I love how all the western polling in Russia before the election shows that Putin has over 80% approval, and now all the western media acts like it's shocking that he got around that in the election. For example, here's an example from CNN just a few days ago
But Putin undoubtedly has reaped the rewards of a political landscape tilted dramatically in his favor. The Levada Center, a non-governmental polling organization, consistently reports Putin’s approval rating at over 80% – an eye-popping figure virtually unknown among Western politicians, and a substantial increase on the three-year period before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
I don't think anyone is acting like it's shocking. On the contrary, it's exactly what everyone expected so it's not a surprise. After all, he's been Russia's President for 21 of the past 25 years.
Biden and Trump having <40% approval rates... Trudeau, Sunak, Macron, Merkel and various others have similar situation. Hell yeah fake white democrazy!!!
The only difference between the Russian and US system is that instead of having one big party whose interests are entirely separated from the public and which completely crushes any opposition parties, we have two big parties whose interests are entirely separated from the public and which completely crush all opposition parties.
A sham democracy if there ever was one, but that's because the purpose of indirect democracy is less to decide on policy and more to select a strongman leader that's most appealing.
The Russian election was "rigged" in that there was only controlled opposition... But this is also not an inherently unique feature. When was the last time a US President was neither Democrat nor Republican?
The US needs ranked choice voting badly, but to say the only difference between the US and Russia is the two party system is just straight up incorrect. Opposition leaders and dissidents do not get regularly assassinated by the government in the US for starters.
That's because none of the opposition leaders are actually threats. They killed plenty of opposition leaders while your parents were alive, though. Martin and Malcom are the two most obvious ones.
But before that, when there was a labor movement, lots of people got killed for being on the wrong side of power.
And finally, the USA doesn't have a USA out there funding and inculcating opposition leaders, connecting them with spies and mercenaries, and building movements to create a coup.
Two of the top university presidents in the country were taken down after daring to question the common narrative on the conflict in Gaza.
A whistleblower for a government defence contractor was just assassinated in the middle of legal proceedings against that defence contractor.
Whistleblowers are hunted after: Assange is struggling to avoid extradition and Snowden is stuck in Russia after being pressured to leave everywhere else.
Meanwhile, even legitimate presidential candidates like Sanders are given every disadvantage, most notably in terms of (a lack of) funding and superdelegate votes in primaries.
I can't take you seriously at this point, we have protests here regularly and people speak out against the government like it's a hobby. To imply otherwise is farcical to say the least.
Said unironically despite the USA having euphemisms like "extraordinary rendition" and "black sites", within days of a whistleblower being found unalived, while the USA seeks extradition of Assange and can't guarantee they won't kill him, while Manning rots in a cell and Snowden is living in exile.
There are no two parties in USA. Both fund genocide and foreign interventions and unanimously agree on stuff like Patriot Act, no socialist healthcare, no welfare, no college funds, and other topics that favour citizens.
