Mostafa Hussein, another blogger and activist, pointed out, simply, "2011 is an exceptional year".
Yury Saprykin, a journalist and opposition activist, points to the work of Ulitskaya, Eduard Limonov and Zakhar Prilepin.
As one activist points out, when the government's critics are cowed, the corruption and inefficiency Mr Badawi says he is battling are sure to thrive.
In front of the opulent house of a prominent Beydane journalist, an activist pointed out a shack, which was empty except for a rudimentary mat.
But, as one activist pointed out to me, this in itself is a measure of men's freedom when compared with women's.
The e-mail's reference to Mr. Vilks, a 64-year-old artist and free-speech activist, pointed to the deep anger in the Muslim world over Mr. Vilks' drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in 2007.
"This is where bird lakes are supposed to be," says Svetlana, a local activist, pointing to a pile of dirt.The whole place resembles nothing so much as a Communist-era construction project.
On the edge of the border town of Diantan in Yingjiang's neighbouring county of Tengchong, a Burmese activist points to dilapidated wooden houses where refugees are renting cheap accommodation.
"Right here, this tells you everything you need to know about this area and how it has changed," said Cesar A. Ruiz, a longtime resident and political activist, pointing out the Hispanic businesses in and around downtown Port Chester.
One activist pointed out that the Compass group was well placed to capitalise from any vacuum in leadership after the next election, since its "brand" had been kept untarnished: "You've got to remember we have never been in government".
