We conducted quite a long monitoring of the abuse of administrative resources during the 2007-2008 election campaigns. The last elections ended in March, but since we were working with quite large amounts of information, everything had to be analyzed, so it took us three months. It is absolutely impossible to imagine that the anti-corruption measures announced by the President will be successful if serious attention is not paid to the problems of political corruption.

Almost two-thirds, namely 62% of Russian citizens who took part in the July Levada Center survey, stated the need for the existence of a political opposition in the country. The opposite opinion was expressed by 21%, and 17% of respondents said that they did not have a definite opinion on this matter. Let us recall that according to official data, 70.28% of Russian citizens voted for Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s successor, in March.

Hugo Chavez's visit did not go without harm for some of the senior Russians. Anti-American psychosis turned out to be contagious. This became apparent when an unnamed domestic diplomat told news agency reporters what he thought about Republican presidential candidate John McCain's recent tough talk about Russia. Let me remind you that he said several things that were unpleasant for Moscow.

I ended the previous article on the fact that we need to agree on determining corruption. The impatient reader will say: “What to discuss there!? And so everything is clear! Corruption - it is corruption. You better tell us: who to shoot at and from what weapons. ” So: I will not only talk about the definition, but I will stretch this “chatter” for a couple of articles. Here we must understand that there are definitions and definitions.

The Transparency International Russia Center presented a report on political corruption. Experts conducted media monitoring and direct observation in the regions from May 2007 to March 2008, noting cases of abuse of administrative resources and other violations during parliamentary and presidential elections. The record holders for political corruption, as you might guess, are United Russia and Dmitry Medvedev.

All the signs of the coming thaw - Medvedev is very unhappy, and immediately to many, in the Russian state. Unhappy with corruption, dissatisfied with the situation with personnel to fill out senior posts, is dissatisfied with education. Promises to take measures and restore order. Of course, I really want to wish him good luck, which I am doing, but I can’t somehow specify this wish and understand how it can be subject to objectively. In no case.

The March 2009 delivery dates for Russia's S-300 long-range air defense system to Iran could trigger a preemptive Israeli strike on Iran—or the establishment of a nuclear balance of fear in the region, what was called "mutually assured destruction" during the Cold War, or MAD for short. — mutually assured destruction. But MAD is also “crazy” in English.