Another Sign The Cold War Is REALLY Over

Like most of my friends, I grew up during the heart of the Cold War; sat riveted to the TV, and screamed myself hoarse, when the U.S. hockey team felled the Russians in The Miracle On Ice in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid; and watched countless James Bond films where 007 went head-to-head (or in some cases, fell in love with) with some KGB agent...and usually won. Of course, all of this ended back in 1989-1990 when the Berlin Wall, the ever-present symbol of Communism and Russia's barrier with the West, was destroyed. The rest, as the saying goes, is history...

And as a Communist country, the USSR was well-known and ridiculed for its state-conrolled media outlets, and the endless propaganda churned out by the government, much of it to the detriment of its citizens. PR in the Soviet Union? Fuhgeddabout it. Back then, it was mostly pay for play. However, today, the media environment is dramatically different...

...And that is why this caught my attention today: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in an effort to better communicate with Russians throughout the world, has officially joined Twitter. You can follow him @KremlinRussia.

Even better, Medvedev stopped by Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco to greet senior executives, set up his official account, and send his first Tweet, pictured below:

As of this writing, the president has acquired well over 12,000 followers (including me!). And make sure to check out the blog post from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone about the experience.

BTW, the English translation of the Tweet?: Hello everyone, I'm now on Twitter and this is my first message.