Uh...

So, it looks like Mikhail Gorbachev and really rich dude Alexandr Lebedev are forming a new Independent Democratic Party because "without independent political institutions" Russia can't progress a country.

So yeah. Great, I suppose. But this is bizarre and one reason why I love Russia so much:

Lebedev, a former State Duma deputy and a billionaire who describes himself on his LiveJournal blog as a "capitalist-idealist," said it was too early to talk about possible participation in the 2011 Duma elections.

Naturally, LJ - whose parent company is a Russian corporation - is big in Russia and it shouldn't be surprising that it's popular for those wanting to get their message out. It's just weird that literary figures and political operatives over there all use an online social network noted in America for its numerous communities devoted to slash fiction. Just saying.