Writing in the New Republic, Alvaro Vargas Llosa of the Independent Institute points out the irony in the fact that the only way for Dmitri Medvedev to break free of Vladimir Putin’s grip in order to implement his liberal reforms would be to wield illiberal “ruthless power” to set up an internal coup:

Eternal Putin by Alvaro Vargas Llosa The Kremlin is just as stifling now as it was 20 years ago. Can Dmitry Medvedev help? Does he want to?