January 24, 2011 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Jan 24, 2011

22VOINA-popup.jpgTODAY: Voina artist in hiding; the sinister side of social media; Memorial fears for safety of Muslims in Moscow; Blue Buckets group incensed over traffic accident. Georgia fighting Russian influence with English?  Bout trial date set; Khodorkovsky’s possible future charges; gangland slaying hits Stavropol.  FIFA optimistic on Russia’s hosting abilities; Chapman’s mysteries; voting for Lenin

The New York Times has an interview with arch art provocateur Aleksei Plutser-Sarno of the police car-tipping, penis on bridge-drawing Voina collective, whose fear of arrest by the authorities has led him to devise extreme methods of evasion.  Propaganda, censorship and surveillance are three tools which the security services have gained from Facebook, amongst other new social media outlets, says Evgeny Morozov, author of ‘The Net Delusion: The Dark Side Of Internet Freedom’, in an extensive interview on RFE/RL.  Memorial has accused law enforcement agencies of kidnapping and torturing at least eight ordinary Muslims in Moscow as part of a government crackdown on Islamic extremism.  The Blue Buckets group plans to hold a rally this week in solidarity with a driver hospitalized after her car collided with that of a Kremlin official sporting migalki.