Olli and Najib, meet Craig. PaidContent.org reports that the quasi-socialist online classifieds service has added another 100 cities to its lineup. "The U.S. expansion covers 72 new markets from Akron/Canton, Ohio to Yakima, Wash.., including nine in Texas," -- as well as 28 international sites including Beirut and Helsinki.

According to the Wall Street Journal's Brian Carney, who broke the news in a weekend interview with Craisglist CEO Jim Buckmaster, the expansion represents a doubling of Craislist's U.S. market presence. "Since its founding," writes Carney in his best line, "Craigslist has been aggressively passive (newspapermen might say passively aggressive) about monetizing its huge audience and user base."

That passive aggression -- Craigslist's longstanding reluctance to splash advertising all over the website or charge fees for anything but a few listing categories -- is about to hit the good folks at the once highly profitable Akron Beacon Journal, who were no doubt just getting back to work after getting sold off by erstwhile parent Knight Ridder. Things could be worse: They could be working at Beirut's Daily Star. Compared to the prospect of Syrian meddling in the newsroom, a little competition from Craigslist might not look so bad.