I am getting really sick of those guys over at The Power Vertical.  Every time I have a good idea for a blog post, they go out there and do it first (and then do it better than I can).  Take for example this staged “walk out” of the Kremlin-sanitized “opposition,” timed right during Hillary’s visit to make it seem as though the country is enjoying a vigorously active plural system.  Sorry, but when Zhirinovsky and Just Russia are undertaking these performances, it’s no better than a $10 knock-off Rolex in a Beijing market:  fake, fake, fake.  From the PV:

So now we’re supposed to believe that Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Gennady Zyuganov are the last great defenders of Russian democracy? They were shocked, appalled, and offended that the Kremlin would –ghasp! — fix an election and decided to make a stand.

Yeah, right. Clearly something else is going on here. (…)