The formation of two groups in the Russian political elite, which differ mainly by their attitude to the financial and economic crisis, is, from our point of view, the main political event of March-April 2009. Over the past ten years, the Russian establishment has been split so sharply only once - in connection with the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the case of Yukos. Otherwise, the political elite was extremely - and even too - unanimous.

Today, America is trying to rally a wide international coalition on the Iranian issue, to create a united front of the great powers that would harshly tell Iran that they are categorically against its nuclear program . The same coalition of the great powers should offer Iran serious bonuses, including leading positions in the new security system in the Middle East, if Iran refuses the enrichment of uranium. Accordingly, while America needs Russia.

The Russian public was hungry for discussions. Moreover, according to those that would be not just expert skirmishes, but reflected the real conflict of power interests . In the second term of the Putin rule, when the process of consolidation of power took place, serious discussions somehow calmed down. Separate “loyalists” were discussed with separate “disagreed”, and inside both one and another camp the almost no impaired unity reigned.

From the editorial office. Today, December 16, at 54 years of life, economist Yegor Gaidar died suddenly. It is he who is considered one of the main ideologists of market reforms and privatization in Russia.

When the fall of markets, the devaluation of the ruble and bankruptcy of enterprises did not end, but suspended, it is time to think about the future. It is curious that some lull in the deployment of the crisis became the reason for the discussion between the unexpectedly manifested two groups inside the government and the state apparatus as a whole - between those who believe that the danger has passed, and those who believe that the danger is still ahead.

Exactly thirty years ago, I left Japanese land for the last time. Standing on the gloss of the Tokyo Airport’s slabs and looking absentmindedly at the impassive crowd around, it is not known for whom dressing up Japanese fashionistas and curiosity of local design, I involuntarily wondered that every Russian who visited Japan: what will happen if the Japanese and Russians, these ice and flame, will come together together?

From the editorial office of RG. In the latter, May, the issue of the influential American edition of The Atlantic published an article by Simon Johnson, a once prominent functionary from the World Monetary Fund (IMF). The text gives a rather strict analysis of not only the US economy, but also the IMF itself, which the author of the text "Quiet Revolution" knows well from the inside.

So it happened. One of the poorest CIS countries in the context of the World Economic Crisis survived the attempt of the state "coup". Several hundreds of victims, a crushed building of parliament, abbreviated budgets of universities (after all, for some money it is necessary to restore the destroyed), closed boundaries with Romania. That's all the results of the events on April 6-8, which have already received the name "Chisinau spring" and "dill revolution" in the Internet space.