I am peeved that Kanye (or anyone) thinks the "Single Ladies" video - nothing but some cheap one-off dance moves by a few skankily dressed women - represents Beyonce's best work. Had Kanye been talking about her video "If I were a Boy," however - sophisticated, transgressive, fresh, thought-provoking, resonant - I'd have almost applauded him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVTyLqkez6A

'Dissident' was a strange phrasing for to describe people in a liberal democracy. If he meant conservatives we call them 'the opposition'. If he meant political prisoners I think he will find (fringe conspiracy theorists claims aside) that we have rather few, they really aren't worth the expense. I wonder if he was referring to inmates at Guantanamo.

Proposed amendments to the list:

The "New Black Panther Party"
The Nation of Islam
Immortal Technique
Zack de la Rocha
Mumia Abu Jamal
Leonard Pelletier
Carlos Santana

and last but not least...

Tommy Chong.

I would love to see a meeting between Chong and Ahmadinejad. Who would have known that weed mixed with shisha can taste so good?

Hah. This is so obviously a gesture of payback for Obama's meeting with Russian opposition leaders like Gary Kasporov during his visit in July to Russia.

I'm not sure what Medvedev (or is it Putin?) hopes to accomplish aside from the very transparent attempt to annoy his host as much as he (or his boss) was annoyed by Obama giving credibility to Russians the Kremlin would like to discredit or might have on some discreet hit list somewhere. Problem is, Kasporov and other Russian dissidents truly do have legitimacy in their complaints recognized by the rest of the free world. No one really thinks, with Putin's heavy handed reforms hand picking the parties and parliamentarians allowed to participate in government, that Russia is anywhere close to being a true representative democracy. Nor would anyone mistake the iron grip of fear that journalists in Russia have to contend with as remotely resembling a free press.

But if Medvedev is hoping to learn anything speaking to a bunch of lunatic fringed American dissidents, then he's only making himself (and by proxy his countrymen) more vulnerable to absurd myths about America than they might already have. Remember, Putin and the Russian press were convinced that Bush was behind the firing of Dan Rather at CBS (because of the poorly sourced Bush national guard story) after the 2004 elections despite Bush telling him repeatedly that he has no authority to fire journalists. It's still questionable whether Putin or the Russian press finally came to understand the true reasons why Rather were fired instead of believing a sinister shadow US government was behind it. I can understand why Russians could be easily lead to believe such things with the invisible hand of Kremlin machinations and total lack of transparency and accountability in Russian government.

Sure, some of the dissidents will surely hit upon some ugly truths about weaknesses of the US system, but the truth will be interspersed with enough conspiratorial myths to make a grand waste of Medvedev's time unless his only objective is to annoy Obama; in which case it will be even more a waste of his time as Obama and other world leaders would probably laugh at Medvedev for mingling with such lunatics.

The only dissident worthy of speaking to is #1 on your list ... from Chomsky he might learn something. But I can't imagine he would learn that much that he isn't already familiar with like weaknesses and hypocrisies of American government, from the shallow trash journalism of American MSM that has a strong Israeli bias, to the disproportionate role of corporate money that influences congress in our plutocracy I can't imagine he would have never heard of such charges. Of course I could be wrong.

Claim that America doesn't have its dissidents is a bit arrogant, in my opinion. Every system has dissidents, if we define them as people "disagreeing ... with an established religious or political system, organization, or belief". (Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online)

AND, ONE NOMINATION:

Recently fired "climate czar" Van Jones -- in my humble opinion -- is a "perfect" dissident. Jones was "forced to resign" because it came to American ruling elite's attention that he had signed a petition calling for further investigation into who was behind the 9/11 attacks.

Man got kicked out of his job because he questioned the system and powerful people didn't like it. Isn't he a dissident now?

If this happened in Russia, I am sure we would give Jones political asylum on the next day -- as we did for those who questioned Kremlin's official version of Beslan incident.

Hey I found your blog today and I really like what I see. I'll be sure to regularly stop in.

I am a 26 year old grad student from Chicago and I have a humble little blog of my own (A Voice in the Wilderness) and here's my latest piece:

rjmoeller.com...et-it-obama/

Keep up the good work. Thanks and God bless!
-RJM

Errr...didn't he kick the bucket years ago? Or is he sealed Lenin-style in his own hermetic see-through coffin? If so, I'm sure Dead Gus Hall would appreciate a visit from the leader of the Motherland.

The biggest (and possibly only ones worthy of taking seriously) dissidents today are the Tea Party protesters. Maybe Putin (or Medvedev's, same difference) should try them.

Oh wait, a good chunk of the Tea Party protesters are convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that Obama is a socialist and they do a lot of complaining over all the czars (a very Russian word) he appointed (ironically, czars were the people ruling Russia before the communists came). The more moderate Tea Party protesters (remaining 99% of them) aren't too hot on Russia either. Sure, there are hostile countries out there that can use the Tea Party dissidents for their own gains. But sorry, Russia is not one of them.

The best the Ruskies have is a gay fish with an inflated ego. And thats not good, because the comrades from on egos and individualism.

1) That meant to be frown, not from.

2) On a more serious note, I see a parallel between Medvedev and Hugo Chavez (and a little bit of Iran's president). Both guys run a country that pretends to be a democracy. And both of these two guys make annoying, outrageous statements, along with vague threats. Chavez likes to talk trash, but I doubt too many people take him seriously. Just like Medvedev. And they're pretty good at finding minor flaws (every country has them, right), and flipping them around to make the US look bad (or try to). Hey, this applies to Iran's president too.

3) Hey, whatever happened to that whole "the US will break into 6 pieces" prediction. I am still waiting for that. Maybe thats where the dissidents come in.

Yes, this is indeed a fabulous idea. I can imagine meeting with Palin. It is true, in today's America Tea Party folks are the true dissidents.

If Obama gets an opportunity to arrange such a meeting, he should do that. There is no greater politics in that:
- First of it will reinforce his credentials are true democrat
- Next, dissidents in America all are opposing any kind of perceived Socialism. So will Medvedev have discourse with them about 'advantages of Capitalist Society'? All that Obama has to say after wards that when Medvedev goes back home, he implements what he hears from these dissidents - better market.
- Finally, the real problem is for dissidents. They can very well oppose Obama and have their diatribe against Obama, but at no point will the cross the line where talk would undermine America as Nation. It is in their political interests to be 'hyper nationalistic' with Medvedev, when the whole race to credibility on Right is all about how much jingoistic one can get.
- This means in the end stock for Obama will further go when at the end of the drama 'cool Obama' essentially presents the fait accompli - that it is 'he' who is holding the 'dam' of 'ultra American nationalism' directed against Russia. That is he is the grown up in the room when dealing with Obama means for Russians, dealing with an already mature adult in the room.

All in all fantastic opportunity for Obama. Let us pray that Medvedev does not back out after the second thought.

Love the comment above, noting the Tea Party whining about overuse of the 'czar' term (which is not Russian per se, but a shortening of the name Caesar). It's not like they were objecting to czars when Bush had a slew of such advisors associated with HIS admin, so it's not like this term was started with Obama admin, and serves as proof-positive of his attempt to overthow America from within. Funny that the czars were the folks overthrown by the communists!

At any rate, how about meeting with any of the right-wing nut-job AM radio infotainers who rail against BO on a daily basis, their American listening public thinking of them as 'journalists'? It doesn't matter which one: you could pick Rush, Hannity, Levin, Savage (who's real last name is Weiner), etc. They're all cut from the same cloth: ranters who serve as mouthpieces for the disenfranchised out-of-power Republican Conservatives (although there's nothing Conservative about their beliefs).

In fact, some consider themselves as conservatives in exile, broadcasting from their underground bunkers from some undisclosed location. These guys are the voice of the paranoid survivalists whom moved to Montana, with their guns, home schooling, MREs, gold bullion, etc.

Although, another good choice dissenter choice might be Michael Vicks, the football player prosecuted and jailed for violating one of America's greatest cultural norms by showing cruelty to pets (dogs), uh, I mean, animals. The poor fool would no doubt in the clear had he only conducted rooster fights or the like.

lol I can only imagine Sarah Palin talking to Medvedev... "you know, I could see your house from my previous workplace! isn't that cool?"

arias has commented above that perhaps Putin never understood that US Presidents do not have the power to sack journalists.

It really is a scary thought that these men are not as clever as we suppose, that their referring to US 'dissidents' is not a pathetic attempt to suggest moral equivalency between the two systems - but in fact a real inability to comprehend the meaning of freedom as it is understood in the west.

Maybe after centuries of autocracy the Russians have simply forgotten what it is.

Freedom is not the natural state of human beings - it could disappear completely from the earth.

The rise of successful economies in countries without freedom such as China makes this a real possibility.