TODAY: Lavrov travels to Damascus, slams Western ‘hysteria’; pre-election debates begin with Zyuganov and Prokhorov; government officials to travel by helicopter?  McCain taunts Putin; Medvedev wants rightist party. 

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says that anger over Moscow’s blocking of the U.N. resolution against Syria verges on ‘hysteria’.  Lavrov is in Damascus to deliver a ‘secret’ message to Bashar al-Assad.  ‘If I tell you everything right now, why go?  Then we should communicate through mass media.’ Britain and the U.S. have recalled their ambassadors to Damascus in protest.  This NY Times blog post looks at some other angles on the Syria veto, as does this RIA Novosti article, which portrays Russia as ‘reinforcing its diplomatic clout’ and ‘threatening to put the West in an embarrassing position’.  Chris Weafer says that Russia’s veto is linked to its desire to keep the dialogue open.  Scientists have begun drilling for samples in an Antarctic lake that has been sealed off for 15 million years.