Russia's Silicon Valley

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/25009/?a=f

Report says spies compromised US electric grid

"Congressional investigators and intelligence officials have warned before that electric utilities are vulnerable to cyber attacks. CIA analyst Tom Donahue told utility engineers at a conference last year that in other countries, hackers had broken into electric utilities and demanded payments before disrupting power -- in one case turning off the lights in multiple cities."

http://www.technologyreview.com/wire/22412/

Mongolia and the Mad Man

"James Palmer’s “Bloody White Baron,” his life of Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg, is the story of “a loser — albeit an upper-class one” — who turned himself into a visionary psychopath in the Russian far east. Uncomfortable but fascinating reading, it weaves together the weird alliances, murderous dreams and improbable careers that emerged in the aftermath of World War I and the fall of czarist Russia."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/books/review/Goodwin-t.html?ref=books

This guy sounds like a mix of Conrad's Kurtz and Wallenstein.

The Smell of Weakness

"RUSSIA: TRYING TO PUT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ON THE DEFENSIVE"
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav020409e.shtml

Obama might be "the new JFK" (http://www.slate.com/id/2164662/) (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1565992/Barack-Obama-is-JFK-heir,-says-Kennedy-aide.html) but that is not necessarily all good.

Khruschev thought JFK was young and inexperienced; Obama has even less experience.
This is not necessarily a weakness of Obama (in fact, some liked the idea of a president who is not a Beltway insider), however it can lead to dangerous situations.

Obama might be a lot of things, but he is not likely to take Russian pushing idly. Foreign leaders might be tempted to play a dangerous game of chicken with our young president. That is how wars happen.