Democracy - win in Venezuela, defeat in Russia

This night brought two different results from the two hemispheres. A slap in the face to the wannabe Caudillo in Venezuela and a resounding win to the "sovereign democrat" Putin in Russia.

Venezuela:

President of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, said the process "shows the entire world that we are a democratic country."

Not yet, not yet, and there are five more years for Chavez to wreck the country.

Russia:

And opposition leader Garry Kasparov, the chess grand master who was sentenced to five days in jail for leading an unsanctioned demonstration in November, said Putin and his allies were "raping the democratic system."

"The campaign was completely dominated by all the authority that all belonged to United Russia," said Kasparov, whose Other Russia party was disqualified by election officials. "More or less, Russia now has moved to a soft version of one-party dictatorship."

Unfortunately, very true and doesn't bode well to the world.

You win some, you lose some...