America today is like Russia in the 1990s

American vice-presidential debates are a bit like meeting the in-laws prior to a wedding. It is as boring as it is obligatory, but ultimately will not influence a decision that has more or less already been made.

Because of this, the recent debate between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine, was mostly useless. Perhaps due to the small profile of both men, Vladimir Putin became a subject of the otherwise lacklustre debate.

Whilst Kaine continued to spew soundbites from the Hillary Clinton script, Mike Pence appeared not as keen on reconciliation with Russia as Donald Trump, proof positive of rancour in the upper echelons of a deeply confused Republican party.

If only those criticising Putin knew a thing or two about recent Russian history, they would realise that the current Russian president is not a dictator but that Boris Yeltsin was.

Just prior to Bill Clinton winning his second term in office in 1996, Russia had its first presidential election since Yeltsin’s treacherous power-grab in 1993. After finishing neck and neck with Communist stalwart Gennady Zyuganov, the election went to a second round of voting, the only election to do so in modern Russian history.

Unlike Putin’s elections, Yeltsin’s was rigged. The US bragged about helping him to rig it at the time and in 2012 current Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev admitted that Yeltsin was not in fact the legitimate winner.

Had the election been free and fair, Communist Gennady Zyuganov would have won and the ailing buffoon Yeltsin along with his goons Gaidar and Chubais, would have likely faced justice in one way or another.

But  because the Russia of the 1990s was the mafia state the West sought to create after the illegal dissolution of the Soviet Union, they weren’t exactly going to stand by and listen to the Russian people who wanted a return to stability under a familiar party and a professorial leader who dramatically outshone the idiotic traitorous vodka merchant Yeltsin.

In order to better rig the election Yeltsin’s friends in the Russian media waged out all war on Zyuganov, tarring him with every insult in the book whilst seamlessly covering up the fact that Yeltsin had recently suffered from a slew of heart attacks.

Zyuganov was painted as a dangerous extremist, where in reality he simply wanted to reverse the economic changes that had caused mass deprivation in a former superpower.

Zyuganov’s appearances were plagued by logistical errors  and many were openly sabotaged.  Fake stories were attributed to Zyuganov and threats of insurrection in the event of a Communist victory were spread through a corrupt and closed media.

Stalking horse candidate Alexander Lebed was threatened and paid off, forcing an awkward endorsement of Yeltsin.

On top of this, the US successfully urged the IMF to pump over $10 billion into Russia to better help Yeltsin lie about the state of the devastated Russian economy. 

Now if any of this sounds familiar, please remember that I am talking about Boris Yeltsin and not Hillary Clinton.

I am talking about Gennady Zyuganov, not Donald Trump.

I am talking about Alexander Lebed, not Bernie Sanders.

I am talking about Chubais and Gaidar, not the Democratic National Committee.

If anyone thought otherwise…well, what can say, history often repeats itself.

The double irony of this is that the dictatorial, lawless, impoverished mafia state with rigged elections and a totally unfree media – epithets which the West idiotically ascribes to Putin’s Russia – are terms which accurately reflect the Russia of the 1990s.

Mr. Pence and Mr. Kaine ought to learn a bit about recent history before taking sides in the ‘Putin did it’ (see The Duran Lexicon) war of words.

Both men represent a dying establishment and frankly it is a pity that Donald Trump couldn’t find a more suitable running mate.