Greg touched upon the Chile-Pinochet link in my interview with him (now offering a chance for a free toaster -- with a loaf of bread thrown for the first 100 linkleapers) and here goes into far more depth and detail about his research-based claim that Putin was installed (by the US and Russian oligarchs) as the Russian Pinochet. Extraordinary concept. Putin recalled how they cheered when word came down of his destruction of Chechnya. Now he's hoping for the same woo-hoo to bolster his poll.