Putin the Puto

"International observers and critics declared Monday that Russia's parliamentary elections failed to meet democratic standards, saying President Vladimir Putin and his government abused their power to favor the dominant Kremlin-backed party while opposition forces were harassed.

The central conclusion was that Sunday's vote "failed to meet many of the commitments and standards that we have," said Goran Lennmarker, president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. He said it was "not a fair election."

How is this shocking? Putin has been moving away from "democracy" for some time now. That the elections were questionable at best comes as no surprise.