NEWSWATCH: “What Another Six Years of Putin Spells for Russia’s Economy; No level of debt-fueled spending can overcome the stagnation caused by the state’s continued domination of the economy” – Eurasianet/David Szakonyi

“… Officials are taking no chances to ensure turnout isn’t embarrassingly low, however, mobilizing students and workers, plastering the regions with pro-Putin materials, and seemingly handpicking the other candidates allowed to run. There are many consequences to holding stage-managed elections. Clearly they are a violation of basic political rights. … [and] the Russian presidential campaign offers nearly zero discussions of substantive issues. In his nearly two decades in politics, Putin has never publicly debated his rivals, preferring to spell out his goals in his annual state of the nation speech …. Given only this broad outline of his priorities, what can we expect from another six years of Putin? … Dependence on debt … Hungry, hungry state officials ….”

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