OK, I'll skip right over what didn't happen this week (again)(sigh)(channel frustration), and get on to what did.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave broad hints in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant that he may run for office again in 2012. The constitution that Russia adopted in 1993 bars presidents from serving more than two consecutive four-year terms, which Putin wraps up next year. But the constitution does not prevent past presidents from running again. And the remarks are not altogether surprising given that many commentators outside Russia expect the country's next president to be a Putin ally--the kind of guy who would graciously step aside in 2012. Then again, Putin could just have been stating the obvious: That, legally, it's possible. We'll have to wait and see.

More interesting, I think, were Putin's comments at the end of the G-8 summit that the ruble should have a greater role in the world's economic trade system. According to RIA Novosti, Putin said he thought it would be beneficial for the world to have "several reserve currencies and several financial centers." And he added that both suppliers and customers would benefit from switching to ruble payments for Russian exports.

After months of speculation, Aeroflot committed to $3.3 billion of Boeing jets. The Russian carrier will buy 22 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets. The first plane is to be delivered in 2014. The order is just one part of a substantial modernization of Aeroflot's fleet: The carrier signed on for 22 Airbus A350 XWBs just a few months ago.

Meanwhile, out in space, Russian space agency experts are trying to resolve a failed navigational computer system in the International Space Station. The news on this is moving quickly, and hopefully the problem will be resolved by the time you read this post. But the problem occurred earlier this week when astronauts on the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis installed a power-conducting truss. If the Russians cannot solve the problem from earth, they may have to send up cargo ship mission with other equipment. Both NASA and Russian space authorities are stressing that all those in the space station and the shuttle are safe.