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The Cold War is history now, as is the bipolar world order. Mankind has entered a new century, encountering basically new challenges and threats. Nevertheless, the nuclear factor showed enviable continuity and amazing tenacity. Having entered the second decade of the 21st century, we do not see prospects of a nuclear-free world in the forseeable future. Sadly, the numerous plans for a general and complete nuclear disarmament -- from the U.S. Baruch Plan to Gorbachev's Soviet era programs -- remained largely on paper, while the number of "nuclear club" members continues to grow. The spreading of nuclear weapons in the world has never been stopped despite the efforts by the world's key policy players. Adapted from the source document.

When the Russia-EU in Moscow on May 10, 2005 endorsed the road maps for the Four Common Spaces, this gave rise to many hopes and expectations -- politicians, experts, and journalists spoke about a breakthrough in relations between Russia and a united Europe and tended to assert that the sides had finally overcome their fundamental differences, surmounted bureaucratic obstacles and now stood ready to ascend to a qualitatively new level of cooperation on a wide range of issues. Optimistic scenarios were built as to how the abolition of the visa regime would unfold, how the harmonization of legislation of the parties would proceed and what institutional forms the declared 'strategic partnership between the EU and Russia' could take. Today, the number of optimists in Moscow and Brussels has greatly diminished. This brings home to people once again that the general political declarations do not automatically translate into concrete agreements and the opportunities once missed do not recur for a long time to come. Here, Ivanov examines whether there can be a breakthrough in Russia and Europe relations. Adapted from the source document.

The crisis of 2008 once more highlighted the problems of Russia economic security, of judicious combination of domestic production and imports, of protecting the interests of Russian producers. At this point, import performs quite important functions in the domestic reproduction process. It brings into the local market competition, prevents monopolization, covers the demand for the missing goods, forms a modern model of consumption, etc. However, the import's excess significantly inhibits the process of import substitution. The lack of consistency in dealing with the import reduces its positive implications.

The script x-rays the phenomenon of the Customs Union between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus as a milestone in the process of the CIS economic reintegration. Under review are centripetal and centrifugal forces behind this reintegration, the structure, instruments and goals of the Union to be upgraded into a Single Economic Space of the founding states, as well as international implications concerned, including relations with the EU and WTO.