[CliffFletcher]

Of all the strange affiliations thrown together in these times of dramatic political realignment, maybe the strangest is the warmth between the American populist right and Putin's Russia. Any time Russia comes up on a forum all I see is right wingers defending them as unfairly maligned and the target of a sinister American campaign. No doubt some of the people on the forums are paid Kremlin stooges trolling english-language forums. But that doesn't account for how widespread the phenomena is. When did the right fall in love with America's historic rival?