Russia wasn’t always a KGB police state. Putin’s government squeezed the free press by attacking individual journalists, presenters, programs and then the owners of media enterprises. Independent journalists faced libel and defamation lawsuits. A few high-profile people got shaken down and everyone else got the message. In Russia, you can’t go on TV and make fun of the president or his favorites. The president of the United States and the Federal Communications Commission just bullied an independent network into dropping a show because they didn’t like what the host, Jimmy Kimmel, had to say.