Rise of a Dictator

Riot police in St. Petersburg have beaten and detained 50 activists planning to march in opposition to Russian president Vladimir Putin. This comes after Putin hand-picked a successor to his office while vowing to remain a controlling factor in the Russian government until he can run for president again. In other words, he thinks he's there to stay. On top of the suspicious deaths of several critical journalists in the past few years, the KGB-style murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and the arrest just days ago of opposition leader (and world famous chess champion) Garry Kasparov for "chanting anti-government slogans", these beatings and detentions are just the latest in a disturbing pattern of totalitarian control. Time to dust off that iron curtain. More details here.