Democracy is for those who are willing to take it, and this has been proven once again, this time by the Russians. Dmitry Medvedev is the overwhelming favorite to succeed Vladimir Putin in the election in which opposition parties and independent vote monitors have complained of widespread electoral violations.

Well, of course he is. The state-owned media has focused entirely on him, promoted him endlessly and he’s spent nothing on campaigning. He won’t enter into debates either, saying that there’s no point of debating with people “who have no chance of winning power.” He should know. The elections are rigged in his favor from one end of Russia to the other.

Putin, the supposedly outgoing Russian president, will be Russias prime minister and share power with Medvedev. This arrangement will be a first in Russian government. Voting in Russia is now only for show, just as it was during Stalins reign, and Russia has once again evolved into a new form of government. From the Czars, after the Roman ceasars, through revolution and communism, the collapse of communism, a feint at democracy and now back to dictatorship.

Even though the Union has fallen apart, and former slave nations have again asserted their independence, the regime in Russia refuses to recognize it and is trying to force them to rejoin Russia as slave states again.

In Putins favor, he’s put Russia back on its economic feet again, though he’s done this at the expense of everyone doing business with Russia. It doesn’t pay to be dependent on Russia for anything these days as those nations can expect more extortion for fuel and energy needs just as in the past, along with repeated military threats and aggression. Russia the Bear will always be a bear, looking to eat up the unwary, and it’s people will always be the property of “the state”, which means whoever is in power at the time.

The people accept this as the norm. Times in Russia have always been tough and the leadership has seldom made much difference in the well-being of its people. Putin has actually made things better for them and they’re loathe to see that change. Who could blame them? It’s different in Western democracies where we’ve come to expect a high standard of living.

Russia’s regime is harshly nationalist, which is exactly why they’re so successful lately. All the “Multiculturalist” and “open border” nations, such as the United States and most of the European nations, are decaying and falling behind. The world isn’t ready yet for a one-world government and may never be. There are simply too many ethnic, cultural, religious and language barriers and differences between us all that cause huge frictions between different populations when we become too mixed in with each other.

The United States would do well to follow the Russians example in terms of nationalism. We need to take a similar hard line with China, the Saudis and OPEC, and other Mid-East nations such as Iran. America First has become America Last, and if we don’t reverse this, we won’t last.

Russia called on Israel and the Palestinians to end the latest wave of violence to give peace a chance. What? Has Putin been listening to John Lennon records? Not likely.

“Moscow once again voices its categorical condemnation of the rocket attacks on Israeli territory,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “They must stop immediately.”

Sounds like Russia just wants everybody to just get along, right?

Moscow also said it could not accept that “shells and bombs are falling on the heads of peaceful (Palestinian) women and children, under the pretext of fighting these acts of terror”.

The pretext? You mean that Israel is deliberately bombing and killing women and children? That’s untrue in the extreme and the world knows it.

“Given the tough blockade of the Gaza Strip, the permanent humanitarian catastrophe, such acts by Israel only give extra arguments to those not willing that Israel and a future Palestinian state should live in peace and harmony,” the statement said.

Ahhh, now we come to the truth of it. The bleat about condemning the terrorist attacks on Israel was only to preface another verbal assault on Israel for defending itself. The plain truth is that the Russians care nothing about the Palestinians, what they care about is appeasing Arabs, and making speeches condemning Israel goes to that end.

Russia has never been a safe haven for Jews, who have suffered pogrom after pogrom at the hands of the Russians throughout history, so this should surprise no one.

Anyone reading the reports on Israels counter-attacks can’t help noting that children are always listed as among the Palestinian dead. Those statements are taken entirely from Hamas and are very likely false, although it is true that the terrorists do like to fire rockets where children are in the hope that some of the kids will be killed if there’s a response from Israel. Then they can hold up little dead bodies and blame Israel. So take the reports of dead children with a huge grain of salt. The Israelis try very hard to target only the terrorists.

It needs to be remembered that the Palestinians are not the victims of Israel. They’re the victims of a doctrine they’re born into that teaches them to hate Jews. All they need to do to have peace and prosperity is to stop murdering people who mean them no harm.