Democracy wins in Venezuela while Russia's fate lies with Putin's dirty-gray soul that The Decider gushed over a seeming lifetime ago.
"Venezuelans Deny Chavez Additional Authority"..... as voters yesterday blocked proposed constitutional changes that would have sped the country toward socialism and allowed President Hugo Chavez to stand for reelections indefinitely. A hopeful sign in our dangerous back yard.
At the same time a half a world away, "Pro-Democracy Groups Call Russian Election Unfair"..... as the United Russia party headed by President Vladimir Putin won the parliamentary elections by 64 percent. European observers called the election "the merging of the state and a political party."
An example of the skewed results.... in Chechnya United Russia received 99.36 percent of the vote with a turnout of 99.5 percent. Chechnya is currently led by a Putin strongman, and their elections were not monitored.
Putin's United Russia now has 315 of the 450-member State Duma.... enough to change the constitution to allow Putin to remain in power beyond the current limit of two consecutive terms. Putin opponents called the vote a "disgusting" repeat of Soviet practices, while Putin said he was pleased with the results.
There seems little doubt that the empowered Putin will continue to consolidate his dictatorial powers, while the The Decider and his Russia "expert" the dithering Secretary of State Rice, watch their soulful Russia policy ice over like a Siberian winter.... or a cold war.
1 comment:
dont forget about the Dictator Musharaf in Pakistan.
def don't forget about quasi-dictator Gee Dubbz, & wannabe Dictator Giuliani. These American Dictators may not be as excessive as say Musharaf, but they may be more dangerous because the power of the US Pres > any other country's leader.
Anybody But Giuliani! Vote a sane Constitution-respecting candidate like McCain or Ron Paul in the ReThug primary.
Spread the word. Sanity & non-Dictator for 2008!
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