AP Photo

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Google co-founder Sergey Brin explained why his company decided to close its search engine in China. The problem, he explained, is that China reminds him of the country of his birth, the former Soviet Union. After lauding China's "great strides" in reducing poverty, Brin had this to say about Chinese politics: "In some aspects of their policy, particularly with respect to censorship, with respect to surveillance of dissidents, I see the same earmarks of totalitarianism, and I find that personally quite troubling."