Polls show that Russian society has no fear of NATO, but has until now no particular liking for it either. NATO’s military infrastructure approaching closer to Russian borders did not create a good mood for the Russians. For elites and people of Russia national sovereignty and independence in the decision-making process is an indisputable value in itself. Any foreign muscle-flexing in the immediate proximity to national frontiers awakes the complex historic memory and arouses the resistance and self-defense instinct... Besides, Russian membership in NATO could hardly be the right goal at the time when the Alliance itself is at a crossroads and some of its member-states are frightening each other with the “Russian Bear” now and then. NATO obviously needs to establish a new political-strategic consensus  read more...

Russia is the country with the world`s third largest group of drug addicts (after Afghanistan and Iran). Whereas a decade ago Russia officially counted 369,000 drug addicts, by 2009 the figure topped 500,000. The reality is even more frightening than the healthcare statistics reflects — tentatively, 2 — 2.5 mln Russians are drug addicts, the people thrown out of normal life. It is a significant dimension of the problem that some 20% of the drug addicts in Russia are schoolchildren, roughly 60% are aged between 16 and 30, and 20% are people over 30. Russia`s drug control agency estimates that narcotics kill around 100,000 people across the world every year. The loss of life in Russia, the country whose population makes just 2% of the world`s total, accounts for roughly a third of the toll. The plan for joint struggle against the drug threat addressed at the forum to the Western coalition occupying Afghanistan included seven points  read more...

The Collective Security Treaty Organizations is teaming up with the International Migration Organization and the Red Cross for sending more aid to southern Kyrgyzstan and the refugees who crossed from this area into Uzbekistan. It also pledges further assistance to the armed services of Kyrgyzstan. CSTO head Nikolai Bordiuzha discussed these and other matters with the Kyrgyz national security supremo Alik Orozov and Interior Minister Ruslan Kazakbayev at a meeting with them in Moscow on Wednesday. They also looked into ways to defuse the situation after seven days of clashes between members of the ethnic Kyrgyz and the ethnic Uzbek communities in southern Kyrgyzstan. All three agreed that the rioting was the result of deliberate incitement  read more...