According to the data published on the Kosovo Central Election Commission website, slightly more than 1.5 million voters were registered. On election day, 2,256 polling stations were opened for them. Thirty-seven political parties, 19 civil initiatives and 16 independent candidates competed for the vote. The elections were monitored by nearly 22,000 observers, who had clearly turned a blind eye to the events; they came from 15 countries that have already opened their embassies in Pristina.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided to abstain from monitoring this election, clearly realizing that its objective assessment would be too unflattering. Meanwhile, the international organization cannot afford to produce any biased reports due to the fact that, in Europe, the reform of the OSCE is being actively discussed.

Of Kosovo’s 38 municipalities, 33 did not bother the election organizers. There, everything has been resolved – the majority of the Albanian population had decided on their preferences long ago. The situation is quite different with the remaining five municipalities, which are mainly inhabited by Serbs. They have been residing in these communities with their own municipal government, which had been elected in 2008 during elections organized by the Serbian authorities.

Now they are being asked to come to the polls and vote for the people who will continue receiving their salaries from Pristina. In other words, it is proposed that a parallel government be created on Serbian-controlled territories. The result of this is not hard to guess – a new interethnic conflict.

The situation was so volatile that two of the five Serb municipalities of Pristina quite wisely decided to abstain from holding municipal elections, saying that elections will be postponed until a later time. But not everything was quite as simple with the remaining three municipalities.

They are inhabited by a multiethnic population. Moreover, nearly a dozen political parties that swear to protect the interests of the Serbs have been created just for these elections. Meanwhile, polls commissioned by Pristina show that up to 25% of those residing in these three municipalities are Serbs who believe these promises. However, data from Belgrade pointed to more than 5% of Serbs coming to the polls.

It will be clear whether that is true or not after the votes are counted. In any case, the logic behind the actions of the authorities in Kosovo is clear: by trying to persuade the Serbs in the three municipalities to take part in the elections, they are hoping that this will set an example for the residents in the remaining two -- and most “rebellious” -- Serb communities.

However, Belgrade is convinced that Pristina will not accomplish much. According to the State Secretary for Kosovo and Metohija, Oliver Ivanovic, Serbs elected into the Kosovo municipal structures will become “puppets, carrying out other people's orders.” He is convinced that the Serbs of Kosovo understand this perfectly. But how much longer are they willing to live in complete isolation? Perhaps the Serbs in Kosovo are ready to fight for their rights in their homeland through democratic processes.

There is no doubt that that is just what is expected in Pristina. But who could guarantee that the elections in Kosovo were fair? No one.

“There are no conditions for the participation of Serbs in these elections,” says Goran Bogdanovic, Minister for Kosovo and Metohija. “The Serbs will not achieve anything by showing up at the polls.”

And it isn’t the residents of the five municipalities that disagree with the Albanization of the territory, but the authorities of Pristina, who have to prove the people otherwise.

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Political analysts and members of the CEC made a prediction that there will be 30 or more contenders in the presidential race before the race began. They proved to have amazing insight: 18 people managed to register, and nearly 20 people were denied participation in the race.

At least today, all Ukrainian presidential candidates can be split into three categories: “those who truly want power,” “the others,” and those who can be classified under “political humor.”

At the end of the day, it will be two candidates fighting for presidency: the incumbent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. According to sociologists, the latter has the best chances of winning.

Yanukovich is well known and it would be difficult to add something new to his image. He continues to support friendly relations with Russia and promises to do “everything in his power” to give the Russian language the status of an official second language of Ukraine. Yanukovich does not make any sudden movements, does not subject himself to smear tactics, and criticizes the “orange” Ukraine. Against the backdrop of the crisis and the epidemic, his position is seen as an island of serenity in the stormy seas. “Land for the people” – this slogan describes the entire program of the main candidate, which makes perfect sense: Ukrainians have never read into political declarations.

Tymoshenko has been leading her campaign in the usual mode, concentrating on her ministerial work. "It works. It is Ukraine” – this is the main slogan of the Prime Minister, although today it is working against her. One does not have to be an economist to notice that Ukraine is, in fact, working badly, since the crisis is felt so strongly there.

Arseny Yatsenyuk -- ex-speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, former foreign minister, leader of the social movements Front for Change, Wunderkind and Ukrainian Obama -- does not have a definitive opinion on the other presidential candidates. Today he does not have any real chance of passing into the second round; in the polls, he lags behind both Tymoshenko and Yanukovich. Nevertheless, sociologists include him in surveys as a potential participant in the second round. Yatsenyuk is perhaps the only one who has a strategic (and thus a very general) long-term program of the country’s development. Its main advantage: it is the same for both the eastern and western parts of the country.

Viktor Yushchenko – the current president. Today in Ukraine it is difficult to find a person who has discredited himself more or who angers the general population as much as he. His rating fluctuates somewhere within a range of arithmetic error, and his emotional statements cause a wave of mockery from the media, which in the past had been loyal to the president. His main goal is to prevent Tymoshenko’s victory. Thus today he is being considered as a “technical candidate” together with Yanukovich and Yatsenyuk.

Vladimir Litvin, speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. Sociologists gave him a maximum of 7%, which gives him a great chance of increasing his quota in the parliament and allows for the opportunity to bargain for the preservation of his post as speaker. His primary constituent body lives in rural areas in the north and center of Ukraine. His main slogan is: “The country needs Litvin.”

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At last, a united Europe will select a permanent representative, also known as President of the EU, and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, or, simply put, an EU foreign minister.

Presidential elections in the Old World proved to be difficult. Despite the ongoing closed-door talks between EU leaders, the intrigue is being saved until the last moment.

At a first glance, the pool of candidates does not look very large, although it is quite difficult to find candidates’ policies that will be supported by the leaders of all 27 European countries. Thus, it is still not clear as to which candidate will become a passable figure.

While in the beginning of the presidential race there were 15 politicians running, currently there are five promising candidates who are approaching the finish line: former English and Spanish prime ministers Tony Blair and Felipe Gonzalez, as well as Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxemburg, Belgian Herman Van Rompuy and Dutch Jan Peter Balkenende, all three currently in office, and former Irish President Mary Robinson.

To date, Van Rompuy, the head of the Belgian cabinet, is the most favored among the candidates. Only his candidacy -- being the most neutral and unnoticed in one of the two main political camps of Europe, which are led by France and Germany -- may not cause as many disputes and contradictions among the European leaders. The geographical factor also plays in favor of Van Rompuy: Belgium does not formally relate to Nordic or Southern European countries of the EU.

However, Van Rompuy’s so-called transition from Belgium to Europe may result in a political crisis in Belgium. In the six months of his leading the federal government, he was able to provide a relative level of domestic stability, which played a role in promoting inter-regional dialogue. Now, changing the head of the cabinet could result in new destructive political processes related to the shift in the established balance of power in the country.

Meanwhile, general opinion about each candidate may be summarized as follows:

Tony Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain, member of the Labor Party

FOR: Is the most charismatic of the candidates, enjoys a high level of popularity in Europe.

AGAINST: His close relations with Washington and providing extensive support in the war in Iraq to a non-European country.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, chairman of Eurogroup, a Christian Democrat

FOR: Is well-versed in matters of domestic policy of the European Union, better than anyone else knows the principles and nuances of the EU, has publicly demonstrated his readiness to become president of a united Europe.

AGAINST: Has a lack of popularity in Europe and is an active supporter of federalism.

Felipe Gonzalez, former prime minister of Spain, a Socialist

FOR: Is a symbol of Spain’s successful accession into the EU in 1986, continues to enjoy the trust of leading European politicians, was appointed chairman of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe.

AGAINST: His election as president of the EU would lead to an excessive “Iberian presence” in the EU leadership.

Jan Peter Balkenende, prime minister of the Netherlands, a Christian Democrat

FOR: Has great amount of leadership experience, has a close relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and is seen as the best alternative to Tony Blair.

AGAINST: Supporter of the war in Iraq, has weak oratory skills.

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Ginzburg’s speeches were always awaited with great impatience during Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) general meetings. He was able to say all that was on his mind to its directors – without any regard to post or rank. When his colleagues asked him, “Why?” and said that he would not change anything and that this is simply quixotic, he answered, “Someone needs to tell them”. And, every year he continued to rise on the podium.

“The most important thing for our scientific sphere – is the election of the Academy members,” he said. “I have been working in the Academy since the 1940s and have many times participated in the elections. I do not remember them leaving me with a good feeling, because the elected academicians and corresponding members often were far from the best. I am convinced that members need to be elected solely based on their scientific achievements. Any other arguments or criteria such as: ‘we need a director’ or ‘we must give way to young’, should not be considered. Being an academician – is having an honorable recognition of scientific merits; it isn’t a title that is earned for holding an administrative position. I am convinced that the role of the Academy’s members should in no case be exaggerated.”

In Ginzburg’s opinion, that it exactly what led to the unnecessary expansion of the RAS. In 1984, for example, 249 academicians worked for the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, today, there are about 500. Meanwhile, Russia’s population is roughly half of what it was during the Soviet Union. In other words, the, so to speak, per capita number of academicians has nearly quadrupled. This means that the number of scientists who “have enriched our field of science with efforts of paramount importance” should increase proportionally. According to the Charter of the RAS, these are the types of people who should be elected academicians. “Of course, this would all be very funny, only if it weren’t so sad,” said Ginzburg.

He just as stubbornly continued to publicly protest pseudoscience, though it caused many of his colleagues to smile. And when former communists held candles and marched into churches, Ginzburg was practically the only one who openly declared his atheism. His position was very clear: faith - is a free choice and the right of every person. But, the scientist was against the teaching of religion, including in schools. Officially, the basis of religion is belief in miracles, with he could not accept. “Miracles are contrary to science,” he repeated time after time.

He confessed that he became a theoretician by accident. “Mathematics hadn’t been my strong field, and I believed that I would make a lousy theorist,” recalled Ginzburg. “Moreover, I suffered from an inferiority complex. But, one day, I presented one of my ideas to an already well-known scientist, Igor Tamm. He displayed a genuine interest in me. He literally infected me with his enthusiasm while asking me to come and talk about my work. I was inspired and began a new life.”

Ginzburg tried to continue holding on to these feelings of mutual goodwill after Tamm became the head of the Theoretical Department of the P.N. Lebedev Institute of Physics (FIAN). In all the years, there had not been an incident of alleged co-authorship within the group. But when the authorities recommended to “surrender” dissident Andrei Sakharov, who was an employee of the department, and to exclude him from the Institute, physicists not only resisted but visited the disgraced scientist in Gorky.

Ginzburg’s character and his inner freedom were manifested during the Stalin era as well, when he made an extraordinary act by marrying a former prisoner. In the 1950s he fell under the ideological compactor. Then, began the struggle against cosmopolitanism. “I think, I may face consequences for saying this, but the hydrogen bomb was what saved us,” he recalled. “It seemed anecdotic: the wife was sent into exile, the husband was a cosmopolitan, yet he was asked to conduct top-secret work. Though, in those days, specialists had been brought from the death camps to work. Stalin needed the bomb.” Ginzburg received the State Stalin Prize for his contributions to its creation. He was a member of many scientific societies such as: the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the European Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of Denmark, India, etc. In 2003, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Science, which was the pinnacle of world recognition for his fundamental work on the theory of superconductivity.

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These events and their development were made possible by the changes that began to take place in the mid-1980s. We began these changes because it was time. They were demanded by the people, who no longer wanted to live in limiting conditions, isolated from the rest of the world.
Within just a few years – for history, this is a very short period of time – the basic structures of the totalitarian system had been dismantled; new conditions for democratic processes and economic reforms were created. Having done that in our country, we could not stand in the way of similar processes taking place in the neighboring countries.

We did not impose any changes on them. I have told leaders of the countries of the Warsaw Pact from the very beginning: we need Perestroika, and will be reforming our country. You decide what it is that you feel you need to do. You bare responsibility before your people. We will not intervene.

In essence, this was a rejection of the so-called “Brezhnev Doctrine”, the concept of “limited sovereignty”. Initially, these words were met with skepticism, as yet another formal statement of yet another Secretary General. But, we upheld this commitment. For this reason, the 1989-1990 events in Europe – including the complicated process of reunification of Germany –took place peacefully, and no blood was shed.

In the summer of 1989, during my visit to Germany, journalists asked me and Chancellor Kohl about the possibility of the reunification of Germany. I answered that this problem arose in the course of history and will be resolved with further historical developments. When? Probably in the 21st century, we both answered.

Some could say that we made lousy prophets. The reunification took place much earlier than predicted. It happened by the will of the German people, and not because Gorbachev or Kohl wanted it to happen. In America, President Reagan’s appeal is often remembered: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” But, how could one man do so? Besides, there had been another position: “Save this wall!”

When millions of people in the East and West Germany demanded unification, we had to act responsibly. And leaders of European countries and the U.S. took on this responsibility. As a result, we managed to overcome doubts and fears – there were many, that’s natural – as well as to avoid redrawing borders and maintain mutual trust. Thus, we drew the final line under the Cold War.

But, not everything was going as hoped after the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War, including in Germany. The division of Germany, which lasted forty years, led to gaps in spiritual and societal spheres, which are much harder to overcome than economic differences. Germans from the former East Germany realized that the Federal Republic of Germany is far from perfect, especially its welfare system. However, despite all of the “fusion”-related problems, Germans managed to make the unified Germany a dignified, strong and a peaceful member of the community of nations.

Those who shaped the world and, particularly European policies, managed the newly available opportunities much more poorly. As a result, in Europe the main issue remains unresolved – creation of a sound security system.

Immediately after the end of the Cold War we discussed new security mechanisms on our continent. We talked about a possible Security Council of Europe or a “branch” that has a real and wide authority.

These proposals were put forward by the USSR, Germany, and the United States.
Unfortunately, events headed along a different trajectory, which affected all European institutions and slowed down the process of the creation of a united Europe. In place of the old dividing lines, new ones appeared. Europe experienced war and bloodshed.

Lack of trust and outdated stereotypes remain. Russia is being suspected of evil and even aggressive imperial intentions. I was amazed at the June letter written by the politicians of Central and Eastern Europe, which was addressed to President Obama. It basically was a call to abandon the policy of cooperation with Russia. It's a shame that European politicians did not consider the disastrous consequences that may take place in the event of a new confrontation.
At the same time, discussions about the responsibility for the outbreak of the Second World War, which equate the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany, are imposed on Europe. Such attempts are historically and morally reprehensible, and they contradict the truth.

Those who want to build a new wall of mutual mistrust and hostility in Europe do a disfavor to their countries, and to Europe as a whole. After all, it can become a strong factor in world development, but only if it can become a home to all Europeans – from the East and the West Europe.

How this goal could be reached

The trajectory course that was taken in 1990 led to an accelerated expansion of the European Union. I am not questioning the achievements of this process. They are real. But, not everything had been carefully thought out. Expectations that all of the continent's problems will be solved by only building up Western Europe have been overstated.

Some additional time to develop a model for relations between Russia and other countries, which will not become EU members in the foreseeable future, would have provided a more balanced pace for the unification processes of Europe.

Clearly, the model of relations with other European countries, which had been based on their rapid “absorption” into the EU and left the relationship with Russia in a shaky, uncertain state – has exhausted itself.

However it seems that, in Europe, not everyone is ready to admit this. We have the right to pose the question: is this uncertainty in some way related to a reluctance to participate in Russia’s revival? What kind of Russia do you need – a strong and truly independent Russia, or simply a supplier of resources that “knows its place”?

In Europe, unfortunately, there are many politicians who would like to impose an unequal model of relations with Russia: a “teacher – student” or “prosecutor – defendant” type of a model, which Russia will not accept. It wants to be understood. We stand for equality and mutually advantageous cooperation.

We can cope with the hardships that history brings our way – such as security challenges, economic, environmental, and migration crises – only by transforming the world, and firstly European, politics and economy. I urge all Europeans to objectively, and in a constructive manner, consider the newly proposed European security treaty by the Russian president. Having solved this problem, Europe will be able to speak in full voice.

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“The measures that have been enforced in the region are adequate in the current situation,” he said. “Quarantine, which had been introduced in schools since October 20, prohibition to hold large public events, and introduction of a mask regime, significantly reduced the number of infections. Moreover, drug supplies are constantly monitored in the region; an additional number of beds has been provided by the hospitals. So, those who are infected, have the opportunity to receive necessary treatment.”

The head of Rospotrebnadzor noted that working hours at clinics have been extended to 9:00 p.m. and shuttle buses are being used as additional emergency vehicles. According to him, these methods can successfully be implemented in other regions. And, according to the head of Rospotrebnadzor, doctors cannot be held responsible for the lethal cases (remember that three women have died from swine flu in the Trans-Baikal Krai).

“These patients were engaged in self-treatment; and, at the time they sought professional help, it was simply too late. Highly pathogenic influenza is a disease that calls for meticulous treatment.”

Swine flu vaccinations are expected to begin in early November, almost a month ahead of schedule. Representatives of the Irkutsk bacterial preparations factory – a branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, Microgen – told Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG) that the first batches of A/H1N1 vaccine are ready and are being packaged. Ten million doses are expected to be produced by the end of the year. In Irkutsk, live vaccine is being produced, which can be used intranasally. The drug immediately creates a protective barrier, because the flu virus is transmitted through airborne droplets.

In Irkutsk, the vaccine will not be found in pharmacies; instead it will be administered in clinics. The first to be vaccinated are children and pregnant women, then those who are in high-risk categories - health workers and social workers, schoolchildren and students, as well as military personnel and transport system personnel.

Meanwhile

Of the five deaths caused by the A/H1N1 virus that have been reported so far in Russia, four occurred in Siberia. As of November 2, more than 700 cases of swine flu have been recorded in the Siberian Federal District. The epidemic is spreading rapidly. Two days ago, 31 new cases were recorded in the Novosibirsk Oblast. Victims are mainly children under the age of 17.

The highly pathogenic flu arrived in Siberia from the East -- according to most experts, from China.

According to recent statistics, in the Saratov Oblast, there were 41 people infected with swine flu, most of them children. The diagnosis has been confirmed. The outbreak of the virus occurred before the school holidays. Currently, High School Number 1 and School Number 83 are under quarantine. However, the Deputy Head of Rospotrebnadzor, Galina Babich, told RG that swine flu wasn’t the reason for the quarantine, but the fact that in both schools, the percentage of SARS cases had exceeded 30%.

In Kuzbass, laboratory tests confirmed six residents to be infected with the A/H1N1 virus: five kids aged 11 to 17 years and one five-year-old child. They are all from the Tisulsky district. According to Rospotrebnadzor, 10 people sought help from the Central District Hospital in Bolshoy Berchikul, but swine flu had not been confirmed in four of the patients.

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One of the suggestions is to leave the godfathers without a penny to their name. Italian Minister of Justice, Angelino Alfano – who met with Alexandr Konovalov and Russia’s Prosecutor General, Yuri Chaika, in Moscow yesterday – shared information on the technologies that will enable law enforcement agencies to do this.

“In any country, organized crime is focused on obtaining illegal profits,” said Angelino Alfano. “Therefore, a strategy for combating organized crime, which has been very successful in Italy, had been formulated at the last G8 summit.”

According to Alfano, Italian law-enforcement agents confiscated €5 billion worth of property from mafia bosses.

Another €1 billion of liquid assets was confiscated from the godfathers and their subordinates. It’s highly unlikely that Russian organized crime leaders are poorer than their Italian counterparts. Confiscation of assets could also be a good method of fighting corruption, as well. The know-how of Italian law-enforcement officials includes implementing the confiscated funds from the mafia to fight the very same mafia. Russia's Ministry of Justice is currently considering Italy’s regulatory framework.

According to Alexandr Konovalov, a global approach in the fight against organized crime should be the destruction of its financial base and confiscation of its property.

Interestingly, Russia and Italy share many common problems in their legal sphere, such as lengthy civil trials and overcrowded jails. Therefore, law-enforcement agencies of the two countries are considering the experience of alternative punishments. And Italy is interested in our court proceedings where video conferencing has been implemented.

Yesterday, the Russian Minister of Justice also disclosed the details of a bill on federal compensation to victims of terrorist attacks. According to Konovalov, there will not be a uniform formula for calculating the compensations following all terrorist acts. Meanwhile, the state will focus on the practices of the European Court of Human Rights, so victims of terrorist attacks should receive payments comparable to the European payments. Thus, the most difficult negotiations regarding the bill are yet to come in the Ministry of Finance.

Direct Conversation:

Alexandr Konovalov, Minister of Justice of Russia:

“The program, which we are preparing for final approval, involves concrete and pragmatic steps. We believe that this collaboration will be greatly beneficial for our countries and promote cooperation between our peoples.

”Italy and Russia will study the outcomes of draft legislation that uses innovative technologies in the field of justice. Another important issue is alternative methods of delivering judicial orders in criminal cases. In this aspect, Russia and Italy share some common problems – exceedingly lengthy civil court trials and overcrowded jails.

“The experience of our Italian colleagues in the fight against organized crime also inspires respect. Organized crime requires a united and technologically advanced response from law enforcement agencies, as well as respect for the rule of law and due process.

The fight against organized crime should be carried out comprehensively and systemically.”

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Third, both countries, Serbia and Russia, are in need of close cooperation – above all in the natural gas sector. Following the talks, a protocol and an agreement were signed on the creation of a joint venture between Gazprom and Srbijagas. One of the companies will design, build and operate the Serbian section of the gas pipeline, South Stream, another, will build and operate an underground storage facility of 450 million cubic meters of gas.

Kosovo became the special focus of the talks. The Kosovo issue remains unresolved, says the Russian president. According to him, even after “a number of tragic mistakes” had been made, Russia finds it necessary to “continue to prove step by step that an alternative to legal arbitrariness still exists”. According to Dmitry Medvedev, “Serbia has the last word, without which, no one can claim that the Kosovo issue has been resolved.” Russia will continue to take part in this decision “in accordance with the agreed upon with the Serbian counterpart formula: Belgrade makes the initiative, and we, in turn, support it”.

Belgrade did display an initiative: Serbian authorities asked the UN International Court of Justice to give consideration to whether the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo as a sovereign state is in accordance with the international law. Serbia is calling the UN member states to abstain from recognizing Kosovo’s independence at least until The Hague has rendered its verdict. After having received the Serbian request, the International Court proposed the UN member states express their views on the issue in writing. Thirty-six countries responded, including Russia. In Serbia, the following event is emphasized: only six countries of the UN General Assembly voted against the proposal to consider the legitimacy of a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence.

A hearing is scheduled for December 1. Belgrade is counting on Russia's promised support. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Moscow believes that “the unilateral actions of the Kosovo-Albanian authorities are not in line with the international law as well as the Security Council Resolution 1244, which remains a key document defining the parameters of the resolution of the Kosovo issue”.

To date, the self-proclaimed Kosovo has been recognized by 62 countries. Those who refused to do so were Russia, China, India, and a number of other influential countries. In the upcoming hearings, their position is clear and their approaches to the problem may only slightly differ. For example, China, itself, has a few weak points: Taiwan, Uighur, and Tibet. India has a dire situation in Tamil Nadu in the south and Punjab in the north. So, both of these countries are sympathetic to Serbia, for which the hearings at the Hague are an attempt to show to the world that it has not come to terms with the loss of Kosovo. If Serbia does decide to accept this, it will only happen when it decides that accession into the EU, and a full-fledged membership with the Western community is more important than the hope of restoring its own government within the previous boundaries.

What will Belgrade do if The Hague, contrary to all expectations, suddenly decides to meet Serbia half-way? In Serbia, some say that they could once-again make an attempt at dividing Kosovo between Serbia and Albania and grant the northern region a great amount of autonomy. Some feel an exchange would be possible: Belgrade would get the northern part of Kosovo, and Pristina – Serbia’s three northern districts where the majority of residents are ethnic Albanians: Medveda, Presevo and Bujanovac. But a countless number of such proposals has already been considered. If Belgrade wants to resume negotiations on Kosovo’s status, then the International Court of Justice is the best option. The West certainly does not want to drown itself in a swamp of consultations, agreements, and debates regarding Kosovo. They had finally gotten rid of this headache – why go back to this issue?

It’s unlikely that the International Court will be able legally justify the apparent breach of international law; so, the verdict is likely to be hazy, neutral, and something that would be acceptable to both parties. However, all decisions of the International Court are advisory and not binding. Neither will this verdict have a legal effect. Though, perhaps Serbia will be able to receive the moral and political satisfaction.
So, what is currently happening in Kosovo? People are sobering. The enthusiasm that was inflamed during the recognition of their independence has subsided markedly. The self-proclaimed state, where 15% of the population suffers from hunger, and 40% live in extreme poverty, is facing some serious economic problems. There isn’t enough electrical energy; infrastructure is in a dreadful state; gasoline and food prices are quickly rising. Albanians are dissatisfied with their government and believe that it has not ensured a wide international support for the country.

Today, there are 16,000 KFOR (NATO’s Kosovo Force) peacekeepers and UN civilian police of the UNMIK (UN Mission in Kosovo), which has a broad range of authority, operating in Kosovo. In Pristina, there are more than 200,000 EULE (EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) representatives. It’s not clear how the new hierarchy of international command looks like in Kosovo, or who is actually in charge of it.
People continue to lose their lives in the clashes between local Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. Self-proclaimed independence requires sacrifice – just as does the desire of a country to counter an attack on its territorial integrity. In both cases, the policymakers are faced with the decision to either accept the course of history, or try to change it at any cost, including the cost of human lifes. Leaders of breakaway republics and countries, who are not willing to sacrifice so much as an inch of their territory, often choose the latter. That is, they choose bloody battles. Passionate appeal to the international standards (which are dichotomous: on the one hand, there is the principle inviolability of state borders, on the other - the right of nations to self-determination), suddenly looses significance. Recognizing Kosovo’s independence – is a problem for the world community. The problem that the Serbs and Kosovars must deal with is whether they will survive or disappear in a senseless confrontation. Is the only negative thing in the Kosovo case the fact that the Basque Region, Tibet, Taiwan and so on, will follow the laid-out path? Imagine the unthinkable: they too will get recognition from the U.S. and some EU countries. Yet, in the absence of any other foundation, their self-proclaimed independence will be supported with people’s blood.

The Kosovo issue has not been settled. And will continue to be unresolved for a long time. Such issues are resolved by history. In some cases, it takes centuries.

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The first person to submit his documents was 36-year-old Oleg Ryabokon. He was once the founder of a large law firm connected to deputies from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT). Ukrainian experts say that the emergence of the unknown debutant is not as important as the observers who, on election day, will be protecting the interests of another candidate.

But, it isn’t only the “technical candidates” who submit their autobiographies to the CEC. Yesterday, people who actually have a chance of participating in the redistribution of power in Ukraine submitted their official applications – they are Anatoly Gritsenko, former defense minister who acknowledges that his being elected is doubtful, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former speaker of the parliament who has maintained a third place in the leaders’ presidential race. They both chose to follow the path of self-nomination and will pay an electoral pledge of 2.5 million hryvnas (about $300,000).

At the same time, leaders who won the popular preference – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich – are not in a hurry to make their claims to the presidency official. To do so, they will need to go through the ritual of the official nomination by their political forces: self-nomination and electoral pledges would be degrading to their status in the eyes of the voters. The pre-election congress of the Party of Regions will be held on Friday, October 23, in Kiev. Yulia Tymoshenko will gather her Batkivshchyna Party the following day. Yesterday, the Ukrainian People’s Party officially nominated speaker of the parliament Vladimir Litvin for president. Also, the leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Peter Simonenko (who had united four parties), received approval for nomination from the bloc of the Left and Center-Left forces, though he still has not reached the electoral commission. And it is still unknown as to when the pro-presidential Our Ukraine Party plans to meet in order to nominate Viktor Yushchenko. According to the head of the Presidential Secretariat, Vera Ulyanchenko, the congress may take place from November 1 to 8.

The deadline for the candidates to submit their documents is November 6. The CEC will spend the following week finalizing the electoral list, appealing denials, and correcting any discrepancies in the filed documents. In total, according to the CEC, at least three dozen people have expressed their desire to participate in the election.

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Each center will focus on its financial niche. In order for them to successfully cooperate and support one another, an agreement should be made on the countries’ legal framework and technical nuances. Experts, bankers and government officials will discuss possible solutions during the Second International Banking Conference of the CIS member countries, which starts today in Baku.

Remember that the concept for creation of an international financial center in Moscow has already been confirmed by the Russian government. Similar plans are now being actively pushed forward in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Pavel Nefidov, general director of the Financial and Banking Council of the CIS, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Moreover, all three countries are convinced that building a strong financial infrastructure will help attract new capital flows and reduce economic dependence on the actions of speculators.

These centers will help attract investors to other CIS countries and become a source of resources for the implementation of joint projects. Note that during the financial crisis, all CIS countries encountered a large-scale outflow of foreign capital, which fueled their economic growth and banking system, as well as a devaluation of local currencies.

The financial centers should attract long-term and sustainable investments. Baku has great prospects for the formation of a regional center designed for the Caspian states. Almaty may become a center for the countries of Central Asia, and Moscow for European countries, suggested Nefidov.

But such specialization need not exclude some healthy competition between the three centers, he noted -- “Investors must have a choice,” Nefidov said. At the same time, conditions for trhe free flow of capital across borders must be created. For this reason, legislation of the three countries should be reviewed, plans compared, and the technological compatibility of the systems evaluated.

The international financial centers may help resolve another issue: the gradual transition of the CIS countries into doing business in their national currencies. This scheme decreases dependability on volatile currencies, stabilizes local currencies and saves money. Today, on the territory of the CIS, no more than 30% of all transactions are done in local currencies, estimates Nefidov.

Banks of the CIS are forced to make corresponding relations through New York and Frankfurt; even the rates of the so-called “soft” currencies are determined based on the dollar. The discussions about making a shift toward using local currencies have been ongoing for a long time. Meanwhile, the financial crisis had severely shaken the dependability of the dollar. This situation may encourage the CIS countries to take more decisive steps. The CIS Interstate Bank will in the near future present its initiative to become the operator of transactions in local currencies, says Nefidov.

However, in order to build financial centers and trade in national currencies, all CIS countries will have to get rid of the banking problems that have resulted from the crisis. These are common difficulties: increasing bad debts, decreasing lending portfolios and a growing number of unprofitable banks. Kazakhstan was the first country hit by the crisis; problems in its banking sector emerged several months before Russia’s. Many experts believe that it is possible to predict the future situation in Russia by looking at Kazakhstan.

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Unfortunately, in Russia such stories are common, as they happen on a daily basis. What feeds this national hatred is unknown. Sociologists are the best-prepared to answer this question. “Social inferiority complex is rapidly growing in modern Russia,” says Lev Gudkov, head of the Levada Center. “But, characteristically, it is not social in nature, but is expressed in the form of national resentment and feelings of oppression by other ethnic groups. Then myths about the predominance of blacks, Azeris, Roma, etc. begin to emerge.”

According to sociologists, 20% of Russia’s population suffers from chronic hostility towards “non-Russians”. There are many reasons for this. Here is one of them: “patriotic” press and gossip create a false impression that expensive homes and Russian land are being bought only by migrants from Central Asia or the Caucasus. When in reality, these people [buyers] may be from the many residents of the Tyumen region or other wealthy regions of Russia. Yet Russians often explain their domestic and social problems by the invasion of “non-Russians”. Another common misconception is that markets are run by foreigners. In fact, every newcomer is under control. Every rich national minority in Moscow has someone who sponsors them. So, markets are not controlled by the “massive inflow of migrants” – there are plenty of local ringleaders.

A war against xenophobia has been declared by the Public Chamber. This war’s program includes forty-nine clauses. The number of the given recommendations inadvertently leads one to reflect on their quality. For example, it is proposed that policemen should pass an assessment of their knowledge of inter-ethnic problems. But, according to sociologists, the level of xenophobia among the police is higher than among the general population. These feelings don’t only prevail among the general population, but in law enforcement practices. Special treatment of “persons of Caucasian nationality”, which was demonstrated in the events of Dubrovka [Nord Ost Theater siege], explosions in the capital's subway, and other terrorist attacks, continues to be in force. Policemen, in confidential conversations, admit that every Department of Internal Affairs has a plan of action regarding LKN (“persons of Caucasian nationality”): arrest, deportation and imprisonment.

This is how xenophobia looks like in a police uniform.

Someone thinks that it is necessary to hold people responsible for provoking racial hatred, implying that the Penal Code is not severe enough for the extremists. This is the opinion of some St. Petersburg parliamentarians, who have pushed forward a legislative initiative to toughen penalties for hate crimes. The legislation proposed a punishment of ten to twenty years of imprisonment, life imprisonment, or the death penalty. Specialist-criminologists do not believe such measures will be effective. They say that all punitive measures have already been applied. Indeed, why invent new punishment for instigators of national, racial or religious hatred when not even Article 282 of the Criminal Code is being applied? Such crimes are often classified as hooliganism. Why? Firstly, because incitement of interethnic hatred it isn’t easy to prove. And when someone dies at the hands of a racist attacker, investigators and the judge reason as follows: this looks like Article 105 (murder), so let’s apply it. We can incriminate Article 282. But why? What will it change? We’ll only spend time on collecting evidence.

Meanwhile, the literature that is recognized by extremists – a list of works of aggressive radicalism – is constantly being updated. And it’s no wonder that all the “nominees” have been selected from the general public. Fascist, nationalistic, ultra-religious public “statements” can always be challenged by someone. It is clear that even here we are not secure from subjective evaluations, tastes, political and administrative pressure. Though, despite how prone to opportunistic craze such punishment may be, it is still legal. Other ways to mark a book or a song, from which certain words cannot be excluded, with “extremism” are much worse – for they create limitless space for despotism. There is no consensus on what, in this regard, is debatable, and what ought to stopped without any ado. Writer, Dmitry Bykov, spoke out against using “penal procedures” to impact the creators and distributors of inflammatory reading materials: “Even the most odious fascist publications will continue to be printed, and words are extrajudicial, even those that call to destroy someone. Words can only be penalized by one thing, and that is – words.” However Koptsev was penalized and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. According to the legal proceedings, the extremist was not a member of any organization. He went to the synagogue to kill after reading extremist literature.

Yes, the tightening of responsibility for the distribution of extremist materials suggests that we have learned some lessons. The only thing that remains is making this responsibility unavoidable. We have plenty of legislative impediments for the dissemination of extremist materials. The only thing we are missing is their enforcement. If the punishment for advocating extremism really was inevitable, then the “black list” of xenophobic literature would be much longer.

Also, note that most incidents that involve minorities are officially treated as domestic. The majority of the population does not tend to believe that cases are handled in such manner. The more the public is being convinced that a certain conflict has an ethnic undertone, the more it believes otherwise. However, lately authorities have been calling a spade a spade. So, after Governor Valentina Matvienko, instructed law enforcement officers to “find criminals from the underground and make a show trial of them” for the murder of a Tajik girl in St. Petersburg, police and prosecutors finally admitted that, rather than being domestic hooliganism, the murder was committed on nationalistic grounds. According to the Human Rights Ombudsman in Russia, Vladimir Lukin, the police have begun arresting more skinheads, and the courts have begun sentencing them to longer prison terms. “And, this has not been applied in isolated cases,” stressed Lukin. “This is becoming a trend.”

Yes, perhaps it is a trend. But, one should not rely solely on law enforcement agencies. The state cannot eradicate xenophobia. It can only be done by a civil society. Though this is yet to be created.

Major changes in the armed forces allowed the creation of strike forces all along the border, from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad. Brigades on constant alert and airborne divisions play the main role. In the ground forces, the six first-strike commands were replaced with 85 combined-arms, missile, artillery and assault units, as well as communications, electromagnetic warfare and maneuver support brigades. According to the commander-in-chief of the Russian ground forces, Vladimir Boldyrev, a new intelligence brigade is currently being formed. Soon, these units will appear in every military district.

The brigades have already been staffed with soldiers and officers, and supplied with equipment, ammunition and fuel. There are plans to transfer more helicopter units to the air assault brigades (one for every brigade), which became the mobile reserve for the regional commanders. There are also plans to transfer the entire combat aviation under the control of the ground forces.

The logic of this decision is understandable. Helicopter aviators have always acted in the interests of infantry forces and tankers, but combined arms commanders needed an order from the air force in order to call them to engage in combat. Now, things will be much simpler. And, it will be even easier to transfer land and air assault units from one place to another. Sixty “private” helicopters will transform assault units from being conditionally-mobile to fully mobile. Note that these units are currently in only three districts, but in the coming months that number will increase to six.

In general, the goal is as follows: each military district is to become an independent combat unit with its own ground and air units, as well as intelligence and missile brigades. Military intelligence teams will collect information for the units on constant alert, and district intelligence officers for higher-ranked staff.

Dangerous raids on the enemy's rear will be partially replaced by advanced technology, including unmanned aerial vehicles. They are able to provide information about activities taking place within a 25-100 kilometer radius from the battlefront. Boldyrev hopes that, in time, that distance will increase to 500 kilometers. And unmanned aerial vehicles will allow the air force to look beyond the horizon.

Separate missile brigades with the Tochka-U complexes currently exist in the military districts. But they will be replaced with the more modern operational-tactical missile system Iskander-M, with a 500-kilometer flight range. The new missile brigade will include several divisions with four launchers per division. The first unit will be equipped with the Iskander-M system already this year. Its ammunition load will include not only ballistic but also cruise missiles.

The combat effectiveness of the new brigades was affirmed during the “Kavkaz 2009” and “Ladoga 2009” military training that took place last week and early this week. However, the top link in the chain of command has not yet been fully formed. The crown of this work should be a presidential decree on the creation of operationally-strategic units in military districts. This is done in order to ensure that a commander of a district military unit will, at certain times, be able to control all troops and forces located on his territory of command. Such need may arise during a threat of war, for example, or when preparations for large-scale maneuvers are taking place.

Take the northwestern strategic direction, for example. It is a large territory, from Russia’s border with Belarus to the Barents Sea. There, units from the Leningrad Military District, the Northern Fleet, the air force and anti-missile defense units, as well as Interior Ministry troops, are deployed. Currently they obey the Main Command. After the presidential decree, however, their operational use will be transferred to the commander of the Leningrad Military District.

In other words, in major force circumstances, and during military exercises and complete mobilization, he will plan the use of force and assign tasks to troop commanders. Moreover, combat and operational training of units will be done under a unified leadership organized by the troop service. Perhaps the only exception to this rule would be the use of strategic nuclear forces. There are no plans of transferring the command of these forces from Moscow to regional military districts.

The Ministry of Defense said that the draft of the presidential decree is ready and the document is most likely to be signed before the end of this year.

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Further, if internet hooligans unite and caused a true “accident” to happen on an official web page, then the punishment is more severe – up to seven years in prison.

So-called critically important sites, the operation failure of which would cause major problems, accidents, and even catastrophes, also fall under the special protection. Today, as we know, many institutions are adopting automated control systems, as well as creating single networks, and outside intervention is very much out of place. However, many such systems are not connected to the Internet and seem to be protected from hackers.

Moreover, the bill makes provisions for the establishment of administrative responsibility for the use of non-certified security products in the networks of critically important facilities. For example, if the system administrator at a nuclear power plant installed a pirated anti-virus program, he would be penalized. And, the program would be replaced with a legitimate one.

Also, the bill secures into law such de jure concepts as: Internet domain name, Internet sites, Russia's segment of the Internet, domains, and others. Of course, in practice any web user knows what these concepts are. However, from a legal point of view, it is important that these terms are prescribed into law. Meanwhile, there will not be any anonymous website owners as all domain name owners would be registered.

The executive summary of the bill reads: the bill introduces concepts such as domain name, website, Russia's segment of the Internet, domain and others. In order to ensure the security of state information systems and resources, it is necessary to legally register them with the state and put them on state record.

For example, new definitions appeared, such as: Internet network address – a unique identifier of a device connected to a network and Internet node - a device that is connected to the Internet and has a network address. And, an actual person, who’s first and last names should be on file with computer authorities and must be the true owners of a network address.

Another innovation: system administrators will be penalized for interfering with the work of detectives. It is being proposed that the new article be included in the Code of Administrative Violations. It will penalize citizens, state officials and legal personnel for violating regulations established by due process of law, interaction between Internet users and officials carrying out operational investigations.

There is another initiative that will cause considerable controversy among the public. Special services and law enforcement agencies will be able to restrict the rights of Internet users when carrying out operational searches and investigative procedures. To put it simply, if deemed necessary, some citizens may be unplugged from the Internet.

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In their address, members of the interim investigative commission, which is comprised of 11 members of parliament who have been investigating the fall 2004 poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko, brought to the attention of the leaders of the special services that the Prosecutor General’s investigative team, which is well-versed in the history of the five-year-old affair, has supported the commonly-known version in which Ukraine’s presidential candidate was poisoned with dioxin while having a meal with high-ranking law-enforcement agents. However, there are many versions about what happened, which investigators have persistently ignored.

“The Verkhovna Rada interim investigative commission must announce that the facts surrounding Victor Yushchenko being poisoned with dioxin have been falsified. The commission has sufficient evidence that support the fact that Yushchenko’s blood samples have been tampered with,” reported the press service of the interim investigative commission. Meanwhile, one of Yushchenko’s closest allies, former Justice Minister and now a member of the Ukrainian parliament, Roman Zvarych, has repeatedly stated in his interviews that he transported Yuschenko’s blood samples to the US. The investigating committee also claims that it has a recording of a conversation between a certain Martha and Roman who were discussing US laboratory exams of Yushchenko’s blood and its further transfer to Europe. The examination of the forensic Ministry of Justice’s analysis by Odessa Institute of Scientific Research unambiguously confirms: the voice of the woman, who calls herself Martha, most likely belongs to Yushchenko’s then future wife, Yekaterina Chumanenko.

Yegor Checherinda, spokesman for the investigative commission, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG) that, according to the commission’s data from the U.S., the blood of the future president, drawn by Austrian doctors and divided into several parts, was initially sent to the Central Hospital of Vienna, and then Holland, where dioxin was finally discovered in a laboratory that usually tests for harmful chemicals in food for animals. Now, this is the only evidence upon which the official version of events is being created.

And, based on this evidence, the investigative commission is demanding the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Security Service of Ukraine release Galina Klimovich from her duties as the head of the Prosecutor General’s investigative team, and reinstate Larissa Cherednichenko, who was the first to officially publicize the investigative commission’s findings outlined in a report to the Attorney General, for which she was dismissed the following day.

Meanwhile, people mentioned in the commission’s investigation began to issue their first timid responses. Recently, Roman Zvarych (who is now in a conflict with Yushchenko, and like many of his former colleagues, found a place under the wing of the prime minister) told Ukrainian journalists that all allegations concerning the U.S. diluting Yuschenko’s blood with dioxin – are brazen lies. However, he does not deny that he did, in fact, deliver Yuschenko’s blood samples to the US and even spoke to Martha on the phone – though, according to him, the woman is his brother’s wife. He also does not deny that he asked her to find a laboratory – an explanation that creates more questions than answers.

Meanwhile:

The main person behind the disturbance of the president’s peace, his former friend, David Zhvania, once again confirmed his previous statements to the investigative commission. While commenting on the reaction of Yushchenko’s entourage to the facts uncovered by him, as well as accusations against Russia, which has allegedly been harboring those responsible for Yushchenko’s poisoning, Zhvania said that “the next step after these statements – will be a declaration of war”. “I have always said that accusations against Russia were over the top,” said Zhvania.

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A new idea served as a consolation: instead of a unipolar world order replacing the bipolar world, a multipolar world system emerged -- one in which no one predominant power exists, where everyone has their reasons for doing things, and no one stands in anyone’s way.

In the early 1990s, many (including myself) thought that Russia’s interpretation of “multipolarity” was only an attempt to extradite a need for virtue. But only 10 years later, any unbiased person could clearly see that multipolarity is just a statement of a fact.

American economists enjoy playing a game of early predictions of America’s decline -- i.e. that happy moment when it falls to second place in terms of its GDP, when China’s giant shadow covers the Sun, and the yuan replaces the dollar, etc. However, Americans have been making these predictions for a good 10 years; meanwhile the Chinese muscular runner still cannot catch up to the US electronic tortoise. Meanwhile, everyone agrees that this will eventually happen -- the question in when (between 10-12 years).

But the point is not the fact that America’s leading role may be replaced by China. The point is in multipolarity -- the revision of the concept of “leadership” itself, of inter-state relations.

Allow me to explain this with the strange history of the US war in Iraq.

Why do I call this history “strange”? Unlike in Vietnam or Korea, the US quickly secured a military victory in Iraq (after all, Iraq had no outside support). Saddam's regime was toppled, Saddam executed. It would seem that all goals had been accomplished, the American losses were not great, the enemy had been defeated, a puppet regime was basically installed, “gunboat diplomacy” rules the land, and the guerillas – well, that is but a technicality…

But not only was the US victory not felt in the US (or anywhere else in the world), the quick victory turned out to be a nightmare for America and for Bush personally. The accusation of a “colonial war” became a moral sentence. And that is despite the fact that there was no colonial war!

It is impossible in the 21st century to institute a 19th-century semi-colonial, manageable administration in Iraq.

Impossible in what sense? Because it simply isn’t. Today we learn that Iraq’s oil (Russian society was religiously convinced that the war was waged for oil – what else could have been the reason?!) does not belong to American companies but to the Republic of Iraq and is being extracted just as it was under Saddam, by Iraq's state oil company. Meanwhile, licenses to operate are given out through open bidding (it seems that a consortium of British-Chinese companies received the first licenses).

Moreover, Iraq’s government, installed by the Americans, is not behaving as a colonial administration but quite independently. At the UN, for example, it often does not vote in a way that would benefit the US, and is trying to establish relations with various countries, including Russia. By the way, Russian companies (Lukoil) are hoping to return to Iraq and are not searching for their way there through the US, but a direct way.

But why are classic colonial war and the victory impossible? After all, America’s physical force is more than enough. Well, because there is something stronger than the US, China or any other country. It’s time. The spirit of time. Use of brutal military force, which has been the norm throughout human history, is now considered to be pathology, a crime.

“Colonial helmets are no longer worn” – in a multipolar world, they went out of fashion.

There is a certain isomorphism between foreign and domestic policy. If political correctness reigns in the US or the EU, if someone other than a “white gentleman” is elected president, if for the first time in American history the equality of people of all races and social backgrounds begins to be realized, it indicates an end of the unipolar world. Because the unipolar world was build on a soft (of course, not Nazi) racism, on a silent belief that “the Aryan race is the first class race.”

It wasn’t an accident that the great Kipling sang “the white man's burden.” If such a burden no longer exists, if the formal and the actual superiority of the whites (expressed legally or morally) no longer exists in the West – the entire concept of the world collapses, as do foreign policy principles. These principles, albeit implicitly, originated from the “burden of the whites,” their rights and their responsibility to “enlighten and bring progress” to the unwise nations (and to do so not entirely for free and not entirely cold-bloodedly).

If no primary race or culture exists, the political system begins to crack as well. Thus the main thing is destroyed – the moral and psychological justification and rationale of a superpower. It is replaced with not-yet-understood ideas – multiculturalism and the equality of rights of large and small countries and nations, etc.

This process, unprecedented for humanity, does not yet seem like the beginning of a new golden age. The hard power of global economic and cultural influence is replaced by soft power (of course, this does not mean demilitarization!). But the international order, built on soft power, with hard power receding, is something completely new and incomprehensible. Those who are trying to quickly take advantage of this process are “fighters for humanism” and those “against the expansion of ‘white crusaders’” – such as the “defender of the faithful” bin Laden, and many other less-odious (or less known) fighters for the racial and religious superiority of their states…

Something else is worth mentioning here. How will this orchestra of humanity look like without a strict conductor(s)? What will it perform -- some sort of a never-before-heard symphony, or will it create noise instead of music? All of this is directly related to Russia.

The idea of “multipolarity,” of which Russia could be considered one of the creators, has been and is still being perceived in Russian society as being “against the United States.” In reality, however, this idea has become universal! It is dominant in the CIS, where “multipolarity” means that no one wants to be forced to follow what they consider to be Russia’s dictate.

Countries which are smaller in size, population and economic and military power in no way wish to consider themselves as Russia’s “younger brothers.” Moscow’s involuntarily patronizing tone, which had existed in the 1990’s, is now being completely rejected -- only equal-term relations are acceptable.

It is difficult for Russian society to digest, and domestic political correctness is, to put it mildly, unpopular. Besides, having gotten rid of the hated “internationalism,” Russian society became tempted with imperialism. There you have it! A big failure. Russia hadn’t even gotten a chance to use the ideas of imperialism when it already had to pick up shop and move to multipolarity, with all of its political correctness and other nonsense…

What to do against the spirit of time? Both the US and the Russian Federation struggle with that question.

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Powerful earthquakes in the Caucasus were the culmination of the “wrath of the Earth”. At around 3:00 a.m. (Moscow time) they were felt in Stavropol Krai, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Ingushetia. This was measured as a 2-point magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. But the strongest shocks were felt in the most unstable corner of the Caucasus, where just a year ago a war raged at the border of South Ossetia and Georgia. The force of the earthquake surpassed the dangerous 6-point magnitude on the Richter scale. The greatest damage was recorded on the border area of South Ossetia, Georgia’s Oni region, where electricity was disrupted due to damage to the power lines. The epicenter of the earthquake was 10 kilometers deep, 156 kilometers northwest of Tbilisi and 80 kilometers northeast of Kutaisi.

Earlier in the evening a 4-point magnitude earthquake occurred in Sicily. Its epicenter was in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 26 kilometers-deep; but its shocks were clearly felt in the administrative center of the island - Palermo City. This was followed by a 6-point magnitude earthquake twice hitting the Indonesian island of Java. It was so powerful that local residents began to panic. The islanders still had fresh memories of the previous disaster when, last week, a 7.3-point magnitude earthquake claimed 79 lives on Java.

Fortunately, none of Tuesday night’s earthquakes resulted in casualties or serious damage. According to eyewitnesses, in the Caucasus it was after morning tremors subsided and it became relatively calm when people began asking about their neighbors – whether or not they were alive and whether or not neighboring properties were damaged. The earthquake’s force and the fact that it simultaneously occurred in several regions of the Caucasus raises some serious questions. Many years ago, scientists proved that the proximity of earthquakes can have a serious influence upon each other.

Natural disasters and calamities have the ability to unite people when compassion for victims overshadows old resentments. All republics of the former USSR participated in the 1966 restoration of Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, which experienced a devastating blow of more than magnitude 8-points. Uzbek seismologists still remember how, on the day after Tashkent’s earthquake, their Yugoslav colleagues came to their aid from the Macedonian capital, Skopje. For three years they have been studying similar earthquakes, such as the one that had just occurred in Uzbekistan. Interestingly, Tashkent and Skopje became sister cities. In those difficult days, mercy and compassion ruled in Tashkent.

Twenty-odd years ago, in 1988, an earthquake in Spitak killed 25,000 people and left more than half a million homeless. At the time, dozens of Rostov State University students signed as volunteers to offer assistance.

The earthquake in the Caucasus did not result in any casualties. It is as if nature lurked, having warned people that disasters and tragedies often become “useful and well-timed” resulting in rapprochement.

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This was reported by the vice president of CCTC, Zhang Changming, at a recent press-conference. According to him, the launch of the international Russian-language channel will be a nice touch to the 60-year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries and the events dedicated to the current “Year of the Russian Language.” According to Zhang Changming, communication between China and Russian-speaking countries is developing very actively; it has a long history due to the geographical proximity.

The new channel will be broadcast through Chinese satellites 6B and EB-9A. The signal will cover the Asia-Pacific region, Middle East and Europe.

The new channel will broadcast news and current affairs programs, stories about culture, and entertainment shows. Documentaries about China will be broadcast daily. And, of course, what channel programming can do without cooking programs on Chinese cuisine? Say, do you know the secret of making a sichuan chicken with cashews or fish in sweet and sour sauce? From now on, viewers will get a first-hand taste of all the nuances of Chinese cuisine.

For those who are interested, there will be special Chinese-language training programs.

“We have already filmed 25 educational programs, in which we play out various everyday situations,” said Natalia Kargapoltseva, a host for the new Russian-language channel, as reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG). The charming Russian woman has another important task: to read daily newscasts.

“We went through a serious selection process, aside from being fluent in the Russian language, one must correctly, and most importantly, clearly, speak Chinese,” said Natalia.

Being attractive is also important, to judge by the CCTC’s presentation yesterday of their new show’s hosts and editors.

CCTC also broadcasts in English, Arabic, Spanish, and French. After Russian, the next project will be broadcast in Portuguese.

Incidentally, in the beginning of the year, it was reported that the Chinese government allocated nearly $6.6 billion to create a positive image of the country in the eyes of foreign audiences. This implies not only expanding international broadcasting, but also developing leading foreign media outlets.

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The beginning of the Second World War became a prologue to the Great Patriotic War, the 65th Victory Day anniversary of which will be celebrated next year. The Great Victory became the highest spiritual heritage of all peoples of the former Soviet Union. Our fathers and grandfathers did not only defend our freedom, but made decisive contributions in to the liberation of Europe from the fascist enslavement.

But I am, of course, not solely talking of honor and memory. Unfortunately, although the new conditions seem to give good reasons to forget about the very possibility of another war in Europe, various events indicate the presence of European systemic security problems. The main weakness is the lack of an open collective security system, which would apply to the entire Euro-Atlantic region. Even today, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we still cannot overcome the confrontational block-approach to security.

The Caucasus crisis in August of last year showed that the situation does not leave any room for kindness. It became clear that irresponsible regimes are capable of military adventures, which make all of Europe hostage of their selfish calculations and ambitions. Meanwhile, objectively existing opportunities related to the fragmented structure of European security are being used. The Treaty on European Security, which was initiated by President D.A. Medvedev in Berlin in June 2008, was drafted in order to reduce it, which could be done neither before nor after the First World War, and eliminate the loopholes that are used to destabilize the situation in our continent.

Another proof that the WWII and its lessons have not lost their relevance is the increased prominence of various political forces that, in the recent years, through electoral or simply fraudulent methods, have been falsifying historical events of that period by revising that vested in the UN Charter and other international legal document results of the Second World War in order to win political benefits. It’s difficult to interpret the attempts to politicize history after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which ended the European and global ideological division, as anything other than a desire to draw new dividing lines in our continent. These attempts are directed against Russia, the very existence of which evidently causes “nervousness” among those leaders who now stand on the sidelines of the European mainstream politics.

Conversations about the origins of the Second World War hold many blatant lies and self-serving interests, there is a desire to free oneself from personal responsibility of one’s own history, to solve one’s current problems at the expense of others, by appealing, as it was done during the Cold War to the “civilized solidarity” and the imperatives of the “ideological struggle”. The history of the Second World War has been re-written many times. Elements of such an approach, which was dictated by ideology and political expediency, was present in the Soviet Union as well. At the same time, no one has ever tried to equate the Nazi regime with the dictatorship of Stalin, even during the Cold War. No one had even thought of comparing the Nazi threat, which meant enslavement and destruction of entire populations, and policies of the Soviet Union, which was the only force that was initially capable of opposing Nazi Germany, and in the final stage – capable of ensuring its defeat, which was accelerated by the 1944, albeit belated, second front. This difference was well understood by those who awaited their liberation from the Nazis and those for whom the Red Army advance was a matter of life or death. Freedom came from the East. Its price was the feat of arms and the willingness to die of the “Vankas, Vaskas, Alyeshkas, and Grishas” about whom, wrote Anna Akhmatova in her poem, “To the Winners”.

The high point of historical revisionism became the attempt to equate August 23 and September 1 of 1939 - the signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact and the German attack on Poland. These two events are being completely taken out of the general historical context, while the 1938 Munich Agreement, the British-German signed declaration, which basically signified a non-aggression agreement between Britain and Nazi Germany (the so-called “peace for our time”) and led to the dismemberment and occupation of Czechoslovakia, as well as a whole series of other events that prepared Germany's aggression and directed it East, are all left unsaid.

The war revealed inconsistencies in the European policies which persisted regardless of the nature of governance in any one particular country, while, for the most part, these were authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes. The fact that this was not a random phenomenon of the “globalization” of that time, is indicated by the extreme right-wing tendencies in the contemporary political life of those countries, attempts to rehabilitate the fascist regimes, and the glorification of the Nazis and the SS.
Fascism - in various degrees – became the most common response to the contradictions of European society, which the First World War failed to resolve, when, in the figurative expression of Anna Akhmatova, “the old Europe left a shred” (from the poem “The Way of All the Earth”). They were only made worse by the “de-globalization” during the inter-war period. The way out of the crisis was found through militarization of the economy and international relations, which was the key factor in the outbreak of the World War II. The vicious Versailles system, which Soviet Russia had nothing to do with, according to general historical recognition, made another war in Europe inevitable.

I wouldn’t like to think that by rewriting history someone is trying to compensate for the assumed weakening of the ideological positions of the West. How else should the recent celebrations of the Normandy Landings anniversary be interpreted, when virtually none of the Western leaders, with the exception for Barack Obama, mentioned the Soviet Union’s contribution to the victory over fascism. It’s difficult to understand how the acknowledgement of the obvious – the role of the Soviet Union in achieving overall victory, which served as a powerful unifying beginning for all countries of the anti-Nazis coalition - could weaken and “morally disarm” America. And, that is exactly how Liz Cheney tries to present the case in her article in The Wall Street Journal.

All tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries, including colonialism, extremist products of European political thought, the first and second world wars, Nazism and Fascism, as well as the Cold War, occurred at a time when the West dominated global politics, economics and finance. Generally speaking, it was a crisis of European society, the traditional basis of which was destroyed by the many European revolutions. It was possible to create a sustainable model of economic and social development - socially-oriented, with universal suffrage and support for the middle class – only under the conditions of the Cold War and only with a new technological foundation.

Those who falsify history forget the things they gained as the result of the Red Army’s liberation campaign, including territorially. The victory over fascism and the events preceding the war, despite how they may be perceived, gave all countries of the Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, as well as countries of the former Soviet Union, their current borders, which are not objected to by the majority of the Euro-Atlantic member countries. If someone is, in fact, unsatisfied with them, they should say so instead of turning to history. Do we want to go back in time - to Europe, burdened with the territorial issue?

I don’t think that everyone will be pleased with a public raking up of the past, which holds more than a few pages that many would rather forget. What to do with the Phoney War, which points to rather ugly plans of the Western allies against the Soviet Union in connection with the Nazi attack on Poland? What to do with the collaborationism that was present everywhere? In some countries, the number of citizens who were part of the Resistance and served in the SS military wing, including in the Eastern Front, was roughly equal. Some still defend the right of struggle for independence in an SS uniform.

Who directed the aggression of Nazi Germany to the East? Who disrupted all attempts to secure peace in Europe by guaranteeing the borders of Germany's eastern neighbors, including introducing the Eastern Pact idea? This list could go on. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union acted in line with the diplomacy that was accepted at that time. The war was not won by Stalin, but by the people of the USSR who, at the same time, paid for the inconsistencies of pre-war European policies. And, didn’t the Soviet Union, with all its territory, towns and villages, absorb the brunt of the Nazi invasion? Three-quarters of Germany's armed forces were defeated on the Eastern Front. These were the most capable, battle-hardened military units.

In the end, Russia - once again - fulfilled its historic mission to save Europe from forced unification and its own madness. Recall August of 1914 when the end of the First World War was predetermined by the sacrifice of the Russian troops in East Prussia. This was convincingly demonstrated by many serious researchers, including Barbara Tuchman and her famous book: The Guns of August. It’s cynical and disrespectful to compare the Nazi occupation with the events of the postwar period in Central and Eastern Europe, though they were indeed tragic.

Was it not the German invasion, as was the case with Napoleon's invasion in 1812, that served as an invitation of the Russian army to Europe? The ways of the historic process are unsearchable. It was, after all, the “Soviet Union and socialism challenge” that subjected the economic model of Western Europe to “socialization”. And didn’t the post-war experience, including the German Democratic Republic experience, contribute to the reconciliation in Europe, including that between Russia and Germany and its former allies?

The politicization of history turned into a governmental matter in a number of countries. There should be an appropriate response. We created the Commission for Prevention of Falsification of History. Russia is not going to censor or rewrite history to its benefit. We are in favor of its de-politicization, and its comprehensive study – with all its facts, circumstances and cause-effect relationships. This will be done openly, with the cooperation of scientists from various countries in clarifying the difficult issues of shared history, including within the framework of already existing bilateral commissions of historians.

Victory was achieved at too great a price for us to simply let it be taken away from us. That is where we draw the line. If someone wants to have a new ideological confrontation with Europe, then historical revisionism and attempts to turn history into a practical political instrument – is a direct path toward this confrontation. It will poison the general atmosphere of European politics and our relations with the involved countries. It will interfere with the resolution of common problems, sidetrack from learning the lessons from the events of the 20th century and the beginning of the current century.

It’s clear that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global economic and financial crisis are links in the same chain, which serve as evidence to the dissolution of the old and the emergence of a new socio-cultural order, in Pitirim Sorokin’s terminology, “integral” order, which defines a new coordinate system for international relations, as well. An important element of such a world view, of its new landscape, will probably be something better and truly valid, time tested, including on the basis of the current crisis, which was given to the world by the West. On this basis, it will be possible to regain control over world development through the joint actions of all states. This order will reflect - for the first time in history – the global diversity of culture and civilizations. The only thing that could aide this effort is our ability to give a shared and honest answer to the question of who is to blame for the Second World War tragedy.

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Rossiyskaya Gazeta: Alexander Ivanovich, there are many versions of the events and unsubstantiated rumors related to the capture of the dry-cargo ship. At times, they are so scandalous that it’s difficult to get to the truth. Could you make it clear what actually happened?
Alexander Bastrykin: There really aren’t any secrets to the story. Remember the film “Pirates of the 20th Century” – this was basically a reenactment of the scenario. This happens almost every day on the coast of the Horn of Africa. But, the fact that it happened in the Baltic is unusual.
As part of the investigation, we took quick measures. As soon as the naval marines released the captured ship, our investigators were already at the detention place to which they arrived by plane. With the arrival of the crew and the delivery of 8 hijackers, the investigators began questioning victims and suspects.
RG: Alarming information has been made public that, allegedly, the crew is being isolated from the outside world and they can’t even call their relatives. This is being perceived as arbitrary behavior on behalf of the investigators.
Bastrykin: We consider the sailors to be victims who urgently need to be interrogated. But it isn’t true that they are not allowed to call their families. They can, and already are calling. We are doing everything necessary to conduct the investigation promptly and efficiently. We have provided them with clothing, food, and a place to stay in a hotel. The interrogations have been completed; now, we are deciding on where we will inspect the vessel.
RG: There are rumors that the vessel did not only contain lumber, but also some sort of contraband.
Bastrykin: That is exactly why we need to examine the vessel, not to leave any gaps in this case. We are not excluding the possibility that lumber was not the only thing being transported on the ship. In part, that is why we asked the crew members to stay a little longer in Moscow – we also need to investigate whether or not any of them were responsible for what happened. Not everything is yet clear, but we will get to the bottom of everything at our own pace. Just don’t create any excitement. And, most importantly, thanks to the Russian Navy we got the hijackers.
RG: Does the investigation have enough evidence gathered to charge the hijackers? After all, they are calling themselves peaceful ecologists.
Bastrykin: That is the point of the investigation – to gather this evidence. But I would like to draw your attention to the issue of the legal foundation of the investigation. One media source even ran a story about us not having the legal right to conduct an investigation of the vessel because it isn’t Russian and that it needs to be returned immediately.
Of course, I am stating that we have full legal rights to conduct investigations of the crew and the vessel. Article 105 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) says that any state that has established its jurisdiction over a pirate or a ship captured by a pirate, has the right to institute criminal proceedings, investigate, arrest the perpetrators and transfer them to the national court of the party that established the jurisdiction. Therefore, we answer: we will return them after we have completed the investigations. We won’t delay the process.
RG: What is your personal impression? Was this an organized criminal group or simply a hired mob?
Bastrykin: It seems to me that we are entering into a new phase, a time when new types of criminality emerges. Piracy, which has been forgotten, is now taking on new forms and an international character. This needs to be seriously studied. All the hijackers are well-matched; they are all in excellent physical shape. After a week and a half we will release new information, including information about the hijackers.
RG: On another subject, the barbaric crime committed by police Major Evrosyukov, who in the heat of an incomprehensible hysteria opened fire in a store, which resulted in many deaths, caused a very loud reaction. Today, the case seems forgotten. Supposedly, he lost his mind and needs to be treated medically. Did the examination confirm this diagnosis?
Bastrykin: The investigation in this case has not been concluded, it is now in its final stages. I set out a task to find out what kind of person he is, whether or not he is mentally healthy. The inpatient forensic psychiatric examination found him sane.

RG: Have the reasons for this breakdown been identified?
Bastrykin: According to the investigator, Evsyukov has been experiencing an inferiority complex for a long time. There have been problems in his family as well, as on that day they had a fight. The result of the bottled up complex led to him wanting to release the pressure through such an insane action. We decided to conduct a psychological examination as well. According to psychiatrists, he is psychologically healthy. We want psychologists to have their say, as well.
RG: There has been talk about him being a drug addict and that he was at the initial stage of cirrhosis due to his chronic alcoholism.
Bastrykin: No such data exists. At the time when he committed the crime, he was under the influence of alcohol, but not pathologically intoxicated. A pathological state is when a person does not realize what he is doing. Evsyukov understood everything.
RG: Is the investigation coming to an end and will he soon be transferred to the court?
Bastrykin: Yes.
RG: Perhaps this was the result of complete lawlessness and confidence that he will walk away with clean hands? They say that many policemen experience a similar syndrome.
Bastrykin: His father also works within the police units; this means that he did not join the police forces by chance. This event should be a serious alert that we all, and not only the Ministry of Defense, need to deal with staffing issues. For example, in one year we held only 30 investigators criminally liable. Our position is as follows: not to conceal anything, if a person committed a crime – open a case, investigate it, determine how he gained employment with us, in other words, draw conclusions about the human resource management. Our duty is to do everything in order to ensure that there are no people at the Investigative Committee of the General Prosecutor’s Office who are not suitable for the difficult work of an investigator, which carries many responsibilities.

A detailed report about the “business meeting” with Alexander Bastrykin will be published in the upcoming Rossiyskaya Gazeta issue.

This is the latest effort by the two space agencies to jointly explore outer space for peaceful purposes. ExoMars is a European Mars exploration project. Russia’s contribution to the program is, firstly, the Proton rocket, which will be used as backup for the spacecraft that is being launched. Russia is also offering the development and testing of ExoMars’ descent and landing systems, mobile complex and radio-isotopic heating units, an area in which Russia has extensive experience.

As far as the Russian Phobos-Grunt project is concerned, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is drawing worldwide interest. The main objective of the mission is to deliver soil from the Phobos satellite to Earth. Perminov confirmed yesterday that the mission will be launched in October of this year. The flight to Mars will take from 10 to 11.5 months.

Incidentally, 2009 happens to be an especially favorable year to launch the program because the angle of the approach path of the orbit may be similar to the angle of the Martian equator. European ground stations will be used for the management and reception of telemetry data in this project.

“This is a fantastic project,” said Dordain. “We wish you success and anxiously look forward to its implementation.”

The S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia project, which exhibited a model of the new manned spacecraft at the MAKS Salon, also has its sights set on outer space. In the future, Russia is planning to switch to the newly designed spacecraft.

The spacecraft’s history began four years ago, when the first Russian spacecraft competition was announced. That is when RSC Energia, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and an NGO, Molniya, launched their projects. At the time Energia was already showing its Kliper spacecraft at the MAKS Aviation and Space Salon; it became one of the most striking exhibits. But that was as far as it went: not a single project met the technical and economic requirements.

A second tender was announced in the spring of this year. And it was once again won by RSC Energia. Sketch designs should be completed in June 2010, and the first test flights will begin in 2017-2018. The price tag is 800 million rubles.

It is anticipated that the new spacecraft, which is being designed as a reusable system, will enable six people to go into and return from and will bring them back. This is crucially important: the International Space Station (ISS) is able to hold a crew of six cosmonauts, but the Soyuz only has three chairs. The spacecraft will be wingless, with a reusable return capsule. The maximum cargo weight allowed to be launched into the orbit is 100 kg, and returned, 500 kg. The total autonomous lifetime is 14 days.

The launch vehicle for the new spacecraft is being developed by the State Research and Production Space-Rocket Center, TsSKB-Progress. It will be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome (Eastern Spaceport) in the Amur Oblast; construction will begin in 2010.

“It is especially important that Russia introduces a reusable spacecraft that is capable of landing anytime, anywhere, and under any conditions,” the president of RSC Energia, Vitaly Lopota, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “We have a large territory, but airfields cannot be built everywhere. The ship must be launched into the Earth’s atmosphere at a second hypervelocity, heating the body up to 3,000 degrees Celsius. Naturally, it must be able to sustain itself under such conditions. Generally speaking, we displayed a part of the future (until 2040) at the MAKS Salon. We have a yearly schedule, of what we will be flying, where, and what infrastructure needs to be around the Earth.”

As far as Russia lagging behind American manufacturers, as exemplified by their producing the Orion crew exploration vehicle, Lopota noted that “this matter should be addressed to the Ministry of Finance, and we are doing everything not to miss any transport technologies that are to be used for the implementation of all Russian space programs.” According to the RSC Energia president, Russia should have independent access to space.

Our penal system will be fundamentally reformed – this is the plan of the Minister of Justice, Alexander Konovalov. In his opinion, imprisonment and punishments will become more severe for dangerous criminals, and for people who have made minor mistakes, the state will show leniency. These measures should not only reduce the prison population, which is growing at an alarming rate; the main goal, though, is to change the very situation in society and to make the streets safer.

Every year, more than 300,000 released prisoners are coming into our towns and cities. They are often embittered people who don’t have anything to their name. In prison, they went through “criminal school”, for this reason, one is better off not running into these people in a dark alley. So, how can we turn them into neighborly, law-abiding people? Well maybe it would be better not to turn them into criminals in the first place; not to send them to prison? After all, their sins are not always so grave that imprisonment is the only answer.

For this reason, the Ministry of Justice has developed a manual on the course of the implementation of punishments not related to imprisonment. The document comes into force in ten days, but in such cases, as is often said, it was needed “yesterday”. And, of course, this document is to be kept in the general framework of the humanization of justice.

In Russia, alternative punishment is starting to be introduced. Today, a criminal may be offered a broom and freedom so that he can clean the sidewalks of his city. Or, he may be handed a brush, so he can paint a fence. And finally, a person could be issued a standard fine – for many, this will serve as a lesson until the end of their life. Of course, that’s for minor offenses. These lenient punishments do not pertain to murderers, robbers, and rapists.

In practice, however, alternative punishments face many problems. Perhaps it is for this reason that courts have been slow to reform and often prefer to punish the old fashioned way – by institutionalizing people.

Meanwhile, the prison population is gradually increasing. Today, there are nearly 890,000 prisoners in the country. Here, experts can make bets: whether or not we will reach a million prisoners? If yes, then when? If not, why not? But there is hope that the published document will help decrease the nasty trend. Courts won’t have to worry about keeping convicts outside of jail: the Federal Penitentiary Service knows what to do with them.

Electronic monitoring bracelets, which are now being tested, will help. They will make such punishments as the restriction of freedom in residence, including house arrests, possible. Such punishment will result in more disciplined behavior. It will set limits for visiting certain places such as cafes and entertainment facilities. However, for the widespread use of electronic bracelets, changes to the law will also have to be made. In the meantime, experiments are being conducted, and only with prisoners in open prisons. But the prospects for the new system are enormous.

Meanwhile, those people whose sentences do not include time in prison will be dealt with by conventional methods. Alternative punishment will begin after a visit to the criminal executive inspection where a person and their verdict won’t simply be recorded, but an expository conversation will also be held. This conversation won’t solely include explanations about what they can and cannot do. The inspector should explain to the convict their rights, including the right to appeal to social protection authorities for assistance with difficult financial situations, if such assistance applies.

After the talks, the convict will be given a reminder. And if the court ordered the convict to be treated for alcoholism or drug addiction, law officers will give him a referral and ensure that he starts attending a clinic.

To ensure that those sentenced to community service don’t run out of things to do, the inspectorate of prison authorities should agree upon a list of work and facilities with the local authorities as to where non-institutionalized convicts can serve their punishment. For example, cleaning a certain street or caring for flower-beds. This work must be done during their out-of-work hours – for free.

Compulsory work hours may not exceed four hours on weekends. During the work week, the offender has no more than two hours after work, service or school. However, if a person wants to finish their sentence sooner, he may be allowed to work for four hours. The main thing is that he does his work well. As a rule, there may not be less than 12 hours a week of compulsory work. A citizen won’t be doing himself a favor if he decides to act in a disorderly manner. For violations, e.g. absenteeism without a good reason, his punishment may be modified to a stricter one.

Incidentally, today the Federal Penitentiary Service has 2,445 criminal executive inspection agencies, which have 554,100 people registered with sentences other than incarceration. In the future, this number should increase due to the development of alternative punishments. Recently, the Ministry of Justice issued a bill for public discussion on expanding the use of community service. In addition, it is currently preparing a bill that would exclude certain articles of the Penal Code, and some will become less severe. Many minor crimes will be considered as violations and be punished under the Code of Administrative Offences. It will also include such punishment as community service.

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Zhukov pointed out the additional allocation of money for distance learning for children with disabilities, for housing construction for veterans and participants of the Great Patriotic War -- to whom the government is promising square meters by no later than May 9, 2010, when Victory Day will be next celebrated – as well as the allocation of funds for ensuring housing for military men.

Additional funding may also be directed toward initiatives such as state banks’ support of mortgage loans.

“We plan to bring preferential mortgage loans to 5%-7% per annum,” said Zhukov.

He added that the government is counting on regional budgets to help meet the goal.

In Zhukov's opinion, special attention should be given to low income housing that is both comfortable and affordable.

“The maximum price of these apartments must not exceed 30,000 rubles per square meter, and we expect that such homes will soon be rented in the regions,” said the deputy prime minister.

In general, Zhukov favorably evaluated the implementation of national projects in the first half of the year. He pointed out the improvement in the situation in schools, noting that teachers’ salaries significantly increased.

"The average teacher's salary, under the new pay system, comparing to 2008, in the first quarter increased by 1.36 times and equaled to 17,400 rubles,” he said, noting that a year ago teachers earned an average of 12,800 rubles.

In addition, he said, the amount of additional compensation for teachers' classroom management, taking into account all allowances and co-financing by the regions, increased by 6.5% to up to 2,125 rubles. And, he noted, the number of schools with Internet access has been growing, already reaching 52,000 schools.

Another new education initiative is distance learning for disabled children who for health reasons are unable to attend school.

“The program already involves 3,500 kids," Zhukov said. "For each of them, the state has allocated funds for equipping special education places and training for special education teachers. In total, 1 billion rubles has been allocated for this program in the current year."

Health issues were also discussed during Zhukov's meeting with regional representatives. Meeting participants stated that the natural population decline in Russia during the first half of this year declined 30.2% from the same period last year. Infant mortality decreased by 10%, to 1.8 per 1,000 babies. And the birth rate actually increased by 4.7%. Since the beginning of the year, 850,000 Russians were born, which is 38,000 more babies than in the first half of 2008.

"The number of deaths decreased by 40,000, or 3.7%," Zhukov pointed out.

In Russia, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, smoking and alcohol remain the leading health risks.

"An improved mortality rate occurred with virtually all types of diseases," Zhukov said. "Death from neoplasms remains an exception. And this explains the logic of our decision to supplement the top-priority national project to improve the organization of oncologic aid to the population.”

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And the US. It entered the war in 1917 – divided the cake and harvested the main fruits of victory – economic and political. The US era began in 1918. Why am I writing about this event at all?

Well, 95 years is not such a good round figure. Of course, in Europe the Great War is remembered, but for us, the Great Patriotic War (that is exactly what it was called in 1914 when “The Sacred War” song was written, and with few variations resurfaced in 1941) is fully forgotten. It was pushed out by the events that followed: the Revolution, the Civil War, and the entire following period…

I consider the First World War to be the main event of the XX century – at least in European history. Everything that followed: fascism, Nazism, communism, WWII, the fall of colonialism, and finally the EU and political correctness – is all a near and distant ricochet of the 1914-1918 shells.

Above all, WWI is a pyramid of 10,000 corpses – the most visible monument to human madness, the main illustration of the saying “For those whom God wants to punish – He deprives them of reason.”

The fact that fascism and Nazism – and thus WWII – were direct outcomes of the First World War is commonly known. They are even oftentimes described as a single war, with “breathing room midway” between 1918-1939. The first fascists were the “deceived winners” in Italy, and the Nazis – Germany’s hungry-for-revenge veterans. Bolshevism, of course, existed before 1914, but it owes its victory solely to the war.

But that is not the main point. It’s that the bloody militarism, the disdain for human life, the habit of mass violence and unmet yearning for it – is the foundation of the style of 1920-1930 totalitarian regimes, just as the governmental Military Industrial Commission (MIC) the model for which was born during WWI and is the basis of the economies of these regimes.

Dragon: “Do you know what day I came to this Earth?

Lancelot: “An unfortunate one.”

Dragon: “On the day of a terrible battle. That day, Attila himself suffered a loss – you could imagine how many fighters were destroyed for this? The land soaked in blood. By midnight, the leaves on the trees became brown. By dawn huge black mushrooms – they are called coffiners – emerged under the trees. And, following them, I emerged from underground. I am the son of war. The war – is me. The blood of dead Huns flows in my veins, it is a cold blood.”

WWI destroyed the old feudal Europe. The three major European monarchies died – the German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian. The machine guns of WWI did not only strike the European nobility; killed, rotting in the trenches, eaten by lice was the very principle of class society, but it was also replaced by a new one – mass society. Aristocracy was, above all, a military (guard) caste – and that caste died “with the cavalry”. In Europe, the construction of a new army began – without nobility; and when this sustaining support was removed, all the other aristocratic décor collapsed. This did not happen in one day – it took almost the entire XX century for a mass society to emerge in Europe, and then for today’s politically correct Europe. But the first mortal wound Christian-aristocratic Europe received (or more precisely, self-inflicted!) in 1914.

WWII became the highest point of the imperialist division of the world. Germany’s desire to re-colonize was considered as one of the reasons for the war. As a result, all colonies were taken away from Germany, and England and France divided the carcass of the dead Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. But as always – the highest point of colonial division of the world became the beginning of the end. After 1918, the morally and economically weakened Britain and France were not able to hold on to their increasingly inflated “colonial bags”. The collapse of the colonial system lasted for 40-50 years, but it began in 1918 when the system of territorial expansion was brought to “triumphant absurdity”.

And, finally, this war destroyed the very principle of European balance: the military-political balance between the great European powers. In fact, Entente was founded in order to maintain this principle against the fast-growing Germany. Germany was divided – but as a vanka-vstanka (Russian tilting doll) it began to rise for revenge in the 1930s. And the “balanced wars” were so terrible, so absurd and ineffective, that this simplest idea began gaining momentum: the system of balance of fear in Europe is not working! This system only provokes new divisions and wars between parties. What is the solution? United States of Europe! This idea was born during WWI, as a response to its calling. It was realized after WWII, especially after the final disposition of the confrontation bloc (1990-1991).

And so, the entire political history of Europe is, to this day, the result of the First World War.

But the most interesting thing is perhaps something else.

This was an unfair war, which obviously did not have any winners. Germany and Austria-Hungary lost. The Russian Empire lost due to military overpressure and depletion (“the Russian cruiser sank when the harbor was already in sight” – Churchill). England and France dragged themselves to victory and collapsed. They were morally broken by this war. Their elite ran out of blood and lost the sense of their moral righteousness. Trophies are unnecessary for colonies, senseless reparations of Germany looked like bullying. The US, which was not involved, won after having come to Europe for the first time; the Russian Bolsheviks who came to power also won. This “defeat in victory” changed the military psychology of the ruling classes of Europe – something broke in them. They “vomited victory”. The paralyzing fear before the war resulted in 1939-1940, when they simply couldn’t make themselves truly fight against Hitler…

The history of “belligerent Europe” ended. The history of “peaceful Europe” began. World War I clearly represented a spiral helix of European history. No wonder that the book titled “The Decline of the West” became the most popular book of that time – yes, the history of old Europe ended ... Europe’s blood pressure was too high in 1914; it had a stroke. But at the end, there was a beginning of a new Europe! New Europe struggled to drag itself out of its old skin. That is what the XX century was spent on.

And lastly, why did the war begin? Here, illiterate “theories” of geo-politicians played their role – theories about the “lack of living space” (Germany), about “Russia’s special mission to unite the world of Slavdom”, and other scientific and literary nonsense – metaphors suitable for salon gossip that were then conceived as “political science”.

And this may be most relevant lesson of WWI today – the belief in the imperialist politics of force (realpolitik), belief in the “geo-political poetry”, all of what today fills our bookstores, TV shows and, alas, minds – all of these theories are outdated, they demonstrated their impracticability and harm 95 years ago.

And, it wouldn’t hurt, in 2009, to draw the obvious lesson from 1914...

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Experts, without any irony, note that during the two day meeting some 200 high-ranking members of the Chinese delegation, headed by a member of the State Council of China, Dai Bingguo, who is responsible for the foreign policy, and Deputy Prime Minister, Wang Qishan, who handles economic issues, will gather on the shores of the Potomac; they will listen to the assurances of their many American colleagues about the stability of the dollar and the rosy prospects of the US economy. This, according to the Washington Post, radically differs from previous years when American guests regularly visited Beijing and taught their hosts how to pursue economic reforms and regulate the rate of the yuan.

Indeed, the current US-China meeting represents an expanded format of the dialogue that began with former President George Bush. Except, this time, the US State Department and Hillary Clinton added political issues to the strictly economic agenda, thus making the summit “strategic”.

The main focus, of course, will be centered on the economy. According to the Wall Street Journal, in the current stage of dealing with recession in the US, one of Obama’s main goals has been to reduce dependency on imports, primarily Chinese. At the same time, Beijing considers the export business to be the basis for the country’s economic growth. And convincing the Chinese to lower their international trade ambitions won’t be easy.
While speaking at the opening of the summit, the US president said that he places great hopes on China in overcoming the global financial crisis. That is why, according to Obama, Chinese investments in the global economy may reduce the effects of the economic downturn and substantially reduce the recession period. By saying "investments in the global economy," the head of the White House primarily means the economy of the United States.

There is another interesting issue. The Assistant to the Minister of Finance of China answered this by saying that "the Chinese government is first and foremost responsible for the Chinese people, thus it is concerned about the security of the People’s Republic of China’s assets. We sincerely hope that the financial deficit in the United States will decline year after year."

Meanwhile, economists are saying that this year the US budget deficit could come close to $2 trillion. This, in turn, could cause inflation and a sharp depreciation of the world currency. Such a scenario would truly be a nightmare for the Chinese, who are America’s largest creditor and who have invested more than $800 billion in US Treasury Bonds. If Beijing comes to a decision to “merge" their dollar assets, that will be the decline of American economic power.

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Traditionally, post-ministerial meetings take place in the “ten-plus-one” format and present a platform for dialogue and exchange of ideas on current political issues. However, when it comes to implementing a specific project, be it economic or cultural, a feeling of déjà vu occurs at every ASEAN event. New proposals emerge, but old ones remain.

The issue here isn’t only in the local mentality, which Lavrov explains as “people in the region are accustomed to working slowly” and maintain the old “measure seven times before you cut” principle. It is not just about the opposing forces which prevent Moscow from entering the Asian markets, imposed by a range of countries who are not interested in another competitor appearing. All of these factors exist, but it wouldn’t be justifiable to say that they have a crucial effect on the dialogue between Russia and ASEAN.

The slow development of relations between Moscow and countries of Southeast Asia is, in many ways, linked to the blurriness of ASEAN itself as a negotiation partner. On the one hand, this organization is making indisputable “claims” on becoming the regional “center of influence”. Various kinds of regulations will be adopted at the ministerial meeting in Thailand, which are geared towards establishing a European Union analogue from ASEAN by 2015. On the other hand, contradictions that exist within the organization do not allow it to have a single voice on many issues.

If one were to take into account that the trade turnover between Russia and ASEAN is little more than $10 billion, which is about a hundred times smaller than that between ASEAN and China, then officials of these organizations consider many of the Russian initiatives as being important, but far from those being of primary importance, and as such lie on the “sidelines” of regional policy.

Nonetheless, positive shifts are occurring. Two years ago, in Manila, Sergey Lavrov presented a road-map of joint action on the implementation of a comprehensive Russia-ASEAN program. As part of the partnership dialogue fund, six projects were to be implemented. One of them involved establishing the ASEAN Center at MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations). There were also projects in the area of electronic commerce, on teaching Russian language to the businessmen working in our country.

At the upcoming meeting in Phuket a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on the Establishment of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO will be signed. It is another small, but concrete step for the realization of one of the projects, but everything else still largely remains only on paper.

Before the post-ministerial conference takes off, Sergey Lavrov will have talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Organizers allocated half an hour for their meeting that failed to occur in Trieste, Italy, and in Moscow due to Clinton’s elbow trauma. One of the issues that will be discussed between the two heads of the US and Russian departments of foreign affairs will be focused on the situation around the North Korean nuclear test. The question of how to make Pyongyang return to the Six-Party Talks and implement the provisions of the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council will also be one of the central topics of discussion during the 16th session of the ASEAN Regional Forum on security. On the eve of her meeting with Lavrov, the US Secretary of State commented on the North Korean matter. She compared North Korean authorities’ actions to those of a capricious child’s behavior who “seeks attention”. In doing so, Clinton referred to her personal maternal experience “of dealing with young children and unmanageable adolescents.” So there can be no doubt – methods of raising the younger generation will inevitably be at the center of the Russian-American talks.

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Now, “as of May 2009”, the US had only 2,126 such warheads. Or, 74 warheads below the highest allowed level, which according to the May 2002 document, both sides were supposed to reach by no later than December 31, 2012.

In other words, within only six months of his presidency, Barak Obama was able to prove that his pre-election rhetoric on the necessity of reducing Russian and US missile capabilities to the minimal level necessary for nuclear deterrence, were not empty words.

The State Department’s report states that the United States, in recent years, has reduced the amount of their operationally deployed strategic warheads by nearly two thirds, compared to the levels of the Cold War era. Moreover, Washington “has unilaterally reduced its tactical nuclear weapons to levels of less than one-tenth of those that existed during the Cold War”.

Of course, America began reducing its arsenal at the time of Republican George Bush. But it is only now, under a Democrat, Barack Obama, that the US was able not only to exceed the commitments assumed under the Moscow Treaty, but to also begin intensive consultations on the document that is supposed to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), which expires in December.

It’s not a secret that the administration of George Bush Junior made no efforts to, at least, begin negotiations on strategic nuclear weapons, even at the expert level. Many analysts did not rule out that after December 2009, the White House was not only going to free its hands, but actually start a new arms race. Fortunately, Obama has different plans on this issue. And, his recent visit to Moscow proved it. After hours of negotiations with President of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, in the Kremlin, the parties signed a document of a common understanding regarding further reductions and limitations of strategic nuclear weapons.

The document states that the leaders of the two countries agreed on the need for a new, legally binding agreement to replace START. In doing so, Medvedev and Obama agreed that seven years after the new agreement enters into force, levels for the strategic delivery systems in Russia and the US must be within the limit of 500-1100 units and warheads – within the limit of 1500-1675 units.
In other words, for experts, the next six months will be full of responsibilities. After all, the agreement between the two presidents must be clearly written in the new treaty. It’s expected that the interim results of the negotiations will be concluded in the fall, when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is also a coordinator of the US-Russia presidential commission, will visit Moscow. If the parties will continue to exceed their responsibilities, then, it’s possible that it won’t be necessary to wait seven years to consider an even greater reduction of strategic delivery systems and warheads.

From the Treaty between Russia and the United States of America on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT):

Article I
Each Party shall reduce and limit strategic nuclear warheads, as stated by the President of the United States of America on November 13, 2001 and as stated by the President of the Russian Federation on November 13, 2001 and December 13, 2001 respectively, so that by December 31, 2012 the aggregate number of such warheads does not exceed 1700-2200 for each Party. Each Party shall determine for itself the composition and structure of its strategic offensive arms, based on the established aggregate limit for the number of such warheads.

Article V
This Treaty shall be registered pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations. Done at Moscow on May 24, 2002, in two copies, each in the English and Russian languages, both texts being equally authentic.

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It would be strange if, in the Year of Youth, its issues and perspectives weren’t discussed in a large governmental forum. Moreover, it would be strange if a significant part of Russian society disappeared from the public eye – according to statistics, in Russia, people aged from 18 to 30 years old constitute 27% of the population. For this reason, President Dmitry Medvedev brought up the issue of youth politics at the State Council of Russia talks. He put problems associated with realizing young people’s potential and supporting their initiatives as the focus. The head of state was able to assess the youth initiative during the recent communication with participants of the Seliger 2009 Forum [an annual youth political event held at Lake Seliger].

He immediately began talking about the direct participation of young hopefuls in one of the key government priorities – the innovative development of the country. "Without the participation of young people in innovation, we won’t be able to create the technological society to which we aspire,” said the president. “Around the world, scientific and technological advances are made by the young. So our absolutely urgent task is to promote the scientific and technical creativity of young people, in order to create conditions for the creation of new ideas and, most importantly, for their subsequent use, i.e. for commercialization."

Although on this point, the business that, according to Dmitry Medvedev, must deal with the commercialization of new developments, needs to be shaken up.

Fresh ideas were delivered by Nashi youth movement activist, Marina Zademidkova, from the Seliger Forum. The majority of the projects were, mildly speaking, surprising – one has to seriously think these projects over before finding a use for them, not to mention financing them.

For example, “the genius boy”, Serezha Luzhovsky, who created a notebook/microscope. The president spoke with this boy during a call-in show with Seliger. The young inventor’s friend created a program that negotiates with people to stop playing on the computer. Another young man prepared 200 negotiators, capable of solving ethnic conflicts. Finally, the apotheosis of young thought became the strange program of one girl, who wanted to acquaint men with their socks.

Perhaps universities, under which small innovative companies will soon appear, are expected to be more practical. In creating them, the state is pursuing two goals. First, for the development of innovation. Second, as a measure to address youth employment, likely to be a major problem during the economic crisis. The president would like to see more young people not only in business, but also in political and public life.

"I propose to establish, in all regions of the Russian Federation, a single age for election to representative bodies of municipal government and municipal entities,” said Dmitry Medvedev. “I think that any citizen who has reached the age of 18 should have the right to be elected in his/her municipal organ". Earlier, the best of the best managers were already being gathered on all levels of the so-called cadre reserve; youth training in the presidential management training program began. Governors admitted that all these measures aroused great interest among young people. However, the interest of young people depends on the passivity of officials. "Have you nominated anyone from this reserve?” the president asked the Governor of Novosibirskaya Oblast, Viktor Tolokonsky.

“For now, no. Although, there are those who are already working in the government agencies,” admitted the head of the region. “But we will definitely nominate someone!”

“I would like to address everyone present. We did not create this reserve together in order to report that we have a certain reserve of people who will, at some time close to retirement age, be appointed to certain positions,” Dmitry Medvedev expostulated to the gubernatorial cabinet. “Colleagues, appoint them or recommend these people to be appointed in non-governmental organizations, in business-structures.”

The State Council discussed many aspects of youth policy and ways to solve problems. Governor of the Amurskaya Oblast, Oleg Kozhemyako, is seriously concerned about the health of the younger generation that enters school healthy and leaves it with two to three chronic illnesses. He has proposed to revise educational standards and redistribute the teaching load. This can be done by reducing the summer vacation by 1.5-2 months and extending the fall spring and winter breaks. "This will allow equal distribution of the teaching load, and time for the young body to restore its resources," he said.

Governor of the Trans-Baikal region, Ravil Geniatulin, raised the traditional problems of growing youth addiction to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. "The government, by all available means, must rescue its citizens," he said, while remembering the anti-alcohol campaign of the 1980s. Dmitry Medvedev, of course, noticed that the struggle with the bad habit at times went too far, but he found some positive things as well. For example, during that time, the birth rate greatly increased.

However, the president did not understand the reasoning of the new head of the Voluntary Society of Assistance to the Army, the Air Force and the Navy (DOSAAF), Sergey Maev, about the great potential of the organization in patriotic education of young people, and considered it out of place. "You, along with the governors, need to see what assets remain and what DOSAAF property was blown off as a result of policies of the leadership of this respectful organization; that could be returned to the ownership of this public organization,” said the head of state. “And then talk about the recognition of all sorts of other factors, creation of a new law on public associations, and so on."

After listening to comments and suggestions for more than two hours, Dmitry Medvedev came to the conclusion to endorse the proposal for a federal program "Youth of Russia" for the years of 2011 to 2015. "This proposal is valid,” agreed the president. “This program needs to be developed, it needs to include measures of using innovative potential, of supporting various youth initiatives for the development of youth entrepreneurship, including the possible use of new tools in so-called volunteerism, or volunteer activity."

President Medvedev hasn’t developed a position on a specific law dealing with young people. He asked that all the suggestions be complied to see whether or not such law would have a regulatory component. "If we are, after all, able to prepare a document saturated with real and specific rules, it will need to be adopted and considered as a base design for the development of legislation dealing with our youth," the head of state summed up the discussion.

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The crash coincided with the emergence of another "black list" of airline carriers compiled by the European Union. Now 194 airline carriers are forbidden to fly within the EU. Moreover, the EU officials not only modernized the “black list”, but offered to extend its prohibitions to the entire world.

When, in March 2006, the EU published its first “black list” of air carriers, many considered this document an attempt to eliminate market competition. Although, as time passed, the list continued to be updated. Some airlines were added to the list of those that were banned from flying European routes. Others were removed from the "black list" by having spent considerable money on upgrading their aircraft. Statistics prove it’s safer to fly on an aircraft that met the stringent requirements of the European Union.

The recently published eleventh version of the “black list” included 194 companies. There is no doubt that 2008 and 2009 were the most difficult years for airline carriers. First, fuel prices reached never-before-seen heights. Then, the financial crisis broke out, which caused a sharp decline in the flow of passengers. In other words many, if not the majority, of airline companies are left with fewer available resources to comply with European standards.

Meanwhile, airplanes continue to crash with frightening regularity. But passengers, who buy flight tickets, do not appear concerned with the financial situation of the company – if the airline carrier is supplying services then they need to be on the highest level.

Now, there remain those companies who, for the sake of preserving employment, are ready to rely on “chance” when sending poorly tested aircraft to another flight. After an Yemenia airliner, which carried 142 passengers onboard, crashed at the Comoros Islands at the end of June, in Europe demands were heard to extend the European practice of "black lists" - first to all airlines that Europeans transferred to after leaving the EU, and then, ideally, to the entire world.

But, what could that lead to? Experts answer unequivocally: the majority of airline carriers will find themselves in a position where they cannot comply with the high standards of the European Union. In other words, dozens of countries may be left without national airline carriers. If one was to believe EU officials, then currently in the post-Soviet territories a much more dramatic situation is developing with airline companies in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Airplanes of these two countries, according to the latest version of the European “black list”, are forbidden from flying to Europe. The only exception is Air Astana. But the Kazakh company, headquartered in Alma-Ata, is included in a supplementary list of airline carriers subject to certain restrictions. Four Ukrainian airlines are also included on the “black list”.

Also, all airline carriers from the following countries are forbidden from flying in EU airspace: Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Zambia. Meanwhile, after recent inspections, the EU again allowed four Indonesian airlines to schedule flights to Europe. At the same time, representatives of the European Commission noted that they "recognize significant improvements and achievements of Indonesian authorities in the field of civil aviation safety."

Comments

It can be assumed that due to the crisis, the EU is trying to push out foreign competitors from the European air market by alluding to technical conditions. Although, that’s not exactly the case.

Oleg Panteleev, head of the analytical department of AviaPort Agency, does not see a hidden motive in the actions of the European Commission. Companies fall into the “black list” according to objective safety level indicators.

Security violations are identified by European security inspectors who can, at any time, go on board a foreign aircraft and evaluate its reliability according to the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft Programme (SAFA). Having free access to and marking emergency exits was an example given by Oleg Panteleev. Typically, offenders are not immediately entered onto the "black list"; first, a protocol on elimination of violations is written. Normally, airlines quickly correct all violations; after all, it’s a question of losing business, stresses Oleg Panteleev. If the carrier is not able to raise their level of safety to the EU level of safety requirements, it’s simply not provided air navigation services and is not able to fly.

The EU was pushed to make the pan-European “black list” following the 2005 air crashes in Greece and Colombia, resulting in many deaths.

So far, Russian carriers haven’t made it onto the European "black list". However, in 2007 four Russian airline carriers were not far from being placed on the list. Then, Rus Aviation simply forbade them to fly to the EU in order not to set up their carriers, and reduced the number of airplanes for another six carriers.

Now, our companies strictly comply with the European law. Although the engine noise is not included in the safety requirements, it’s regulated by other international standards. Oleg Panteleev argues that a flight on a "loud" plane would only result in a fine.

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It’s clear to everyone that we don’t present any (not even potential) threat to one another. One could quite reasonably ask: why, then, is the US deploying their Anti-Ballistic Missiles (AMB)?! And, why is NATO coming so close to Russia’s borders? Why are we basically being surrounded by the "security belt"? Yes, this certainly can’t be called a “present for Russia”. How would the US react if Mexico and Canada formed a military-political union with Russia?

However, all of this does not cancel a simple fact. Specifically – if AMB shields are created, and even if Ukraine and Georgia join NATO, etc. – under all of these conditions, do you believe in a thermonuclear war between Russia and the US? Do you believe that the Russian Federation can attack the US?

Assumingly, the answer is a firm “no”. Perfect. But, do you believe that the US can throw a thermonuclear weapon at Russia?! I think a normal person could not make themselves say “I believe…” They wouldn’t dare. But, if they did, then the next question would be “why?” Why would the US open the gates of hell for itself and the rest of the world?

Does Russia present a deadly threat for them? How so? We have just now agreed that Russia definitely does not want to commit nuclear suicide by throwing itself first on American rockets. What kinds of motives could the US have for thermonuclear suicide?! To get to our petroleum? That’s strong. Logical. Probable. Would it be beneficial business for the US is to lose tens of millions of their citizens, destroy half of their country, and in turn “get Russia’s petroleum”, without which they do just fine now? And besides, if the US really wants to avoid purchasing petroleum, then why go to war over it? They will attack, of course, the helpless Russia and not the dreadful, thermonuclear Venezuela or Mexico, where there is also plenty of petroleum… All in all, a thermonuclear war between Russia and the US is simply nonsense, just as all the demagogy on this subject is.

“But they are building that cursed ABM shield! But they have the ability to attack us!” There is an old anecdote on this subject. A person is tried for making home-distilled vodka. The home-distilled vodka was not found, but the equipment to make it was present. In his final statement he asks to be tried for rape as well. “Who did you rape?” “No one,” he answers, “but the equipment is present…”

It’s clear that from the whole of Russian history, that in grave complexes have remained in the national consciousness. Let’s call them “Syndrome June 22” – fear of a possible attack from the West. But, today, this syndrome is quite irrational. And it needs to be fought not so much by “military means” (building up arms or negotiating about reducing arms), but by a rational analysis of the situation. The analysis of the situation shows that what was for hundreds of years a realistic deadly threat to our nation is now a myth. Just as with fear of black smallpox or diphtheria, which for centuries claimed people’s lives, are now virtually non-existent. Just as with fears of a bad harvest, which for centuries signaled the approach of starvation - now such a notion in Russia, no matter how you slice it, is non-existent (although malnutrition is possible).

However, all things considered, military talks between our countries are not meaningless. For example, it’s beneficial for us to cut our nuclear arsenal. Experts say that we cannot maintain it at the proper level of readiness anyway. Not bad, if there will be a parallel decline of US potential. Furthermore, it’s important to take all possible measures against the spread of nuclear weapons. This is an important topic. Alas, US and Russian capabilities are quite limited here, but it is necessary to discuss these measures with Iran and North Korea. Finally, it’s not bad that an agreement of the transit of US military cargo to Afghanistan has been reached: either way, success of the Taliban is certainly not in Russia’s interests. To help in a war against them is a good thing.

All of this is a secondary agenda. Missile negotiations without a real threat are negotiations of prestige. Yes, it’s nice to imagine oneself as a superpower (as Stalin said to Bukharin, “you and I are the Himalayas, and the rest are nothing”). This is an adolescent game of self-love.

With regard to the extent of the economic ties with the United States, things aren’t great. Imports from the United States - are 4.8% of our total imports (in comparison – imports from Germany are 13.3% and China 12.2%). The amount of our exports to the US is even less significant. They buy oil and gas from the Middle East, Mexico, and that same Venezuela... They don’t really need much else from us. Scientific and technical cooperation? Alas, here, major projects are not likely because the gap in the level of scientific and technological development of our two countries is too large: for example, according to the estimates of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the US has a 35% share of the high-tech market, Russia’s share is between 0.2% and 0.3%. For as long as we are not political allies, the US government isn’t interested in reducing that gap.

The Americans are actually quite satisfied with the current state of our relations. Moreover, it’s interesting how Obama, himself, confirmed this. His last speeches (including in Moscow) repeatedly emphasized the importance of the sovereignty of each country. Banality? The speeches of presidents are always a set of banalities. "Universal democratic standards" - banality. And "sovereignty" - banality. But Obama is actively stressing the importance of sovereignty, and it is this emphasis that’s already not a banality. This shows the latest US trend - from exporting democracy to recognizing the primacy of other people's sovereignty. We can say that here Russia and the US have a mutual understanding. In fact, the US is seriously concerned with only one thing – the integrity of Russia’s sovereignty. For them, a Russian collapse and the spread of nuclear weapons all over the world would be a nightmare. But we can reassure our esteemed partners - Russia is not planning on “collapsing", whatever happens. So this scary tale will remain a scary fiction.

Are we satisfied with our relations with the US?

Presumably, of course, the answer would be “no”. But in reality, a “yes” will suffice.
Of course it would be nice to quickly raise the level of economic, and especially scientific and technical, level of cooperation. However one can’t be nice when forced – such things cannot be falsified. It is time to finally realize that we are a regional power. The times of global rivalry with the United States “on a global scale” are over. The times "of global cooperation" have not started, and it’s not a fact that they will begin.

Today, Russia’s interests – political, economic – are in the countries of our region. CIS, Europe, China…and the US. Well the US: they are in our interests simply because they interfere in our relations with our real partners. And, here, it is necessary to lean on the US and to find compromises while firmly, yet politely arguing with them. It’s important not to have maniacal goals and play a zero-sum game with them (or against them). Such games, for us, are absolutely unbearable and no longer needed. It's time to get rid of our psychological dependence on the US - they are not the center of our real interests. And, should not be the center of our emotions, fears or hopes.

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Rossiyskaya Gazeta: After the meeting of NATO-Russia Council on level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Kythira, did you notice any changes in statements made by NATO officials in Brussels?

Dmitry Rogozin: NATO is a large organization that is currently at a crossroad. That is, firstly, related to the change of the secretary general – another person, with a status higher than that of the current secretary general, will take the post. Scheffer came from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Netherlands, now we have a former premier of Denmark coming in. A head of government and minister of foreign affairs – there is great difference between the two. This means that the new secretary general, who will take his position on August 1, will be able to more quickly resolve political problems while negotiating on the same level with heads of states, NATO members and alliance partners. Of course, the new secretary general, as an ambitious young man, has an understanding that the post of secretary general for him is not resignation or honorable exile, but a very important step in his political career. Therefore, new and energetic steps should be expected from him.

As far as I can judge from my last contact with Mr. Rasmussen’s circle, he is very interested in the Russian vector of alliance development. Judging by the still rather careful steps of the new secretary general, he would like to see Russia as a partner, not an enemy. We are ready to help him in this in any way we can. So, I think that in the future, the secretary general will focus on building a partnership with the Russian Federation.

First, trust needs to be strengthened through mutual understanding. And, here it is especially important that the work on strategic concepts of NATO is realized not apart from Russian experts’ opinions, but with their consideration. We are now conducting very close consultations on this topic in the headquarters of the alliance.

RG: What kind of steps forward is Russia ready to take?

Rogozin: Our step forward is that at the July 22 meeting of the NATO–Russia Council the Russian National Security Concept, recently approved by the Security Council of Russia, will be reviewed. I proposed that it not be represented by a Russian permanent representative as usual. Instead, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Vladimir Nazarov will arrive from Moscow. This will be a very interesting briefing for NATO officials, for the representatives of the authorial group, and for the group of developers of this concept. We are not only able to present this concept, but also to answer any questions that appear from my colleagues, permanent representatives.

In other words, Russia is ready to lay its cards on the table and show the result of our intellectual work. Why are we doing this? For one simple reason – understanding the breaking point of the current moment, we are interested in two intellectual processes: work on the project for Russia’s future and work on the project for the future of the West, including NATO, to work parallel with each other, overlapping in certain places and correlating according to each other. These kinds of basic fundamental principles and perspectives about our future should be worked out with the close contact of intellectuals. We, Russia, are making the first step. Accordingly, we expect that if the same will be done within the alliance, the international secretariat of NATO, we will want to know about it. And, we would like, in a possible and acceptable for NATO officials form, to take part in this job.

RG: In Moscow, US President, Barack Obama stated that NATO needs to begin cooperating with Russia. To what extent will such wishes of the owner of the White House be heard in Brussels?

Rogozin: That is basically a question of the extent of American influence on NATO. I could put it this way: not all that Americans wish to do can happen in NATO. But at the same time, nothing can happen in NATO without the will of America. It’s certainly limited to an increasingly growing influence of its European allies, such as Germany, which is building up muscle, and France, which returned to the military organization of the alliance with new ambitions. Therefore, America can’t push everything through the alliance.

Even the Bush administration had failed to resolve the issue of expanding NATO by Ukraine and Georgia due to European opposition. But to imagine that the European countries can group together and push any idea that is contrary to the interests of Washington is also impossible. The influence of America is great. I would say it is very great in the alliance. Therefore, if the new American president was especially interested in, even before his visit to Moscow, in eliminating some of the more prominent irritators in our relations, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was talking with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, over the phone, trying to convince the Russian side to overcome a certain kind of allergy and agree to hold ministerial meeting in Kythira, then that means that it was extremely important for Washington. And, if we realized that this is important for them and that this idea is aimed at strengthening the constructive start in our relations, then why not agree? We agreed. This means that NATO is still under significant American influence, and if Americans really want to undertake a strategic review of relations with Russia, calling it a “reset”, then it is very likely that this “reset” will affect the Russia-NATO relationship as well.

RG: When will Russia and NATO be able to return to a detailed and a professional discussion about the situation in Caucasus?

Rogozin: Our position is as follows – it’s necessary to look closely at the situation. We believe that to have such allies as Saakashvili is a shame. NATO won’t be able to clean its own reputation, despite any PR events it would hold, without the analysis of its own place in this unpleasant history.

I think that we can’t over-push here either, because it can cause a reciprocal reaction. No one likes to acknowledge their mistakes. And, it is unlikely that 28 ambitious countries will be able to recognize these mistakes all at once. Nevertheless, an analysis of what happened in our relationship is needed. It must be done without any additional propagandistic noise. It should be constructive. I hope that, starting from September after the new secretary general undertakes all of his first visits to NATO headquarters in the NATO operational zones, and returns to Brussels headquarters, we will be able to resume this kind of conversation with him.

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Specifically, investigators have video footage related to the murder attempt of the Ingush president, which is currently being analyzed by specialists.

Further, the latest terror attacks in Dagestan and Ingushetia are means for the militia to frighten those who are working on the investigation, according to Bastrykin.

In his meeting with reporters, he also spoke about the investigation of Georgian war crimes during last year's aggression against South Ossetia. According to Bastrykin, the crimes have been fully proven and include genocide and the killing of large numbers of civilians. 5315 people fell victim to these acts. The on-the-scene investigation was conducted by more than 100 investigators and criminal prosecutors and more than a thousand witnesses were questioned. It has been proven that Georgia used prohibited means and methods of warfare.

Bastrykin noted a significant increase in this year's funding from abroad for arming gangs in the North Caucasus. This became one of the reasons for their increased activity. The gangs were composed of a large number of foreign mercenaries.
A price-list was found on the body of one of the dead militia members; it listed rates for killing a soldier, a prosecutor, and an investigator.

However, Bastyrkin thinks that terrorism in the North Caucasus is a disappearing issue, as long as special operations and the strengthening of the statehood continues and the investigators learn to uncover cases.

Journalists were also interested in the investigation of several high-profile crimes committed in Moscow. Bastrykin reported on those, as well. The investigation of the murder of the editor of the Russian version of Forbes Magazine, Paul Khlebnikov, has been renewed. The accused, Kazbek Doukouzov, has fled the court; an international search has been declared and the accused was arrested in absentia. As for the second accused - Moussa Vakhaev – he has been restrained with house arrest. With regard to the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov in central Moscow on January 19th, Bastrykin said that the killer will be caught.

“The problem isn’t that we don’t know. We know who we are looking for, but cannot find him. Yet, I criticized my colleagues from the Ministry of the Interior. He is somewhere close. I’m personally following this case and it is going slower than we would like,” said Bastrykin.

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In his conversation with a Rossiskaya Gazeta (RG) correspondent, he stated that the plan of action for such events as visits of heads of state had, for a long time, been developed by the Special Services. But this time, some changes and additions have been added, which were not disclosed for obvious reasons, said the Special Service official.

However, he did share some details of securing safety procedures for the President of the United States. Specifically, the Moscow Air Force District will be on guard as dozens of fighter jets will be on alert. Also, the airspace of the capital region will be declared a no-fly zone. Air Defense Forces were ordered to halt all attempts to violate security measures.

Noted the official, “I would like to calm our citizens, and foreign citizens who, during the presidential visit, plan to arrive to or leave Moscow. Air traffic in the Moscow zone will not be restricted; however, all airports in the capital will continue to operate on regular schedule.”

Officials of the Ministry of Interior and other security forces, according to the statement from their management, will be doing everything possible to minimize any inconvenience for the capital’s guests and residents that may occur while security measures are being assured. This first entails drivers who will be inconvenienced by partial road closures that will be used for the procession of the US President.

The capitol’s police will be on increased alert, taking extra security measures in public transport and highly populated facilities. Daily, several thousand police officers, including undercover officials, will be patrolling the city. Additional police squads are coming from several regions, including patrol-sentry service officials and OMON fighters. Each division will include canine handlers with dogs. Also, this weekend random passport checks have been increased.

Special Services are conducting a series of preventative anti-terrorist and anti-crime measures. Specifically, all inspectors have been instructed to thoroughly check all residents with criminal records who are living in the territory they oversee.

US Secret Service officials will provide immediate security to the US president.

“The Federal Guard Service (FSO) will be providing all necessary assistance. Russian and American colleagues are closely working together on insuring the security for the heads of state,” said the Special Service official.

Alexei Bolshov, a retired FSB colonel who, for many years worked in the KGB Anti-Terrorism Department, provided security for state representatives:

“The most important thing in the work of Special Services, including security of the President of Russia, is to be exact when carrying out duties as well as offering the utmost coordination of action with other special services and law-enforcement agencies. According to the Vienna Convention, the highest degree of responsibility is placed on the protection of heads of state; the host country is obliged to guarantee full safety to the head and members of foreign delegations. Despite the fact that all visits take place in accordance with previously used and coordinated programs, there are changes that put the security forces into difficult situations. I must say that this primarily applies to the heads of foreign delegations that visit our country.”

“As far as working with our American colleagues is concerned, we have always been satisfied with the cooperation with the US Presidential security. This cooperation has been developing for many years. I had to contact many security officials, and I must say that they are all first-class professionals. We have always had warm and kind relations because each side understands the full measure of responsibility for the head of delegation. Here, we have no differences. We do one job; both sides do it in good faith.
Usually, on his trips, the US President is accompanied by 400 people. But there are some visits when that number reaches a thousand. Prior to the visit abroad, a 'leading subdivision' of Secret Service officials is sent to the destination. Once there, they spend time with authorities and security agencies working on all the details of the visit. Using special equipment, they inspect facilities and explore routes. They play out scenarios of possible contingencies. They study every intersection, every street: shooting angles are measured, the speed of the procession of cars is determined, though the presidential limousine is a fortress on wheels. It is armored, has bullet-proof glass, is self-sealing, and has self-healing tires in case they are shot. Typically, four such limousines escort the US president on his trips.”

RG Report

The US Secret Service consists of about 5,000 people. About 2,100 of these people are special agents. 1,200 serve in a special "security subdivision", which immediately ensures the safety of the president and his family. 1700 are technical, administrative and other support personnel. The work it carries is high risk. In 1999, 31 Secret Service agents were killed.

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Could it be that Maria Pavlovna gave her tiara to Mary as a gift? Could she have sold it?
The answer is no. The Grand Duchess’ impressive collection of jewels was moved abroad in a successfully conducted operation at the time the Revolution was in full swing.

Played out in the spirit of James Bond, this operation was carried out by Maria Pavlovna’s friend, British diplomatic courier Albert Henry Stopford. This gripping tale is, for the first time, being told in an upcoming book by William Clarke, former correspondent for the Guardian and Times newspapers who later became a banker for London’s Citi Bank. By studying numerous archives, diaries of Albert Stopford and letters of the Grand Duchess, Clark created a sort of historical mystery novel. Clarke titled his book with effective simplicity, a title that guarantees making the bestseller list: Treasures of the Romanovs: Saving the Royal Jewels.

Meanwhile, the book doesn’t talk about the major part of the royal treasures, when the Revolution confiscated the majority, but about a modest amount of Romanov valuables that luckily avoided confiscation. In that sense, the wife of the uncle of Nikolai II, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, was in luck as she was fortunate to have found a loyal friend in Bertie Stopford.

Prior to the Revolution, Bertie was a diplomatic courier; he delivered personal correspondence from English King George V to the court of Nikolai II. Being acquainted with many famous Russians of those times, Stopford became especially close to the family of the Great Duchess.

Meanwhile, Maria Pavlovna was a great admirer of jewels and added to her collection many unique pieces from St. Petersburg, London, and Paris. When, in July 1917, the events in Petrograd reached a boiling point, the Grand Duchess was in Kislovodsk panicking about the unknown fate of everyone and everything that remained in Petrograd. And then Bertie Stopford, being the true and devoted friend that he was decided, if one agrees to follow the author’s reasoning, to personally take responsibility for rescuing the treasures and to sneak into the Vladimir Palace.

The Briton received precise instructions from Maria Pavlovna on where she kept her jewels after which he, quite possibly with the Grand Duchess’ son, Boris, snuck into the palace. Bertie carried out two heavy gripsacks filled with money and jewels, which he courageously carried through the streets of the city that had already fallen during the Revolution. William Clarke is convinced that the courier for His Highness George V was risking his life.

Stopford delivered the money directly to Kislovodsk and personally handed it to the Grand Duchess. Then, following her wishes, he sent the jewels to London. Exactly how he sent them, no one knows for certain. Perhaps he did it with the help of an acquaintance who served in the Royal Navy and was leaving Russia. Or, perhaps he delivered them personally using a different status – one that did not belong to a diplomat who was subject to supervision.

However, his diplomatic career was coming to an end. Soon after arriving in London he was arrested. He was charged with indecent behavior towards a male and was sentenced to one year of forced labor and imprisonment. After he was released, Stopford spent most of his time living in Paris and Sicily. These are the circumstances that the author offers as an explanation as to why Stopford’s heroic actions went unnoticed for such a long time.

So, what was the fate of the rescued jewel collection? Children of the Grand Duchess, who were already in exile, decided to sell their mother’s jewels during the disastrous 1920s. The collection, estimated by William Clarke at tens of millions of pounds sterling, went to the royal houses of Europe and it cannot be ruled out that it still adorns the heads and shoulders of monarchs. England’s Queen Mary had received some of the jewels. But, in the Vladimir Tiara, made by an imperial Russian jeweler in the 1870s, Mary preferred to insert pearls instead of the emeralds that originally decorated the tiara.

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The majority of the gaming business owners have already vacated the premises. If they fail to do so, in the worst case they will be fined the following day – up to 500,000 rubles in fines, with up to six months jail sentence. And the police are prepared for the battle. Yesterday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not rule out creating a special sub-unit to work in the four gambling zones. Citizens were called to stay alert and report to the administration, using the special “hot lines”, about all operating casinos and machine slots.

Inhospitable zones

Not one of the four gambling zones - to which the entire Russian gaming industry is supposed to move - will be ready by July 1st. The promised to Primorye “Las Vegas” has been left on paper at Muravinaya Bay. A similar situation has occurred in the Kaliningrad Region’s ‘Yantarnaya’ gambling zone. Here, only two participants of the future Baltic “Las Vegas” have bid for licenses, stated the regional press service. According to estimates of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Kaliningrad Oblast, the zone will be ready no sooner than in 10 years’ time. And in the case of the Altai ‘Siberian Coin’, two hectares of designated land near White Stone Mountain is still an empty field.

In the southern ‘Vegas’, things have progressed much further, but are far from being complete. According to Kuban officials, by creating the Azov City Gambling Zone, they have completed their obligations, but the business is not holding its end of the bargain. According to a statement to the RG by Oleg Petrosyan, Head of the Directorate of Azov City in Krasnodar, so far, one of only 15 investors has got their land leasing rights in the gambling zone through a bidding process, and begun to take care of business. “The regions are not supposed to build casinos; it’s the entrepreneurs’ job”, assures the Regional Department of Project Assistance.

The administration recently appealed to the arbitration court with a claim to terminate the land leasing contracts with one of the major investors of the gambling zone. According to the agreement, the businessman was supposed have all buildings and structures ready by July 1, 2009, but work still hasn’t begun. After breaking the contract, the authorities are planning to put the land back on the market with hopes of finding a serious investor. In addition, they are planning to grant permission to build casinos in the zone without any delay, as long as there is someone to grant it to.

“Although people will begin paying once they understand that it’s profitable”, explained Gregory Borodin, COO of the Kuban Gaming Business Association, “no one wants to waste their money. First stages require clear-cut rules and taxes.”

The roulette business played poker

“Today, the majority of businessmen don’t believe that people will come here”, explained Borodin, “Entrepreneurs are already organizing group trips to European casinos.”

Valery Ivanov, head of the Russian Association of Gaming Business Development, supports him by saying that Belarus, Bulgaria, and Eastern Europe are waiting on a governmental level for many large Russian operators as investors.

According to him, local authorities are calling the current situation in Russia “a brilliant chance to make new Las Vegases for Russian gamblers.” Millions of dollars worth of liquidated Russian technology, such as tables and slot machines, will reach those markets.

As far as the possible outcomes of the developments in Russia are concerned, experts are warning that the gambling business will simply change its name. “Using the opportunity that the government is not prohibiting sport poker and lotteries”, explained Borodin, “gambling halls are quickly changing their names and turning into poker clubs and internet cafes with access to the virtual roulette.” The same situation is occurring in different regions. For example, according to tax collectors, 54 sports clubs, such as lottery salons and internet clubs, have appeared in the Don area. On March 26, 2007, ‘sport poker’ was recognized as an official sport in Russia. Thus, poker is not limited by the new legislation.

Ready for the raids

However, the regional authorities understand this. Deputies of the Krasnodarsky Krai are determined to check whether or not the businesses of these “new entrepreneurs” are meeting their licensing requirements. David Chichua, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Federation of Sport Poker in Moscow, expressed his concern: “In Moscow, nearly 60 clubs have been named ‘sport project clubs’. But, in many cases, these are nothing more than titles, because the majority of such establishments are organized by people who work in the gambling industry. As a result, we get a gambling establishment analogous to a sport project.”

Another dangerous possibility is the retreat of the gambling business into the shadows. Experts have not estimated the rate at which the underground business is growing. According to the participants in the legal market, underground casinos, whose only competitors have, to this day, been their legal counterparts, have existed during the more liberal times as well. Nonetheless, when, six months ago in the city of Ryazan, the local authorities prematurely declared the prohibition of gambling businesses, their decision was ‘answered’ with 60 underground gambling hot-spots that were later discovered by the police.

Accordingly, on Wednesday night, in Moscow, officials of the law enforcement agency will raid all administrative districts in order to see whether casinos and gambling halls have been shut down, and check on the progress of the dismantling of the slot machines. Authorities have no doubts that some representatives of the gambling industry will attempt to continue to operate their businesses illegally. Moscow Deputy Mayor, Sergei Baidakov, says, “The city is ready for the raids and the 24-hour job of capturing lawbreakers.”

Croupier: dinner is served

Another important issue is the employment of gambling industry workers. As the regional Ministry of Economic Development of the Kaliningrad Oblast explained, in the Don area, a program has been established that decreases employment market tensions. Employees in the gambling industry who are facing unemployment can, through the employment services, complete government-sponsored vocational training. However, this is not happening because the owners of gambling businesses are not releasing lists of those facing unemployment.

As far as Moscow is concerned, not too long ago, 40,000 people were employed within the gaming business; only 4,000–5,000 of these were Moscow residents. Data shows that 17,500 gaming industry employees have been laid-off. The majority of them were non-residents, with only 4,500 being Muscovites. State authorities do not think they will have problems finding employment. The city organized a career fair where more than 50 companies offered employment. But, that did not spark a great interest with former gaming workers. To find a position as a server or a cook (there were many of those types of workers in the casinos) is not a problem. Besides, nearly 75% of the gaming facilities will be restructured into a different line of business. Cafes, restaurants, entertainment centers and stores will appear in their place (City authorities have promised to support this process in every way possible). So, former croupiers, waitstaff and doormen will continue working at the new place. The city is also hoping for an advantage. “In 2008, 5.5 billion rubles in tax from the gaming industry went towards the city budget. This equals to 0.5% of city’s last year’s budget”, explained Deputy Mayor Baidakov.

Andrei Pilipchuk, press secretary of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security Department states:

“Starting July 1st, gambling licenses will cease to be valid. In other words, if any casino or slot-machine hall continues to operate without proper licenses, they will fall into the 171st Article of the Criminal Code – ‘Illegal Business’. In order to ensure compliance with the new law, the Federal Tax Service and the MIA have developed a plan of joint action. Territorial units of the Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes have already received detailed instructions".

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The situation got so heated that many respectable residents of Star City wrote to the president, asking him to support the free will of the citizens. 63-year-old Rybkin was detained late night on the territory of Star City on June 24. The next day, Basmanny Court gave orders for his arrest.

Rybkin is suspected of organizing the illegal delivery of an exceptionally large contraband of Chinese goods through Baltic Customs. A dummy organization was used, Rosmoravia, and Rybkin, a former chekist (KGB serviceman), is one of the founders of the company. These goods, with an estimated cost of 10 million roubles, were later sold on the Russian market. The judicial investigation suggests that part of the contraband was directed to Moscow’s Cherkizovo market.

The criminal case against the members of Baltic Customs involved in the smuggling from China and selling the goods on the markets of Moscow Oblast and other regions, including on markets the group of companies of ACT, was initiated in February of this year. The cofounders of LLC Rosmoravia, Tarakanov and Potocky, have also been arrested.

The Head of the Investigation Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, announced that he will be fighting to eliminate the Cherkizovo market:

“We have been searching for those responsible for these illegal goods in the amount of $2 billion. No one knows who had delivered these products here,” he commented on the outcomes of the investigation for the first six months of the investigation during the board meeting of his committee. He continued to say that “this pigsty needs to be shut down, and we will bring it to an end in the near future. Though not everything is so simple. When one digs deeper into the problem, protection rackets come to light that one cannot even dream of.”

Rybkin’s arrest provoked a huge response in Star City. The suspect was considered a respectable figure of authority who did many things for Star City’s residents. He was considered a great sponsor of the town. One of his widely known acts was reintroducing twelve swans that inhabit the town’s lake. There was a time when Star City was proud of these birds, but during perestroika, someone ate the swans and sent the bones to the town’s administration. Rybkin, once again, ordered the swans from abroad. He restored fountains. Near his house, he built an exact copy of the home where Yury Gagarin was born and raised in the Smolensk Oblast, and opened a museum named after Gagarin.

According to our sources in the special services, the chekist headed the local counterintelligence department for the last 25 years. In his youth, for several years he was a radio-gunner on a Tu-16 bomber. He then graduated from the KGB school, and in 1976 began working at the cosmonaut training center where he ensured the protection of classified government intelligence on human spaceflight.

In his line of work with counterintelligence, he got promoted to the post of Deputy Chief of the Center. He completed missions abroad. In particular, he took part in rescuing hostages in Somalia and Ethiopia, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 1995 he stopped a dangerous criminal who was responsible for 200 crimes, including 28 murders. For that, the former KGB man was awarded the Order of Courage.

Right after the arrest over the scandal, his attorney Roman Smadych announced that his client would be prepared to go on hunger strike if there was not going to be an impartial investigation into his case, or if he isn’t granted the constitutional right to participate in the Star City mayoral election. Rybkin, however, did not go on a hunger strike after all, and his surname can still be found on the list of mayoral candidates.

Many residents of Star City are connecting Rybkin’s arrest with the elections. They think that someone is trying to eliminate the leading candidate from the race.

Aleksandr Volkov, Commander of the Cosmonaut Corps (1991-1998), and Hero of the Soviet Union:

“I’ve known Nikolai Rybkin for more than 30 years. I doubt I will be mistaken if I say that no one worries about Star City more than he does: he worked with pensioners, cared for the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and those of the Afghanistan war. This is a person who cares about the future of this town, and the people who live here.”

“One ought to consider that many people cast their votes well before the court ordered his arrest. I know that Aleksey Leonov cast an early vote. He especially went to Shchyolkovo to vote. And if one were to judge from our two houses, the election day turnout must have been high as well. Everyone perfectly understands that the decision of who will lead Star City depends on our vote.”

The federal law on the “basic guarantees of the electoral rights and the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation to hold a referendum” allow the candidate to participate in the election even if he or she is “contained in a detention facility either as a suspect or a prisoner.”

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Talks about peaceful projects, mainly, were held at Le Bourget 2009. Here, Russia ended up in a win-win situation. They have completed the construction of the new regional airplane of the new generation, which is without much modesty, called the Superjet. Although, the US called their Boeing-787 the Dreamliner. Despite great capital investments, work being done on the Dream is not going so smoothly. And the project deadlines for the European giant Airbus A-380 have been shifted. Creation of progressive machinery isn’t an easy task. Although it is progressive machinery that represents the face of civil aviation in the new century. For this reason, it remains highly important for the heads of aircraft companies.

If the Sukhoi Superjet 100 begins to gain a large share of the market in the next 10 years, then we, too, will have some possibilities to lay out our groundwork. Russia began working on the creation of the true super-machine of civil aviation – the long-range airplane MS-21. This liner is meant to be the progressive airplane - on the creation of which will be concentrated all domestic and foreign science in aircraft technology. It will be released by Irkut Corporation, which holds a European certificate of production. It is the only civil aviation enterprise that holds such certificate of quality.

There is great international cooperation. Many countries are uniting to work on the machine. Many leading international aircraft companies are offering their services at very reasonable prices. The president of Irkut, Oleg Demchenko said that it is possible that Moscow’s showroom MAKC-2009 (opening in August) will name several foreign companies who participated in the MS-21 project. If the project succeeds, Russia will have great gains in the world market, because both Airbus and Boeing are still yet to begin designing such a project.

We have even greater opportunities in the sales of space services and technologies. Russia is in the final building stages of the Equatorial Space Range in Kourou, French Guyana. Roscom’s launching services are cheaper than those of the US and Europe. And, the development of the carrier of the new generation, Hangar, will give us a substantial technological edge.
Our country is offering the joint production and exploitation of cosmic apparatuses of the new generation, which are unlike any other tools in the world. The NPO Lavochkin shone in the 2009 Le Bourget showroom. The organization is responsible for the scientific and informational aspects of space, and has always been considered a leader in their field. According to the head of NPO, Professor Georgi Poleschuk, a respectable program of space research has been established, to which large sums of money have been set aside. And, they are being used very effectively.

This year, the NPO will conclude the development of two satellites similar to Spector, meant to study outer space. Today this kind of activity is done by America and Europe. Apparatuses are practically ready to take off to distant planets.

This incredible apparatus is said to be launching to Mars already this year. It is intended to carry out three missions: fly to the Red Planet, work in its orbit, and set up a satellite – Fobos. The Russian apparatus will sample the ground collected from the satellite, then will send this unique sample back to Earth. Inside its body, the apparatus carries twenty-two scientific tools which have been crafted by specialists from seven countries; also, a Chinese satellite that will circle around Mars. Contracts with France have been signed at the Le Bourget showcase – French systems on the ground will support the operation of the flight.
Astronauts are preparing for their launch to the moon, where they will be working on a robotics-based project called the Luna Globe. The moon program of the Soviet Union is coming back on a new level, and with wide global cooperation.

Roscosmos ended up being a participant in the showcase, and was, almost daily, signing contracts at the show. The sums of these contracts were not announced, but one could safely assume it’s in millions of Euros.

According to the Director of Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov, the Russian agency is working closely with NASA and the European Space Agency, and checking against each other our national as well as international programs.

Le Bourget 2009 has concluded its showcase to specialists and, on Friday, will be open to the general public, whose numbers are estimated to be 100,000 per day.

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The Chief of the International-Legal Co-operation of the Office of the Prosecutor General, Sahak Karopetyan, stated that his department has certain leads as to Chichvarkin’s whereabouts.

According to some sources, representatives of Great Britain’s law enforcement recently paid a visit to the Prosecutor General with information regarding Chichvarkin. The visitors have put together a list of documents necessary for London to review Chichvarkin’s extradition case. His home-country is charging him with “bad” things such as extortion and abduction. Six months ago, an arrest warrant was issued for the businessman and the case brought to Moscow’s Basmany Court, although in absentia. The Prosecutor General’s office notified Rossiskaya Gazeta’s (RG) correspondent that all necessary forms have already been translated into English and sent to Great Britain.

In the past few months, there have been several meetings between the Prosecutor General, the Law Officer of the Crown, and the Ministry of the Interior of Great Britain. In those meetings, the parties discussed the issue of extradition of Russian citizens who have been eluding justice in the domestic courts on the Royal territories. RG’s correspondent was informed that the Prosecutor General’s office found a common language with their British colleagues. They were assured that issues regarding extradition will be actively pursued.

The results of these meetings between the law enforcement agencies of the both sides are that, for the first time in the last ten years, a decision has been reached to extradite two Russian citizens who are accused of serious financial crimes. The Prosecutor general’s office is sure that the question regarding Chichvarkin will have a favorable resolution.

Evgeny Chichvarkin himself, decided to “step into the light” despite the fact that an international search has been declared in his name. He appeared at a gala evening in London’s Covent Garden, where Sergey Dyagilev’s Russain Seasons Ballet Company was celebrating its 100-year anniversary.
Following the local traditions, the businessman (who is known for his preference for an extravagant clothing style) attended the affair in a conservative dark-blue suit and tie. He was accompanied by three bodyguards. Interestingly, according to Interpol, his appearance did not cause a stir among the many Russian guests. Chichvarkin refused to make any statements to the journalists, by saying: “But, you understand…Please, don’t be upset.”

The criminal proceedings against the former owner of Yevroset began this year, although the alleged crime took place several years ago. Today, the case against Chichvarkin has grown and he is not the only one involved.

New information regarding the case appeared yesterday: charges have been issued against other individuals involved in the investigation - ex-Vice President of Yevroset, Boris Levin and his subordinates – security personnel.

Yesterday, the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General declared the initiation of three new criminal proceedings. However, according to RG this initiative was denied. The new criminal cases increase the severity of all previous charges for the involved parties - including Boris Levin and six of the company’s security personnel. Three of Levin’s subordinates, along with him, are being held in isolated facilities; two of the accused are on parole and are being questioned from home; and Vladimir Ilyin is officially a wanted fugitive.

Now, as it turns out, there are several different cases related to the same crime. Former Head Clerks of the company, Dmitry Smurgin and Andrey Vlaskin, have also fallen victims to the new cases.
It appears that the more recent criminal cases will be united into one. According to lawyers, if this happens, all involved parties will again be issued charges in a “final version” of the case.
The original case appeared last year and involved abduction charges: specifically, the abduction of Andrey Vlaskin.

Other charges, aside from abduction, were extortion and smuggling. According to the investigators’ version, Levin and his subordinates abducted Vlaskin and held him captive in his family’s apartment, beating him and demanding 20 million rubles for stealing mobile phones.

Another victim, Smurigin, was also beaten by the company’s security guards who demanded he discloses information on Vlastnik, according to the investigation. The guards allegedly stole belongings from both victims, one example being Vlaskin’s BMW X5.

His lawyer, Konchevskina, said “There was no evidence Andrey Vlaskin had any involvement in the disappearance of any phones - only the testimonies of some witnesses. It simply seems that they found a person to write off their past due taxes, and in the process “beat-out” some more money from him.” She added her client’s parents were forced to collect the money. They even had to sell their farm because they were afraid for their son’s life.

Not only Yevroset’s employees can be held responsible, but police can be as well. Since the company was handed over to the Department of Internal Affairs of Southern Okrug in 2003, an interesting case arose against Andrey Vlaskin. Investigators are sure that the case was falsified.

Yesterday, Evgeny Chichvarkin’s lawyer, Yurii Gervis, announced that his client wasn’t issued with any charges, and that when his client spoke to the others accused in this case, they were also unaware of any new charges.

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of the Interior refused to comment on information regarding the Prosecutor General’s documents on the extradition of Chichvarkin. The Ministry’s official representative stated: “According to the law, the decision regarding Chichvarkin’s extradition from Great Britain must be made by a British Court.” He also refused to confirm or deny whether London had sent confirmation to Moscow regarding Chichvarkin’s whereabouts on British soil.

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The owner of the mobile phone died several years ago, but the debt had accumulated to that sum by June of last year. After reviewing the case, the court ruled that undeniable proof that the subscriber’s family was using the phone did not exist.

Meanwhile, the contract for services rendered is personified under the name of the deceased. Under Article 418 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the debtor’s obligations are bound to no one other than him or herself, and they cease to exist from the moment of his or her death.

The company’s representatives appealed to the court to include the sum of the debt with the so-called, “inheritance sum” – whereby the assets as well as the debts of the deceased are transferred to his or her closest relatives. However, the court were denied this as well.

According to a consultant for the Zlatoust City Court, Irina Larionova, for the court to accept the appeal, the debts would have had to have accumulated during the deceased’s life – not after his death. Thus the 100,000-ruble claim was dismissed as the company’s loss, having continued to service the client’s mobile service after his death. The same Article of the Civil Code states that the company was supposed to break the contract after the subscriber’s death several years ago.

Experts don’t have much else to add: to monitor the fate of each and every cellular subscriber is impossible. Apparently mobile carriers will either need to abstain from widely used tools that credit their services or to accept the possible risks.

The court’s decision was written into the law.

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The agenda clearly looks intriguing. Italy is not planning on disclosing what implications lie in the article titled “Economy” until the very last day. At least, while being published onto the G8 website, there remain only two articles without the decoding of the first. Simply – Economy.

Many things will potentially be discussed, from the regulation of financial markets to declaring a list of regional currencies. At the same time, according to analysts, to speak of these issues is senseless. “Two months have passed since the April summit of the G20, but no one has begun any fundamental changes”, complains Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

The construction of the new economic order is limited to several isolated initiatives, while current efforts are being focused on fighting the current recession. The head of the National Institute of Development, Sergey Glazyev, in his recent radio interview, echoes Dr. Stiglitz:

“The ideas offered by the economic community in regards to escaping the global crisis have not yet delivered any practical results.”

While ideas of regulation do exist, there is a complete lack of understanding of just how to bring them to fruition. Specifically, according to Glazyev, after the meeting of the G20, American financial authorities had eased their risk-requirements, while the G20 had advised the opposite. Glazyev further explained that the belief that one can’t engage in protectionism only benefits the rich, because the poor, while seeing the inability of the global regulators to act, are left without any other choice other than protectionism.

As far as the IMF reforms are concerned, both Russian and Western analysts agree that it is a difficult question and is, most likely, time consuming. It will be discussed in earnest no earlier than this Fall, during the yearly convention between the IMF shareholders and the World Bank in Washington – where the members of the two financial institutions will gather. That is where any initial decisions will be made.

Whether or not they will be realized is a tough question – everything depends on the chief shareholder, the US. That’s just the way it all adds up – without their input, not even a minute decision can be realized. Thus, predicting today that such reforms will actually pass is a thankless task.

Technically, everything looks as follows: according to the IMF Charter, the decision may come to fruition under one condition – holding an election and collecting 85% of the votes. The US holds slightly more than 16% of the vote, thus they have every right to a veto. It’s worth remembering the events that occurred two years ago when Russia attempted to be incompliant with tradition and proposed to elect a managing director of the fund from a pool of candidates other than those of US and EU. That attempt, needless to say, failed, as there weren’t enough votes collected from the quorum.

And that is why to be making predictions today that such reforms will pass, is a thankless task. The IMF, as a matter of fact, is the original lever for political pressure on the whole world by the means of granting credits. The Financial G7 is not planning to give away easily a share of their votes, their power. This is why the disagreement between the two financial players, the G20 and the G7, is a great one. Equally, there is no unanimity in the G20.

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Over recent years Russia has made a serious leap ahead: a once-constantly begging country has entered the 20 most-efficiently developing countries (hopefully, the crisis has only temporarily delayed this process).

It has been directly affected by the well-being of the youngest Diaspora in the world, according to Alexandr Chepurin, Director of the Department of Foreign Relations. 30 million people in the bordering countries and abroad: those who care about their ties with their historical motherland don’t wait for aid from Russia any more, but are ready to provide it themselves. It is worth recalling that one of the Chinese miracles was the capital which the Chinese Americans began to return to the motherland.

These days, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has gathered more than 60 successful expatriates from 45 countries who are discussing how to preserve the Russian ethnic environment and protect the rights of Russian communities. Many issues will be on the agenda of the World Congress of Expatriates which will take place this December.

A speech by Georgy Bystrov, mayor of the Estonian city of Mardu, revealed an absolutely different view about the way Russians live abroad. They strive to be elected into the bodies of authority, starting with local ones, to be able to legally solve problems.

And the fact that Georgy is standing as a deputy to the European parliament from Estonia, attempting to join Russian-speaking candidates from neighboring Latvia and Lithuania who are already there, shows a new chance of ensuring the rights of expatriate Russians.

Yury Kaplun, Director of Moscow’s House of Expatriates, added that in the US Congress there are a few Poles from the one-million-strong Diaspora, but the six million Russian-Americans are not represented in Congress at all.

A respectable gentleman, Rostislav Tsitovich, Belorusian by origin, who is in charge of one of the branches of the Congress of Russian-Americans, cannot understand why everyone in America has an opportunity to be educated in their native language, but it becomes a problem for many Russians, for instance, in Ukraine. Tsitovich suggests that a number of suits should be opened in international courts against the violation of the basic rights of a citizen – receiving an education in Russian.

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Probably, one shouldn’t take too seriously comments on the Internet, which are mainly of a national character. It certainly should be clarified who is ‘the big brother’ in this case. Anyways, it is worth listening to the Chinese mood, because in the PRC they watch Americans most attentively.

Lately, China has become the major creditor of the US economy. According to information coming from Washington, Chinese investments in the USA has exceeded 1,2 trillion dollars, with $770 billion being in national bonds. Why shouldn’t the Chinese watch their borrowing, if the American budget has a huge deficit, which is going to reach about 1,8 trillion dollars this year.

Knowing the worries of the Chinese, US president Barack Obama has ordered Secretary Geitner to Beijing who, in line with his position, should not only be perfect in dealing with all the sophisticated economic tricks, but he also speaks Chinese and has a working and living experience in China.

Geitner not only met with the country’s leadership, but he also delivered a lecture at Beijing University where he had studied. By the way, his lecture concerning the state of the world economy and the role of America in the modern financial world, according to witnesses, was not once interrupted by the giggling by the Chinese students. The most sarcasm, judging by the facts, came from Geitner’s call for investing money in the US economy: meaning, there are no threats. Fortunately for the White House, the Chinese students don’t make CPR policy. Therefore, listeners in a higher position were more attentive and respectful to the Secretary’s words concerning “inevitable way out from the crisis’ and “a total control of the American administration over the budget deficit ".

And the leaders of China spoke extremely diplomatically about the prospects of development in the world and the American economy. "Our countries should cooperate by more intensively opposing the crisis and avoid protectionism in trade”, said Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of the CPR State Council. The Chinese leaders also mentioned a new reserve currency which Russia is also thinking about. Beijing has already backed up this Moscow initiative. It is expected to be further discussed at the coming summit of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in Yekaterinburg.

It is clear that such developing events don't suit Washington, Therefore Geitner, in the Chinese capital, again confirmed that the dollar will not go up, at least in the near future. Moreover, the head of the American Treasury said that the Chinese agreed with that forecast. The only thing to do is to take the word of the American administration representative, because similar words didn’t come from the Chinese leadership in the official press.

In the mean time China is softly, but more persistently, pointing at the unstable economic situation in the USA. In other words, the Chinese people let you know that they have doubts whether it is worth buying additional American securities and deciding what to do with what is already available at their disposal. One thing is obvious: two giants appeared so much dependent upon each other that the clumsy moves of one will lead to difficult consequences for the other. And vice versa.

“About 2.5 million years ago, climate development attained a periodical character,” says Thomas Crowley, Professor at Edinburgh University. “Say, during 1.5 million years the climate change from warm to cold, accompanied by the onset and retreat of ice flow, happened periodically every 40 thousand years. But about a million years ago the periods became longer – up to 100 thousand years, and the climate change – more notable and sharp. The amplitude is growing: that’s why the two hardest ice ages in the Earth’s history happened in the last 200 thousand years. Our calculations show that the warm period on the Earth is coming to an end.”

Moreover, according to both American and British scientists it’s man who will save the Erath from the ice reign. Thanks to the colossal experiment of the 20th century called ‘the anthropogenic greenhouse effect’, man may have prevented another glacial period – and a very harsh one! The Earth was prepared for a long ice age. An ice layer thousands of meters high would have covered the Earth from the North Pole to Chicago and Vienna, and from the South Pole to Tierra del Fuego.

However, Professor Crowley is sure that a huge ice-flow is unavoidable anyway: “This period will come quite soon – but [only] soon from the geological viewpoint. In other words we have another 50-100,000 years’.

This scientific data may radically change our attitude towards the Global Warming, or at least make us review its advantages and disadvantages.

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Vladislav Fronin: First of all, Mr. de Puig, please accept my congratulations on the victory of “Barcelona” over “Manchester”.

Lluis Maria de Puig: Thank you. I watched the match with my wife and two daughters. We had a small family party next to the TV set..

Fronin: This is our "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" (showing a newspaper to the interlocutor. – Ed.).

Konstantin Kosachev: I can add that it’s one of the most authoritative periodicals in modern Russia, an official body of the Russian government. But, of course, not only official materials are published here. In this newspaper you can find plenty of varied articles and points of view. Therefore, “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” has many different kinds of readers. I also have the possibility of sometimes publishing my articles in it, and I’m grateful to the chief editor for this.

Lluis Maria de Puig: Are your articles as big as this one, for instance?

Kosachev: I can say that three years ago I published almost as big an article just in “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” in favor of ratification of Protocol No. 14 (to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights . – Ed.). Mr. de Puig, thank you for your response to the request to give an interview to “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”. We have much to discuss. But we asked for this meeting now that a very hot-button issue is facing mankind– international piracy near the Somali coast. This problem has become more serious recently, real people suffer, and it causes substantial economic losses to those who are involved in it. It turned out that there is no clear international legislative base saying how to prosecute people involved in such actions.

For sure, there are a great number of legislative acts, primarily in the United Nations Organization and not least the Council of Europe, but there is no exhaustive mechanism for prosecuting people involved in piracy. There is no mechanism at an international level. And we believe this topic should also be properly considered at the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe.

We drafted a corresponding resolution and I brought it here, to Ljubljana. I can say with considerable satisfaction that in two to three hours, when the meeting of our Bureau took place, I managed to collect the required number of signatures, almost all members of the Bureau supported this initiative and, what’s more important, all of them are leaders of all five political groups. Therefore, today we’ll present this document to the Assembly Secretariat and hope for your support, considering your high authority. The thing is that the Assembly should discuss suppositions for creating a special international mechanism, with international participation for prosecution of suspects in piracy. And what kind of mechanism will it be – the International court at an international or local level, another court or any other body – these issues should be viewed by those who will prepare a due report and we’ll be waiting for their recommendations. This I wanted to say as a preliminary statement.

De Puig: And I’d like to say that I met Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General, Mr. Zvyagintsev, who came to meet with me in Madrid. We were discussing this matter with him. He explained everything to me and I, in my turn, said that it was also in my interests, because that idea was good. Besides, I also held negotiations with my government (of Spain – Ed.), which entirely supports it. I’d explained everything to them. I know that the Parliamentary Assembly has a few initiatives that offer discussing piracy. I’m sure we’ll be able to work efficiently.

Fronin: Mr. de Puig, let me head to the questions now. The issue of naval piracy is the focus of almost all large international forums at present. European countries are badly damaged by pirate actions and Europeans make-up a major part of those sailors who suffered because of the XXI century filibusters. Will PACE tackle this issue at one of its upcoming meetings?

De Puig: The issue of naval piracy is not new, it dates back to ancient times, but it again hits the front pages of newspapers because of this situation in Somalia. All are agitated since almost all European countries are involved. My own country also had to send its warships there. We had to arrest pirates and put them on trial. Consequently, this problem is essential for all of us. Therefore, the Assembly will deal with this matter.

Fronin: And what do you think about the part of other - and not only European – international organizations in opposing piracy?

De Puig: I believe that it’s necessary to think about other countries’ contribution into settling this issue. I’m convinced that the UN should be attentive in treating this global matter. And therefore, if the thing is about the International Criminal Court, it should be understood that this could take place within the framework of the United Nations. I think that all the mentioned institutions can contribute to opposing piracy.

Fronin: What do you personally think about the initiative of Russian president Dmitriy Medvedev to work out a consolidated legislative answer to the acts of naval piracy, including a possible creation of an International Tribunal on piracy?

De Puig: As soon as I learned about this initiative, I found it awesome. You know, it’s an adequate move in order to resist this criminal stream of piracy in the international scope and juridical framework. In fact, at present we counteract piracy by the force of military and police. There is a whole range of actions concerning punishment of pirates. But at the same time we don’t have an adequate legislative juridical frame work at the international level. The international criminal tribunal would be able to fill this shortage. Hence, I entirely agree. As soon as this initiative appeared I began to discuss it with different people.

Fronin: Do you think the European leaders should work out a common political position on piracy?

De Puig: I believe such a common position of the main European players is something we need to build. We need to join our efforts with respect to such threats as terrorism and international crime. It is necessary for all countries and especially for large players to work out a common position. It is impossible to resolve such problems when each country has its own uncoordinated position. The only way to put an end to this phenomenon is to adopt a common position and work together.

Fronin: The UN has discussed the problem more than once. I think there were five resolutions. Yet the number of pirate attacks increases instead of decreasing. Don’t you think the UN should go back to this problem and perhaps discuss establishing an International Criminal Court that would define all the rules—naturally, in keeping with human rights? There is also the danger of having many floating prisons like Guantanamo…

De Puig: This involves at least two questions. Of course, the UN did discuss the problem at times. But up until now there has been no legal document adopted at the global level. Of course, the UN must have done this. Piracy became a phenomenon—and a big one at that. Hundreds of vessels are attacked each year. Beside the problem of crime, there is also the problem of society. Those pirates who attack ships are not the only ones responsible. Everybody knows there is a mafia. Pirates are poor; it is they who get the ransom. It’s exploitation; it’s poverty. There is what you may call naïve crime, and there is deep crime. Therefore, we need to act together at the international level and create clear rules regarding piracy and legal instruments that respect human rights. It is absolutely inadmissible for each country to set its own rules, which will lead to new Guantanamos. I am totally against Guantanamo. I have always maintained that Guantanamo is unacceptable for democracy. I cannot imagine criminals prosecuted as if they had nothing to do with the society. Human rights should always be observed.

Fronin: Mr. De Puig, it’s been almost 18 months since you were elected chairman of PACE (in January 2008—Ed.). How does it feel to be in this new position? What are the main problems and difficulties you face in this responsible job?

De Puig: You want to know my impression after 18 months of work? There are still a lot of things that need to be done! I did my best to solve the current problems in the Council of Europe. I faced many difficult problems. There were some emergencies too. I believe that on many problems progress has been achieved during my tenure. My first goal was to introduce a good-neighbor policy with respect to new members.

The second goal was environmental protection. I am happy to tell you that at our meeting in St. Petersburg we decided to launch a discussion on an environmental protection protocol, which will take place during our session in September or October. You know there were some extremely dangerous problems, like the conflict between Russia and Georgia. This created an extremely difficult situation. I hope our work will help find a solution or, rather, create an atmosphere which will enable us to find ways for cooperation. I had to take up certain obligations. Finally, working together with Russia, I started getting good news. If it’s true that the process of ratifying Protocol No. 14 is making good progress, this is a big step forward. But in the Council of Europe there will always be a large number of problems, regardless of who is the chairman.

Fronin: It is only 18 months that you have been the PACE chairman, but as a member of the Spanish delegation to PACE you have been an active member of the Assembly for over 26 years. How much has the Assembly changed over this period? Have the questions it considers change? Did the role it plays in European politics change?

De Puig: Yes, I have been a member of the Assembly for 26 years. Although I am not its oldest member, still I’m a super-veteran. You want to know if the Assembly has changed over the years? It did. When I first started working in the organization, it consisted of 21 members. Now it encompasses 47 countries. The very nature of the Council of Europe has changed. When countries of Central and Eastern Europe joined the organization, this changed the entire situation. We started talking about new democracy, about what it needs legally, socially, politically and economically. Some newcomers have a smooth transition to democracy, whereas others have some problems. It’s not always easy. There are even cases of rolling back. We very much want Belarus to become a member of our organization. I am tired of telling people that the Council of Europe is all of Europe except for Belarus. The main question we discuss is the development of democracy in all the member states. I am confident that in the future, when all the member states have a functional democracy, our main question will be: how do we enhance each of these democracies? How do we enhance the rule of law? How do we achieve the progress people want?

Fronin: Mr. Puig, you are one of the most influential politicians in Spain. We know you started your political career as a member of an underground anti-Nazi movement. You put your freedom and perhaps even your life on the line. For 30 years, you have been a member of the Spanish parliament. What do you think of the current situation and the future of Russian-Spanish relations?

De Puig: As regards relations between Russia and Spain, we have entered a new period. Everybody I talk to thinks the same way. For decades and decades, the dialogue made virtually no progress. Today, many Russian people come to Spain; some have moved there, some cooperate with us economically. This confirms that it is easy for the Russian soul and the Spanish soul to understand each other. The Spanish people, in turn, visit Russia, and the governments of Russia and Spain have perfect understanding. This was evidenced by the visit of the Russian president, Dmitry Medvdedev, which was highly successful. The atmosphere throughout the visit was extremely positive. We are currently making unprecedented plans for Russian-Spanish relations. I have to tell you, there is some similarity between the Spanish and Russians. We all like to work, to relax, and to have fun. We are very sociable. Now we are experiencing a very good period, and I hope it will continue—with industrial, technological and, definitely, political cooperation.

Fronin: Thank you for the interview.

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RG readers will also know Nikolay Zlobin as a regular columnist in our paper. Yesterday, for the second time, Zlobin presented his new book at the RG press-center. The author is analyzing the last 50 years of our history, starting from Churchill’s speech in Fulton in an attempt to raise questions which, in his view, don’t have answers. One can notice that the book’s leitmotif concerns the emergence of a new order which cannot be controlled. The nonpolar world is more dangerous, but fairer, since each one has an option.

In this new reality, military forces alongside with economy and territory scope do not determine influence any longer. New factors are arising which should be analyzed. That is what Zlobin is doing in his new book.

The author believes that the notion of a superpower should be revised. At present none of the countries has a chance of becoming a leader, even China. It has been talking about its golden age for hundreds of years, but nothing of the sort has happened. “We live in a world of global losers,” Zlobin loudly stated. “Neither Russian, nor American models of development are attractive in their own way.”

The new world order has been shaping since the USSR collapsed. The thing is that the Soviet Union, in Zlobin’s opinion, has not completely collapsed: the process is going on and we “live in the era of changing political geography.” Last time it was revised in accordance to the results of WWII. The writer predicts the formation of new states and puts the question: how should we deal with them if those as small as South Ossetia all managed to quarrel? The world system has turned impromptu, where a bad improvisation opposes a worse one. The regional conflicts hit the headlines. For the last 60 years neither Russia, nor America prepared for them, they had been busy preparing to fight against each other. What should our country do in this world?

Zlobin says Russia’s big problem is “an absolutely fantastic faith in its uniqueness and exclusivity. There is not a single nation which would not consider itself unique, they never put it in the focus of their outlook,” he notes fairly. It is necessary to realize that there is no special Russian place in the world, to look at recipes for successful development and stop trusting in its uniqueness.

Another piece of advice is to look for predictability in the world, because a predictable enemy is a more suitable partner than an unpredictable friend. Zlobin teaches that one should not choose friends on the world arena, but befriend with those who want to make, and not use friends. At the same time long term pacts should not be concluded:

“It's worrying that world leaders don’t queue up at the Kremlin ... but long term friendship is out of the question anyway – the world is changing very quickly. We live in the time of ‘flexible coalitions’.” And in such a world countries should feel free to act – not be bound in blocks. What does the future hold for the nonpolar world? Zlobin is convinced that a new order will last for a long time, if conflict doesn't grip the world in a domino effect. The example of North Korea with its demonstration of nuclear weapons indicates that in this new world it would be quite possible for some extravagant millionaire to conduct a nuclear test on his private island. And we don’t have any way of stopping this process, concludes Zlobin.

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Europe, Russia and even Ukraine, although it has already received money from Russia for gas transition a year ahead, should be interested in a quick solution to this problem. It’s not a matter of days but weeks and billions of dollars, which, in Russian experts’ opinion, our neighbors do not have. In fact, Ukraine does not deny the absence of the required funds. The question is: who will allocate the funds to Ukraine and under what conditions?

Sergey Pikin believes that coordinated actions of European gas companies and Gazprom will solve the issue. “Business is more important than politics for them,” Sergey Pikin says, “and they are powerful enough to put pressure on governments.”

Experts believe that credits can be given under Ukraine’s sovereign liabilities or by borrowing – using them for security, gas and transport system elements.

Director of the National Energy Institute Sergey Pravosudov says that Ukraine does not want to lay its own “tube” at all, as Belarus does, for instance, receiving Russian money for purchasing gas.

Experts are convinced that neither Russia (loss of profit), nor the EU (loss of gas) will benefit from a repeat of the January events. Therefore, the parties will do their best to come to an agreement. And Sergey Pravosudov also focuses on the obvious economic weakness of the transit country, which always threatens energy security in Europe. In this context Russian efforts to construct alternative gas supplying routes in Europe – “Nord Stream” and “South Stream” – look like a strategic solution to the transit issue.

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The two saint brothers used to be commemorated by all Slavic nations, but the custom gradually faded due to a number of historical and political factors. In the early 19th century, the memory of the Slavic enlighteners was revived along with the revival of Slavic ethnicities. In 1863 a decree was issued in Russia to commemorate the memory of Saints Cyril and Methodius on May 11 (May 24 on the Gregorian calendar).

In 2009, the capital of the all-Russian holiday “Days of Slavic Literature and Culture” is the town of Saratov (last year, it was Tver). The Culture Department of the Saratov District has worked out a program of festivities and events that include an international scientific conference “Slavic World: Unity and Diversity”, a church bell festival hosted at Saratov State Conservatorium, and an exhibition of Slavic graphics and illustration “Slavic Motives”. Special classes devoted to the history of Slavic culture and literature will be held in high schools in the region. Multiple festivities are scheduled across the country, and festive services will be held in orthodox churches.

The festival of spiritual and physical culture, a bell music concert featuring Russia’s best bell-ringers, a liturgy and an international scientific conference are but a few of the events on the agenda in Saratov. The holiday has spread far beyond the Saratov District. The town of Engels is hosting a regional Russian lapta competition; a Christian film festival is taking place in Petrovsk; and the old town of Volsk on the riverbank of the Volga is celebrating the dedication of the Church of Life-Giving Trinity. Built in 1809, the church was demolished in the 1930’s.

On Saturday and Sunday, the festivities will culminate in the opening of the monument to Cyril and Methodius, erected in front of the Saratov State University, and a grand concert. Live coverage of the event on Culture TV channel will allow viewers across Russia to see the best dancers and singers in the Slavic countries.

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The Americans have been testing a two-seat Sikorsky X2 helicopter at full steam. The machine will be able to achieve a speed of more than 400 kilometers per hour. We are getting close to a similar but maybe even more ambitious project: Ka-92, which is to be presented on Friday, will be able to carry 30 passengers to a distance of 1,500 kilometers at a speed of 450 kilometers per hour. If such a rotary-wing aircraft is actually built, it’s going to be revolutionary for transportation to the northern and other hard-to-reach territories.

Andrei Shibitov, the head of Helicopters of Russia holdings says it will take a total of eight years to implement the project. However, according to a Kamov firm expert, it will be possible to test the Ka-92 and even launch its batch production if sufficient finances are provided. The United States is planning to launch a serial production of high-speed helicopters only after 2012.

Our famous fellow-countryman, Igor Sikorsky, once said when he was already living and working in the United States that Russia is a country which nature has ideally created for the use of helicopters. And the appearance of machines that will combine the speed of a plane with an ability of helicopters to land on any terrain will certainly make it possible to solve various transportation tasks at a qualitatively new level.

A fantastic model of a helicopter has been designed for the Russian army at first glance. It can reach a speed of 900 kilometers per hour. In fact, the Kamov designers are sure that there’s nothing fantastic about it. They can produce and design any super-speed combat aircraft if they have the money and a state contract.

Attempts were made in the past to create a high-speed helicopter but it’s only the contemporary development of machinery and technologies that made it possible to get down to realizing the long-standing dream. The specific characteristics of this new helicopter include structural elements like a new reduction gear, the coaxial short hard airscrew, and a pusher propeller (or a jet engine). Besides, it’s preferable to use the latest construction materials with properties that today possess no metallic or even composite materials. In short, the creation of a helicopter matching the standards of the 21st century requires the solution of an entire set of complicated designing tasks.

It’s quite possible, and there was such talk in the corridors of HeliRussia-2009, that homemade helicopters of the future will be stripped of their famous brand names like “Mi” and “Ka." Helicopters of Russia has developed into a full-fledged company, uniting not only the production capacities but also the two design bureaus of Mil and Kamov. Russia may start producing its new helicopters under a neutral letter index, such as “B” or “BP” which in Russian means helicopters of Russia.

At any rate, the top managers of the Russian helicopter industry assume that a combined team of designers representing various enterprises will work on a new high-speed helicopter. And given the fact that the two leading design bureaus are already working under one roof, it would be logical to suggest their full merger, and the emergence of a new Russian helicopter brand.

But this year, the HeliRussia-2009 show is still featuring helicopters under their old traditional names.

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The Nazis said Germany's cultural heritage didn’t correspond to the spirit of the era. While the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of Buddha in the north of Afghanistan, because they didn’t correspond to the basic principles of Islam.

The Baltic States are used to wrestling with their history, but it doesn't often come to destroying Soviet monuments.
In neighbouring Poland, where the issue was raised, it was agreed to respect “memorials linked with the merits of the Red Army unconditionally the aims the USSR had when entering the anti-Hitler coalition”.

None of these countries declared a total war on unwelcome monuments. But it's a different story in Ukraine, where state regional councils put up commemmorative plaques in honour of locals who served in the SS division “GAlitchina.

At the beginning of April, law-enforcement agencies opened a criminal case regarding an explosion at a monument to Lenin in the Lugansk region. Now they can easily close this criminal case, because they have a pardon for such actions from the President himself.

One may wonder why Viktor Yushchenko needed to start “hunting for witches” only six months before the presidential election. Is there really nothing more important at the time of the economic crisis than fighting against Soviet art? But for the head of the state whose principle “the worse, the better” has become a cornerstone in his fight for power against Prime Minister Yuliya Timoshenko, the destruction of the Soviet era monuments is a perfect way of stirring up anti-Russian sentiment in the country. In fact, the president intentionally provokes Russia into making tough statements, which would allow him to play a “Russian card” at the elections and again find himself in the media spotlight which perceives Yushchenko as a “lame duck” to use American terminology.

Thus, the Ukrainian leader tries to demonstrate his ability to regenerate and not be written off the political stage of Ukraine ahead of his time. And at the same time he creates a new irritant over the Soviet monuments in relations with Russia to complicate the dialogue between Yuliya Timoshenko and Moscow for many years ahead.

Read the article in Russian here.

Before becoming the ‘face’ of the US State Department, Kelly had been in charge of its Russian sector. He received his baptism of fire in the new position during Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to America. The inclusion of an expert on Russia in the team of senior foreign policy officials does not look accidental, considering the White House’s plans to reset relations with Moscow.

Just as telltale is the change of commander of the NATO force in Afghanistan. The new administration has deemed Gen. David McKiernan, appointed to the position by Bush in January 2009, unprepared to work in modern circumstances.

When asked by reporters if the discharge is going to be the end of McKiernan’s career, the US Secretary of Defense said “Yes” without hesitation. After the meeting that President Obama had with heads of Pakistan and Afghanistan on May 6, experts had little doubts that the General will have to go. Besides financial issues, the meeting also focused on the US strategy in the region, which is now dubbed the ‘strategy of success’, instead of the previous ‘strategy of withdrawal’. A distinguishing feature of the new document is the fact that the Americans were viewing the two states – Afghanistan and Pakistan – as a “single challenge and a single field for diplomacy.”

In other words – as a complex problem. The new strategy provides for sending 4,000 instructors to Afghanistan to help train Afghan military, significantly increasing the US military presence in the country, and preparing the ground for presidential elections in Afghanistan, scheduled for August. According to the Secretary of Defense, these tasks require a new way of thinking from the American command in Afghanistan.

Experts think, however, that the true reason for McKiernan’s discharge lies in his conflict with the Defense Secretary. Numerous errors in air strike placement, which resulted in mass killings of peaceful Afghanis, strongly undermined the image of the new US President in the Islamic world and impacted the reputation of the Pentagon.

The administration had to find someone to make responsible for these incidents, and McKiernan was made the scapegoat. They also remembered that McKiernan had demanded another 30,000 troops to fight the Taliban, while the Defense Ministry had only agreed to send 20,000 people there. All those lapses finally led to President Barack Obama satisfying the Defense Secretary’s recommendation to replace the command in Afghanistan.

When planning military operations, the new Commander Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, will have to consider not only the administration’s military, but also the political initiatives regarding Afghanistan. For example, they provide for a closer degree of cooperation with Russia in the region. As US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in connection with this, the new commander of the American force “should go step for step with the new strategy and the new US Ambassador to Afghanistan.” In other words, he will have to be not only a soldier, but a diplomat as well, especially in matters that are directly related to the new format of relations between Washington and Moscow.

According to the recently published results of the Russian Defense Exports Agency [Rosoboroneksport], in the past year, 2008, when the world crisis was in full swing, Rosoboroneksport achieved the highest volumes of arms and military equipment exports, having delivered 6.73 billion dollars worth of military equipment. Other units of the military-and-technology co-operation with foreign countries worked well, too, by adding another 1.6 billion dollars to the common money-box. It is particularly worth noting the Tula Instrument-Making Design Office, which got 600 million dollars in revenues, thus doubling its military equipment exports in the past two years. Promising prospects are opening for the current year too, when, according to estimates, sales are expected to surpass 8.5 million dollars.

Despite these facts proving that the fulfilment of the program planned earlier is a success, it has become a fashion among some experts and journalists to proclaim a decline in Russian defense exports. This opinion is caused by the fact that these so-called specialists are poorly informed in this field, mildly speaking. They normally cite, as a negative example, the situation with an aircraft-carrier for India, Algeria’s return of a consignment of MiG-29 fighter jets and delays to the anti-aircraft missile-and-cannon system Pantsir-C1 [Armour-C1]. What is going on in reality?

Concerning an analysis of the Algeria situation, we would need to touch upon subtle political matters which are not always subject for discussion in the open press. Let’s draw your attention only to the fact that all these aircraft are adopted by the Russian navy, which means the quality of the MiGs is the highest.

Let’s have a closer look at the history of the upgrading of the Russian aircraft-carrier called Vikramāditya [Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य) formerly Admiral Gorshkov, estimated to enter service in the Indian Navy after 2012. It’s a modified Type 1143 Kiev class aircraft carrier built in 1978-1982. The ship is being extensively refitted at the Sevmash [Severnoye Mashinostroyeniye] shipyard in northern Russia. It is projected to replace India's only aircraft carrier, INS Viraat. There have been so many pungent commentaries about this in some media – with allegations that our industry is incapable of implementing signed agreements and our traders are unable to estimate the real value of contracts. This is partially true: there were some mistakes in estimating prices and underestimating the complexity of the work expected. However, given all these problems the case with the aircraft-carrier is a pretext not as much for sweeping criticism, as for a fair analysis and integrated managerial solution aimed at developing the whole of the domestic machine-building industry.

Despite the hard times created by the crisis, it is about symbolism, about giving the workers, engineers and designers – of all generations of shipbuilders – their dues. One can hardly count the countries capable of carrying out such complex work on the fingers of one’s hand. As a matter of fact it is about building a new ship. Unfortunately, the initial four-year schedule turned out to be unrealistic. However, the building of such a big and complex ship by 2011-2012 is due to become one of the most significant achievements of the Sevmash shipyard.

Incidentally, failures to keep to the schedule often afflict Western manufacturers, too. For instance, the commission of the French Scorpene submarine has been delayed for two years, and the Indian press has expressed concern that the delivery date may be pushed back further.

There were indeed mistakes in estimating the real cost of work when the contract for the aircraft-carrier was being drawn up. It was underestimated. At the same time, Russian exporters are not alone in having such problems. For instance, the British company BAe [British Aerospace] Systems was forced to discuss an agreement with the Indian Air Force that would envisage a 50 per cent increase for supplying the Hawk training aircraft.

According to current thinking, the earlier management of Sevmash allowed blatant mistakes and did not always efficiently use their financial resources. However, all the unbiased observers, first of all the Indian customers, acknowledge that after the management was changed, despite the financial hardships, the work became smoother and faster. It’s worth noting that in the past 18 months to two years, Sevmash has been actually continuing to upgrade the ship at its own cost. The plant is already certain that this huge and intricate project will be successfully completed and the Indian Fleet will get a perfect and powerful aircraft-carrier.

Another example concerns the program for developing and manufacturing the cutting-edge anti-aircraft missile-and-cannon system, Pantsir-C1. We can see the same set of conditions as with the above mentioned aircraft-carrier – too optimistic deadlines for the contract and errors in the financial estimates. But, to the credit of the designers and workers of the plant and the design office engaged in the program, (first of all it is worth mentioning the head enterprise – the Tula Instrument-Making Design Office), they managed to improve the situation in 2007-2008 and set the project on a path of stable development.

In detail, the story of the Pantsir creation dates back to Soviet times when it was developed in the interests of the Airborne Troops and was then called Roman. In the post-Soviet era the project was given a new impetus when in 2000 the Tula Instrument-Making Design Office signed a contract with the United Arab Emirates about developing and delivering dozens of Pantsir anti-aircraft missile-and-cannon systems. The Arab military had made very high technical demands, according to which it was necessary to create an entirely new system. The design office management had undertaken too daring obligations, as later became obvious.

They had plans to create this system in just three years and to start deliveries to the customer from 2003. But due to the extreme complexity of the task and high risks in technology, they failed to meet the initial schedule, and in 2003 talks had to be started on putting back the delivery dates. There was, for instance, one basic, although not only one, problem of creating a rather efficient target-tracking station. They began to look for a company that could do that, but all in vain. So, they decided to develop the radar on their own. This proved very hard, too. It was little wonder when in 2005 the relationship between the design office and the customer grew very tense. Even in this case, with all contract mistakes made and all the financial and technical complexity, the situation started to gradually improve from the autumn of 2006.

In December 2006 the first sample of the Pantsir was sent to the UAE for testing. By the following March tests had been accomplished, with the customer positive about the results. In Autumn 2007 the second stage of the testing had been carried out and the Pantsir displayed its capacity in the hot climate. The commander of the UAE General Staff again highly evaluated the Russian product. In 2008, deliveries of the system began to another customer, within the contract.

And in November 2008, the field testing of the Pantsir within a contract with the state for the Russian armed forces had been completed. And, finally, in March 2009, a delegation of the customer – the United Arab Emirates - had completed the acceptance test with positive results.

Consequently, same as with the Indian aircraft-carrier, despite the problems that had been actually programmed for 2004-2006 and even earlier, thanks to the painstaking labor of the workers and engineers of the design office, as well as the efforts from the Rostekhnologii [Russian Technology] state corporation and the Federal Agency for Military-and-Technical Co-operation, it was made possible to considerably improve the situation. It is also worth noting that with only the research-and-development work completed, a huge amount of work was done to put the system into serial production: a co-operation was formed and contractors were issued subcontracts. At the same time a necessary organisational infrastructure was created, with commission, repair and warranty maintenance teams available. Hard work with foreign customers was being successfully carried out: the shipping of the first export systems started, and the adjusted schedules of financing were co-ordinated. There are still some unsolved problems of the need to improve the reliability of the system.

The main thing is that in the past two years, the Tula Instrument-Making Design Office succeeded in achieving positive changes in the relationship with its foreign customers. First instalments of materials were commissioned, many remarks about problems in the equipment were responded to, simultaneous shooting at several targets was carried out and the system was field tested. Taking into account an increased interest in the Pantsir by the Russian army, we can be confident in saying that the new anti-aircraft weapon is up and running.

Today and in the long-term, the expansion of the Russian system of military-and-technical co-operation with other countries is unthinkable without a proper competitive quality of implementing the contracts. All the development of our military-and-technical co-operation should be built on the domestic high-technology machine-building, domestic science and efficient management both at the enterprises themselves and in the defense industry complex as a whole.

So far, the USA, which is responsible for 36.1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, has been the only developed country not to have signed the so-called Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the same time, the EU, Western European countries, Russia, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand have ratified this international agreement with specific liabilities to limit or reduce emissions.

However, over the last few years, the Kyoto Protocol, now ratified by 183 countries, has not only become a powerful mechanism of global standardization of new environmental policy, but has also spurred a lucrative market of greenhouse emission quotas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates this market at $100 billion in 2008.

It is not by chance, therefore, that the drafting of a new international treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in 2013 has gone amid great political and informational activity by both countries and intergovernmental institutions. This treaty is to be accepted this December in Copenhagen, and the USA has already expressed its intent to become the leader of the new world environmental order. At least its strategic goal to reach an 80-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is a nice bid for that role.

On April 27-28, special envoys of the leaders of 17 major world economies met in Washington as part of the preparations for the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which is taking place this July in Italy. At the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it rather clear that the climate change issue is now among the top priorities of America’s external policy.

The rapidity and meticulous planning of America’s diplomatic offensive on the new environmental front contrasts greatly with the uncoordinated and somewhat phlegmatic position of Russia’s authorities. At international climate preservation congregations, Russian delegations are usually headed by Rosgidromet (Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring), who have neither the authority nor sufficient political weight, while the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade registers joint projects being implemented in Russia, and the Ministry of Energy lobbies the creation of Russia’s national carbon market.

As the result of such a great amount of controllers of Russia’s climatic policy, of nearly 100 carbon initiatives that have emerged over the 4 years of the Kyoto Protocol, the state has not managed to register even one! For example, China has registered over 500 climatic projects, India 411, and Brazil 156. China has attracted over a billion dollars of carbon investments into its economy, and has realized some 120 million tons of emission reductions. As for Russia, it has billions of dollars, but only in lost profits so far. However, this is a typically Russian tradition: waste the four years of the Kyoto Protocol term, and try to do everything over the six months left before the Copenhagen summit.

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Installation of the final span was called the 'event of the century' in Ulyanovsk. Its significance cannot be overestimated: at present, the city has been packed with traffic jams on the old bridge which spans the two Volga River banks. The local authorities are placing high hopes on the new bridge. It will perhaps become a very important part of the new Volzhsky Transit transport project, and it may turn Ulyanovsk into the largest logistics center of the Privolzhsky Federal District. The new road is expected to unclog the current highways which connect the European part of Russia and the Urals. At present, the engineers have been doing their research to find out just how efficient the project may become.

In any case, this bridge is unique for a number of reasons. At the moment of its foundation, it was the longest one in Europe. The length of its over-water part is 5.8 kilometers, and almost 13 kilometers including the bearings. Delivery of spans by bridge boats had never been done in Russia before. When the construction was aligned with filigree accuracy, the span was lifted by 60 meters with the help of hydraulic lifting modules and strands, i.e. the strong metal ropes. All the work took about two days, and then the bridge builders breathed a sigh of relief. After 23 years of work, the bridge had finally spanned the river banks.

Upon instructions of the Russian government, the Russian Financial Monitoring System has been developing the ‘anti-crisis suggestions’ to be discussed at the Council of Europe. Chikhanchin didn’t go into details, though he noted the details that would be announced in June 2009.

Galina Bobrysheva, department head of the Russian Financial Monitoring System named some options of the ‘dirty’ financial flow from the strictly state-controlled banking sphere into other sectors. According to her, first of all, it includes transferring the financial operations from the organized on-exchange markets to the off-exchange ones. As well as the formation of the numerous fictional pawnshops which offer financial services to individuals and legal entities, from cash-out to loans. The financial monitoring service has also been carefully observing the offshore transits which had activated recently.

“The increased volume of capital withdrawal to offshore through the Baltic States, the United States, Cyprus and Switzerland is associated with the Russian companies only,” Bobrysheva emphasized. According to her, increased cash turnover associated with the ‘reproduction of the shadow zone’ has been noticed in Russia in general.

Elena Ischenko, director of the financial monitoring and currency control at the Central Bank agrees with her colleague’s concerns. At the same time she has concentrated on the increased number of the shadow schemes at the customs. According to her, they are associated with the counterfeit cargo declarations and agreements. For example, lowered price payments for imported goods have been made abroad on a regular basis, but the actual goods have never been supplied to Russia.

As a result, representatives of the state monitoring agencies have agreed to call on bankers traditionally. Say, when detecting such operations, they should watch more carefully and fulfill the main FATF commandment, which is knowing their clients by sight. Concerning this issue Elena Ischenko talks about the priority innovation of the Central Bank. The new standards for a clearer identification of the so-called clients’ representatives acting on the basis of power of attorney will be implemented. She reminds that the Central Bank employees haven’t been clearly instructed yet about their actions when determining such visitors. In return, Andrey Emelin, the Association of the Russian banks committee chairman tried persuading the controllers in their constant efforts of determining suspicious clients and suspicious money flow. However considering the current complicated situation on the Russian market and the tightened tax pressure as well as scary suggestions of tax officers about charging an additional 0.5% tax on each banking operation, businesses have been provoked to withdraw from banks into the ‘shade’. In order to aggravate the conversation, the banker reminded of a recent large scandal at the State Duma associated with amendments on the further operation of the instant payment terminals for the internet, cell phones and utilities. According to him, the deputies weren’t actually trying to legalize an additional convenient payment service for the residents, but rather ‘an additional opportunity for dishonest market players to involve their dirty money in the turnover’. The Federal Council has currently placed a veto on those amendments.

Now the bankers hope the legislation will be improved considering the limitations for involving suspicious money in the economy. At the same time Emelin called on the lawmakers to note the increased turnover of the ‘electronic money’ which is also associated with possible threats of increasing the criminal money flow. According to the banker, the implementation of the new regulations in the Civil Code aimed at integrating into the banking legislation of the country is required in the nearest future.

State Duma deputy and member of the Committee on Financial Markets Pavel Medvedev, who has been traditionally supporting the bankers in their systematic struggle for the proper laws, preferred to restrain from developing this particular issue of maintaining the instant payment terminals.

The deputy emphasized a different problem. He believes the virtual banks and different e-wallets bring a catastrophic threat of infecting the world financial system with ‘dirty’ money and collapse of the traditional banking system. However the Rossiyskaya Gazeta experts remind us that the criminals started replacing banks for a reason. As soon as they start reducing the interest rates for loans and provide adequate loans for the real business the ‘dirty’ money will have much less chances of getting into active turnover.

"When it gets dark, Moscow looks especially beautiful from the river. All the buildings are lightened up and the water is glittering," says Darya Baida, the tour guide.

Moreover, the 'Galina Ulanova' is the only vessel today which can go along the canal.

"It was especially designed for the capital’s administration program of Tourism Development in Moscow up to 2010," Victor Gorbunov, director of the shipping company which has implemented this projects, explained to the RG reporter.

The light-sized water-jet engine installed on the boat enables it to pass along the shallow areas of the canal. Such technologies had not been applied in the Russian shipbuilding industry until now. Moreover, the nose of the boat is equipped with the ice strake, and its bottom is absolutely flat, which allows the 'Galina Ulanova' to make trips almost all year round. Even if a river is covered with a 5 centimeter layer of ice, the boat can break its way along the winter river like an icebreaker. Even though it is unlikely that passengers would enjoy going out on the deck when it’s minus 25 Celsius outside, they can be warm and comfortable inside. Designers have worked especially hard on the air-conditioning system to provide a comfortable temperature inside during any season.

Another special feature of the boat is that it can easily pass under any bridge, even the lowest overhanging bridge over the Moskva River. Experts made proper measurements before making the design of the boat, and now going under bridges is one of the most memorable parts of the trip. Even the captain’s cabin was purposely built not on the nose, but above the passenger compartment in order to clear the view for the tourists.

Designers of the boat all have reasons to be proud of their creation. They hope that Muscovites will come to love it as much as they loved performances of Galina Ulanova, the legendary Russian ballerina, and the first woman who was honoed as an 'honorable citizen of Moscow,' after whom the new boat is named.

A builder by trade, it is as if Yeltsin used his professional training in politics

Just as it is not fair to doom Yeltsin along with his whole epoch, it is stupid and unfair to idealize him. A builder by trade, it is as if Yeltsin used his professional training in politics. He constructed a labor consuming “zero cycle” – an active Constitution, market economy basics, the shell of democratic institutions, independent media. He freed foreign policy from its imperial nature, opened borders, and ended the whole “besieged fortress” status.

The lower floors began to emerge, but the first Russian President could not build the whole building, and left a lot of construction waste on the site. In October 1993, he - most likely not knowingly - repeated what Louis XVI had done two centuries earlier, when he looked at the French Parliament and thought: “Go home, I will do the reforms myself."

That time it led to a revolution, which was the beginning of French democracy. In our country, it took a different road. Yeltsin’s instinctive (political animal) democracy, and other factors, including his failing health, did not let him finish. I think until the end of his days, he doubted that he was right. Yeltsin himself in his famous demise speech, confessed: “I want to ask for your forgiveness, because many of our dreams have not come true. And what we thought was easy, turned out to be extremely difficult. I ask you to forgive me, because I broke the trust of those who thought that it would only take one leap to get from the gloomy, totalitarian stagnation of the past, to a light, wealthy, civilized future”.

Indeed, it couldn’t be done in one leap. No one was ready for the time consuming, diligent work – not the builders, hired by Yeltsin from what was already there, not the foreman himself, who left the construction site unfinished for his replacement. In the previous decade, a real multi-party system was never formed, the extra-high level of economic monopolization stayed the same, we didn’t get rid of corruption, and lots of unnecessary red tape, a good system of local governments was never formed, independent courts were still just a dream.

Not long before he died, Russian political scientist Aleksey Salmin published his book 'Yeltsin’s Epoch.' The Preface for this book was called 'The Undefeated Non-victor'. Why undefeated? Because, for example, who else was ever able to rise to the highest rank for a politician, become the peoples’ elect, after being thrown out from the top of the party leadership, a party that never forgave apostates? He left undefeated, on his own terms, despite the common understanding that he loved power so much that he would never voluntarily leave it.

And why a non-victor? Because he never had a real victory over his dragons. He didn’t conquer the Communists. Didn’t conquer the unlimited power of the law enforcement structures. He didn’t conquer the weakness of the state, even though his first address to the Federal Council in 1994 was titled 'About Strengthening the State Power in Russia.' He left the country full of dragons in the hands of the new generation of politicians. He didn’t just tell them to care for Russia, but they also inherited a big construction site. It seemed as though the work on it continued, but then stopped. The golden shower of gas and oil dollars stopped the builders, increased the appetites of those who suggested abandoning the construction site, or redesigning the building, or starting to make another one, according to their own taste. We can only guess what it could have been. But it was apparently not at all what Yeltsin wanted to see – a different form, different materials, only the same dragons.

It seems that the current crisis is slowly opening the eyes of the new engineers and builders, demanding different political and economic constructions, more fit for a “game in accordance with the rules” than a “game with rules."

There are more and more signs of them sobering up. It is not up for discussion any more that our economy should no longer depend on raw materials, and needs to be modernized and restructured. The President himself is breaking barriers, climbing over the heads of all kinds of structures built on top of one another, to have a direct dialogue with society, so that together (and not despite one another) they can minimize the consequences of the crisis, and then finish constructing a building suitable for living. In our dialogues with the outside world, we have not heard for a while notions of Russia’s “special” greatness. It is as though a century later we have heard the words of the Russian philosopher, count Trubetskoy: “As soon as we see that Russia does not equal our Heavenly Father’s house - neither in reality, nor in concept - we will understand how inappropriate it is for us to despair. Russia did not fulfill Universal Christianity not because it is a worthless nation or conglomerate, but because it is supposed to have only one room in the Father’s spacious house."

Yeltsin’s age continues. Let’s admit it – all the bad things from that epoch were inevitable, they would have happened anyway, considering how major the changes were. It makes a lot more sense to search for a lesser evil in politics, not absolute good – it could have been worse, and a lot scarier. Let’s give Yeltsin credit – he took full responsibility, and didn’t blame anyone else for the epoch that is named after him.