I suppose, now that Dmitry Medvedev knows that he has either a diminished or nonexistent set of responsibilities under next year’s President Vladimir Putin, he can afford to be associated with disastrously-managed debacles such as this one.  The soon to be former-President showed up at Moscow State University last week to speak to students, but his security ensured that no one knew about the event until it was happening, and open questions were not allowed.  Students who tried to protest were detained.  The Moscow Times notes that ‘[t]he choice of venue and conditions of the meeting were a vivid indicator of the current status of freedom of speech in the country at present and what it is likely to be under a continuation of the ruling tandem,‘ reporting also that Medvedev feigned innocence when questioned by a journalist about what had happened: ‘Is someone being detained some place?‘  More from the New York Times.