It seems to me as a distant observer that much of Putin's strength derives from a "cult of personality".[1] He's out there topless, catching fish. He's out there topless, swimming in a Siberian lake. He's out there on a tiger hunt. He's out there flying with cranes. He's out there dressed as an ice hockey player. He's out there doing judo moves. He's tough on terrorists. He's tough on breakaway republics. He stands up to "the Great Satan" (sorry, actually that's a line used by Iranian wackos). Etc.
This cult of personality takes many years, even decades to develop. Also these types of leaders hate up-and-coming competition. So there's no JV Putin out there, building up his own cult of personality. Medvedev probably doesn't have the charisma to take Putin's place. Plus, Putin was in what was probably a once-in-a-lifetime position to take over from Boris Yeltsin.
I don't think that any new leader could "be worse than" Putin without spending many years building up his own cult of personality.
It seems to me as a distant observer that much of Putin's strength derives from a "cult of personality".[1] He's out there topless, catching fish. He's out there topless, swimming in a Siberian lake. He's out there on a tiger hunt. He's out there flying with cranes. He's out there dressed as an ice hockey player. He's out there doing judo moves. He's tough on terrorists. He's tough on breakaway republics. He stands up to "the Great Satan" (sorry, actually that's a line used by Iranian wackos). Etc.
This cult of personality takes many years, even decades to develop. Also these types of leaders hate up-and-coming competition. So there's no JV Putin out there, building up his own cult of personality. Medvedev probably doesn't have the charisma to take Putin's place. Plus, Putin was in what was probably a once-in-a-lifetime position to take over from Boris Yeltsin.
I don't think that any new leader could "be worse than" Putin without spending many years building up his own cult of personality.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality#Russia