Hillary calls Russian President Putin a Dictator

Perhaps overlooked because of a sustained coughing fit, Hillary Clinton nonchalantly called President Putin a “dictator” today. Is this a positive move for Russian/US relations while President Obama meets with President Putin during the G20 conference?

I’m sure we’ll hear many journalists follow up, after her coughing fit, and ask Mrs. Clinton if this would be her official position, as president? Does she believe Putin is really a dictator. Would she consider pursuing a policy of regime change in Russia?

After all, her policies of regime change in Iraq and Libya have gone swimmingly.

At a California rally, Clinton accused Trump of trying to become a dictator himself. “We’re trying to elect a president,” said Clinton, “not a dictator.”

Practically speaking, however, the choice voters will face in November will be between a candidate who praises dictators and a candidate who befriends them.

Clinton has described former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak and his wife as “friends of my family.” Mubarak ruled Egypt under a perpetual “state of emergency” rule that involved disappearing and torturing dissidents, police killings, and persecution of LGBT people. The U.S. gave Mubarak $1.3 billion in military aid per year, and when Arab Spring protests threatened his grip on power, Clinton warned the administration not to “push a longtime partner out the door,” according to her book Hard Choices… (More from The Intercept.)