Here is an interesting news piece from Yahoo News. It covers the prelude to Putin's assuming the role of Russia's Prime Minister. The article suggests that there are certain parallels between the current political climate in Russia and how it parallels the old Soviet Union. The article is somewhat interesting, but it is important to point out that no matter how much the current Russian landscape parallels the old Soviet Union there are huge differences between Russia and the Soviet Union. Russia is not a superpower and it does not have a dominant present in more countries in the world than the United States. Russia can not become a superpower at this stage of the game because it would need a much more powerful economy and military. But, a scaled down localized version of the old Soviet Empire is probably where Russia is headed.