Conflict through the eyes of a human rights activist, reporter and synologist The uprising in Tibet, which began on March 10, continues. China pulls up troops to the rebellious region. Journalists in Lhasu and the surrounding areas do not allow. Official China finally admitted that firearms were used in Tibet: 13 people were killed. According to human rights activists, killed - more than a hundred.

Cemetery of hopes or factory of dreams? President-elect Dmitry Medvedev follows the path of an older comrade and creates a research center - the Institute of Contemporary Development (ISR), which should become a factory for future reforms.

Vitaly Smirnov, the oldest member of the IOC from Russia, believes that the Tibetan events will not affect the venue of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The boycott of the Olympics for political reasons last time was relevant for a very long time.

The luxury of travel. The most convenient and romantic mode of transport, captured in literature, cinema and children's memory, is a bicycle. The nature of the passion for this poetic occupation was studied by The New Times “Bicycles stood against the wall, sheltered from the rain by the overhang of the roof. With their back wheels they touched the handle of the broken bench. The man's bicycle leaned against the wall, the woman's with awkward intimacy leaned against it.

The goal of any administrative reform is to reduce the cost of bureaucratic services for citizens and businesses. "Better government at less cost" is the quintessence of every such program. Such changes are carried out, as a rule, for two reasons: before the elections or after the economic crisis, which is often the cause of the collapse. Russia followed the first scenario, and New Zealand the second. But Russia has everything ahead ... The reform was to achieve the following results.

Putin's time managed to wean us from Yeltsin's neglect. Who is in the forest, who is for firewood, and who is for berries. Now we know for sure that if a Svoboda journalist (Andrey Babitsky) hurries to Beslan to make a report, he will be imprisoned for 5 days for a fight at the airport. From Moscow to the very outskirts, and even to the London suburbs, your dose of polonium or criminal charges will not escape you.

Vladimir Putin seems to have solved his main problem: how to maintain control over the security forces without redistributing powers between the president and the prime minister. Exactly for these purposes, they say, a megastructure is being created - the Federal Investigation Service, which will be directly subordinate to the government.

The unbearable difficulty of being. Aleksey German's film based on the Strugatsky brothers' novel It's Hard to Be a God is not yet ready: the soundtrack is ahead, which will take more than a month or two. However, the first viewers were able to see the first montage of the picture, which has been in the making for ten years. Among the few witnesses to the trial was a columnist for The New Times Some will inevitably call this film the best creation of Herman, others - the worst.

"Gordeev" knot. According to the results of March, prices will rise in about the same way as in February. The main source of inflation is the increase in food prices, which is very painful in the contents of the wallet of each family. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture Alexei Gordeev offers inadequate answers to the calls of food inflation Dmitry Dokuchaev "Businessweek Russia" - for The New Times In February, food prices rose ahead of the pace - 1.7%.

Two kings. In anticipation of the transfer of power from the hands of President Putin to the hands of President Medvedev, under which the old president will become the new prime minister, everyone is just racking their brains: how is this thing going to work? They recall an old, pre-revolutionary anecdote: An officer asks a soldier: “Tell me, brother, what is a double-headed eagle?” The soldier, stretched out at attention, reports: - A freak, your honor!

So far, the Internet in Cuba is being demonstrated at exhibitions. But soon the citizens of Liberty Island will be able to use computers There is almost a revolution in Cuba. Comandante Fidel's brother and new head of the country, Raul Castro, announced the lifting of the ban on the possession and use of computers for individuals. Not only that: the Cuban government paid the American company Videoprofessor 5 million online lessons on the study of computer technology.

Spartak coach Milos Riha — The New Times Economical Sir Riha. Of the twenty clubs in the Russian Hockey Super League, fifteen changed head coaches during the course of the season.

About the financial crisis Robert Schiller, one of the world's economic gurus, arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the New Economic School. His lecture on the “new financial order” in the context of the escalation of the global crisis turned out to be more than relevant: a few days later, under the chairmanship of Dmitry Medvedev, the same topic was discussed at the new Institute of Contemporary Development with the participation of prominent economists.

Communism - by 1980, capitalism - by 2020 The current generation of post-Soviet people will live under capitalism! The concept of Russia's development until 2020 should turn from a working document for government economists into a binding document. All this is strongly reminiscent of Soviet times, when the state lived according to plan - the CPSU Program of 1961 promised the construction of communism in 1980. Now, instead of communism in 2020, we will have capitalism with a human face.

Fire points. Sensation! On March 21, the Dzerzhinsky Court of St. Petersburg brought back to life the European University, whose fate seemed to be sealed: its license was revoked due to "violations of fire safety." Academic sources for The New Times said the decision to close the Western-funded university was made at the very top. The scandal flared up, letters of protest were sent to Moscow and St. Petersburg from the universities of the world.