Russian election blogged

A quick roundup of views on the Russian election from around the english speaking blogosphere for your education, enjoyment, or work-avoidance. Follow the links for the full posts.

First up, Alexei at Russian Dilettante reveals how he voted, then asks the pertintent question of…

Why did Putin have to turn the election campaign into a joke when he had a tremendously fat chance of winning a really competitive race?

In the same post, he also writes a short tribute to the Manege Hall in Moscow, which burnt down on election night.

Frans Groenendijk, over in the Netherlands (I think) post a short but sweet comparison between the election in Russia and the upcoming American election.

And in soon to be EU member blog, All About Latvia, Aleks has some thoughts on the impact of Putin’s re-election for Latvia, as well as his impressions from watching Russia’s tv coverage of the big day.

Nothing else out there that I spotted, but I probably haven’t been all that thorough – its a work day today! I was a little disappointed to note that none of the major blogs I looked at had any coverage at all of the Russian election, preferring instead to focus all their efforts on the weekend’s Spanish elections instead, where the outcome was somewhat less certain and the stakes seemed higher. But the war on terror goes on, in Russia, Spain, Iraq, Africa and elsewhere, no matter where the news happens to be focused today.

And just so I don’t get accused of the a similar crime (!) – a date for your diary: Malaysia goes to the polls next Sunday, 21st March. The moderate ruling party – the National Front – is expected to win big over the not-so-moderate opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.

“PAS is concentrating more on the ideological aspect of Islam,” [Prime Minister] Abdullah told a news conference. “We concentrate more on what we can do to make Muslims better off. A good Muslim is a person who wants peace and progress.”