Everyone knew, but Yeltsin was such a disaster, Putin actually made people feel like the country had a direction, even if he has blatantly rigged elections since 1999. When your popularity plummets and you take on the persona of a bully that crap wears thin.
Putin is scary smart and attuned to the political game. He let this one get away from him big time, and if he is not careful, could get the Khordokovsky treatment. Watch what the military and police do as this progresses. That will be the tell tale sign.
This is really really surprising: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/w...-changing-its-strategy-shows-protests.html?hp
LMFAO @ UFO. It appears to be some sort of small rotor craft. Video: UFO filmed hovering over Russian protesters | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News