The re-election of Vladimir Putin was met with much chortling and cynical guffawing here in the West, coming swiftly after the startling Salisbury nerve-agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter. Putin’s election charade is generally viewed as a rigged affair, offering only a polished veneer of actual democracy that veils a state gangsterism systemic within the … [Read more...] about A note on Putin’s re-election