December 1 - 22, 2008 (Leo Ponomareva comment) On January 13, a report by Freedom House, which put Russia for observing human rights, was released on January 13, an assessment of “6” on a semi -abal scale (penultimate place), and in terms of political freedoms - “5”, at the level of totalitarian states.

The United Russia party promised to start bringing people to the streets in support of the government's anti-crisis actions. United Russia was ahead. On January 25, a parody “March of Concorders” took place in St. Petersburg, alas, in small numbers (about 40 people came), in which representatives of some anti-fascist and anarchist organizations took part, as well as the “Era” group, which is involved in the protection of historical buildings in St. Petersburg.

I don’t know whether it was true, but I read that this effect-the effect of personification-was once used by ecologists who fighted with poaching polar bears. They gave the bears names and, having strewn the poor fellow ampoules, brought these names on white sides with indelible paint. And it turned out: for a poacher, it easily lets the skin and fat into the consumption of an anonymous carrier, for some reason the hand does not rise to “Jim”, “Mary” or “Michael”.

So, according to the results of the Council of Bishops held yesterday, the candidates for the patriarchal throne were Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who received 97 votes, Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk - he had 32 votes, and Exarch of Belarus, Metropolitan Philaret of Minsk and Slutsk - he was supported by 16 bishops. Just a little behind him was Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, who gathered 13 supporters.

Three guys from the Faculty of Applied Political Science were detained. Two were taken immediately at the exit from the Mayakovskaya metro station, and the third was detained as soon as he approached the cordon. They detained them calmly, without insults, without the use of physical force, they were simply asked to pass, and they, without offering resistance, followed the law enforcement officers.

The Daily Journal received a copy of the letter to the rector of the State University - Higher School of Economics (SU-HSE) Yaroslav Kuzminov from the Main Department of Internal Affairs for the city of Moscow.

Last time we talked about new duties on imported foreign cars as a punitive measure to support the Russian automobile industry. Now about incentive measures, of which there are also many and which are distinguished by their bizarre diversity and unheard-of generosity. As already mentioned, the list of three hundred systemically important enterprises also included five automakers: AvtoVAZ, GAZ, ZIL, KAMAZ and Severstal-Auto (as the company with the mysterious name Sollers is usually called).