Robert Amsterdam

No big surprise here, but the Russian Communists have officially selected Gennady Zyuganov to run for the presidency on the party ticket. It is particularly illustrative of how Russia has changed that the only tolerated political opposition are Zyuganov, who despite his terrific ability to produce priceless soundbites, is running on a platform to re-nationalize all privately held natural resources and re-institute the death penalty, and ultra-right nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose main claim to fame involves racial slurs against the U.S. Secretary of State among other outlandish comments. Both of them are allowed to publicly bash United Russia, which I imagine functions as a strategic pressure valve for the siloviki.