Cold-war mentalities "We don't have the ability or even will to use coercive power to change Russia's behaviour," says a senior administration official. Instead Mr Obama will be talking about America's national interests, in the hope that some of them may overlap with Russia's. The irony is that while Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev have pledged "to move beyond cold-war mentalities and chart a fresh start", the central (and safest) topic of talks is nuclear-arms control, just as it was in the 1980s.

By Andrei Piontkovsky Germany's ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is a legend in Russia. He serves Gazprom's interests for a measly couple of million euros a year, sits in at sessions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and writes books about his staunch friendship with "Genosse Wladimir," who, in the not-so-distant past, earned himself the well-deserved nickname of "Stasi" among business circles in gangster-ridden St. Petersburg. "...Like Schroeder, all these people are not economically disinterested. Baker is a consultant for the two companies at the commanding heights of the Russian economy, Gazprom and Rosneft. The Kissinger Associates lobbying group, whose Russian section is headed by Graham, feeds in to the Kissinger-Primakov working group, a quasi-private-sector effort, blessed by Putin, to deepen ties between Russia and the United States.

Paul Goble In a lead article published yesterday, the editors of "Gazeta" argue that "Russia is entering the stage of the final loss of influence in the post-Soviet space" because it has failed to take the interests of the other countries into account or offer them "attractive" economic and political projects (www.gazeta.ru/comments/2009/06/15_e_3210751.shtml).

UNOMIG, RIP: The curtain finally falls on a side-show By: Vladimir Socor On June 16 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saw himself compelled to order the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) to cease operations immediately, after 16 years of existence (Secretary-General's office press release, June 16). That same day (late on July 15 New York time) in the U.N. Security Council, Russia had just vetoed a Western-initiated resolution to renew UNOMIG's mandate.

British Minister for Europe Glenys Kinnock considers that Ukraine is the most democratic country in the Commonwealth of Independent States, she told the Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine) newspaper on June 18.

Vladimir Ryzhkov Vladimir Ryzhkov writes that the Russian government has to open its archives if it truly is interested in fighting falsification of history. The only way to fight a real battle against the falsification of history -- something that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made a priority after creating a special commission to handle this issue -- is to keep government archives as open as possible for historians.

by Vladimir Socor Lukashenka has clashed with Moscow over economic issues during most of his tenure as president. This time, however, he reinforces his arguments in that debate by refusing to cooperate with a Kremlin-cherished project on international security. Moreover, the familiar clashes over economic issues are now unfolding in an entirely new context: that of Lukashenka's efforts to institute a balanced foreign policy for Belarus between Russia and the West.

As the economic crisis continues to impact Russia, economist Yegor Gaidar argues that Russia must democratize to avoid serious social clashes. Gaidar, the director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition, describes two options authorities may take to curb protest: wide-scale repression, or democratization. The former could lead to unrest and even revolution. Yet whether Russian authorities are willing or capable of doing the latter remains open to heated debate.

I have written a semi-biographical book called "Galicia" based on my parents and my own experiences and documents left to me by my father Dr. Ivan Mamtschak. The book is set in a historical perspective starting at the very origins of Ukraine, of World War I and II. It describes our living conditions under the Soviet and Nazi occupation with pertinent documents, maps and photographs to substantiate the story. The book traces the steps of our escape from L'viv the very western part of Ukraine called Galicia to Austria where we lived for five years as Displaced Persons. It traces our escape route through the German concentration camp in Strasshof, our escape into Slovakia and thence into Austria. The book describes our living conditions in Austria as Displaced Persons and our desperate attempts in trying to find a country that would accept us as refugees.

DAUPHIN, MB - Canada's National Ukrainian Festival (CNUF) is announcing the signing of internationally-acclaimed vocalist Ruslana to perform on Sunday night of the 2009 edition of the festival, taking place July 31- August 2. Ruslana has won many awards worldwide including Peoples Artist of Ukraine in 2004 and a World Music Award as the Best Selling Ukrainian Artist at an awards event in Las Vegas, USA that same year.

For the first time in the history of Ukrainian classical music, the art song scores of Ukrainian composer Kyrylo Stetsenko are now available on the World Wide Web and accessible to the public free of charge. The publication of these music scores launches the second branch of the Ukrainian Art Song Project (UASP) -- making the printed music available via its website, www.uasp.ca, to singers, voice instructors, choirs and music lovers around the world.

KYIV, June 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Ukraine's National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting has registered the Association of Russian Television Channels (ORT) as an entity engaged in information activities. ORT will represent the interests of Channel One and related digital television channels. ORT "is the first foreign channel that is officially registering in Ukraine. This is why the National Council wants to comply with the necessary procedures most thoroughly," Council First Deputy Chairman Andrei Miroshnichenko said earlier.