Vladimir Kara-Murza writes:  The “good cop, bad cop” trick must be one of the oldest in the book. Yet, unfailingly, this unsophisticated tactic continues to yield results, as illustrated by Russia’s ruling tandem of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev…The “democratic reformer” has been in the Kremlin for two years. Yet political prisoners remain behind bars, television remains under government control and opposition rallies are still dispersed by police. In fact, Mr. Medvedev effected only two noticeable political changes, raising the presidential term from four years to six, and establishing the Interior Ministry’s “Center Eh” tasked with monitoring political dissent—the equivalent of the infamous Fifth Main Directorate of the Soviet KGB. Dmitry Medvedev has a different style from Vladimir Putin. He speaks in a soft and intelligent manner. Unlike his mentor, he never talks of “wiping terrorists in the s---house” or “cutting it off so that it never grows again.” But it is Mr. Medvedev’s record, not his words, which should serve as the only true measure of his presidency. – World Affairs Journal