At a public forum on Wednesday, a teacher asked Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev why teachers earn so little while cops earn so much, relatively—according to the Moscow Times, the starting monthly salary for educators is 10,000-15,000 rubles ($150-$225); law enforcement officers earn 50,000 rubles ($750) per month. The teacher tactfully inquired if the government was going to do about that.

As sneaky as Russia's spooks are, they couldn't keep hackers from commandeering the Twitter account of Dmitri Medvedev, Russia's former president and current prime minister, and tweeting a mock resignation and sundry other jokes in the longtime Putin ally's name.

Here's how politics work in Russia: be as corrupt as you want, as long as you keep your mouth shut; but criticize those above you, and they'll use their media lackeys to crush you. Just like America, in other words.

Dmitry Medvedev, the "elected" president of Russia, is touring Silicon Valley companies this week. At Apple tomorrow, say Russian reports, the Mac enthusiast will get a pre-release iPhone 4 as a personal gift from CEO Steve Jobs. Appropriate.