Putin's next marquee moment: Russia's presidency

Vladimir Putin, a successful two-term president who stepped aside four years ago in deference to the Russian Constitution, will almost certainly return to the Kremlin in presidential polls next March,Belstaff propelled by popular demand that even his hapless successor, Dmitry Medvedev, admits is an unstoppable force.

Mr. Putin, whom Forbes Magazine recently listed as the "world's second most-powerful person," appears to be at the height of his game, poised to lead his country out of its long post-Soviet malaise and into its rightful place in the modern world.

RECOMMENDED: Putin's United Russia: Communist Party clone or modern democratic force?

Many Russians are delighted, and some say it's a triumph of Russian-style democracy. Putin is coming back thanks to "a political model based on constant confidence [in his leadership]," says Dmitry Orlov,Belstaff outlet director of the independent Agency for Political and Economic Communication in Moscow. "The purpose of the system is to develop Russia's institutions of political and economic authority ... the course will now be for modernization."

But some prominent critics argue that Putin isn't "returning" to supreme power because he never actually relinquished it. They say his power is based on a stage-managed electoral system,Belstaff coat a straitjacketed media, and a Kremlin-promoted public perception that there is no alternative to his leadership.

They say Putin's decision at a conference of the ruling United Russia party in September to terminate his "tandem" leadership with Mr. Medvedev and retake the mantle of presidency was simply a moment of truth,Belstaff jacket in which the country's reversion to its authoritarian traditions over the past decade became suddenly obvious.

Related: Putin's marquee moments

Putin's comeback has thrown a new and potentially ominous light on all other Russian political developments, including the upcoming elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament,Belstaff jackets which are slated for Dec. 4. If Russia is no longer even nominally on the path to some version of a post-Soviet democracy, critics ask, then where might it be headed under what must now be seen as the open-ended leadership of Putin?

"The tradition of one-man rule is typical for Russia, and it has hardly ever stopped" except for very brief periods of experimentation, says Roy Medvedev, one of Russia's best-known historians.

Rick Perry's Republican debate 'oops' moment mocked again in latest 'Saturday Night Live' skit

The only way Rick Perry could shove his foot further into his mouth would be with a little help from the cast of "Saturday Night Live."

This past Saturday, the GOP presidential hopeful was reminded once more of his on-air snafu with a cold open completely dedicated to reinacting the awkward moment.

In the nearly 6-minute clip,Belstaff jacken Bill Hader plays the much-mocked Perry, initially earnest about a second go at the debates.

"I know I had some trouble in past debates but tonight I'm feeling good," he tells the hosts of the mock debate.Canada jakker "I think I'm really gonna nail it. Texas high-five!"

As the debate begins to unfold, however,Goose jakker Hader's Perry is stuck in the same conundrum of not remembering the third agency he'd eliminate to help boost the economy.

"Oops," he grins and shrugs.

When the host presses him further to answer the question, "Perry" begins to fret.

"Why is this so hard?" he asks aloud. "It's up there somewhere,Canada goose I can feel it dancing around."

Later on in the skit, Perry removes his jacket to reveal a sleeveless dickey shirt as Kenan Thompson as Herman Cain offers up his own dalliances to distract the audience.

"Hey, leave him alone! I'll tell you about the women..." he offers.

And the defensive stance is mutual.

Late last week, Perry himself appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" to poke fun at his ridiculous brain fart.

Among the "Top Ten" reasons why Perry spaced out on his answer: "I wanted to help take the heat off my buddy Herman Cain."

U.S. Stocks Gain as European Shares, Euro Erase Earlier Losses

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent 1,256.07 level at 9:37 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.1 percent, reversing an earlier 1.8 percent decline. The euro dropped 0.1 percent to $1.3783, paring a decline of as much as 0.8 percent. The Swiss franc depreciated against all 16 of its most-traded peers. The yield on the 10-year Italian bond rose to 6.68 percent. Gold jumped 1.2 percent in London.Canada Goose Parka

Italy’s parliament will vote tomorrow on the 2010 budget report as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s majority unravels. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed yesterday to step down, paving the way for the formation of a new government to get international aid. European finance chiefs will meet in Brussels today to work on a plan to raise the region’s bailout fund.

The S&P 500 fell 2.5 percent last week, its first weekly retreat since September. Amgen Inc. rallied today after saying it will repurchase as much as $5 billion in stock. Jefferies Inc. surged after saying it cut gross holdings in sovereign debt of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.Canada Goose Trillium Parka　

European Shares

Among European stocks, Carrefour SA dropped 3.4 percent after Citigroup Inc. lowered its recommendation for the world’s second-biggest retailer to “sell” from “neutral.” Sandvik AB, the largest maker of metal-cutting tools, sank 2.2 percent after offering 6.19 billion kronor ($933 million) to buy the remaining shares of its subsidiary Seco Tools AB.Belstaff

Stocks and bonds pared losses after Giuliano Ferrara, editor of newspaper Il Foglio and a former Berlusconi spokesman, reported that the premier may step down within hours and push for early elections. Berlusconi denied he’s stepping down, Ansa said, citing comments from the premier.

Italy’s 10-year bond yield traded 15 basis points higher at 6.52 percent, after climbing as much as 31 basis points. The extra yield investors demand to hold Italian 10-year bonds instead of German bunds, the euro region’s benchmark government securities, widened to as much as 491 basis points, or 4.91 percentage points, the most since the introduction of the euro in 1999, before trading at 471 basis points.Belstaff Outlet　

Allies Defected

Two Berlusconi allies defected to the opposition last week, and a third quit late yesterday. Six others called for Berlusconi to resign and seek a broader coalition in a letter to newspaper Corriere della Sera. More than a dozen more are ready to ditch the premier’s coalition, Repubblica daily reported yesterday, without citing anyone.

The yield on the Greek bond due in October 2022 rose 101 basis points, climbing for the sixth straight day, while the two-year note yield surged to a euro-era record. Papandreou and Antonis Samaras, head of the main opposition party, agreed to form a government to lead Greece “to elections immediately after the implementation of European Council decisions on Oct. 26,” according to an e-mail from the office of President Karolos Papoulias in Athens.

The yield on the 10-year German bund declined less than one basis point to 1.82 percent, while the French 10-year yield rose seven basis points, driving the difference in yield between the two securities seven basis points higher to 130, less than 12 basis points from the widest in the euro’s history. The cost of insuring European sovereign debt rose, with the Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe Index of credit-default swaps on 15 governments climbing eight basis points to 331, the highest since Nov. 1.

Ready to Act

The euro weakened 0.3 percent versus the yen.

The Swiss franc slid 1.3 percent versus the 17-nation euro and 1.5 percent against the dollar. Policy makers remain ready to act in case the franc’s strength increases the risk of deflation and threatens the country’s economy, Swiss National Bank President Philipp Hildebrand told NZZ am Sonntag newspaper in an interview conducted Nov. 2 and published yesterday.

Gold jumped as much as 1.4 percent to $1,779.13 an ounce, the highest since Sept. 22. Lead and nickel decreased at least 1 percent. German industrial production slipped 2.7 percent in September, more than the 0.9 percent decline predicted by 37 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Germany is the third-largest user of copper, after China and the U.S.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index of stocks lost less than 0.1 percent. Hungary’s BUX slid 0.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.7 percent, and South Korea’s Kospi Index decreased 0.5 percent. Markets in India, Turkey, Malaysia and the Philippines were closed for a holiday.

Flooding forces Thailand to close one Bangkok airport

Authorities suspended all flights from one of Bangkok's two main airports after flood waters breached its northern perimeter, news agencies reported Tuesday.

The suspension was imposed at Don Muang airport, used mainly for domestic flights. The facility is located in northern Bangkok, the area of the capital most severely affected by the worst flooding that Thailand has seen in decades.

The BBC reported that the landing strip was expected to remain closed for a week.

Photos: Thailand floods

The Suvarnabhumi Airport in eastern Bangkok, which handles most international traffic, was reported to be still operating.

Thailand has been inundated by three months of monsoon downpours that have left more than 360 people dead. Thai officials have warned that the deluge could last several more weeks.

Water from drenched central areas of the country was now running south to the sea and officials were trying to drain it to the east and west, but the immense volume of water had forced them to open sluice gates into the city. Seven districts of the capital were now reported to be at risk of flooding.

The domestic airport was also being used as an evacuation center and as headquarters for the government's flood relief operations, the BBC reported.

In an effort to help people cope with the flooding, Thai authorities have declared a five-day holiday in several provinces, including Bangkok, to run from Thursday through Monday, the news agency said.

Is Occupy Wall Street invading MTV's 'The Real World'?

Seven thousand strangers gathering in the streets under the banner of Occupy Wall Street get picked to live in a house and have their lives taped? Not quite. One, maybe.

The producers of MTV's "The Real World" seem to be taking notice of the recent protests against corporate greed and want to incorporate a participating "Occupy Wall Street" activist in the long-running series. In a posting on Craigslist, the production company, Bunim/Murray, listed this casting call:

MTV's Real World is seeking cast members to tell their unique stories on our show. If you are over the age of 20 and appear to be between the ages of 20-24, and the description below sounds like you, we want to hear from you!

Are you a part of the OCCUPY WALL STREET movement?

If so, please contact realworldcasting@bunim-murray.com. Your subject heading should be YOUR NAME and WALL STREET.

Could the aging reality series be moving from the late-night hot tub sessions to steamy sign-making sessions? Hardly. According to a spokesperson for Bunim/Murray, the casting call is simply a way to cast a wide net in keeping with the show's "tradition" of bringing together an eclectic group of people. An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is not a definitive role they're looking to fill, the spokesperson said.

A location for the series' 27th season has not yet been determined, but is expected to be announced in early November.

‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Harry Potter’ and more: Drew Struzan’s ‘Oeuvre’

George Lucas. Guillermo del Toro. Frank Darabont. These are just a handful of Drew Struzan’s fans.

Struzan created posters for “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” “Indiana Jones,” “Back to the Future” and many other iconic franchises during his career of more than 30 years. In his book “Drew Struzan: Oeuvre,” a 320-page hardcover from Titan Books out this month, the prolific movie poster and album cover illustrator turns back the pages on some of his most memorable designs.
Though Struzan’s work still frequently appears in movie theater displays, his paintings may be the last of their kind. Most movie art and design is now created digitally, and Struzan’s contemporaries, renowned illustrators John Alvin and Richard Amsel, have died.

“Most of what passes for movie poster art these days are just Photoshopped pictures of actors striking saucy poses and staring at us like a troop of lobotomy victims,” Darabont told the L.A. Times in 2008. “He crafts a piece of art that honors your film instead of just merely trying to sell it. Seriously, for a filmmaker who really appreciates what poster art means, Drew doing your poster is like getting an award.”

Struzan has illustrated posters for many of Darabont’s projects, including the AMC hit TV series “The Walking Dead” and the Oscar-nominated drama “The Shawshank Redemption.” He also did posters for Del Toro’s “Hellboy” movies and for “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

“What Drew does isn’t really distilling the elements of a movie,” Del Toro told the L.A. Times in 2008. “It’s almost alchemy. He takes images and makes them quintessentially cinematic. His style has been copied so many times in a bad way, people don’t realize until they revisit his posters just how powerful the pure Struzan style is, how purely filmic it is.”

Click through the gallery above for a peek at some of the artwork featured in “Drew Struzan: Oeuvre.” Be sure to turn the captions on.

The Find: King's Burgers/Got Sushi?

Truffles shaved onto wild-caught yellowtail sashimi or kanpachi nigiri splashed with black caviar might begin your omakase at Got Sushi? Or the chef might enrobe supple ribbons of pristine snapper in creamy cured uni brightened with the sharp citrus snap of yuzu and house-made soy sauce. Close your eyes and for a moment it's easy to forget that this tiny sushi bar is squeezed into a corner of King's Burgers, a fully operational burger joint in Northridge.

With its vintage beige leatherette tuck 'n' roll booths and faux wood grain Formica tabletops, the classic setting is visually perfect for a place known for enormous breakfast burritos and fully loaded pastrami burgers.

These gut-busters still draw a loyal crowd to King's. But so does a wild array of raw fish creations fashioned by the owner's son, sushi chef Jun Y. Cha. Cha, an alumnus of Sushi Roku, Katana and a handful of other high-profile sushi havens, agreed to help his dad spiff up King's menu about three years ago.

He didn't envision then that he would be adding a full sushi bar offering sake and beer and a separate staff to handle the raw fish. As things evolved, Cha also drew on the European cooking techniques he'd acquired in local classes, integrating them into an impressive breadth of Asian-influenced dishes that he calls "modern Japanese cuisine."

These days, customers have several menus to choose from: the American-style King's Burger menu posted on a board above an ordering counter, a standard sushi selection and a list of modern Japanese sashimi plates and exotic rolls, along with Cha's Asian American-inspired fast food — bowls, burgers, salads and lunch plates — that he has recently created for King's.

The changes didn't seem to faze King's regulars, who apparently were already blasé about pop-up restaurants and gourmet food served from trucks. But unlike those ventures, Got Sushi?'s success came about less by design than by a whim of fate. And now, without the glitz of Hollywood or the restraints of a corporate umbrella, Cha can let his imagination run wild. And he does.

He's come up with more than 20 sashimi plates and other raw fish-based items: Seared pepper-encrusted tuna slices surround a salad of Granny Smith apple and arugula heightened with the merest splash of balsamic vinaigrette. Tender octopus under a scattering of crunchy tobiko caviar and cilantro comes in a sweet-spicy emulsion. Barely seared slices of Cajun-spiced tuna splayed out around a little mound of still-warm sautéed spinach and enoki mushrooms are drizzled with a creamy peppery sauce. The heat and sweet and creaminess ricochet around your palate in a high-wire flavor balancing act.

If the restaurant has a shortcoming, it's that it can take a while to read through all those menus. But the place is nothing if not democratic. At the top is Cha's omakase (still modestly priced, considering the quality, at $60 and up). In the middle are sassy rolls that are models of glorious excess — in the best possible way (the lemon roll, for example, starts with spicy tuna and asparagus, is draped outside with tuna sashimi and avocado and then subtly garnished with lemon zest and pine nuts secured by tiny drops of olive oil).

Then there's that Asian-inspired fast food menu. True L.A mongrels, these dishes include the wondrous Fire tuna bowl, a cubed raw tuna salad — somewhere between spicy ceviche and Hawaiian poke — tossed with avocado, baby tomato, tiny fingers of crunchy gobo and a shower of microscopic-size masago roe, all lightly bathed in a sauce bursting with sweet-tart chile-infused flavor. Alongside, warm rice topped with a scattering of tenkasu — tempura batter crisps — adds warm textural contrast.

Another fast-food inspiration, the obihiro bowl, holds two seared pork steaks glazed with an eel bone broth/soy sauce reduction. Served over rice, the juicy grilled meat is accented with crisp nori flakes, pickled red pepper and a soft-cooked egg that nearly mimics the perfection of the "60-degree" version at, say, New York's Momofuku.

Cha, for his considerable efforts, may not get the buzz of a chef backed by well-connected investors with access to a PR machine. But a group of admiring fans has been finding its way to King's Burgers, where Cha is realizing his dream in a way that he never expected.