Yakov Krotov A person, even a modern one, still retains the habit of thinking totemically, looking for parallels to highly cultural phenomena in the biological world.

Sergei Strokan (Photo: AP ) How long can a great country be a pariah, and its leader an international villain! Won Kim Jong Il managed to lure the Russian president and even impress him as a modern man - look, the head of North Korea will completely get rid of the image of a paranoid dictator. Why is Iraq worse? This is probably what the disgraced Baghdad ruler Saddam Hussein reasoned when he sent his other self, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, on a working visit to Moscow.

Leonid Velekhov The Cuban province is poor, almost impoverished, colorful and charming Cuba is a dark Madonna, Lorca called her. A series of essays by Leonid Velekhov is about this country, about its people who never lose heart, about its cities, many of which are real masterpieces. For continuation, see the beginning in “Results” No. 27 , No. 29 Santiago de Cuba is the “second capital” of the country, the most Caribbean, as they say, of its cities.

Alexander Panov Gallery "Nashchokin's House". Moscow The exhibition of Vladimir and Georgy Stenberg (as on the poster, but more commonly - the Stenbergs) in the Nashchokin House gallery runs in the interval between exhibitions of the art of Russian romanticism and ceremonial portraiture, for which the gallery walls are covered with noble “empire” wallpaper.

Ilya Kukin The match between Kasparov and Kramnik will not give the world a new, “official” champion, but it will reveal the strongest chess player on the planet After the match with Kramnik, Kasparov may be able to attract the grandmaster community under his banner and finally organize a harmonious cycle of candidate selection.

Kira Remneva The delivery market in Russia has not yet formed. But someday he will certainly be Today you can order almost everything to your home. True, this does not come cheap. (Photo: Max Novikov ) Imagine: you are comfortably seated in your favorite chair, leafing through a thick catalog and choosing whatever your heart desires - food, washing powders, household items, animal food and much more. You pick up the phone, place an order, and within an hour or two it’s all at your home.

Irina Andreeva, Natalia Kalinichenko The government is fighting inflation again Inflation, almost forgotten by citizens, made itself known in July - food products, public transport, and utilities are gradually becoming more expensive. (Photo: Max Novikov ) Over the years of reforms, a stamp has become firmly rooted in the minds of the population that inflation is necessarily linked to the dollar exchange rate.

Yuri Gladilshchikov The Itogi film reviewer decided to attend the festival like an ordinary viewer who pays hard-earned money and buys tickets at the box office The audience at the Moscow International Film Festival cannot be called a privileged caste. (Photo: Max Novikov ) I started keeping this diary (excerpts are published) a few days before the start of the um-ka-ef.

Leonid Samotsvetov (Photo: ) Vladimir Putin, who has recently been very active in attending premieres, tours, anniversaries and even makes laconic, but sincere and modest speeches that touch everyone, has finally decided not to waste time on trifles and meet with the whole culture at once. To do this, on July 26, he convened the Cultural Council with himself, the president. In the Kremlin, 40 artists met at a round table in the Catherine Hall.

“The Upper House...digested these laws more consciously and provided food for the executive branch.” Egor Stroev ( Vyacheslav Shishkov ) “It’s simplistic to perceive that if Russia can pay, it should pay.” Mikhail Kasyanov “For whom is the temple being built? The temple is being built for God and for believers. We will leave, all people are mortal, it will stand.

Vladimir Mau Before our eyes, a new contract with potential investors is being formed ( Valery Vasiliev ) There is hardly any doubt that the main practical task of economic policy at present is to attract investment in the real sector. Without investment, economic growth will be unstable and short-term, and we will constantly debate how many months (not years) it will last.

Sergey Ivanov Although wallpaper has been produced photographically since the 70s, the word “wallpaper” itself refers to printing a design onto fabric. (Photo: Pavel Gorshkov ) In 1900, dying in a musty room in a French hotel, Oscar Wilde said, staring longingly at the wall: “Either this wallpaper disappears - or I!” Of course he disappeared. Wallpaper is an absolutely integral part of a modern home, and only recently has a fashion for bare walls begun to appear.

Alexander Nechaev Old Moscow will soon no longer exist Moscow recently adopted a new city law on the protection of monuments, according to which their reconstruction is now prohibited (only restoration is possible). There is also a provision on the preservation of the historical and urban environment. It is likely that the city law will remain in effect until the federal law on the protection of cultural heritage is adopted.

Nikolay Pavlovich A detailed description of the “charms of the whip,” perhaps, will make even the most ardent adherent of the “strong hand” doubt the “necessity of autocracy.” Evgeny Anisimov. Rack and whip. Political investigation and Russian society in the 18th century. M.: New Literary Review, 1999 “The stake was inserted into the anus and the body, under its own weight, was impaled on it...

Yuri Gladilshchikov Many of the new domestic films were shown in various programs of the Moscow festival This time, due to the brevity of the reviews, we decided to do without traditional “keywords”, and since only domestic films are reviewed, then without ratings. Why pit filmmakers against each other? "The garden was full of the moon" Director Vitaly Melnikov Actors: Zinaida Sharko, Nikolai Volkov, Lev Durov About what .