Russian compatriots from the Baltic countries will hold two major events in the Moscow House in Riga, on August 27-28, reported their organizers to BNS.

On Saturday from 15.30 to 18.30, a round-table discussion on “Legal Status of Russians in the Baltic States” will be held, and on Sunday a regional conference of Russian compatriots in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, “The rights of minorities - a necessary condition for democracy and integration society in the Baltic States” will take place.
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For the adherents of liberal democracy, the news from Russia over the past few years have not been not rosy.

Twenty years ago they said that Russia put the interests of political reforms before economic reform themselves, but China, in contrast, began with reforms.
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Abkhazia is an example of a democratic state, said a famous political scientist and broadcaster Maxim Shevchenko, who was present on the presidential elections in Abkhazia as an observer of the Public Chamber of Russia.

“I can say that I was deeply impressed.
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Rest, trips, fun…While at work people think about, wait, make plans for and finally get holiday. It goes without saying that people are unlike subsequently people also possess a great variety of likes.

Some are incapable of imagining a holiday not having azure sea shore, sand, beautiful views, warm climate combined with sun tan. Other like camping and various mountain journeys, involving reaching the mountain tops, making fire as well as sleeping on the nature. Some of us enjoy visiting new cities and towns, passing through the local souvenir shops, seeing local people’s traditions, taking photos of traditional sights that belong to different ages.
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For many centuries the people had worked and created, fought and made peace, they had built and destroyed.

But all their works and undertakings have always been subjected to the control and criticism from the government.

Since the formation of society, there was the power of the individual or the community over individuals.
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George W. Bush and his Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in elections to the Congress - by
Eugene Bay (Washington), Helen Shesternina

At the elections in the U.S. Congress, that in fact became rehearsal of presidential election-2008, George W. Bush ’s Republican Party suffered a crushing defeat. Democrats for the first time in last 12 years, returned to regain control of the House of Representatives, won in the most of states, where held governors’ elections, and have every chance to ensure a majority in the Senate.
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On Monday in Moscow with official visit will arrive U.S. Secretary of the State Condoleezza Rice and the head of the U.S. Department of Defense Robert Gates. It is planed to meet with Vladimir Putin.

I do not think that here were taken some breakthrough fateful decision - in effect that the current U.S. president and will spend less than a year on his post. In such situation the president of America is called ‘lame duck’, and also his personal popularity rating is low. In these circumstances, a maximum of what can be expected from this meeting is that the parties agree not to take any steps that could further harm US-Russian relations. I do not see any issues on which the parties could on the basis of this meeting conclude convergence or agreement.
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Analysis of the dynamics of the main political orientations of massive groups of Russian society and the state of contemporary Russian elites suggests the two most probable scenarios of the evolution of the political regime that exist in contemporary Russia.
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The problem of efficiency and dynamism of democratic institutions is very relevant for many countries, including Russia. As we know from the history, democracy has often degenerated into different types of autocracies with previous form, but not on the content of political institutions, which gradually lost its democratic nature and acquired a totally different character. Considering the fact that during the democratic process in 1970 – 1990 a lot of countries in the democratic institutions fostered on the top of existed form, not relying on a strong agreement (pact), the main political forces, the probability that in a crisis situation, these institutions may be ineffective.
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The development of democracy in a global dimension, as well as processes related to transit in a democratic country is closely intertwined with other global and civilizational processes, particularly with the processes of globalization and information society development. In doing so, as the experience of recent years, globalization and informatization is not always conducive to the development of democratic institutions and processes of democratic consolidation, especially in countries with incomplete modernization and the unfinished democratic transit, which in terms of world-systems approach to include the periphery and demiperiphery.
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