The author considers topical transformations of the world civilization. Presently this civilization is moving away from the Modern project which experiences the phase of acute crisis to the new Dark Ages. However this epoch will not be inspired by the ascent of human mind. It will not contribute to creation of new type of spirituality. These Dark Ages will bring archaization, breakdown of states' territorial integrity and connections among human beings, social anomie. Only the Super-Modern (or the Fourth project) can fend off and defeat the Counter-Modern. The final part of the article is devoted to possibilities to implement the Fourth project and to preconditions and premises of the Super-Modern formation.

Antichrist is the key figure of the apocalyptical prophecies, the last and the main enemy of the Church. In the East and the West of Christian world the sinister «son of devil» drew attention of many authors and painters. Since the first centuries A.D. there have appeared different ideas about the nature and appearance of the Enemy. The iconography of Antichrist has embodied an array of variable interpretations. He was depicted as a seven-headed monster, dappled Beast, seductive young man, imperious ruler. His visual images include gestures of sorrow, triumph, fury, desperation or fear. In Russian icons, frescos and miniatures multiple figures of Antichrist appeared rather late, starting from the second half of the XVIth century. The second part of the article, which is published in this issue, is focused on the semiotics of these images. The author reviews European visual tradition of the Enemy and compares it to Russian iconography and «textual portraits» of Antichrist.

The paper highlights the problem of multi-variance of estimates of gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the basic indicator of the size of the economy, the level of development and country’s position in the geoeconomic structure of the modern world. GDP data (derived from purchasing power parities of national currencies) for European, Asian, African and American countries sometimes differ by tens of percent or even several times. In the paper is given the description of the International Comparison Program (ICP) that is the main source of the PPP data. Particular attention is paid to ICP 2005 results that caused serious controversy among experts in the field of international comparisons.

The article is devoted to description and estimates of the situation why and how N.S.Khrushchev had made the decision to begin nuclear disarmament starting wit the nuclear test ban. Simultaneously the author analyses the reaction of Washington on this Soviet decision. Mutual suspicions were very high at that time but nevertheless the first negotiations had started in Geneva where not only diplomats but famous nuclear scientists were participated. This was the first step to nuclear disarmament. The author who was the witness of these events writing in details and making a systematic and holistic analysis why and how it had happened.

From the ending of the Second World War in 1945 and his first close contacts with Democratic party leadership circles in the early 1950s through his years of participation in the Stevenson campaigns and Kennedy administration and up until his very last days in the beginning of 2000's the famous American historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. was always at the vital center of American politics and public life. For more than half a century the world known author of many fundamental books on American history and politics recorded his everyday experiences and reflections in journals that together form an intimate chronicle of life and events in the USA and outside world. The unique volume contains his candid impressions of events both in American domestic life and foreign affairs from the Berlin crisis and the Bay of Pigs to the fall of the Soviet Union and the contest of Bush vs. Gore during the election of 2000. The author of the article focuses on selected points of Schlesinger’s Journals which important for understanding the politics of the last decades.

The author deals with a wide rage of issues: development of «the march on East» plans by Hitler; secret preparations to aggression against the USSR; disinformation campaign carried on by the Nazi propaganda, Moscow’s attitude to information about the forthcoming German aggression; aspiration to procrastinate the war due to the USSR’s unwillingness to military collision; British and American statesmen’s reaction to Germany’s next aggression; mixed attitudes of the British and American public; E. Benes' perception of German aggression against the USSR and his hopes on the defeat of Germany and restoration of Czechoslovakia. The author also examines appraisal of June 22 by Colonel Pika, the head of Czechoslovakian military mission in Moscow, and his suggestions to start Soviet-Czechoslovakian cooperation in military and political spheres; moods of Czechoslovakian legionaries in Suzdal camp for military internees; impact of struggle on the Eastern front on the domestic situation in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; perception of the Soviet-German war beginning by the Slovakian ruling circles; Slovakia’s break of diplomatic relations with the USSR; dispatch of the Slovakian troops to the Soviet-German front. The article is based on the published documents, memoirs, archival materials, scientific literature.

The publication indicates the mood of the part of Russian emigration when Hitler attacked the USSR and the efforts of pro-German emigration leaders to put everything in order by clarifying the German position towards refugees from Russia. It is shown that the former Russian empire citizens, who had left their country after the establishment of the Soviet government, were going to «save Fatherland from the oppression of Communism» using the German help and to take part in the Russia’s «revival». Despite this, Foreign Russia did not find its place in the Hitler’s plans. «The Russian question» was considered by German ruling group only with a view to widening their own living space. Emigration activity was considered as disorganizing factor.