【明報專訊】'Happy news' is a sarcastic oxymoron these days. International news in particular rarely turns us happy. The Russian three-days vote starting 17-19 September just drew to a close (yes, I'm writing this on 21 September) but the outcome has always been a foretold story. Vladimir Putin and his political machine United Russia Party expectedly maintain their supermajority in the Russian Duma (more or less their Parliament) even though this time the number of their seats taken was thinned out from 334 to 314. If Putin had ever been slightly upset, he didn't show it at all. He still cared to thank the Russians for their 'trust and active stance in life.'