By Andrew L. Jaffee

… On Saturday Other Russia leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov was arrested during a rally in Moscow. …

Activists holding white flowers met near the headquarters of the liberal Yabloko party, and headed to the site of the unauthorised rally. …

Chess players and people holding flowers: this is what Russian dictator Vladimir Putin fears… Quite natural paranoia for a former KGB goon who has surrounded himself with other KGB goons. Not too long, and we’ll be back in the USSR. From the BBC:

Russian police have broken up an opposition rally, arresting activists for the second day running.

Police detained about 150 people in St Petersburg, including opposition leader Boris Nemtsov - who was later freed.

The protest was organised by the Other Russia, a coalition of anti-Kremlin groups. They accuse the government of crushing dissent ahead of elections.

On Saturday Other Russia leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov was arrested during a rally in Moscow.

Mr Kasparov was jailed for five days for leading an unauthorised march. …

Unauthorized?!? Actually, words like “apparatchik” (аппаратчик) or “politburo” come to mind. Now that Putin’s exhausted his term as Russian president, he’s eyeing the position of prime minister so he can keep ruling for life.