me: what's up on your end? Mark: hey man, what's up. just the usual, work and all that sort of shit me: what's up with ol Dimitri saying the other day that Russia needs stronger opposition? me: also, wanted to send this along me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ph5M53x_4 Mark: I think Medvedev and Putin realize they need to loosen the strings a little bit Mark: but I think any talk about there being a huge gulf between the two of them is very overdrawn me: I would certainly agree Mark: but i also think that a lot of this talk of Russia being "in crisis" reflects a peculiar, and Western-focused, view of the situation me: I don't see how anything going on would constitute a "crisis" in the context of Russian history Mark: yeah, very good point Mark: but the Western media (The Newsweeks, Time Magazines, and Foreign Policies of the world) have this very odd and alarmist narrative about the place Mark: quite confusing