IDEA - Russian carrier jets flying again

Daily Telegraph / News.com.au reported, Russian carrier jets flying again (link).

RUSSIA has started flying jets again from its only operational aircraft carrier after a two-year break, state-run television reported today in the latest show of the country's reviving military capability

Previous 'shows' of Russia's reviving military capability are,

(2007-08-17) "Today, August 17 at 00:00 hours, 14 strategic bombers took to the air from seven airfields across the country, along with support and refueling aircraft ... From today such patrols will be carried out on a regular basis." -- Vladimir Putin, President of Russia (link)

(2007-08-17) Russia and China executed joint military exercises on Russia's soil near the Urals Mountain city of Chelyabinsk.
The war games involved some 6,000 troops from both countries, along with soldiers from four ex-Soviet Central Asian nations that are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. (link)

(2007-06-25) "Everybody knows that the Balkans and the Black Sea region were of special interest to us."
"Russia, with its increasing potentials, is coming back to this region. This is an obvious fact [ ... ] This is in the interest of Russia but also of our partners."
Vladimir Putin told reporters at the end of a summit of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) (link)

(2007-04-26) President Vladimir Putin froze Russia's commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) arms control pact. "It makes no sense for Russia to observe the pact when NATO signatories are ignoring it.
"(NATO countries) are ... building up military bases on our borders and, what's more, they are also planning to station elements of anti-missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic."
"In this connection, I consider it expedient to declare a moratorium on Russia's implementation of this treaty -- in any case, until all countries of the world have ratified and started to strictly implement it."
-- Vladimir Putin, Russian President, in final state-of-nation address (link)

All these events signal one thing: Russia is preparing for war

And a country that is preparing for war needs a strong leader and a united homeland.

Two important issues that need to be taken care of.

The one strong leader in Russia is of course Vladimir Putin. But Putin is nearing the 2nd term (= formaly the last term) of his presidency, the question is: Will he stay or will he go?

And a united homeland is hard create and even harder to maintain in a democracy.

One solution that takes care of both issues is to rewind democratic measure and replace them with more dictator style measures.

IDEA of Open-Ended Issues

Based on the above I see the following new OEIs

• Russia is preparing for war, with indicators: red, probably, likely
• Russia is becoming a police state, with indicators: orange, probably, likely
• Russia's president Vladimir Putin will stay on, with indicators: orange, probably, likely

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	Putin sends strategic bombers back on long-range patrol	The Seattle Times	Fri Aug 17	1
	Russia steps up military expansion	Guardian Unlimited	Wed Aug 22	1