From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Is the new Russia looking a lot like the old?

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

The U.S. may not want to resume the Cold War, but Vladimir Putin's Russia shows signs of

returning to Soviet-style authoritarianism. The Kremlin is taking over powerful industries in the media.

Political critics, business rivals, and reporters have been murdered in mysterious circumstances.

This weekend, Putin used an international forum to berate the U.S.

for destabilizing the world by ignoring international law.

On to the point, the Bush administration's playing it down,

but what does Putin's aggressiveness mean, at home and abroad?

On reporter's notebook letter on, Politics and the Dixie Chicks.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation

and the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Vladimir Putin,

berated the U.S. this weekend in terms that echoed the Cold War. Is the new Russia looking

more like the old? On To the Point, we'll look at Kremlin takeovers of energy and the media. What about

imprisonment and mysterious killings of

business rivals and political critics? On reporter's notebook, The Dixie Chicks and the politics of pop

...