David R. Cameron, a professor of political science at Yale University, has a letter published in the FT today about the easiest way for Vladimir Putin to stay in power: amend Article 81 of the constitution. Thanks to Sunday’s victory at the polls, United Russia certainly controls enough seats to do so, and Cameron points out that an initiative for constitutional amendment could easily be organized to appear as though it were a grassroots political project from the regions, and Putin, the reluctant and law-abiding head of state who is simply responding to the overwhelming will of the people. The theater of it all is remarkable.