Marshall Goldman Podcast on Bloomberg

Marshall Goldman of Harvard University tells Bloomberg that the actual amount of power being transferred in Russia could be gleaned from the age difference between Medvedev and Putin, where each of them live, and reminds listeners that in theory Medvedev does have the power to fire Putin at will and appoint someone in his place (though Goldman doesn’t think this could happen for about four years). The good professor also talks about the “spooky,” “James Bond-like movie set” of his visits to the Gazprom headquarters, more than 12 cases of Russia using energy as a political weapon, and comments on the runaway inflation in Russia caused by Dutch disease. Listen to the podcast here.