pcr on the three elections and what he finds meaningful therein; 

 

Only One of the Three Autumn Elections–the American one–Is likely to Tell Us Anything

Paul Craig Roberts

One of the three autumn elections that I thought might give us an indication of future events has been held.  On the surface, it doesn’t look as if Putin’s 4.5 year old war against the proxy of Russia’s enemy–Ukraine– instead of against the enemy itself–the US and Europe–had any effect on United Russia, the party that supports Putin.  United Russia won the parliamentary election with 58% of the vote.  

The support might not be what it seems.  Gilbert Doctorow points out that only a little more than half of registered voters–56.6%–bothered to vote.

In other words, Putin’s active support is 32%.

The second largest party is the Russian Communist Party with 14% of the vote.  This party is the old people’s party, the party of the Russians who remember the respect with which Washington and Europe showed to the Soviet Union.  When Washington put nuclear missiles on Turkey’s border with Russia, Khrushchev  put Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba.  He removed them in exchange for Washington removing the US missiles from Turkey.

Younger Russians have no experience or memory of the clout that the Soviet Union wielded. A 35-year old Russian today never lived under the Soviet Union.  If he remembers anything, it is the Yeltsin Russian regime, and Putin’s government has been a great improvement over those years............more..........