what do you know about Medvedev?

On the Tuesday Democratic debate, Tim Russert asked the candidates, Clinton first, what they knew about the new, hand-picked by Putin, Russian president. Hillary hesitate on pronouncing the name and people took it to mean she didn't even know who he was. Both she and Obama agreed that they didn't know much about the man.

On Thursday at the presidential news conference, Bush was asked the same question. He said the same thing. Of course pundits and newspeople are all over them for this, but should they be?

Today's Le Monde headline is

Qui est l'énigmatique Dimitri Medvedev?

Who is the enigmatic Dimitri Medvedev?

The website edition uses a different and more telling headline

Dmitri Medvedev, tsar ou vizir?

Dimitri Medvedev, czar or vizier? [note: a vizier was a very high ranking official in Muslim countries, Turkey most notably. Just as the czar's, their word was never questioned.]

Bush, Clinton, and Obama are not alone in not knowing anything about the man. No one else knows anything about the man either.

At the least, he's going to be the titular head of Russia while Putin intends to rule with a shadow government. Another headline in Le Monde is Dmitri Medvedev, un président dans l'ombre de Poutine pour la Russie [Dimitri Medvedev, a Russian president in the shadow of Putin]

Well, there are some facts that people know. He's 42, born in 1965; his parents were professors at the University of Leningrad [St. Petersburg]; he graduated at 25 with a degree in law; he's married to his childhood sweetheart with one son; he was the chairmen of the board for Gazprom, not just the largest gas utility company in Russia, but the largest company; he has never held elected office before now; he has been Putin's Chief of Staff since 1999; he became First Deputy Prime Minister in 2005; and since his appointment he has been spearheading Putin's program to improve social programs in Russia - health, education, housing and agriculture.

Le Monde also made a point of mentioning that he is short (1.62 m) and facially reminds people of the Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia, but it ends there. Oh, he also has said he's a fan of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Can't be all bad if he's into heavy metal!

Probably, the best and easiest thing to say about him is that he is handpicked by Putin, so his political views and stands have to be exactly the same as Putin's.

I've heard a number of newspeople and announcer's mangle his name, just as Hillary was unsure of it. It is very rare that a syllable is stressed in Russian. So each syllable is said with exact same stress with no emphasis. The pronunciation of his name would be Myed-vye-dyev. The "e" in Russian is pronounced "ye".

isn't it interesting that not only will the U.S. have a new leader, but so will Russia, if in name only? mmmm?