Vladivostok, Russia – Hundreds of protesters rallied Saturday in Russia’s far east port of Vladivostok as opposition groups sought to mobilise anti-government anger nationwide.

Almost one thousand protesters gathered in the chill in Vladivostok holding placards proclaiming “No to Taxes” and “Enough Coddling Oligarchs at the Expense of the People!”.

News – Europe: Russian ‘day of anger’ tests government

THEY shoot, beat and torture civilians, confiscate businesses and take hostages. They are feared and distrusted by two-thirds of the country. But they are not foreign occupiers, mercenaries or mafia; they are Russia’s police officers. The few decent cops among them are seen as mould-breaking heroes and dissidents.

Police brutality in Russia: Cops for hire | The Economist

While Obama is reducing our reliance on nuclear weapons, Russia is doing the opposite. It’s conventional military forces are starting to crumble, so it is being forcing to rely on its nuclear forces.

FT.com / US & Canada – Moscow’s ‘nuclear doctrine’ under fire

“Regrettably, we have seen attempts to limit Russia’s access to the exploration and development of the Arctic mineral resources,” he said. “That’s absolutely inadmissible from the legal viewpoint and unfair given our nation’s geographical location and history.”

Russia claims a large part of the Arctic seabed as its own, arguing that it is an extension of its continental shelf. In 2007, scientists staked a symbolic claim by dropping a canister containing the Russian flag onto the seabed from a small submarine.

The Associated Press: Medvedev: Russia must tap Arctic resources

The signs of social unrest are just starting to appear in Russia due to Putin’s incompetence.

There is quite a bit of social unrest in China that is just waiting to come out due to land seizures and offical corruption.

If the world economy starts a second leg of the recession, then both Russia and China could be in serious trouble.

The chickens of his [Putin's] incompetence and shameless artifice are finally coming home to roost. …

The Bruce Springsteen of Russia, Yuri Shevchuk of the seminal rock band DDT, recently launched into an unprecedented, lengthy, and biting critique of the Putin regime from the stage of one of Russia’s most prestigious arenas. A video of the speech went viral and has already been viewed nearly 200,000 times and received over 500 comments.

American Thinker: Neo-Soviet Russia and America

Is Vladimir Putin, Russia’s all-powerful prime minister, in trouble?

Anti-government protests, a rare thing indeed, have begun to draw thousands of people across the country. And on Sunday, United Russia, the party created with the sole purpose of promoting Putin’s agenda, fared far worse than it hoped in regional elections, losing a key mayoral seat and its majority in half of the regions where votes were held.

Russian Election | United Russia | Vladimir Putin

Is there any word in the Kremlin’s vocabulary besides nyet? It seems to be the only phrase heard by U.S. officials negotiating with Russia on sanctions on Iran, plans for missile defense in Eastern Europe, and nuclear-arms reductions—even when the American plan has little or no bearing on Russian interests. Once upon a time, the two powers bargained in good faith. Back in the Boris Yeltsin years, for instance, Russia allowed U.S. operatives to enter the region and help bring nukes back from Ukraine and Kazakhstan after the fall of the Soviet Union—an act Moscow would now certainly see as an intolerable breach of sovereignty. Today, obstructing the United States is Russia’s main diplomatic gambit, and it’s not hard to see why. It no longer commands a train of satellite nations, competitors in the region (notably China) are gaining ground, and its economy is tanked. As Moscow’s power wanes, it clings to relevance the only way it knows how—by playing the nuisance card.

Russia’s Only Way to Stay Relevant: Play the Pest – Newsweek.com

Many experts say the decline began with the end of the Soviet Union. When Russia became capitalist, they say, so did its military industry. Like much of Russian industry, it was privatized haphazardly. For example, factories and the engineering departments that designed what these factories made were sold separately.

Over time, this had a deleterious effect on quality. Big companies that inherited export contracts with China, India and the Middle East made profits on older designs and legacy parts but did little to upgrade.

As Its Arms Industry Withers, Russia Buys Abroad – NYTimes.com