Leftist parties (socialist and socdem) were doing so well in the Duma after the collapse of the USSR and the Russians got a taste of capitalism that Yeltsin - with the backing of the US - in a metaphorical but also very literal sense - attacked the legislative branch and consolidated all functional power in the executive. Again, with US backing. Putin is just using the levers of power than Yeltsin and Clinton handed to him.

No, they wanted a comprador colony. They stopped getting that around 2008 so Russia is back to mortal enemy.

Actually, democracy is only valid when the vote margin is 0.1% in favor of the loser who loses on an idiosyncratic technicality of how votes are divided up and counted, and both candidates are less popular than a police precinct being burned down by protesters.

Whenever the government has popular approval that's populism and is bad, actually. If ever you find yourself with too much public support you have to strategically triangulate towards your opponent and alienate your base to make the election fair and democratic.

Putin has an 86% approval rating in Russia

There's a case that constant 51/49 polls are a sign that American democracy is faltering on a nechanical level.

Good ideas in politics should be widely understood. One would hope to see 70/30 or more splits on most issues coming to a direct vote.

Without the FPTP electoral model, everyone would have to play the coalition card, which would likely lead to majorities larger than 51/49 for most legislation. Of course, it's also odd that even a two party systrm splits the country almost exactly evenly despite social shifts. It's like looking at a trench war that's been going on for 150 years. It's almost like business likes and supports a government prone to rictus.

If there wasn't so much cash floating in the system, it would be harder to coax the masses into voting against their own interests, again reducing the number of campaigns swung to a 51/49 outcome.

Acting like it's not common practice in all western democracies to deny people from being listed on ballots due to bureaucratic technicalities. They all do it.

There are like 2 dozen candidates in the 2024 US general presidential election who will not be listed on any ballots for far less legitimate reasons. Candidates get dropped because they would make the list too long.

I'm pretty sure the average liberal thinks this was supposed to be an election between Navalny and Putin. That's how misinformed they are.

You're also right. Putin is massively popular in Russia at a level libs can't seem to comprehend. The only major opposition he has involve the communists, but they mostly align with Putin's foreign policy anyway. Most polls show Putin with a 85% approval rating and libs will always think numbers like that are unfair or fabricated.

Same in Beijing.

Sky News did this with people queuing to vote at the Embassy in London. They found one person who said they were going to spoil their ballot in protest of Putin. They were the only person they got a quote from even though they went back to the street report twice.