Apparently, President Medvedev was impressed by the “free spirit” he found during his visit to California. And now, he wants to “import” it into what Russia hails as their version of Silicone Valley. Best of luck, Mr. Put Medv Putvedev- aside from the choreographed and scripted orgasmic flashes of admiration of  Mr. Putvedev himself, the concept of “free spirit” is generally associated with a result of distillery, not a philosophical and social concept.

Andre Geim, this year’s Nobel Prize laureate in Physics, poured some cold water on the overheated russian PR machine which was flying colors along the lines of “Russian scientists win Nobel Prize”:

“…in an interview with “Ekho Moskvy,” the Sochi-born Geim — who holds a Dutch passport and works at a British university — said he had no intention of becoming Skolkovo’s poster boy.

‘It’s stupid to import big names,” he said. “You need to grow your own.'”

Yes, this year’s Nobel prize laureates were born in Russia, and while one could credit the education system they went through as the main contributing factor, that system doesn’t exist anymore, and no misguided attempts to resurrect it will help.

Unfortunately, “growing your own” would take time, and time-consuming investments are not very popular among politicians.