By accusing Vladimir Putin of (believe it or not) rigging Russia's 2012 election, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton gave new meaning to the theory of psychological projection.

The potential problem for Hillary is that Putin is not as naïve as most Democrat voters, and when affronted, the Russian president usually finds a way to exact vengeance, or at least deliver what Peter Rutland, an expert on Russia at Wesleyan University, calls a Putin "poke in the eye."  

Putin eye-poking was on full display when Obama, the doyen of gay rights, acted the complete fool after finding out that, in Russia, White House LGBTQ restroom users would face jail time for public displays of "non-traditional sexual relationships."  Obama expressed his displeasure with the Russian law by recruiting three openly gay athletes to join the U.S. delegation headed to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Putin, a man who doesn't suffer fools gladly, responded to Obama's insult by selecting Olympic figure skater Irina Rodnina to participate in Sochi's opening ceremonies.  Obama flouted Russia's tough stance on homosexuality, and Putin poked Obama in the eye by choosing a woman to light the Olympic flame who once tweeted a picture of Obama and his wife Michelle ogling a banana.

Get the picture?

Now rumor has it that Russian hackers may have gained access to the unsecured server full of confidential emails Hillary Clinton stored in a bathroom closet of  the Chappaqua home national-security-risk Bill (when not nodding off) shares with a mistress the Secret Service nicknamed "The Energizer Bunny."

If the Russians really are in possession of Hillary's emails, that means Vladimir Putin may be preparing to give Hillary Clinton the poke in the eye she deserves. 

It also means the Russian president knows whether or not Hillary actually mastered the "destroyer of the universe" yoga pose, has specifics concerning the recipe for Chelsea's $10K gluten-free wedding cake, and is aware of the particulars surrounding how the DNC mocked and subverted the political aspirations of a popular Jewish socialist.

Notwithstanding Hillary's tall tales about her successes as secretary of state, Eugene Rumer, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, begs to differ.  According to Rumer, "I think there is good and credible evidence that there is no love lost in Moscow for Mrs. Clinton."

It all started in 2011, when, after two terms as prime minister and after serving as Russia's president from 2000 to 2008, Putin hoped to win the presidency again.  Prior to the March 2012 election, Secretary of State Clinton suggested that the Russian leader had "rigged" the system and sided with thousands of anti-Putin demonstrators, journalists, and political activists, all of whom believed that the process was flawed.  Furious, Putin accused Clinton of attempting to undermine his candidacy and of inciting street protesters.

Lest we forget, Saul Alinsky-trained community organizers Obama and Clinton have already proven to be well schooled in the tactics of how to advance an agenda via agitation on the street.

Wary of the "unacceptable" practice of "foreign money being pumped into election processes," the Siberian Swimmer was wise to be suspicious of Obama and members of his "flexible" administration.

Putin asserted that by calling the elections "dishonest and unfair," Hillary's tone had sent a signal to groups opposed to his re-election. Putin alleged that the opposition recognized Hillary's signal, and, in response to her attempt to impose negative influence, dutifully "launched active work with the U.S. State Department's support."

Granted, Vladimir Putin is no choir boy.  However, rather than "reset relations" with Russia, which was supposedly the goal, Secretary Clinton's accusation that Russia's  parliamentary election was "neither free nor fair" resulted only in provoking the bear.

Fast-forward five years.  America is currently in the throes of a contentious election of our own, and from where we currently sit, Putin's suspicions that Hillary is trying to usher in Russian "regime change" don't seem all that far-fetched.

Recently, the Obama international election machine did a similar thing in Israel, when the President's operatives, funded by the State Department, attempted to disrupt Bibi Netanyahu's 2015 bid to remain prime minister.

According to The Washington Times, in a bipartisan staff report, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that during the Israeli election, anti-Netanyahu group OneVoice received $465K in State Department grant monies to "build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to President Obama's campaign." 

Lo and behold, that same Senate subcommittee also found that State Department officials deleted emails containing information pertaining to Obama's surreptitious campaign to oust Netanyahu.

So, within the last few years, two foreign leaders charged the U.S. State Department with being directly involved in two parliamentary elections.

In response to the original accusation Putin made in 2011, Hillary responded in the following way: "We value our relationship with Russia.  At the same time ... we expressed concerns that we thought were well-founded about the conduct of the elections." 

Hillary, the bastion of election transparency and fairness, argued that "Russian voters deserve a full investigation of electoral fraud and manipulation" – something Bernie supporters, thus far, are being denied here at home.

"Regardless of where you live," said the woman who, together with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, frustrated the will of 12 million voters, "citizenship requires holding your government accountable."

Sorry, but Hillary Clinton expressing apprehension over voters' voices not being heard or condemning conduct during an election or lamenting the lack of government accountability is like Angela Merkel questioning François  Hollande's decision to continue to accept Syrian refugees.

For all intents and purposes, by accusing Putin of dirty doings, Hillary, the self-appointed successor to the American presidency, projected onto him the dark impulse that astute voters recognize as the force that drives Hillary Clinton's insatiable appetite for power.

Either way, much like Barack Obama, Hillary miscalculated when she poked a Russkiy bear.  That's why, in the end, if Russia exacts revenge by releasing Hillary's 30,000 missing emails, a Putin poke may be the very thing that saves America.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com.