Two Presidential Elections - Political Not Funny Jokes

America has a presidential election in November which is not news.  However, Obama has lost a lot of progressive voters because he has broken most of the promises he made and has pretty much sold out to the moneyed crowd.  The only reason he might win again is that the Republican party so far has failed to put forward a credible candidate.

These two op-ed pieces put the choices in perspective:
Bill Boyarsky's What’s Really at Stake in 2012  in TruthDig lays out the GOP position - they do not care which GOP candidate is elected as long as he/she is not so brain-dead they cannot hold a pen to sign bills a Republican controlled  HoR and Senate will put forward and the bills they intend to put forward will take America back to the 19th century.  Read the comments under it to get the reaction of disillusioned progressive liberal voters to Obama's presidency.

Obama, the Human Rights Hypocrite by Paul Craig Roberts in Counterpunch describes what has happened during the Obama presidency, essentially a continuation of W's policies.

As a foreigner, I am hoping for Ron Paul as he has promised to put a "Closed" sign on the American Empire, take all the troops etc home, close all the military bases and stop interfering in the affairs of other countries.  Of course, we all hoped Obama would do something along those lines too.

Russia has a presidential election on March 4th with 5 candidates running, which is not news either. While Putin is expected to win, for the first time there is opposition in the streets and even with a 10% or more padding margin, it will be by a reduced majority.  That is news.

Of the (Kremlin approved) opponents, Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will be the strongest contender, mainly as people vote in protest. Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (and a "clown") get a few seconds coverage on the nightly news compared to Putin's several minutes but of Mironov (A Just Russia) and Prokhorov (Norilsk Nickel and Russia's 3rd richest man) we hear nothing. 

Prokhorov was the only independent to make the cut.  The Election Commission goes through the deliberately obtuse required documentation with a fine tooth comb and if the candidate does not meet Kremlin approval, then one undotted i is all it takes.

Putin is credited with bringing "stability" to Russia after the chaotic decade under Yeltsin (See Casino Moscow by Matthew Brzezinski for the 90's in the FSU).  The truth is that much of the spoils had already been divided up by 2000 so of course the shooting died down... a little.  If you read Anna Politkovskaya's "Putin's Russia" which cover's his first four years as president, it is obvious that stability meant that the criminals were in control of the business, the old Soviet Nomenclatura were safely ensconced in the bureaucracy and the FSB kept it all under control so everyone at the top got their share of the loot and anyone who complained was looked after, so to speak.  

It was reported just recently on Ukrainian news that Putin is worth almost 140 billion.  Even if it is rubles, $4.5 billion is not bad for a small time mid-level spy to accumulate.  I also read a while back of a $1 billion house (???) being built near Sochi someplace by Putin's friends for him.  Just to show their appreciation for the stability of course.

 Zyuganov is calling for a reStalinization of Russia, however if you look at recent news items from BBC in the lead up to the election, it would seem it is already happening.

Rosenberg's Russia: On the election trail

Russia: Protests and opposition to Vladimir Putin

Vote rigging fears ahead of Russian poll

Anger over corruption in Russian city of Novosibirsk