Russia election: Stage-managed vote will give Putin another term

BBC ^ | 14 Mar 2024 | Steve Rosenberg

[Chad C. Mulligan]

As I walk around Borovsk, two things strike me about this town 60 miles (100km) from Moscow.

First, there is almost no sign of the presidential election coming up this weekend.

I see few election banners or billboards and no political flyers being handed out.

Not surprising, really. The absence of election preparations mirrors the absence of drama surrounding a stage-managed event that will hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term in the Kremlin.

The other thing you can't help noticing in Borovsk is the street art. It's everywhere.

Much of it has been created by street artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. All over town his work stares down from walls and buildings.

Most of his paintings are uncontroversial. Like the giant globe recounting the town's history. Or the image of a famous footballer.

Increasingly, though, when Vladimir paints a picture of today's Russia, it turns out very dark.

"I call this one Pinnacle of Ambition," the 86-year-old artist tells me. The painting he's showing me at home features a man in a martial arts uniform walking a tightrope over a mountain of human skulls.

"This is what the ambition of someone high up in power can lead to."

More dramatic still is his image of two meat grinders mincing people - one is labelled 1937 (the year of Stalin's Great Terror); the other Special Military Operation (Russia's war in Ukraine).

"We haven't learnt any lessons," concludes Vladimir.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers.” -Socrates-

Here is my rank of the top three losers on FR:

1. MarcusMinimus
2. Chad-Karen
3. TimberTattler

Number one will be tough to overthrow.

Signed,
Socrates

[Apparatchik]

Can you please provide a link to a post where someone here said anything even resembling this?

Here’s one for ya:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/religion/4093745/posts?page=12#12

The deranged Putin love is real here.

[Darksheare]

Seems someone is butthurt by sumptin ya said two years ago.
See post 22.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Here is my rank of the top three losers on FR:

C'mon, I've known third graders who can do better than that....

[wildcard_redneck]

You live unfree in a country that has suffered a coup and you car about Russias problems. Get a clue.

[wildcard_redneck]

“Search “globohomo”. One of the favorite words used by the Moscophiles.”

You are a fan of vicious, homosexual globalists and want to push your twisted, perverted, WEF pathology on the world - the very definition of a globohomo.

[McGruff]

More western propaganda.

[PIF]

But there are those here on FR who laud Moscow as a beacon of freedom compared to the West.

—
For the most part they are all Russians - many have admitted it, others by slips of language, facts and so forth.

[wildcard_redneck]

You forgot SpeedyInTexas and UMCRevmom, the ones that have puked out daily propaganda posts for 2 years now.

[PIF]

Speedy and RevMom hardest hit.

[wildcard_redneck]

Here he is, SpeedyInTexas’ wingman/girlfriend?

[PIF]

More western propaganda.
—

Your reply is self revelatory as “... those here on FR who laud Moscow as a beacon of freedom compared to the West.”

[aMorePerfectUnion]

ZEEPER FOLLIES PINGLIST!!

(((PING!)))

Join and laugh at the humor Zeepers provide!!

[JonPreston]

From 1981 to 2009 we either had a Bush or a Clinton in the WH as President or Vice President. And in 2008 we had a Clinton running for President. And in 2016 a Clinton as the Dem candidate for President with another Bush (Jeb) running for the nomination.

Not to mention George HW Bush was the CIA director in January, 1976.

[Robert DeLong]

Yeah, if you lived in the US instead of Britain you would be a Democrat, for you are a firm believer in two-tiered systems of justice.

I'm so glad we broke away from you all. Your woke beliefs are why you are about to fall, and they have infected this nation as well, which is why we are about to fall also. But we all will fall because of the tyrants from within, not the tyrants that you have grown to know.

I hope you live a long time in the world that you are allowing to take over, because Ukraine is the distraction, this is all really about destroying America. Because once we are gone evil tyrants will control the earth.

You all are nothing but a bunch of short-sighted idiots who are unable to see the bigger picture, even though all of the signs are like bright blinking neon lights.

[Robert DeLong]

I gave Chad a Mulligan, because I knew he would do no better by doing so.

[wardaddy]

Putins approval ratings are quite high per USA pollsters

He doesn’t have to cheat at our 2020 levels by any stretch

[marshmallow]

Great news. More heartburn for the globalists.

[fireman15]

Here's one for ya:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/religion/4093745/posts?page=12#12

The deranged Putin love is real here.

First you had to go back to 2022 to find something that you apparently found offensive. It seems to be post 12 of 12...

“That's the way I see Russia too...

...just say’en.”

The thread is about a sermon given in the Russian Orthodox Church... It starts, "St. Peter of Kiev and Moscow was at the helm of the Russian Orthodox Church in the most painful historical moment, early in the 14th century, when our land was trampled underfoot and pillaged by the Mongol nomads. Capital city of Kiev was in ashes, and the ruling Metropolitan moved his See to a small and modest town of Moscow."

The "sermon" had nothing to do with Putin. Putin is not mentioned in the sermon, the link to the sermon or in the thread even once.

This one is not a good example of much of anything outside of one cleric's interpretation of the history of the region from several hundred years ago... If that is the best that you can come up with then I am afraid that you have come up short. How can your statement, "The deranged Putin love is real here" apply when Putin is never mentioned by anyone? All you have accomplished is making yourself look foolish.

[Socon-Econ]

But there are those here on FR who laud Moscow as a beacon of freedom compared to the West.
********
Nowadays, the West is not a beacon of freedom. Those Freepers are rightfully more worried about our own tyrants than Russia’s. At least the Russian one is not pushing puberty blockers, destructive green ideology, rampant lawlessness, and the disappearance of national borders.