There is a big difference between the US and the situation in Russia or any of its satellites. Bush never put his political opponents in jail or came very close to trying. The 2000 election was stolen but that was only possible because it was close.
I find the establishment handwringing over the Arab spring and the color revolutions to be rather pathetic. What really frightens them is the possibility that the dictatorships will all collapse and there will be no place for them in the new world order. So they would rather do a deal with Gadhaffi than kick his regime when its down which is of course exactly when to kick - and hard.
Russia is rapidly running out of friends. They are down to Ukraine, Syria and the unstable ex-Soviet states round the Caspian sea. And Russia itself is at risk of collapse. Putin is fighting a dozen independence movements in Russia itself. This worries the establishment because if Russia collapses they don’t really have an enemy left that justifies the vast military apparatus. They can make do with fake wars like the wars on drugs and terror for a while but they can’t use those to justify a Joint Fight Striker boondoggle or the like.
