Free Republic

Late on Friday afternoon, people slowly gather at Freedom Square in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, to protest against the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico. This isn't the first rally of its kind being held in Bratislava. The latest series of protests began on December 23, a day after the prime minister's surprise trip to Russia, and have been held at regular intervals ever since. The protesters here agree on one thing: Slovakia does not belong to Russia. And many feel that Fico's pre-Christmas meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow was an act of treason. Fighting for...

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov with members of a Pioneer youth group in Red Square, in this undated photo. President Vladimir Putin's popularity is likely to carry his United Russia party to big gains in parliamentary elections Dec. 7, but the runner-up almost certainly will be the Communist Party, a somewhat modernized reincarnation of the big red machine that once ran the Soviet Union. The Communist Party was briefly banned in the early 1990s, after the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics imploded. But the Communists came back to win the most seats in Russia's 1995 elections. Although they've since lost...