TODAY: Medvedev orders crackdown on extremism, and calls for improved prosecutor performance; US human rights report critical of Russia, may turn to Iran for supply route; web monitoring, human trafficking, Putin mythology.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a crackdown on extremist groups trying to exploit the economic crisis by ‘destabiliz[ing] society’ and sowing unrest, although it remains uncertain whether he was referring to racist organizations or legitimate political protesters.  ‘Extremist actions are especially dangerous in the current conditions,’ he said.  Medvedev also urged prosecutors to improve their performance at jury trials after Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Prosecutor General’s office, said that the Makhmudov brothers, acquitted of the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, were involved in her death.