Obama's 'Tandem': A Kremlinology Spin On U.S. Politics
MOSCOW -- Forget Clinton and Trump. Barack Obama has hatched an elaborate plot to ensure that Vice President Joe Biden succeeds him as president, allowing Obama to rule from behind the scenes in an American twist on the "tandem" that allowed Vladimir Putin to run the show in Russia despite a two-term limit on presidents.
It's the startling -- and somewhat far-fetched -- theory aired by Russian political scientist Vladimir Vasilyev in an interview in the current affairs weekly Ogonyok on May 14 under the headline: What If Obama Doesn't Say Goodbye?
The imagined scenario includes current front-runner Hillary Clinton crashing out of the race for the Democratic nomination due to a criminal case against her "ordered from the very top," after which Biden is "parachuted" in as a replacement at the 11th hour.
It is also reminiscent of the four-year ruling arrangement established between Putin and Dmitry Medvedev in 2008, in which Putin became prime minister and allowed Medvedev to take up office in the Kremlin for four years. The political maneuver meant Putin maintained power and influence through his close ally, while honoring the Russian Constitution, which prohibits presidents from serving more than two consecutive terms.
Three Reasons
Vasilyev, head of research at the United States and Canada Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, listed three reasons for his conspiracy theory. ...cont'd
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-election-obama-biden-tandem-vasilyev/27739272.html
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