Moscow lost the first Chechen war politically but won the Second – again at a horrible price. Very few people believed in this “victory.” Almost everyone in the world predicted Russia’s defeat, and very many people wanted it.

There was nothing in the Concept that worried me. On the contrary, many things pleased me. The only thing that can raise questions is the hint at the need for negotiations on reductions in tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, which I think would do only harm.

Russia has joined the coalition of countries that have been trying to exert the last attempts to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear or “threshold” status (the ability to produce nuclear arms). It looks like the international community has already lost this proliferation round.

Several developments and events of recent time make me raise, before myself and readers, the issue of one of the main roots of our problems – our inability to overcome the legacy of the horrible-for-Russia 20th century.

Over the past twenty years, Russia and Europe have had two chances for rapprochement. And both were largely missed. The first window of opportunity opened after the Russian revolution of 1991 and lasted until about the mid-1990s.