A year ago, I called the outgoing year "The last year of Putin's stability." I was mistaken. Stability is over. Even official inflation exceeded the planned level of one and a half times, the influx of private capital, having reached unprecedented intensity, was replaced by the maximum over the years of Putin’s reign, the business lost its usual opportunity to cover the losses from external loans, and the liquidity of the banking system has more than doubled - to an unprecedentedly low level.

Leonid Radzikhovsky's article takes the form of a “personal letter” to M.M. Kasyanov. Like Leonid Aleksandrovich, I also know Mikhail Mikhailovich. But, of course, he is not familiar under the name B. Souvarine. Therefore, I cannot write him a personal letter. But I think it is necessary to discuss the topic. My position is directly opposite to the point of view of the respected L.R. The democratic opposition has no right to commit suicide under any pretext.

The Moscow City Election Commission has instructed territorial commissions to open the packages of ballots and extract the lists of voters who took part in the parliamentary elections in the capital, Vedomosti writes. In the near future, local election commissions will conduct similar operations throughout the country - the corresponding recommendation was given by the Central Election Commission at a meeting on December 20.

The death of Benazir Bhutto on the eve of possible success in the parliamentary elections in Pakistan is a severe blow to the positions of her own Pakistan People's Party, President Pervez Musharraf, and the United States. The most common version – that Bhutto’s murder was the work of Islamic radicals – also seems to be the most likely. The method of murder—suicide bomber—and the ancient principle of “who benefits” speaks in its favor.

Time magazine named President Putin its Person of the Year for bringing order to Russia at the cost of freedom. Actually, Time magazine did not discover America. It is this kind of advertising of Putin’s Russia – “order and greatness, albeit at the expense of freedom” – that is the main theme of the PR campaign launched by Western PR structures officially hired by the Kremlin to strengthen Russia’s image abroad. From a distance it really convinces.