Adverse forces are colliding in the field of the current Russian reality meaning. The elite cannot be considered as the united and single force. A segment of elite has saddled up the power of protest that in any moment may turn into the power of the country’s self-destruction and bring about the loss of identity, to disaster of ‘the big nation' and loss of independence, economic, energetic as well as, in the final resort, political independence. This assertion applies to meanings carried by different vectors. To put it exactly, it applies to acquisition of the single summarizing, general meaning that is not found as yet. Nowadays it is precisely the lack pf this meaning affects the foreign and domestic policy and is exemplified in shortsighted decisions on WTO and provokes activation of the counter-elite in the current political space of Russia.

Edvard Beneš (1884−1948) was the second President of Czech Republic, politician, diplomat and scientist. In 1942 Beneš published book «Democracy Today and Tomorrow» which was translated into many languages already during the World War 2. In this book Beneš characterized democratic regimes that existed un Western Europe in the period between two world wars, disclosed their shortcomings, fundamental causes of their weakness and retreat in the face of totalitarian regimes (Fascism, Nazism) what ultimately brought about the World War 2. Beneš set forth hisunderstanding of directions and ways of the liberal democracy restructuring (improvement) and its conversion into the «modern», «humane» democracy. Beneš deals with party building and political «leadership» issues as well as issues of the new human person’s upbringing, bureaucracy, corruption, attitude toward religion etc. Many ideas of Beneš and his recommendations seem to be topical for the current phase of the Russian society’s development. The article is a summary of the book by Beneš.

This paper pursues a study devoted to «memory», its representations and cultural function in inter- and past-war periods. At that time the phenomenological program enjoyed wide popularity among a new generation of intellectuals started the «linguistic turn». One important consequence of this intellectual movement was the powerful criticism of the linguistic nature of memory. In the center of criticism were the linguistic mechanisms that deform the representations of current events, pack the «reality» in cultural accepted patterns and clichés, bended to social pressure. The intellectual tradition returned to lost since antiquity discussion of social nature of «memory» and social function of reminiscences. There was one main idea: social experience kept in a language transforms individual experience, alienates and appropriates individual impressions, disciplines and subdues to general social rules, sets to see imagined objects lacking in reality and to be oblivious of the present. This representation of «memory» became very popular. The criticism of social conformity became entangled in culture with antiwar protest and resistance movement. A new generation of intellectuals set the task to disclose memory-occupier and to show utopian «new world» — world in which memory would lose its social function.

This article deals with comparative analysis of dynastic policy of Austria, Prussia and Russia in XVIII century. Author attempts to answer the question which role does it play in political, economic and cultural life of Central, East and North Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. In this article effectiveness of dynastic strategies for achievement of foreign-policy goals of European countries is studied, typology of dynastic matrimony is given, and so on.

The medieval Devil is not only the father of lies but also the father of illusions and expert in transformations assuming multiple masks (from insects and wild beasts to humans and angels) lengthy described in the Byzantine and Old Russian hagiography. The article explores the role of the illusionist transformations in the Old Russian demonological imagery and compares their functions in Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic contexts. It focuses also on the methods the medieval artists used for visualizing the illusions described in the lives of saints and explores the inevitable gap between the textual and visual narrative strategies.

The article deals with a little-known episode of Soviet-American relations in the end of World War II. It analyses a diplomatic struggle over adherence to Yalta agreements on Far East with an emphasis on Kurile islands. Using new documents from American military and diplomatic archives the author traces the origins of President Truman’s request for basing rights on Kuriles expressed in his August 18 message to Stalin. It is demonstrated that far from being an isolated improvisation it was a culmination of a long process of U.S. attempts to penetrate strategically important Kuriles.

The article is devoted to events that occurred immediately upon death of Stalin. The apparatus of suppression functioned in non-stop regime for a while and the will was required to stop it. But was it the will indeed? Perhaps, it would be more precise to speak of the paralysis of will as a symptom that was also generated by working machine of suppression. New documents found in archives illuminate this puzzle of the Stalinist repression mechanism’s halt.

The article deals with the problem of juvenile justice. Pro-Western human rights activists are trying to introduce in Russia for along time. Ideology of juvenile justice comes into acute conflict with Russian traditional values and approaches to protection of families and children. Recently advocates of juvenile justice try to conceal their intentions under slogans of children’s rights protection from cruel treatment. The authors vividly demonstrate what is hidden behind this signage and make offer to the public to rally for protection of downtrodden children’s rights. Such protection means not a propaganda of permissiveness and license but, on the contrary, protection of a child’s right to life and upbringing in his/her own family, protection of psychic, mental health of children and parents who will be very strongly injured by forced separation if a child is taken away from a family.

The upsurge of political activism that occurred in December of 2011 after the election to the Russian State Duma and continued in the subsequent months up to June of 2012 is an enigmatic phenomenon in many respects. Causes of discontent as aired by the opposition leaders had been present for a very long time prior to the upsurge and roused no massive dissatisfaction. There is every reason to suspect that the genuine if hidden cause of mass demonstrations, meetings and riots is the authorities' desire to defuse a frightening potential of mass discontent well in advance of decisive imminent confrontation related with consequence of Russia’s joining WTO. In fact, the authorities tried to burnout the mass discontent potential and found support of opposition in this undertaking.