Open Access and "false" History

A Russian perspective. From the St Petersburg Times.

[Dmitry]Medvedev’s commission “for counteracting attempts to falsify history to the detriment of Russia’s interests” is headed by presidential chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin, who will control which documents remain classified and which ones are opened to the public. There are many reasons to be concerned that the documents most essential to an open and honest study and discussion of Russian and Soviet history will remain locked up.

Interesting stuff here.

The Russian Credit Crunch?

"Well, you know, what did Karl Marx say?" he said. "Money creates taste. I think there's a relationship. I'm not sure exactly if it's the money. But [with] the number of people collecting now, the artists feel that there is more of a potential audience critically, commercially and so on. And that draws out talent, usually. I'm not sure. I think a lot about the same thing."

Anthony Haden-Guest on art dealer Larry Gagosian in Moscow selling art.