin, He was politician and still is that takes no prisoners. He came into powers President 2000 and tightened his grip on Russia, consolidating power into the Capital of Moscow. Furthermore, you may or may not realize recently, oil has gone up a lot, and Russia is one of the world’s largest suppliers of oil. So this has led to massive economic development during President Putin’s tenure. In fact, the Gross Domestic Prague to Russia or GDP has increased six fold during his tenure. Poverty was has and the middle class from 8 million people to 55 million. Now, Russia stores many proms if that the price oil drops back down, will have many more proms, but Putin was unbelievable President and this shows that country loves him still. He is the most popular politician in Russia and has idolized by many Russians. So anyway, he is now Prime Minister, and the post of Prime Minister in Russia does not really hold a lot of cloud. You do not have a lot of power, but just so happens, President, well ex-President Putin is also President of the United Russia Political Party which holds the 2/3 majority in the Lower House of Parliament. So, this is going to give Mr. Putin a bit more power than your typical Prime Minister. As you saw on WSYK #11, the new President of Russia is Dmitri Medvedev, a close friend and confident of Putin. But the fact of Putin still has a significant power base and significant loyal individuals that work in government, Putin’s power and leadership ain’t going no where anytime soon. That is what I know about Vladimir Putin. This is been another episode of WSYK, What Should You Know. I am Ethan Bloch and What Should You Know. Rapping Voice: What Should You Know? You are watching What Should You Know because let us be honest, What Should You know! (Extro Music Playing)