Crisis of the Modern civilization and the revolution in Weltanshaaung form the essence of the 20th century. The world was divided, secularized to a greater or lesser extent and nationalized. The author investigates the elites' impact on the surrounding world status, «the regal triad» («the elite — the club — the government») and the process of the world’s postmodernization. By 1970s ability of the elite to influence the course of events reached a new level or quality. From that time one may speak of the influence on processes of the global scale, i.e., about making of a new course of the history. A new and perspective subject of history is emerging: the postcolonial world. A «new class» is asserting itself in the society. This class is different from the elite of the past. The preliminary results of «the better future formation» process, i.e., outlines of a new global order are gradually getting visible. Russia deprived of the strategic planning system of its own as well as of conceptual intelligence finds itself to be a hostage to alien strategies, an object of the game played all over the global chess board.

The article deals with so called political technologies that are not just a component of the contemporary Russian politics but its vital component. Political technologies' significance cannot be overestimated for they ensure reproduction of the political, economic and social structure of post-Soviet Russia by far more effectively than traditional institutions of suppression. At the same time political technologies form a thriving business the gross and net turnover of which amounts to millions of dollars. Unfortunately, this business is subject to widespread criticism which seems to be unjust because critics are deeply involved in politics created and maintained by political technologists and often resort to political technologies and even to political technologists' services. The author identifies basic functions political technologists perform, describes these functions and appraises them. Finally, the author reveals the roots of ambivalent attitudes to political technologists and concludes that were the Russian public conscience consistent the political technologists would have been praised, awarded admired and adored. Instead of that political technologists are despised and even hated. Ironically, political technologists reap what they have sown for they contributed a lot to driving public conscience into the current schizophrenic condition.

The author deals with some aspects of the Rusins' national movement in the present day Ukraine. Proceeding from the ethnic peculiarity of the region, its historical, cultural and geographic characteristics the activists of the movement assert that the East Slavonic population of the Trans-Carpathian area and of some adjacent territories of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland is formed not of Ukrainians but with peculiar nation, i.e. Rusins. Being quite serious about this assumption the activists call for a status of ethnic minority for this nation within the contemporary Ukrainian state with all consequences such status will bring about. The Rusins' movement is not a phenomenon which emerged just in the past decade. It has a long history and passed through several phases common for other similar movements. Initially it set only cultural aims and later brought forward political aims up to demands to create an independent state of the Rusins in Carpathian region. It is interesting to note that there are certain intriguing parallels in the ideology, history, development and character of the Ukrainian and the Rusinian national movements. Now the Rusins' movement has the same meaning for contemporary Ukrain as the Ukrainian national movement used to have for Russia. The Rusins' movement provokes a nervous reaction of certain Ukrainian ruling circles as well as of the Ukrainian nationalists and constitutes a serious obstacle on the way to introduce and impose the ethnic concept of the Ukrainian nation’s making and development.

The Russian liberalism emerged throughout the 19th century. The Russian society or, rather, some segments of it assimilated the Western system of liberal values by fragments because the destiny of liberalism depended on the traditions of the Empire-building. It should be emphasized that the Russian liberalism developed in conflict with this tradition and, at the same time, in interaction with it. Attempts to exercise the European ideals of political and civil freedom in Russia brought about strengthening of authoritarianism which made up for immaturity of the society. In the autocracy (samoderzhvie) liberals found not only the suppressing might but also an ally able to reside over restructuring and reform of the society. It was a realistic perception of situation. The Peasant reform of 1861 was carried out precisely due to the might of the autocracy. In 1860s the society finally emerged as an active agent of the political life and by the end of the 19th century liberalism transformed from a program for autocracy into a program for society.

The author deals with a set of problems related to formation of empires as super-ethnic entities. The author accepts cultural and linguistic diversity and co-existence of religions as indispensable properties of empires. However the crucial property of an empire is the single ideology and strictly regulated state cult. In all epochs an empire as a fact of the world history presupposes the domination of a single idea, one universal mythology. The author points out that with no answer to the question what was the specific essence of the Mongolian empire and the ulus system which emerged all over the Central Asian space it is impossible to understand the subsequent development of separate states that existed with the Mongolian sphere. To answer the question one has to reconstruct the very mythology of the Mongolian empire. Religious toleration and ability to integrate more and more tribes and nations within the sphere of the Mongolian empie’s influence were determined by enormous impact Tengrianism had as the state religion and a complex cult. Mongols of the Middle Ages perceived the earthly and celestial worlds as the indivisible unity which could not be decomposed.

Street hooligans is a phenomenon well known to lodgers both of large cities and small towns around the world nowadays and ages ago. But while now the police mostly punishes the hooligans by itself outside the courtroom, it was different in the mediaeval and early modern time when their cases were usually put on a trial and not the deeds of the hooligans but violation of honour was looked into. Using examples from the life of the town Bejetsk in 1760-s the article aims at showing that opposite to widely spread perceptions, an individual was defended in an archaic type of community organization even better than in modern society by the very fact of his inclusiveness in the community. The community considered violation of honour of one of its members to be an insult to the whole community. There also existed certain limits in which one’s behaviour could deviate. The violation of these limits was taken as a threat to community’s stability by destroying its collective reputation.

The article is a comment to the document which is being published for the first time. It is a record of a conversation which was held between Yu.V.Andropov, then a Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and Pavlovski, the Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Moscow, on October 24, 1964, and was related tо reasons of N. Kruschiov's deposition from position of the First Secretary of the CPSU CC and the Chairman of the USSR Council of ministers in October, 1964. The document witnesses that at that time the new leaders of the CPSU preserved the line which presumed the necessity to inform the Soviet allies about most significant actions of the USSR in its domestic and foreign policies. The letter contains certain information about the way in which the CPSU CC letter on Kruschiov’s resignation was discussed in the USSR and reactions the event caused in of the party organizations of various levels. The document also contains some information on the reaction caused by Kruschiov’s deposition in Czechoslovakia. In the introductory comment to the document the Soviet leader is presented as a politician who cannot be reduced to a simple one-dimensional interpretation. Though Kruschiov was spotted with all birthmarks of the system which had nurtured him he undertook efforts to improve the system. However, the reformer’s good intentions paved the way to his fall from the political Olympus. Demise of Kruschiov put the end to the period of so called «Kruschiov's thaw».

There are two types of perception of historical events: investigation and personal experience or perception by feeling. The political lyrics as opposed to rhymed rhetoric emerged on if an event is experienced by a poet, felt by a poet and is appropriated by a poet as a fact of his own spiritual life. Pushkin’s verses devoted to historical and political events are precisely the political lyrics. Therefore, political declarations proclaimed in these verses may be considered only in the context of their lyrical content. If we look at such Pushkin’s verses as «Stances» and «To the slanderers of Russia» from such standpoint we see that political opinions and appraisals proclaimed in these verses are, to a considerable extent, determined by politically neutral reasons. In a similar way, pamphlets and epigrams (on Vorontsov and Uvarov) can be explained not only by the poet’s unfriendly feelings to these persons or by his political position but, rather, by his concepts of art and poetry. The politics seen through the prism of poetry acquires another appearance and reveals aspects that might be irrelevant for contemporaries but have a great historical meaning and significance.

The author expounds his opinion of neo-Eurasian movement, its participants and those who oppose it. At the present time the neo-Eurasian movement can be considered as an experiment aimed at synthesis of Islam and Teutonic component. Its main potential danger for the contemporary Russia consists in the fact that from a marginal doctrine it may emerge as the state ideology. The history of neo-Eurasian movement starts in the 1960s when people who looked for alternative to the Communist ideology emerged within the Russian elite. After collapse of the USSR new participants joined veterans. These newcomers arrived from the circle of those people who previously were pretty satisfied with the Soviet official ideology. The author emphasizes that despite their obvious anti-Semitism (which is particularly strong among the Islamic part of the movement) the present day Eurasians are ready to embrace Jewish «zealots» in order to legalize their doctrine with the help of Jewish participation. The danger posed by this rapprochement is beyond any doubt for the author. Reaction of A. Dugin, a leader of Eurasians, to the article which was initially published in Tel-Aviv newspaper «Vesti» and rejoinder by D. Kontorer form the logical conclusion of the publication.

The author emphasizes that the word «reform» permanently used in various combinations long ago has severed from any specific meaning. So called «reform of education» is no exclusion. The fact is that under Eltsin the branch experienced major changes that touched millions of people (pupils, their parents, teachers). However a future historian will in vain investigate official documents, verbatim accounts and materials of discussions in search of the concept of transformations. He will discover just a set of general, senseless words about «democratization», «humanitarization», «advanced experience of other countries» etc. all of which are practically irrelevant to the real politics. Nobody has substantiated or explained the real politics in the sphere of education. Nobody has discussed the real politics at pedagogical councils. It was simply implemented. The author demonstrates that the last combination of moves promoted by the Ministry of education (the single exam for the school-leaving certificate and for admission to the higher educational institution; 12 years term of secondary schooling; tests instead of traditional exams and the state financial obligations towards those particular persons who perform superbly) is not some new politics developed under Putin and subject to his aims but the direct continuation of the politics developed under Eltsin. A researcher sometimes has to reveal the true aims of this politics by comparing declarations with the specific actions and extracting information between the lines of official documents and interviews given by ministers and other high officials. It is precisely what the author undertook in the article.

The article which is based primarily on materials that are brought in scientific turnover for the first time is devoted deals with one phase of Saint-Petersburg (nowadays Russian) Academy of sciences which still remains practically unstudied. At the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century an attempt of a major scale reform of this oldest scientific establishment of the country was undertaken. K.K.Romanov, the president of the Academy, initiated the reform in 1890. The essence of the reform consisted in replacement of the Academy’s obsolete charter of 1836 with a new legal act which could invigorate activities of the 'primary scientific estate'. It was planned to represent new disciplines in the Academy, increase number of «chairs» and scales of the budget financing, make the election process more democratic etc. The document was being elaborated for more than 12 years and only in 1912 the single result was achieved: the Academy got a new budget but it was obtained only at the expense of scholars' refusal to proceed with a radical reorganization of the Academy.

Poets are not done, they are born but in all times there are multitudes of those who are eager to pass for poets. The author undertakes an attempt to demonstrate what the spirit of true poetry is and in what way one may discover paths that allow become closer to the poetry. The author is sure that many our contemporaries who offer their intellectual experiments as innovations understand the poetry as a sort of intellectual industry for making a human being a more noble creature. On the contrary, the author thinks that the progress in the sphere of poetry is the cultivation of artistic intuition which connects us to out ancestors. At the same time the author does not call us back to caves but protests against dehumanization, degeneration of a human being and lack of spirituality.

Just a few persons know of forecasts of Russia’s future that were done by the Russian conservatives long before collapse of autocracy. As the author demonstrates, Konstatin Leontieff whose works were many times republished and still is unread was by far more deep and far-sighted than his (and some our) contemporaries. Being aware of inevitability of the social revolution Leontieff tried to find in Socialism some conservative traits and to combine it with the monarchy with the framework of Orthodox religion. Leontieff proposed to settle the social issue by the existing authorities without changing the established social and economic order. Leontieff planned to devote a special work to Socialism but died before he could carry out his intention and his followers (one may wonder whether he had genuine followers) proved to be less original. Leo Tikhomirov was one of a very few of those who understood but did not accepted 'conservative Socialism' annunciated by Leontieff. «Patriarchal» defenders of autocracy depleted themselves in their struggle against the Socialist idea and did not understand a concealed typological affinity to Socialism. Affinity which, besides all other things, implied presence of the common enemy presented by liberalism and capitalism.

The author tries to clarify the situation around Leo Tikhomirov and elucidate, from a new angle, his role and place in the political life of Russia. Peculiarity of Tikhomirov’s position was determined, first of all, by the fact that in the revolutionary camp he was perceived as a «conservative» of a sort because he advocated traditional values while in the monarchist camp he was perceived as a «revolutionary» — and not just by the label attached by ill-wishers but due to his inner conviction in necessity of serious transformations, decisive movement along the path to construction of the ideal monarchy. This image of «the conservative revolutionary» made him repugnant to contemporaries. Though Tikhomirov really and essentially was «a man of Alexander III reign» he might be called a fore-runner of the European (German) conservatove revolution and of the Russian Eurasians. Leo Tikhomirov’s destiny reflected complex and contradictory tendencies of the Russian social and political thought development. As a prominent ideologue, talented publicist and very attentive, sensitive observer Tikhomirov left a rich literary heritage.

The article has been initiated by materials presented for discussion at the scientific conference «Concept of sin in the Slavic and Jewish cultural tradition» (the conference was held at the Institute of Slavic studies, the Russian Academy of science, in November, 1999). Being one of the main concepts that were actively comprehended and interpreted within the framework of century-old Judeo-Christian intercultural dialog «sin», as investigators of the both traditions demonstrate, represents a multitude of its aspects: as a violation of taboo system, as a concealment of the truth, as «natural» or «ethnic» quality and as some material substance which might be calculated, measured, estimated and even sold. The Slavic material (the folklore legends and beliefs, system of taboos and prescriptions, rites and rituals) shows, the popular morality as well as the popular religion expands and at the same time makes the Christian concept of sin more specific, i.e., materializes the concept. The author analyses traditional society’s attitude to the original sin and incest, to concepts of «sin» and «soul», to the problem of atonement of the sin or to the issue of the sin allowed from the above. A separate layer of the Slavic folklore is composed by legends about «sinful» animals, plants and whole nations, about sin (violation of prohibitions related to the traditional rites and the subsequent punishment).

Analyzing the current situation in Russia the author comes to conclusion that we are witnessing not a reform, not a revolution but an Experiment, which switches on and unfolds the civilization disaster. The Experiment is a result of the Soviet elite groups' consensus the origin of which is to be sought in the situation in the Soviet elite in the later Stalinist period. This consensus was being planned in bowels of the stagnation period and was launched during the «perestroika» years. The Experiment’s strategic meaningful potential and its final target is the struggle against the Reason and History. In the course of this struggle «homo sapiens» is to be destroyed. The struggle is carried on by virtue of psychosocial terror as well as by virtue of indirect methods, i.e., splitting of the society into pre-historic regressive archaic forms and post-historic social and cultural technologism (post-modernism etc.). As soon as the social mass is split into secondary archaic fragments and political post-modernity is achieved, it is senseless to speak of political struggle against the Experiment since the antagonistic social environment has acquired a diffuse character. The struggle against the alliance (or alloy) of archaism and post-modernity requires a crystallization of proper social material, peculiar forms of activity, and intellectual war on two fronts. This crystallization may rest on contraposition of the Experiment and fundamental value orientations that in Russia and in the world as a whole are connected with concepts of the Soviet heritage. In the present day political environment lack of transparency and ambiguity reign supreme and form the nourishing medium for the «patriotic opposition». However under the new circumstances only «small social bodies of higher density» (i.e., masses of intact and sound life able to reproduce anti-regressive samples of life and activities and to transmit them) can counter the archaistic and post-modern regress.

The article is focused on the role of Alexander I of Russia in shaping the European order in the aftermath of the Vienna Congress. The author argues that Europe owed a spectacular period of «long peace» from 1815 to 1853 largely to Russian emperor`s views on international politics and his dogged persistence in implementing them whatever the adds against him. His idealistic concept of the Holy Alliance, which aroused so much criticism among contemporaries and historians, ultimately proved to be quite effective an instrument of staving off a major conflagration on the continent.

In recent months the public opinion in Russia as well as abroad has been once again drawn to the problem of relations between Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church or, speaking in broader terms, between Catholics and Russian Orthodox believers. The decision of Vatican to establish four Catholic bishoprics on the territory of Russia in which the Russian Orthodox Church leaders saw an encroachment upon their «canonic territories» served as the pretext for deterioration of these relations. The issue has transgressed the limits of purely legal dispute and touched the broad masses of believers as well as the high echelons of politicians. Relying on strong arguments of those people who consider the very notion of «canonic territories» as an invalid stationery innovation and considering the accusations of proselytizing aggression on the territory of the Russian Federation that are usually addressed to the Catholic Church as unfounded the author transfers the issue in a broader and deeper historical context. The author focuses her attention on the staring contradiction between the consent the Russian Orthodox Church has granted to the principal ideologic assumption of post-Soviet Russia (i.e., «entering the European alias civilized community») and its desire to retain, as a norm of behavior for its flock, the traditional apprehension in regard of Catholicism. However, Catholicism constitutes the historical foundation of the European civilization. Sure, preceding from so contradictory assumptions the Russian Orthodox Church confronts a difficulty in elaboration of a clear and consistent line of behavior. The failure of the Russian Orthodox Church’s attempts to prevent the Pontific’s visits to the East Christian space or at least to the CIS countries is the convincing evidence of this impossibility. Analysis of the process' dynamics leads the author to conclusion that the stubborn attempts of the Russian Orthodox Church to solve the problem of its influence by appealing only to the power intervention of the state and by artificial instigation of its flock’s fear of the Catholic proselytism threat just divert the Russian Orthodox Church from grasping the problem’s essence.

The author considers events of 1942 in a new light. He believes that the Russian politicians and military commanders who had overestimated the failure of Hitler’s blitzkrieg near Moscow and the USA entry to the war experienced a fit of euphoria and assumed that the Germans could be defeated as soon as in 1942. Sobering came only after the Russian winter offence failed and disasters in the Crimea and under Kharkov opened for Germans the way to Stalingrad and the Caucasus. Heavy fighting’s of summer and autumn of 1942 gradually taught the Russian troops the art of modern war. Powerful military-industrial base established in the east of the country, readiness of the people for self-sacrificing and maximum straining of all their forces allowed to reverse the military fortunes on the fronts in autumn of 1942. The author reveals the inseparable relationship between «Uranus» operation in the south and «Mars» operation in the central Russia, analyzes roles of these operations in the autumn-winter campaign of 1942. According to the author, the failure of «Mars» operation was a single operation’s defeat, which nevertheless allowed win the strategic victory under Stalingrad. Thus the military leadership sacrificed the operational success to the strategic one. Achievement of the radical turning point of the war was finally ensured.

Events of September 11, 2001 cast a brighter light on a new global situation forming the world ties' system. Besides that, these events became the trigger for systemic actions that, if one summarizes what is going on, constitutes the 'new imperialism', i.e., the active policy aimed at the events' outrunning. Thus it is a prototype of the US 'doctrine of preemptive actions'. Simultaneously with the USA rise horizons of development of another global subject, an economic universality of the New North, the product of universal economy subject to commands of high quarters and the process of elites' transnationalization becomes more and more visible. Coincident with that the sphere of what was previously considered as the South expands. Evaluations of the South diverge within a wide range: from «the source of life» supporting existence of the aging West to «the new barbarity» strangling the civilization. The world North and the world South acquire the global proportions. They exist on the same planet but represent increasingly different worlds that have different historical teleologies. Perhaps, nowadays two strategic scenarios of the development may be traced. One logical trajectory with a rather clear design is the peaceful completion of the geo-economic structure' construction or, to put it in simpler terms, creation of the global issue and fiscal system. However if the planet’s cataloging which has manifested itself proves to be an illusion of a kind (the origins of this illusion are to be sought in mechanistic notions of the Enlightenment) and, consequently, the world stumbles over arising perturbations with increasing frequency the strategy related to execution of preemptive actions in the global policies' sphere and with a dynamic system of processes management will strengthen and assert itself as a new social norm.

The analysis of data published in the People’s Republic of China demonstrates that after 1970 the US administration, most probably, has grossly underestimated the level of Chinese strategic forces' development as well as problems this development might create for the US if Peking changes its passive foreign policy to an active one. The author sets forth several arguments in favor of an opinion that the US policy in the past three decades was, by and large, precisely what as the Chinese leaders would like it to be. The only exception to this rule was the problem of Taiwan. Thus, the US foreign policy is far from being the best from the US interests' standpoint.

The lethal convulsions or birth labors? Disputes about the end of the historical science at the beginning of the 21st century. Since Herodotus' times of history is understood as Histories Apodexis, i.e., as «presentation of events» either made preferably by a witness or based upon reliable evidence. However its emergence as a science took place rather lately and was determined by two events: formulation of sociological laws and isolation of study of sources as the basis of Histories Apodexis in the 19th century. In the last third of the 20th century the foundations of historical cognizance were shattered by «linguistic upheaval» and the «postmodernist challenge». These phenomena caused the crisis of «the science of history». The author deals with manifestations of the crisis (the emerged discretion of the historical knowledge, the «linguistic turn» and the «post-modernist crisis») and with other attempts to overcome the crisis practiced today. Of these attempts the author pays the particular attention to critique of postmodernism, emergence of new methodological directions, development of historic hermeneutics as the most perfect of these directions, the contemporary state of historic positivism and reasons for its stability. The author offers his own scenario of historical science development: a schism will occur in the corporation: a part of historians will follow principles of Histories Apodexis and interpret standards of their profession in the positivist spirit while a narrow strata of professional scientists will form gradually. This second group will be able to develop new scientific standards applied to the historical studies and investigations

The article is devoted to one of aspects of the Soviet national policy in Ukraine in 1920s, i.e., to the Jewish agricultural colonization and to the problems which aroused between the immigrants-colonists and the local population. By virtue of the Jewish agricultural colonization the Ukrainian leaders tried to attract Jews to agricultural labor, to involve the Jewish population of the Soviet Union in the construction of socialism and, by improving economic conditions of this population to strengthen its own influence. Besides that, the Bolshevists hoped that this policy would ensure support of the USSR on the part of influential Jewish circles of Europe and the USA. However, due to several reasons rooted in the social-economic factor caused ethnic frictions between the local population and immigrants and the rise of anti-Semitic moods and attitudes in the countryside as well as among the urban dwellers. It is noted that where the interethnic relations were organized properly the frictions became weaker and gave way to good neighbors' relations between representatives of various ethnic groups. Though the Jewish agricultural colonization did not solve all tasks set forth by the USSR leadership it played, on the balance, its role in development of interethnic relations in our country

The Order of Malta is a state enjoining the status of exterritoriality. Nowadays it is located in Italy. It is over nine centuries old and its history is intertwined with the past and present of Europe and Russia. The Order was founded in Jerusalem and repeatedly changed its locations. In the process it was called either the Order of the knights of Cyprus or Rhodes and, since 1530, it bears the name of the Order of Malta. In fact, it always remained to be the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. In the 16th and 17th centuries it became a mighty military state which put an end to the Turkish dominance over the Mediterranean. The greatest activity in relations of the Order of Malta and Russia was due to the period of Paul I, the Emperor of Russia, reign. In 1797 Paul I concluded the Convention with the Order and at the request of its leaders became its Protector. When Ferdinand Gompesh, the Grand Master of the Order, after a short resistance surrendered Malta to Napoleon no Catholic ruler of Western Europe did offer a help to the Order. However, it was the Orthodox Russian emperor who gave the help. In the subsequent 200 years history of the Order there were periods when its activity was suspended, periods of collaboration with governments of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Several times the Order experienced interference of Vatican, its powerful patron. More than once the problem of sovereignty emerged in the most acute forms. During the past 100 years the Order is engaged in charity and humanitarian activities and tries its best to return to Malta.

G. Aleksinski’s life seen against the background of events Aleksinski was involved in allows a better understanding of peculiarities of Bolshevism as a phenomenon not just political but also social and cultural, genetically connected to the popular conscience’s peculiar mental features and to perception of the world by the intelligentsia in Russia. Aleksinski, the flamboyant denouncer of the Bolshevists who had been a supporter of Lenin earlier, was an odious figure among the post-October emigrants and retained a reputation of a Bolshevist of a kind. Those who described Aleksinski in this way meant not his views (these were not distinguished by their stability) but a specific style of behavior, psychological sketch of his personality. Aleksinski, the perpetual denouncer remained a lone politician even in his star hour, when the sensational declaration on the Bolshevist leaders' ties with Germany was published. In the revolutionary conditions the patriotic moods the initiators of the action and Aleksinski aimed at did not display any stability and did not prevent Bolshevists from coming to power. However one of the advantages the Bolshevists had in comparison to their competitors was precisely the open rupture with the tradition of moral restraints in politics. What was at that time estimated as the moral deficiency at the individual level was converted in the instrument of the revolutionary mobilization of the people and of power retaining

The article deals with the current situation and issues of policies restructuring in Central Asia and Central Asian region in result of the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. The macro-region as a whole in different measures supports the struggle against terrorism but within this struggle’s framework the USA infiltrates the region and starts playing military-political and economic game of its own there. At the same time China is being pushed off the region while Russia is being squeezed out of it. Raw materials resources and transportation infrastructure are being placed under control. The USA supports and enhances opposition’s attacks against the authorities in all countries while number of schism axes is increasing drastically and elites and populations are drifting away from each other. The political space as a whole is getting to be increasingly chaotic and the social structure is getting to be increasingly fragmented. All that brings about build-up of instability. The authors demonstrate that in Afghanistan nothing has changed but enhancement of instability and… growth of narcotic drugs output. That situation is one more evidence that the world starts building differently: the controlled instability is being created at the periphery and this instability promotes the stagnation. The new «grand game» is the arms race and at the same time the scramble for conquest of narcotic drugs producing territories is unfolding. «Clashes» among potential lords of the world bring about construction of periphery of the peculiar archaic type. The contemporary situation is characterized by the fact that ideology as a form of the classic conscience and the classic modern is replaced with magic craft which is specific to the archaic epoch and post-modern. Synthesis of these two epochs is really abominable. To resist those who impose archaic forms of life and thought it is necessary to mobilize all healthy social forces for fight against indigenization of the society.

The analysis of data published in the People’s Republic of China demonstrates that after 1970 the US administration, most probably, has grossly underestimated the level of Chinese strategic forces' development as well as problems this development might create for the US if Peking changes its passive foreign policy to an active one. The author sets forth several arguments in favor of an opinion that the US policy in the past three decades was, by and large, precisely what as the Chinese leaders would like it to be. The only exception to this rule was the problem of Taiwan. Thus, the US foreign policy is far from being the best from the US interests' standpoint.

Between 1885 and 1905 the traditional American view of Russia as a friendly Christian empire gave way to a missionary crusade to reform the backward autocracy and emancipate the oppressed Russian people. This historic shift in American attitudes did not arise solely from increasing realism about tsarist repression or anger at Russian expansion in the Far East, as previous studies asserted. To fully understand the fundamental reorientation, historians must also examine how Americans came to channel their evangelical fervor toward Russia and how they reconsidered the racial status of the Russian people. In that light, the crusade for a «free Russia» can be understood as part of the global extension of an American civilizing mission, which had the gratifying effect of reinforcing confidence in the special virtues of the United States. Thus, we can see in the 1885−1905 period the early origins of both a century-long drive to remake Russia and a long-term tendency to treat Russia as a «dark double» or «imaginary twin» of the U.S.

Peter the Great’s death left Russia with no rulers to match him. Nonetheless, his successors proved to be smart enough to realize the necessity of keeping Russia allied with great European powers. This helped secure the means to pursue St. Petersburg’s basic international goals. A young player in the world game of power politics, Russia still managed to adroitly capitalize on Franco-Austrian rivalry on the continent, and Franco-British antagonisms outside Europe. Consequently, she succeeded not only in preserving the Peter’s legacy, but also in setting the stage for herself to become one of the major architects of the new international order which comprised the fundamental components destined to survive through most of the XIX-th century.

The original Eurasianism was driven by the pathetic protest against the petty political games of the Russian emigrants. The Eurasians thought that salvation of Russia lied not in new political upheavals but in preservation and multiplication of its spiritual and creative potential. However the Eurasians were seduced by their prompt successes and the prospect of influencing processes inside Russia and soon passed to concoction of immature historiosophic and politological concepts that were intended for broad presentation and not void of propaganda and blatant demagogic content. G. V. Flotrovski’s letters that are published here constitute the evidence of how painful this departure from original tasks proved to be for Eurasianism itself and how this reaction brought about, in the final resort, schism and degradation of Eurasianism.

The terrorist act in the theater center demonstrated that there are major elite forces in Russia that are ready to allow the country to disintegrate by playing «Chechen card» and with the aim to change the power. Allegations that the bourgeois revolution has occurred in Russia are absolutely unsubstantiated. In fact, in result of «privatization of the basis by way of sawing the superstructure up to pieces» the Russian elite has launched processes of political and economic feudalization and social archaization of the country. The secondary feudalism does need a strong state center. Feudalism requires gradual imposition of confederation arrangement of the state. The real resource is in hands of quasi-dominant parasite class. This class exhausts the country and does not create stable productive systems. Under such circumstances a person who is willing to get something different has to solve the problem of resources (including pecuniary resource) required for a struggle for his/her alternative project. Money may appear around some project synthesis or a tactical coincidence of interests on the basis of realization of one’s own project (if so, we may call such person an independent agent and speak of politics). However the resources may arise on the basis of integration into an alien project (if it is the case we can speak of a footman and betrayal). Berezovski has a project, this is why he is an independent agent. Prokhanov takes money from Berezovski for realization of Berezovski’s confederation project. The integrity of Russia is suspended on very thin threads. The main miracle is the steady resistance of the peoples of Northern Caucasus who do not yield to provocation of Chechens. It is very easy to blast the situation by connecting quasi-liberal and quasi-patriotic provocative deeds with errors of the power.

The article deals with the formation of Russia as the political and ethnic national power through its territorial expansion to Northern Caucasus. The author emphasizes that, unlike other empires (for example, Great Britain), Russia’s principal aim was not to obtain material and political advantages but to familiarize indigenous peoples with and absorb them into the civil co-existence with other subjects. At the same time the author notes that the very process of establishment Russia-Caucasus unity generated contradictory tendencies. On one hand, one should not forget about existence of intra-regional contradictions among highlanders. These contradictions made a considerable part of the local population to seek solidarity with Russia. On the other hand, peculiarities of psychological profile of highland peoples are such that they do not accept the state violence and enforcement. Thus, Russia succeeded to win not so much due to its military superiority but due to its spiritual, moral authority. Joining the empire was not connected with suppression. On the contrary, indigenous peoples retained their customs and a chance of free development. Moreover, these benefits sometimes brought economic advantages in comparison to the conditions of the Russians who formed the majority of the empire’s population. The author emphasizes that Russia has always been and remains to be not just political ethnic national state. Russia possesses the spiritual and moral potential due to which it saved small peoples from the threat of complete extermination.

This paper presents a concise retrospective analysis of the basic aspects of the Greek-Turkish relations in Cyprus in their evolution, since 1571 (advent and establishment of the Turks in Cyprus) until nowadays, and tries to explore the roots and reasons of the Cyprus problem, as well as possible solutions to it. The article mainly examines the inter-communal level of the Cyprus issue, limiting itself, where necessary, to short remarks on the outside actors' involvement into the situation in Cyprus — that of Greece, Turkey, Great Britain, European Union, United Nations etc. Key-points of intra-Cyprus relations singled out, the author concludes that the inter-communal interaction was harmonious till the very second quarter of the XX century, and the clash was neither inevitable nor predestined. The unbridled development and maturing of national self-consciousness resulted in sliding down into the conflict, thus preventing the formation of a Cypriot — single and common, «supra-communal» — identity. The British system of administration (1878−1960) stimulated and accelerated this process but was not its origin. The armed inter-communal clash could have been avoided and was triggered by egoistical policies of the two communities, as well as by strategies of the outside powers — Great Britain, Greece, Turkey and the USA. Taking into consideration the fact that the Cyprus conflict is relatively «young» and emotionally sharp, the author lays out the principal points of the plan submitted by the UN Secretary-General K. Annan on the 11th of November, 2002, and reflects upon its prospects as well as on general strategies to follow in order to find a solution to the Cyprus problem.

An inquiry deals with definitions of historical work in the Russian history-writing of the XVI century. Basing upon such examples as annals, ABC-books and works of Prince Andrey Kurbsky, the author shows that at that time «history» implied the specific type of narration distinct from other historic genres and akin to such fictional genre short story. Especially important influence on incipience of history-writing in Russia brought to bear eschatological anticipations and wide-spread practice of reading of portents. These two facts predetermined sophistication of the prescriptions on interpretation of events and composition of historical texts.

In works of Russian writers of the 19th century the governor was the most typical representative of the top Russian bureaucracy world. Literary sources reflected differences in various estates and social groups' attitudes to the governor and the exaggerated hopes that the public opinion too often conferred upon the chief of gubernia. At the same time, as one may see in literary works the governor’s own broad notions of his mission were combined with the aspiration to be not so much the «master» and the chief of gubernia but rather the intermediary and arbitrator as well as the center of the local good society.

Overcoming of established stereotypes and notions related to evaluation of the past events is a very complicated undertaking. It requires the same sensitivity and creative effort as the work of restoration master. Only by removing all attempts to the past smooth and depositions in characterization of actual and chronological sequence of events and their actors one may escape that impersonal «resultant» against which Boris Nikolaevski, one of the leading investigators of the Russian political history, protested so vigorously.

It is the publication of the letter on establishment of Radischev fine arts museum in Saratov and its founder, the professor of painting and a grandson to Radischev A.P.Bogolyubov whose energy, initiative and funds were the actual foundation of this artistic institution which turned out to be the first free access provincial museum and the school of drawing.