Defining “Extremist”

Marketwatch is reporting that scientist and firebrand Kremlin critic/author Andrei Piontkovsky faces trial in Russia December 5th for allegedly breaking Russia’s “extremist activities” law, which has been expanded recently to include “abasement of national dignity” and “slander of a public official.” Last year, a Russian judge ordered Piontkovsky’s book, Another Look into Putin’s Soul, sent to a panel of experts to determine whether the material was, in fact, extremist. According to the Hudson Institute, a nonprofit conservative think tank where Piontkovsky is a visiting scholar, the soon-to-be-released sequel to that volume, Russian Identity, “…analyzes the events from early 2006 through the fall of 2008, including the rise of systemic corruption, the cultivation of xenophobia, and a growing assault on independent media, and shows how they reflect the failure of Russia’s attempt to enact reforms.”