At their latest conference in Kabul, international donors for Afghanistan chose the right option of not wasting time trying to root out corruption in the country, as this seems to be a no-win situation, and to focus instead on restoring stability in the war-torn nation. Toward this end, they endorsed President Hamid Karzai's plan to have Afghan forces take responsibility for security across the country in 2014.
// Jul. 22, 2010 - 08:58 GMT
The notion of the existence or lack of a Russian soul has been a feature of the past 500 years of Russian history. The Russian soul in foreign policy stems from the time of Tsar Ivan III, who declared Russia, after the fall of Constantinople, the true inheritor of the Byzantine Empire, or the Third Rome.
// Jul. 19, 2010 - 08:17 GMT
The concept of the elusive Russian soul emerged in France and elsewhere in Europe in the late 19th century, after local readers discovered what became known as the Russian psychological novel.
// Jul. 16, 2010 - 08:20 GMT
The character of the Russian revolutionary is recognizable and universally known, since some of the best-known figures of Russian history were, at least at some stage of their lives, revolutionaries. Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were professional revolutionaries who chose the career of professional insurgents early in their lives.
// Jul. 15, 2010 - 09:08 GMT
France's draft law banning the wearing of full veils in public easily passed the National Assembly Tuesday by a vote of 335 to 1.
// Jul. 15, 2010 - 08:24 GMT
If one was to set about the rather barmy task of pinpointing the geographical origins of the Russian soulsome kind of locus point emitting Russianness and uniting its peoplethen a good place to start might well be the heart of Siberia, at the bottom of the worlds largest freshwater lake. </p>
// Jul. 11, 2010 - 08:55 GMT
Forty-seven year old Alexei Varlamov is one of the most prominent modern Russian writers. He debuted with short stories in the late 1980s and gained fame in 1995 with his semi-autobiographical novel Lokh (roughly translated into English as Dupe), to be followed by Rozhdenie (Birth), which won him the prestigious Anti-Booker award. </p>
// Jul. 10, 2010 - 06:38 GMT
On a weekday afternoon in mid-June it took one hour of standing in a quiet line at the Convent of the Protection of Our Lady in east-central Moscow to reach the Russian capitals most popular shrinethe relics of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. On weekends and holidays the line may take several hours to get through. </p>
// Jul. 09, 2010 - 08:48 GMT
Russian scientists have stunned the world for years. Last March Grigori Perelman, Russias ascetic math maverick, cracked a puzzle that had baffled mathematicians for a centuryand then mystified the worlds laymen when he spurned the $ 1 million prize. But behind Russias reputation for scientific genius, the specter of pseudoscience looms large. </p>
// Jul. 08, 2010 - 08:08 GMT