We’re going to put aside sarcasm for a minute and try feigned disbelief. Earlier today, February 4, Moscow’s Military Tribunal was scheduled to proceed with hearings in the murder trail of Anna Politkovskaya, the muckraking journalist, author, human rights activist and Kremlin critic shot dead on October 7, 2006. But a key piece of evidence — nay, the key piece of evidence — is missing. The prosecution has lost (lost!) a video presentation containing footage from the security camera above Politkovskaya’s apartment building. Footage which, apparently, contains a shot of the assassin.

Thousands across Russia braved sub-zero temperatures and took to the streets this weekend. Many did so to protest the government’s irresponsible spending policies in light of the global economic crisis. But most came out to protest the protesters for being, like, so negative and critical. What's with that? As usual, the degree to which the protesters were disorderly and the extent to which police reacted with fists and blunt objects have been exaggerated and diminished with aplomb. RUSSIA! now finds itself in the cozy position of judging whose coverage was best.

The notion of an “information war” in the wake of the actual Russian-Georgian hostilities has gotten a lot of attention in its time. One would be forgiven for thinking that some amazingly complicated PR strategies are being deployed on both sides. In actuality, the “war” mostly consists of both Russia and Georgia trying to impress a who-hit-whom-first narrative on a completely indifferent American public, and doing it in the clumsiest manner possible.

The PR guys over at McDonald’s must be thrilled about this one. Their Golden Arches are the backdrop for the most recent chapter in the messy Russia-Georgia conflict. This chapter is entitled, "Russian soldier goes AWOL, enjoys Big Mac." After abandoning his post in South Ossetia on January 26, Junior Sergeant Alexander Glukhov resurfaced on Georgian television with a plea to President Mikheil Saakashvili for asylum, citing poor living conditions and a verbally abusive commander as his major grievances. Then came a photo op of Glukhov stuffing his face with Big Macs and chocolate sundaes at a Tbilisi McDonald's. Seems like a tough story for Russia to spin. But then, they've been in the game a long time.

So, about that thing at the Davos conference... You know, when Vladimir Putin verbally bit off the hand of Dell CEO Michael Dell for asking if Russia could use a little tech support? Well, call us crazy, but the wording of his response, "We don't need any help. We are not invalids," seems to hint that the Russians have a secret plan for I.T. independence. And guess what? They do! At this very moment, President Medvedev is expecting a letter from the Duma's leading nerds requesting his support in the creation of a national operating system for Russia (suck it, Windows!).

This Wednesday, January 28, a Russian court will consider issuing an international warrant for the arrest of Yevgeny Chichvarkin, former chairman of Euroset, the largest mobile phone retailer in Russia. Officially, Chichvarkin is wanted for the alleged 2003 kidnapping and extortion of a former employee. Unofficially, Chichvarkin is being told to “get out and stay out” for getting too big for his faded, designer britches.

Looks like Siberia and Alaska are even closer than we’d thought! The seven senior government officials who died in a helicopter crash earlier this month in the Altai region of Siberia were apparently enjoying Sarah Palin’s favorite pastime: aerial wolf gunning. Or, sheep gunning, to be exact. Endangered wild argali sheep gunning, to be even more exact.

John Beyrle, America's new ambassador to Russia, is a vessel for warm feelings despite the cold relations between Moscow and Washington today. That Beyrle speaks fluent Russian and has seen the country through the Soviet war in Afghanistan to the death of Andropov is noteworthy, but not the reason he was the subject of the New York Times Saturday profile. In fact, the profile was really about John’s late father, Joe, a P.O.W. during World War II who escaped from a German camp only to voluntarily join the Red Army in fighting the Nazis. He wrapped his boots with burlap and drank his remedial shots of vodka with the best of them—opportunities to go home notwithstanding. As the legend goes, a starving Joe Beyrle crossed the eastern front by foot and approached a Soviet tank battalion with the only three words he knew in Russian: “I am an American comrade.” Whoa. Who's got the movie rights to this one?

Barack Obama's face on a condom wrapper seems altogether tasteful compared to some of the Obama-adorned ads seen in Russia today.

Careful not to sound too desperate, Russia's Education and Science Ministry announced a new incentive intended to lure back some of the thousands of Russian scientists currently living and working in countries that are decidedly not Russia. The offer allows a hundred four-eyes from abroad the chance to lead important teams and conduct fancy seminars on the condition they live in Russia two months of every year.

Watching black-helmeted military police subdue protesters in the streets of Riga this Tuesday felt shocking on two distinct levels. For one thing, these are the streets on which I grew up – hey, is that my favorite coffee house they’re smashing? Far more jarring, however, is the gulf between the protests’ intensity and what I have, in my 16 years there, come to know and partly absorb: the Latvian temperament.

The latest cringe-worthy news from Chita, where tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is whiling away his sentence. The imprisoned ex-head of Yukos is being sued by former cellmate Alexander Kuchma for alleged sexual harassment.

Obama may have a YouTube channel, but Putin has a web-based tiger tracker. Remember that Amur tiger the Prime Minister deftly shot with a tranquilizer dart last August? Well, you can review the sequence of events at the PM’s tiger fan site.

Protest rallies continue across Russia over a new tariff that, as of January 12, aims to bail out domestic car industry by making imports prohibitively expensive. Here's a short thing I wrote about them for The New Republic. It basically cheers the return of public protest into Russian life but warns against idealizing the protesters: "These are not harbingers of a Georgia- or Ukraine-style 'color revolution.'"