Russia: still scary Still not much to report on Cuba, apart from the truly weird video of Hugo and Fidel--and the reminder it provides of Castro's apparent obsession with world-leader bobblehead dolls. I first noticed a big row of them behind his desk in Oliver Stone's "Looking for Fidel" documentary a few years ago, and it seems that he brought at least a couple of them with him to the hospital:



Anyway, the real news of the day is, again, from Russia:

Mr Putin's aides are concerned that United Russia, the pro-Kremlin party that dominates parliament, is jaded and losing the support of the electorate. Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the presidential administration, said Russia needed "a second major political party, which will need time to come to life, though we've become used to thinking that everything must be done at one go". He said it could eventually replace United Russia, which lacks ideology besides offering unwavering support for the president.

This is apparently Putin's way of getting around Russia's increasingly popular "against all" electoral option, which was just abolished. Only in Russia can a government official speak openly about creating a virtual opposition and discuss a long-range strategy of managed democracy in full detail. 2008 is just getting to be waaaaay too soon.  ¶ 9:34 AM