Sensational rapprochement of Ukraine and Russia
Signed last month an agreement on the extension until 2042 presence of Russian black sea fleet in Crimea marks the return of Ukraine into the fold of Russia, writes L'express. Immediately upon assuming the office of President, Viktor Yanukovych has engaged in that "erased all traces of the power of his predecessor Viktor Yushchenko, the correspondent Jeremy Lanche."Nothing can stop the thaw in Russian-Ukrainian relations, and a new honeymoon continued on Monday in Kiev, where Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived for the second month of the visit," the newspaper continues. The main purpose of the visit was the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation agreements and the delimitation of the border, and discussion on a very sensitive project of merger of Naftogaz and Gazprom proposed by Moscow. As notes the edition, in this matter the views of Moscow and Kiev disagree, that does not prevent the reigning idyll. Viktor Yanukovych said that this project is impossible, and the Minister of foreign Affairs Konstantin Grishchenko has warned that the country will not relinquish control over Naftogaz, according to the newspaper. "Ukraine, with a variance refers to the idea to trust your greedy neighbor is the most important economic and diplomatic arm of the country, because 80% of Russian gas destined for Europe passes through Ukrainian pipelines," emphasizes Lanche.According to the expert, and Director of the Center for Russia-CIS at the French Institute of international relations Tom Gomara such extremely rapid political change associated with the gas issue, they are all the more striking that there is a "deafening when the silence of the European Union". Читать полностью -->
Knowledgeable, but Who do not perform such technical Christians
Dmitry Sokolov-MitrichThis phrase a couple of months ago dropped in my blog one stranger to me. I asked what he meant, but the man had disappeared. Then I typed "technical Christian" in different Internet search engines, but each time they were given only one reference to the same comment in my blog. Will have to fill this phrase meaning itself. Because it I was hooked. I have a suspicion that technical a Christian - it's me. Читать полностью -->
Who trusts. The Russians more than anyone in the world trust their government
LentaThe credibility of national governments in the world is at its lowest level since 2001. These are the results of a study commissioned by the world economic forum.Of the 16 countries in which the survey was conducted, only in a single - Russian - citizen trust in government over the last five years not only has not decreased, but increased significantly.In the remaining countries: Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Germany, India, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Nigeria, Turkey, USA, France and South Korea - the level of citizens ' trust in national governments in 2005 either decreased or remained at the same level.However, in 12 out of 16 countries the level of trust in national governments in 2005 reached the lowest level since September 2001, when terrorist attacks occurred in the United States.Much more than national governments, citizens trust the United Nations, according to the research. However, in 2005, 12 out of 16 countries the level of trust in the UN has dropped significantly, according to sociologists, it is connected with the scandal about the abuse within the program Oil in exchange for food.Don't trust large multinational corporations. The credibility of citizens fallen sharply after publicized bankruptcy of Enron Corporation, and has not reached the level of 2002. In 2005, the majority of residents of Canada, USA and South Korea, who participated in the survey for the first time since 2001, announced his distrust of multinational corporations.The greatest support among residents of 16 countries, according to the survey, use of international non-governmental organizations. Trust of these organizations stated an average of 29 percent of respondents, while the UN trust only 14 percent.The study was conducted by GlobeScan Incorporated by the order of the world economic forum in June-August 2005. Читать полностью -->
Radicalism ceases to be property of the Russian character, " said Director of the Institute of sociology, RAS
Radical ceases to be property of the Russian character, which was hundreds of years in a row."One of the most important changes in public consciousness of Russia for the last ten years is that over the years, stability has become the go to minimize the phenomenon of "radical consciousness of the masses," says the Director of the Institute of sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member-correspondent of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Gorshkov.According to him, "this is a new feature of Russian mentality: self-control and sequence of operations before the masses was not very typical"."To collect today Russian radical protest impossible: neither the political power nor, more importantly, a unified, cohesive and internally organized social base," said Gorshkov in an interview published today in "to the Russian newspaper".Sociologists are not celebrated in Russia, "signs of a sharp growth of protest moods… irritation rather than General discontent"."The crisis," according to the scientist, in a way, "sobered" mass consciousness… made people not so much to believe how to understand"."The Russians," says Gorshkov, turned out to be wiser, more restrained than many well-known experts, which, sorry, literally in hysterics fought, predicting a global catastrophe and total chaos in the country as a result of the crisis.". . . . . . Читать полностью -->
The Medvedev Doctrine
Russia's new foreign policy conceptYuri GirenkoLast week the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev signed a document entitled "foreign policy Concept of the Russian Federation", which, as stated in the preamble, "a system of views on the content, principles and main directions of foreign policy activity of Russia". Previous "Concept" was approved by President Vladimir Putin on 28 June 2000. New it complements and develops". The revolution did not happen - although the changes are obvious.What is it?"Russia pursues an open, predictable and pragmatic foreign policy guided by its national interests" Main directions of the new approach to foreign policy, President Dmitry Medvedev stated during his meeting with the diplomatic representatives of Russia in other countries and international organizations.However, on some fundamentally important aspects of the new concept is worth consideration. Because the document provides a holistic view of the world and Russia's place in it, about the goals and objectives of Russian foreign policy, its tools and directions.The main in the "Medvedev doctrine" seven theses are submitted.1. About Russia's role"New Russia, standing on the firm ground of national interests, became a full-fledged role in global Affairs," reads a document and says: "Russia has a significant influence on the formation of a new architecture of international relations".That is, actively populyarizirovano in the 90-ies of the Western experts, the thesis that Russia forever ceased to be a "superpower" and must be content with regional significance, our government rejected.Actually, that's to be expected - since the notion of "regional powers" suggests that the country is located in any one region. Читать полностью -->
Leftism in the Putinism
SERGEY CHERNYAKHOVSKYThe crisis in the economy will contribute to the growth of left-wing sentiment in Russia. The current government will be replaced by someone who will be able to offer a way to restore social justice.Abstracting from any particular ideological preferences, we have to admit that the main socio-political demands in the country left.And the crisis, the impact of which every day feel directly on itself more and more Russians, infinitely far from stock exchanges and financial markets, is likely to only strengthen leftist sentiments.The leftism of the society to the authorities, by the way, is quite obvious. That's why a few years ago was banned initiated by the Communist party referendum on major issues of political and economic life. And when in the summer of 2005, the same questions were posed to the citizens of "Levada-center", it turned out that the Communist party would win the referendum by a large margin, and, on all counts.So, 79% vs. 10% advocated for the abolition of the law on monetization of benefits (very important at that moment the theme) and the right of the individual to choose between benefits and cash compensation. For public and free preschool, secondary, vocational and higher education voted 97% against 2%. Читать полностью -->