Smilin' Joe

clipped from www.transatlanticpolitics.com Putin has resurrected another Stalinist recipe for dealing with critics and opponents, apart from imprisoning and murdering: forced placement in a mental institution. It's another female journalist, just like Anna Politkovskaia. Her name is Larissa Arap. Radio France Internationale reports that she has been arrested in Murmansk and then forcedly placed in a mental hospital. In June she had published an article about the cruel and inhumane treatment children are submitted to in the local mental institutions, including electroshocks. Arap is also an active member of Gary Kasparov's opposition party, who now accuses the resurrection of Stalinist methods.