Putin is essentially dictator for life now.

[CloudWatcher]

I haven't seen this mentioned on DU, but in case you missed it, the constitutional "reform" vote in Russia went about as expected, with the vote counters reporting 78% approval.

Of course, about 0% of the population believes the vote was honest.

Putin Thanks Russians for "Support and Trust" After Vote

The US press seems to be ignoring it, but the BBC had a little snark ...

There is no independent scrutiny of the seven-day vote, and copies of the new constitution appeared in bookshops during the week

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-53258204/vladimir-putin-how-he-has-changed-russia-forever

I wonder just how many of the many phone calls between Trump and Putin are Putin giving advice to Trump on how to pull off the same stunt here.

[maxsolomon]

1. None of the phone calls are Putin telling Trump how to do that.

Most of the phone calls are Trump bullshitting and bullshitting and Putin waiting for him to tire out, then asking ask a sneaky as fuck favor.

Whereupon Trump gives away the store.

[live love laugh]

2. Wasn't Putin essentially dictator for life anyway?

It must make him feel better to pretend he’s popular. Like Trump pretends.

[CloudWatcher]

4. No, he was term limited

Their constitution prohibited him from running again. They needed to revise it to let him run again.

[live love laugh]

5. Yes but ... as a dictator he is basically "they" who ultimately decided.

It’s like Russia wants to give the appearance of being a democracy when they never have been.

[Mickju]

3. This is what Trump aspires to.

We must run him into the ground.