flies planes, fights forest fires. there is something ridiculous about the middle aged world leader riding shirtless on a horse like conan the barbarian after a dozen doughnuts. who thinks this looks good? everything that we find ridiculous about vladimir putin is very appealing in the universe that he controls absolutely. reporter: perhaps the foundation of the putin juggernaut is a political tourism no matter where you live. it s the economy. after the chaotic years of boris yeltsin, putin stepped in and stabilized the country, and he rode the wave of ever-rising oil prices. which in russia s resource-rich economy translated into rising wages and stooaring stock industries. then late in 2010, the party stopped.