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00:00 25.07.2011 • Politics
V. Orlov
Middle East's WMD-Free Zone: No Time to Waste
For a period of time, the turbulence unraveling across the Middle East and North Africa seemed to overshadow the array of the region's fundamental security challenges. In a stark example, the public attention drifted away from the preparations for the conference on setting up a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, which is due to convene next year. Moreover, some acceptance was gained by the view that under the current conditions the very initiative stands no chance.
Keywords: 2010 Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, 2010 Conference resulting document, WMD in the Middle East, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Chemical Weapons Convention, Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, spent nuclear fuel
A. Vasil'ev
Russia and Africa in Global Rivalry Over Resources
Russia's risky overreliance on energy export being an open secret, it is natural for Moscow to be concerned about a potential rivalry with Africa in the sphere. The problem can be addressed via international cooperation, particularly with African countries sitting on vast mineral riches, including the types of resources which are in short supply in Russia
Keywords: Africa's mineral riches, Africa's oil and gas reserves, African mineral reserves, China as the new international heavyweight
V. Lukov
The Global Importance of BRICS
The April 14, 2011 Sanya (Hainan Island, China) BRICS summit was a milestone in the rise of the alliance which began with the April 15, 2010 Brazil summit. Over the time, the BRICS countries established themselves as a dynamic collective player in the global economy with individual growth indices putting individual BRICS members ahead of the industrialized countries.
Keywords: BRICS, BRICS 3rd summit, BRICs summit declaration
Yu. Zinin
War in Libya: Current State and Potential Scenarios
A key issue highlighted by the Libyan crisis is the possible role of radical Islam in the region's future. Tenured Libya watchers see no reasons to brush off M. Gadhafi's warnings concerning the Al Qaeda threat posed to the country. From the outset, one of Al Qaeda's leading figures, commander and ideologist Abu Yahya al-Libi who is widely seen as a contender for the group's top post called his brethren to rebel against Gadhafi and to fight for the displacement of his regime. How likely is it that radical Islamist groups unleashed by the rebellion would eventually get the freedom to operate beyond the confines of the embattled country?
Keywords: civil war in Libya, international coalition, psychological operations, UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973, tribal strife
V. Gulevich
Poland's EU Presidency and the Future of Eastern Partnership
Poland's taking the rotating EU presidency in the second half of 2011 should enable Warsaw to start putting into practice ambitious designs in economy and international politics. It is easily predictable that Poland's priorities will lie in the sphere of the EU relations with its eastern neighbors in the Eastern Partnership framework.
Keywords: Eastern Partnership, Poland, Russia, Transnistria, Moldova
Tzia Tzingo
China's Getting Drawn into International Affairs
In the current settings, preserving peace and maintaining development remain China's top priorities. Beijing contributes enormous efforts to building friendly ties with the majority of the world's countries. China's own potential is growing as a parallel process, making it increasingly important to the international community. Normally, the result should be the forming of a positive international environment.
Keywords: China's foreign policy, China-US relations
PRO ET CONTRA
Wars of the Future. Roundtable
A seminar hosted by International Affairs and the Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of International Relations brought together scholars, politicians, and military officers who discussed the military concepts along with the potential settings, objectives, and instruments of armed conflicts of the future.
Keywords: future military concepts and wars, novel weapons, network wars, cyber-security, color revolutions
History Milestones
V. Zolotarev, E. Kul'kov
Generalplan Ost
The media abound with myths and groundless ideas about the outbreak of World War II, objectives behind the aggression, details of prewar preparations, etc. The analysis offered to the readership is meant to clarify some of the contentious issues.
Keywords: The Great Patriotic War, Generalplan Ost, racial theory, Lebensraum, the planning of Europe's postwar order
T. Gladkov
On the Eve of the War
Since the war, generations of Russians kept asking the same painful question: was the country prepared to repel the fascist aggression by June 22, 1941? If it was, what explains the unprecedented death toll suffered in the first months of the war? If it was not, what could be the cause of the problem?
Keywords: June 22, 1941, aggressive plans, Stalin, Hitler, foreign intelligence, People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Fall Weis
Yu. Rubtsov
Gen. Golikov's Mission
Why was the Soviet Union's deputy chief of staff and head of military intelligence Gen. Golikov staying abroad in the days of the crucial fight over Moscow? He was sent to Great Britain and later to the US by the USSR State Committee of Defense on July 5, 1941 as head of a military mission charged with building contacts with the allies. The mission's priorities revolved around the military supplies to the USSR and the opening of the Western front.
Keywords: Soviet military mission to Great Britain and the US in 1941, Gen. Golikov, the first months of the war, Western front and its role, Lend-Lease, trilateral conference in Moscow
A. Dyukov, V. Simendei
The Latvian SS Legion in the Light of the Nuremberg Trials
Latvia staked another round of claims concerning the innocence of its collaborationsts on the eve of March 16, 2011, the date Latvia's Waffen-SS veterans and their neo-Nazi admirers celebrate an anniversary. Posting Nuremberg Trials materials on its site, Latia's foreign ministry attempted to prove that the Latvian SS Legion is not covered by the Tribunal's definition of a criminal group whose members were officially enrolled in SS.
Keywords: Latvian SS Legion, Nuremberg Tribunal, Waffen-SS
Editor's Column
A. Oganesyan
Being Number 20 on the Line. Children's Recollections of the War
War As Seen by Children. Eyewitness Recollections, published by the Veche Publishers, is anything but easy reading. The book's narrative is not limited to children – rather, it represents the children's account of people enduring the nightmare of fascist occupation. It includes stories of mothers forced to watch their children being killed and children watching the deaths of their parents, interrogations and beatings, violence and looting, and the testimony about hundreds of people being burned alive in their wooden huts. The book leaves no chance to the attempts occasionally made by German authors to set the allegedly decent Wehrmacht soldiers apart from notorious organizations like Gestapo.
Keywords: children telling about the war, War As Seen by Children. Eyewitness Recollections, the occupation regime
Moscow Diplomatic Corps
Antonio Zanardi Landi, Italian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia
Italy and Russia: the Year of the Two Cultures
The decision about the year of the two cultures was made during Russian-Italian intergovernmental consultations in November, 2008. In a lucky coincidence, most of the year's planned events overlap with Italy's celebrations of the 150th anniversary of unification, the date being March 17.
The program of the year is remarkably extensive. It includes ten sections, a hundred of key events, and over a thousand of initiatives of smaller proportions. Among them are exhibitions, industrial design fairs, movie shows, musical and theater concerts, meetings with writers and poets, athletic competitions, etc. In September, Italy will be an honorary guest to the Moscow international book fair.
Keywords: the year of Russian and Italian cultures, Italian arts exhibitions, science program of the year of the two cultures, centuries of the Russian-Italian relations
In Russia's Ministry of Foreign Relations
A. Stepanov
Talking About Switzerland in Russia's Foreign Ministry
The Association of Russian Diplomats, the Center for the History of the Russian Diplomatic Service, and the Veteran's Council launched a presentation of The Bern Diaries of the Russian Ambassador, 1992-1999 by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, professor, and writer A.I. Stepanov. The book was discussed by First Deputy Foreign Minister A.I. Denisov, State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister G.B. Karasin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, history center chief Yu.M. Khilchevsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Chairman of the Veterans Council of Russia's Foreign Ministry V.N. Kazimirov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, chairman of the Russian Diplomats Association P.S. Akopov, Academician A.A. Gromyko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Professor Emeritus of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of International Relations R.A. Sergeev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary D.F. Safonov, and other Foreign Ministry officials as well as A.I. Stepanov's friends and colleagues.
Keywords: The Bern Diaries of the Russian Ambassador, 1992-1999, A.I. Stepanov, Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein
IN MEMORIUM
A Tribute to Z.M. Dymshitz
Services Office
Receptions House
Keywords: Receptions House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Fyodor Schechtel, Savva Morozov, Michael Vrubel, Michael Ryabushinsky, Konstantin Bogaevsky
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