Fate of development in Russia and the world is the political issue. In itself it requires unconventional solutions, rejection of traditional intellectual patterns and obsolete methods. Appraising role of operational and conspiracy approaches to the political analysis the author focuses on logical analytics. A political analyst has to rely on any recorded open statements. Any word said in public is a micro fact. Henceforth the direct statements on development are to be the subject matter and the foundation of thematic and objective analysis. The aggregation of all logos is the primary material. Logical analytics of the 21st century is striving to confront the dehumanizing reality. A study has to base on non-literal understanding of various political logos and their context to which a word is connected. A word always is a circumlocution fraught with potential for a rational reading.

At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s Catholicism adjusted to requirements of the epoch for the sake of preservation of its influence allowed a renovation turnover which was made at the Second Vatican Convocation. This move ushered the ecumenical openness of the Church and had serious consequences expressed in dissemination of religious pluralism and tolerance, in the process of active absorption of secular life which accelerated de-Christianization of the Western society. Pope John Paul II started the ‘new evangelization' which was accompanied with expansion of outward openness of Catholicism and implemented in parallel with restoration of Vatican’s international influence. These processes did not arrest erosion of the religious conscience of Europeans but brought about erosion of their traditional values which acquired a threatening character. All attempts to bring Christian concepts of moral virtues and to confront degradation of a Westerner failed. Under Benedict XVI the Catholic Church is striving to recover its spiritual leadership and to keep its position on the forward frontiers of the world development began openly to undertake ideological leadership in the process of the world integration into a new global order, to form its moral code and impart the religious sense to the system of control over humankind which supranational ruling elites are constructing.

Russian military emigration of the first wave in the European states of the Versailles system appeared in the conditions of formation of nationalism, fascism and nazism. Concerning these phenomena different representatives of Russian emigration defined their position in different way. The article gives the analysis of the most weighed position of the representatives of Russian emigration.

In polemics with J. Sherrer I.V.Kondakov notes that Sherrer has offered a prejudiced interpretation of the present day Russia’s cultural development. The picture of scientific and social life in Russia painted by Sherrer is far away of the reality. The Russian culturology is not a single flow phenomenon and the Russian academic community is split in their outlook and in conceptual terms.

The author follows the critical line of Jutta Sherrer’s argument on the current textbooks on culturology. According to the author, the principal deficiency of these textbooks is the absolute break with the historic realities that are substituted with various contrived abstract concepts. Eventually that brings about disturbance of natural relationships among the real, the imaginable and the symbolic in the young generation’s eyes. The author demonstrates on the specific examples how poor is knowledge of the present day specialists in cultural studies (many of them were specialists in ‘historical materialism' and ‘scientific communism') of the historic realities, to what extent are unfounded their claims to generalizations of all kinds. The author thinks that, by and large, the current textbooks on cultural studies can play a role no less harmful tan the bygone courses of scientific communism.

The author considers Jutta Scherrer’s article and responses to it produced by V. Bouldakov and I.Kondakov. Jutta Scherrer’s opinion that the present day culturology is a ‘servant-girl' and an ideological tool of the current Russian authorities is challenged. The idea that the present day culturology is creating a myth of the ‘Silver Age' (and, in the first place' of N.A.Ber-dyaev' philosophy) and these efforts are manifestations of the fundamentalist national self-identification is perceived rather critically. The author emphasizes the complex and totally non-fudamentalist origins of the Russian culturology (it developed under strong influence of the Tartu-Moscow school etc.) which contains trends that are very distant from totalitarianism and fundamentalism.

The article deals with the family history of K.F.Ryleev, famous poet-Decembrist. The authors examine people who surrounded K.F.Ryleev in his childhood and adolescence, characterize the ambience within which he was born and emerged as a personality and within which his adult life ran to some extent. Connection of Ryleev’s history with his collection of letters, his creative, financial and journalistic activities is analyzed.

Prospects and problems of the historical science are in the center of attention in the interview given by Professor Yurganov. According to him, the historical science has every chance to become a fundamental science. Such science is not subject to any fluctuation of political moods. It is a tool of their study and not a substantiation of specific values. In this capacity history has no inherent prior beliefs. However it is a key to understanding of any value and cultural continuum while an applied science used for ideological purposes exists and will exist forever. It is necessary only to define limits and do that with understanding for what purposes a study is performed and for what ends it is intended.

Discussion of political figures cannot be reduced to private opinions, to talk about personal traits of a person. A politician is not just a person but he is a certain configuration of forces, a creature of some social groups. A politician promulgates certain interests. The sphere is a turf where “players” act. There are no victims here. Therefore either a politician achieves a success or fails but anyway a politician gets involved in this or that play. The lesson derived from Putin’s tenure of power consists in understanding that politician Putin personifies opposite tendencies: longing for stabilization and dependence on regress. And there is no Putin’s blame in that. However it seems that Putin cannot pursue the old line forever. The choice Putin has to make nowadays is the choice between what is desirable and what is proper. And unless the choice is made in favor of what is proper, the desirable will extinguish the country slowly. This is the principal collision of our time.

This is an article on the teaching and studying of the controversial problems of the North Caucasus history. The author argues that this branch of Russian historiography is going through severe crisis partly due to the demise of Marxist paradigm to be followed by ideological vacuum. He sees the way to overcome it in the post-modernist overarching approach to the issues sensitive to non-Russian peoples on the one hand, and in ridding of powerful myths firmly established in nationalistic-oriented consciousness, on the other, to develop broader vision of the past.

It is indisputable that the 21st century as well as the preceding century is the period of rapid transformations in the world of technologies. It turns out that position of every country in the world stage is increasingly depending on an extent to which a country succeeds in adjustment to generational change of machines and forms of labor organization. Historical traditions and mentality of population and of national elite find expressions in this breathtaking competition. Types of social and productive relationships of the past epochs that seem to be moribund reemerge first as menacing shadows and then acquire flesh and in its renewed forms they feel quite comfortable among very sophisticated devices the very ideas of which only fantasts or scientists who normally direct their regard to the future could grasp just a decade ago. The concluding article casts the total to the historian’s reflections on chances of Russia in the technological race and on the burden of the historical heritage that impedes progress of Russia in this race.

The Great Patriotic War of 1941−1945 is the single and the only event of the past memory of which is shared by all the country and plays the paramount role in reconstruction of the national identity after collapse of the USSR. The author investigates reasons that caused changes of attitudes toward the war and veterans in different periods of the Soviet and post-Soviet history. Two different memories have been traced to the war experience. The first memory is the recollections of the war tragedy, of liberation of not the Motherland but of the whole Europe from Nazism, memory of the utmost effort made for the sake of universal ideals of freedom. The other memory is connected with the revival of the state might and with creation of the cult of victory in the years of Brezhnev’s rule. This cult was designed as a new source of legitimization, a source which had to replace ideals of the October revolution that had run dry by that time. According to the author dissemination of the totalitarianism concept in the present day society (this concept combines Stalinism and Nazism) also distorts the memory of war. Yet, despite the state cult of victory which is still dominant the memory which carries ideals of freedom is alive in the present day Russia.

The article is devoted to M.A.Suslov, one of the leading politicians of the USSR. The author undertakes the first attempt to offer an answer to the question why this man war so attractive for the first leaders of the party and the state and why I.V.Stalin, N.S.Kruschev and L.I.Brezhnev who regarded such Suslov’s purely human traits as excessive formality of communication and the absolute lack of predisposition to backslapping and to foul language perhaps critically and even disdainfully nevertheless appreciated Suslov’s extensive and retentive memory, ability to grasp complicated international and ideological issues, diligence and efficiency, lack of exorbitant ambitions that brought to ruin carriers of many other colleagues in the top Soviet leadership. The article also deals with the issue to what extent the fame that Suslov was the embodiment of the mean aspects of the regime which fostered Suslov who tried his best in serving to the regime with no fear or reproach (this fame was ascribed to Suslov by the efforts of the liberal intellectuals) corresponds to the reality.

The article and the attached letters P.N.Savitski exchanged with G.P.Struve and P.P.Suvchinski cover the principal guidelines of Savitski’s Eurasian conception that Savitski not only kept for 55 years but, after change of his mind, consistently applied to Soviet Russia. The author exposes the atmosphere of emigration in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Renowned persons (M.Tsvetaeva, N.S.Trubetskoi, L.P.Karsavin etc.) are mentioned in the recollections. In an amazing way Savitski succeeded in combining an admiration for the Soviet Russia’s achievements with the impregnable faith in the Russian people’s religious feeling.

Grigori Nickolaevich Tovstoles (1887−1957) is a figure of the Russian emigrant community who is virtually unknown in the present day Russia. G. Tovstoles fought in the White army during the Civil war and he was one of the earliest participants of the Eurasian movement in emigration and a member of several Masonic lodges. In 1946 Tovstoles who lived at that time in France accepted the Soviet citizenship. In 1951 Tovstoles was detained by the USSR Ministry of State security in the territory of East Germany. The article for the first time introduces into the scientific turnover materials of investigation against Tovstoles (these materials are kept in the Russian Federation Federal Security Service' archive).

The article is a response to L.S.Klein's book «The Varangian dispute. The history of confrontation and arguments of the parties» published in 2009 in Saint-Petersburg by ‘Eurasia‘ publishing house. «The Norsemen problem» or «The Vrangian issue» is the topic connected with the origins of the Russian statehood and the role Norsemen played in the process. Relevancy of the topic is obvious in the early 21st century too. Research made by L.S.Klein is considered to be an important contribution to history of the Ancient Rus studies.

The contemporary world has transgressed the line which divides the old world of the Modern (the world of rational secular civilization) from the archaized world which denies valued of humanism and development. Destinies of the Modern depend on politicians who due to various reasons are not ready to counteroffensive of the Modern and incapable to advocate its values. The Modern has many enemies. First of all, it has strategic enemies, i.e. the post-Modern and the counter-Modern. They share the negative attitude towards progress and possibilities of development. For instance, Radical Islam easily finds allies precisely on the basis of fight against the Modern. At the same time any attempt to justify the Modern civilization system by religious motives causes its inner degeneration and accelerates its fall. The negative nature of the post-Modern corresponds to the general trend which is aimed at overcoming of national states' culture and proves that humankind have neither history not possibilities for development. In these conditions the Modern is being destroyed ruthlessly and steadily. Contemporary political leaders should to recognize the danger posed by the current situation and to act not in defense but in offense because for the Modern which embodies the movement forward any stagnation is tantamount to its final and ultimate defeat.

The author discusses the reform of higher education in the present day Russia and, in particular, transformation of educational system in accordance with Bologna Convention. The reform is considered against the historical background of higher education model changeovers that occurred from the Antiquity up to the present day. In the traditional educational system the value of knowledge was not utilitarian. Humanitarian disciplines occupied a high position in the traditional educational system. In the consumption society knowledge and education acquire extremely practical value while moral component of education is reduced to grafting of some simplest skills of socialization. Education needs changes but the ideology of total orientation to demands of market and cuts in expenditures determines current involuntary, often forced transformations and can bring about enormous losses.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the most dramatic event of the 1989−1990 crisis in the German Democratic Republic. The opening of the border crossing points of the Wall for unimpeded passage that happened late night on 9 November 1989 was later called a peaceful revolution. However, GDR continued to exist after that event. That period that ended on 3 October 1990 is much less known even in Germany, let alone the rest of the world. The end of GDR was the beginning of a new world, in which we live now, and a better understanding of the circumstances of its disappearance means a deeper comprehension of the mechanisms that govern our existence today. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the unification of Germany, it would make sense to recall how it was prepared. Nothing was as easy as it seemed from afar. The notes from the diary of the then Minister-Counsellor of the Embassy of the USSR in the GDR will help reconstruct the history of that period, along with the publications of the press of that time, which was quite sensitive to all the turns in the course of the solution of the national problem of the Germans.

The author matches two worlds, Russia and USA, against each other and analyzed the history of Russian-American relations which is characterized by recurrent changes of thaws and cooling-downs. In particular, the author deals with opinions of two prominent thinkers and experts in cultural studies of the past, Toсqueville and Keiserling, about possible paths of Russia and USA future development. The time has proved accuracy of these thinkers’ many judgments. The author pays a particular attention to the new monograph by V.L.Mal’kov “Russian and USA in the 20th century”. Mal’kov considers relations of two countries in close connection with problems of spirituality, of the world perception by Americans and Russians taken as cultural entities with their inherent similarities and dissimilarities. The author pays a great attention to cooperation of two countries during the initial phase of the Great Patriotic War and to role played by Franklin D.Roosevelt in development of this cooperation and, first of all, in establishing diplomatic relations between two countries and in creating anti-Hitler coalition with the USSR participation.

In the first part of the article the author deals with attitudes of population of Poland, Yugoslavia (Serbia), Czechia, Slovakia and Bulgaria towards the Red Army as it entered territories of these countries in 1944−1945. The author characterizes the USSR policy to these countries and analyzes the Nazi propaganda in the East European countries, demonstrates positions various political forces involved in the Resistance movement and struggle for national liberation at the terminal phase of the WW2 took in respect of the USSR. The article is based on Russian archive materials, published documents and the most recent literature.

This article on the essential teaching of great German mystic Meister Eckhart (c.1260−1328) is the result of many years of personal study. The article introduces to his anthropology and his scholastic theory of ecstasy and is divided into three chapters. The first chapter is an overview of heretical studies of man («Le Mirouer des simples ames» of M. Porete, anonymous «Schwester Katrei» etc.) from the 13−14 centuries which had an influence on Eckhart’s theology. The second and third chapters are a description of Eckhart’s study of ecstasy, that have in the author’s view a lot of common traits with the theological teaching of Byzantine theologian Gr.Palamas. The reseach is aimed to find a common approach to the comparison between German and Byzantine theology and mysticism of the late Middle Age.

From his entrance into public life before World War I through the years of Truman administration and up until his last days Felix Frankfurter, a prominent American lawyer and university professor with a profound concern to the whole sphere of human rights and social reform was always at the vital center of American politics. He reached a key position in American intellectual elite during the Great Depression in the 1930's and thanks to President Roosevelt’s promotion became an influential member of the US Supreme Court. He was known as a leading adviser to the New Deal administration. Moreover he was closely associated with «the Roosevelt’s family circle» and frequently took part in conversations with the president behind the closed doors of the White House. Frankfurter’s previously unpublished letter to a friend from April 24, 1945 describing the first reaction on Roosevelt’s death and analyzing the future of American politics gives a vivid reflection of the transitional time the American nation was to live though in the immediate postwar situation.

The interview is devoted to a wide range of the present day geopolitical problems that bear relation to domestic situation in Russia (accident at the Raspadskaya coal mine) as well as the sphere of Russia’s interaction with its nearest and «far away» neighbors. Situation in Kyrghyzia, interaction of Ukraine and Russia and issues of struggle against drug traffic and terrorism also become the subject of expert analysis. All these omens of our uneasy time are evidence of fragility and, sometimes, illusionary stability in the world might be. An indirect threat hides behind every event. And any explosion understood literally or as a metaphor may have unpredictable consequences. The correct political analysis serves as a reliable bearing for those who have to take balanced and efficient decisions in the contemporary circumstances.

At the end of XVIII century England had acquired the colonies Canada, Australia, New Zealand. At the end of XIX century the countries became the settler’s colonies, passed wonderful evolution, transformed in the agrarian-industrial dominions, laboratories of social and political experiments. At the end of XX century the countries continued their evolutionary way, kept and developed all achievements. Today they are the great food states, large producers of raw materials, energy resources, high technology goods. In the contemporary international system these middle states are not leaders, but on the cause of the high level of development they played important stabilizing role.

The crisis in the GDR had it own logic. After the opening of the Berlin Wall, the demand of the marchers to democratise the political life of the Republic were gradually replaced with the appeals to unite with FRG. The GDR population had an opportunity to see the living standards of West Germans, which were among the highest in the world, and they hoped that after joining the Deutsch Mark zone they would also be living like that. The issue of preserving the GDR independence was soon replaced with the terms of its surrender. Few were those who took the trouble to think of what would ultimately become of social safety nets, of an exemplary system of education, effective measures of support to families and mothers, and other achievements that GDR and its citizens were rightfully proud of.

The second part of the article deals with attitude of populations of Roumania, Hungary and Trans-Carpathian region to the Red Army which entered these territories in 1944−1945. The author uses materials from the Russian archives, published documents and literature and describes difficulties of the subject investigation and necessity of specific historic investigation of Russophilia and Russophobia phenomena as well as the present day countries' and regions' attitude to the fact of their liberation by the Red Army. The author adduces materials concerning condition of the Soviet servicemen’s graves in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Roumania and on ways the West celebrates May 8−9, the day of victory over the Nazi Germany.

Grand Duchess Сatherine (1788−1819), «Semigodness of Tver», the sister of Alexander I, played an outstanding role in the process of genesis of Russian conservatism as a political trend. She initiated a creation of Manifesto of Russian conservative thought — «The Memoir on Ancient and Modern Russia» by N.M.Karamzin. She proposed the leader of Russian conservative «Russian party» F.V.Rostopchin as a «dictator» of Moscow on the eve of the Patriotic war of 1812. Grand Duchess consequently fought against official liberalism of Alexander I. She was one of the personalities who managed to resign M.M.Speransky — the most important politician of official liberalism of that period.

Despite the frustration the Crimean War caused its contemporaries, it did not become a forgotten war. On the contrary it inspired the creation of some of the Russian people’s most important patriotic symbols. From feelings of euphoria and expectations for victory after the Russian forces' initial success, the patriotic sentiments of early days of the war developed into a sense of mournful pride at the beginning of the twentieth century. It became increasingly important to remember the military and physical defeat, but not the moral one. This article shows the influence of the heroic tradition of past wars, in particular, the campaign of 1812 against Napoleon I, on the evolution of the memory of the Crimean War. This tradition gave the memory of the Crimean War its peculiar form; it also softened the image of the traumatic past by minimalizing the tragic nature of the war and increasingly emphasizing the heroic deeds of Russian soldiers. This article discusses the images of characters «from the people» formed in the narrative and included in the original pantheon of the war’s heroes in Crimea. The images were supposed to emphasize the popular character of the war, with much space being devoted to heroism, sacrifice, and moral superiority over the enemy. These characters change into the symbols that form part of the Sevastopol myth.

Present work is the first publication of the report on «Red Cavalry» by I.E.Babel’ from the archive of K.E.Voroshilov. It establishes the fact that the report written by the writer A.I.Tarasov-Rodionov had to become a culmination point of the annihilating campaign aimed at Babel and A.K.Voronsky, the editor-in-chief of the magazine «Krasnaya Nov». The publication allows readers to understand better the backstage literary life of the 1920s, and at the same time to follow the changes in the Bolshevick party policy towards the «poputchiki» in literature.

M.P.Golikova, a daughter of a peasant from Astrakhan region who had a large offspring, was a nurse in the N.V.Sklifosovski's Institute. From 1934 she was the permanent instrument nurse and the secretary of the famous surgeon the Academician S.S.Yudin. At dawn of December 23, 1948, Golikova was apprehended as a person involved in Yudin’s case (Yudin was denounced as the British spy). Golikova was forced to provide fictitious testimony against the Academician and 10 months later she was sentenced to 8 year imprisonment in the USSR Ministry of Interior Special regime camp. In spring of 1952, upon her denial of some evidence given earlier her sentence was reduced to 5 years and in May of 1953 she was released due to the amnesty. 4 years later all accusations against her were abrogated and she was exonerated. Yudin himself was exonerated in August, 1953. 10 months later he died of a heart disease. Having lost the most close to her heart man Golikova dedicated the rest of her life to preservation of Yudin’s archive and to publication of his works. For the first time in the history of Soviet medical science an editor-compiler of the Academician’s works was not a prominent professor but an unknown medical nurse.

The author deals with theoretical and practical aspects of the conceptual analytics and with its heuristic potential. The conceptual analytics is based not only on adequate description of a phenomenon but also on examination of geopolitical reality from the conceptual system of co-ordinates standpoint. The conceptual analytics is not fascinated with pseudo-theories and it is not inclined to primitive quasi-conceptualization. The conceptual analytics is quite compatible with sober positivism and has to supplement this positivism and not to oppose it. That said it is important to distinguish adequate notions as instruments of correct analysis from notions loaded with ideology. Within frameworks of genuine conceptualization not only models established by F. Fukuyama and S. Huntington but destinies of the Modern projects are discussed. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries this project’s destiny has turned out to be open to question. However the very future of humankind and preservation of such urge sing as the ‘life instinct' depend on ability to realize the alternative of Super Modern. For ultimately the point at issue is in what world we will live further.

Apart from internal causes of the aggravation of the GDR crisis, there were also external ones. The FRG spared no effort to accelerate the unification by absorbing the weaker East German republic. The options of creating a new state for all Germans (this necessitated the adoption of a new constitution and a new name) or of having an all-German referendum, which could underline the democratic nature of the unification process, were rejected. Those who believed in the convergence of the two German states as equals looked to the USSR, an ally of the GDR. But the Soviet Union shifted to the support of the FRG position. And forgot its own security interest. It is only ten years later that the new FRG and the new Russia managed to establish equal relations of co-operation and understanding that are vital for the prosperity of the whole of Europe.

In June 1961 at the first meeting of N.S.Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy in Vienna there were real possibilities to start with a nuclear test ban agreement in order to begin the lessening of international tension and solving the Berlin crises. But instead of the concrete discussions of these urgent problems the leaders of the two superpowers were involved in general talks with no attempts to solve them. The result of the Vienna summit was the decision in the Kremlin to brake the moratorium, to start nuclear tests, making the most powerful explosion at Novaya Zemlya proving ground. The author who was the witness of these events writing in detail and making a systematic and holistic analysis why and how it had happened.

In article one of the challenges in the history of philosophy and divinity — a problem of occurrence and evil existence is investigated. On a considerable quantity example Slavic medieval texts it is shown, how the problem of occurrence of evil in the world dared. The great attention is given Palee Sensible and a legend about falling of Satanail thanks to which representations of our Ancient Russian ancestors about the evil nature were formed. In conformity with tradition Ancient Russian scribes interpreted evil as «non-existence» which did not enter into a plan of the Creator about the world. On concrete texts it is shown that angrily it is not involved in an order of things that it not independent ontologic essence, and result of distortion of life and the spiritual conditions of people connected with it. Malicious and the sin which has come with it in monuments of Ancient Russian writing are considered as «illness» of free will which owing to a human nature is inclined to accept its phantom for good. Are reconstructed based on bible postulates dogma installations according to which evil is considered as a reality only in consequences strong-willed actions of the created subjects which contrary to a divine plan and give existence to evil in the world.

Urban writers in prerevolutionary Russia, even those writing in mass-circulation newspapers, sounded a persistent alarm about the moral and spiritual condition of the self in the «conditions of modernity». They described the present as an age of sickness and decline. This decadent history was embodied in quite concrete forms (such as worries about modern sexual life or the «epidemic» of suicides) and in quite abstract feelings and thoughts. In particular, at the heart of talk about the fate of the person in the modern life of the city, notably in St. Petersburg, was a pessimistic view of time itself: an anxiety that the modern myth of time as «progress», the promise of continual change for the better, was falling into ruin. At issue was not simply Russian «backwardness» but also the intensifying experience of urban modernity. Given the harshness of the Russian experience, Russian urban observers were especially aware of the dark and destructive sides of modernity.

The author investigates the situation in the Russian historical science after Stalin’s death. The critical attitude toward the historical science was most vividly demonstrated at the supreme level conference held at the Presidium of the USSR Academy of science on March 20, 1953. The main topic expounded in speech of A.L.Sidorov, the deputy Director of the Institute of history was recognition of genius of Stalin’s work and the total failure of the historical science. The greatest blow was directed not against some particular person or even a group of persons. It was directed against Leningrad department of the Institute of history. Critics were going to liquidate Leningrad department due to its uselessness. The ideological machine could not stop immediately. However the disclosing hue was changing with the course of time. The official circles settled down to a course of the historical science gradual de-Stalinization. An example of this trend was preparation of materials for the summarizing article of A.M.Pankratova, one of the principal ideologists of the time. Many ideological exigencies were gradually smoothed over at the various stages of this preparation.

The publication is devoted to estimates of Soviet strategic interests produced by the British intelligence toward the end of WWII. These documents from Britain’s National Archives are primarily interesting because of their fairly objective and comprehensive analysis of Soviet postwar security requirements and a rather accurate forecast of future Soviet policy in pursuit of those interests. The Soviet sphere of influence as outlined in these estimates is quite close to and sometimes even exceeds the actual geopolitical requests made by Stalin by the end of WWII. This implicit recognition of legitimacy of the Soviet geopolitical desiderata contradicts the conventional thesis that the Soviet Union after the war went far beyond its legitimate security interests and thus provoked the Cold War with the West.

The article is dedicated to the energy policy and diplomacy of Azerbaijan Republic. It deals with the main elements of the national oil and gas diplomacy of the country. Implementation of Heydar Aliyev’s energy strategy, also the guaranteed transportation of the country’s energy resources to world markets, by means of reaching laid the firm basis of Azerbaijan’s development

The old problem of responsibility in politics is discussed in the interview. May politics be cynical? Does the morality have a place in politics? It is impossible to give answers to these questions out of bounds of conceptual and situational context which is preset by geostrategic planning. Finally politics pursued by actors involved in political process does not depend on personal desires of these actors. History and politics exist in dialectical relation of what ought to be and of what the given moment requires. That said it is necessary to keep in mind category «meaning» along with categories «morality» and «cynicism» etc. A responsible politics (as well as history) has to have meaning.

The article is devoted to the crucial problem of modern international relations like NATO-enlargement to the East in the last 10 years. Firstly, the short pre-history of the NATO-transformation that brought to the non-stop enlargement is given, then the enlargement process is characterized both in military and political aspects. It is being explored from inside not only as geographical, but also as institutional enlargement and enlargement of missions. The article is focused on the changing role of NATO, which is reflected in the military actions of the alliance outside its juristic borders without taking the UN Security Council’s resolutions into consideration.

The round-table is dedicated to analysis of «The social thought of the Russians emigration» encyclopedia published 2009. This work is the first attempt to track development of the social thought in chronological limits of all waves of emigration from the mid-19th to the end of the 20th century.

The article introduces the life and creative work of Kirik Novgorodets (1110 — no earlier than 1156/58), the outstanding Russian scientist and thinker of the 12th century. The author demonstrates that Kirik’s creative work represented a glaring and multifaceted phenomenon. The author analyzes facets of Kirik’s talents in mathematics, calendar, theology, philosophy and investigates the scientific and philosophical content of «Study of numbers» and theological and ethical aspects of «Raising the questions». Kirik as the author of these works is considered in the article not just as an outstanding scientist but as a major religious philosopher, a representative of the theological rationalism tradition in Ancient Rus thought as well. The author of article comes to the conclusion that the scientist and thinker from the Great Novgorod belonged to a group of Russians who attained the European level of education. Kirik by far surpassed his times.

For the last thirty years, enterprises in Capitalist countries have been fostering among their staff a sense of engagement and participation in the life of the company. Self improvement techniques are being actively promoted: once intended only for managers, nowadays they are compulsory for all workers. The article shows how the Soviet Union pioneered this move. From the outset, the Bolsheviks set great store by work on the self, which was obligatory for those running both enterprises, and the country itself. Political and industrial achievement depends not only on the amount of physical and mental effort put in, but also on the energy spent on self improvement, which is necessary in any institution. The bureaucracies of the twentieth century were not that impersonal after all, human subjectivity playing a direct part in their creation and functioning. The paper examines subjectivity in a historical context: the different uses of the word «I», the choice of one particular «I» due to one’s activity, the reflexive «I», and the Communist ‘party «I», which tries to subjugate all other «I»s, whether or not Communism is in power.

The published text is the first public appearance of the prominent Russia Social Democrat, one of the Mensheviks' leaders Yuli Osipovich Martov. This text is the foreword written by Martov for the Russian translation of the «Collectivism» speech delivered by J. Guesde, the French Socialist. The illegal publication of this speech undertaken by Martov’s circle inaugurated transition of the circle members from ideologically undefined Radicalism to Marxism. Then when Martov was 20 years old he enunciated political principles he considered to be of highest priority. Martov remained to be loyal to these principles to the grave: the total rejection of the «conspiracy tactics» in struggle for power and the unconditional, independent value of struggle for democracy.