A Slight Case of Stage Fright

From Reuters: “I don’t feel fear, but I do feel nervousness, because I will have to justify the faith of an enormous number of people who are counting on me to carry out what is, for this country, a tough job,” he told reporters at the elections commission. Medvedev, a short man in a dark-blue suit, appeared to mumble words of encouragement to himself as he approached a phalanx of camera-wielding journalists on a giant marble compass rose with the cardinal directions inscribed in German. … “Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) has done a lot for our country, and with his arrival, Russia’s authority in the international arena has strengthened significantly,” he said. “People have begun to feel pride in the fact that they have a Russian passport in their pockets,” Medvedev added.