Two military men were assaulted by migrant workers at a local market in the Moscow region. The attackers mutilated their victims with a chain saw when the servicemen told one of the general laborers that his was selling low quality goods Pravda.Ru reports.

This gory violence occurred in the village of Palayevo, the Moscow region. The police are now looking for the assaulters. According to the details of the investigation, around 4PM two officers of the Russian military forces off duty came to a trade showroom. A stranger came up to them and suggested they buy a chain saw from him. Maksim N, lieutenant colonel, age 33, and his colleague, major Dmitry M, age 36, refused. Then the laborer offered them to buy a cell phone from him.

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Images of world's leading politicians were used in printing a series of advertising posters, which appeared in the streets of Amsterdam on the threshold of the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands Pravda.Ru reports.

Posters and postcards depict US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wearing a swimsuit and an orange wig and saying: "Up for a party?" French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears hugging his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi. The two politicians have orange boas around their necks: "Let's go party!" the slogan on the poster says.

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American observatory says Russian spacecraft outstripped Apollo 11 in Moon race in 1969 - A previously unheard recording of a Russian spacecraft attempting to beat NASA's Apollo 11 in 1969's race to the moon has been released. The recordings from Jodrell's Lovell radio telescope, which were hidden in archives until researchers found them, show the Russian craft orbited the Moon and crash-landed onto its surface at 15:50 on July 21 just a few hours before the Americans MosNews reports.

In July 1969, the telescopes at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, in Cheshire, were tracking the Americans' Eagle Lander carrying astronauts towards the moon's surface.

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The agenda for Barack Obama's visit to Moscow next month hasn't even been decided yet, but speculation is already sweeping the capital about where to spot the US president and Michelle Obama. The Tretyakov Gallery, the New Economic School, and even oppositionist newspaper Novaya Gazeta look to be likely bets Moscow News reports.

Of course, "most of it will be inside the Kremlin," said a source in the US embassy. "But the itinerary will be known at the last minute." From the Russian side, a source in the presidential administration said that no agenda has been set for the meeting between Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, though there has been much talk about the issues at hand, like drafting a new START Treaty to replace the only comprehensive document controlling nuclear weapons between the two countries before the old one expires in December.

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4 more medals for Russia in the Vancouver Winter Olympics: one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze, bringing the tally to 13 and moving Russia up to fourth place ahead of Canada and just two medals shy of Norway.

On Monday, after the Bronze medal won in the Women's Team Sprint Free by Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva, it was the turn of Nikolai Morilov and Aleksei Petukhov to win another third place in the Men's Team Sprint in Cross-Country Skiing, an event won by Norway's Petter Northug and Oeystein Pettersen. Germany's Tim Tscharnke and Axel Teichmann won the Silver.

Shortly afterwards, another Bronze for Russia in the Figure Skating Ice Dance - Free Dance, Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin finishing behind Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Gold) and the USA's Meryl Davis and Charlie White (Silver).

On Tuesday, a Silver and then Gold. Ivan Skobrev won the Silver medal (to add to his Bronze, see below) in the Men's 10,000 metre Speed Skating event, behind the Republic of Korea's Seung-Hoon Lee and ahead of the Netherlands' Bob de Jong and the Ladies' Biathlon 4x6 km relay produced Russia's third Gold. The heroines of the day were Anna Bogaliy-Titovets; Olga Medvedsteva; Olga Zaitseva (adding to her Silver) and Svetlana Sleptsova.

Russia's medals

Russia has 13 medals to date, three Golds, four Silvers and six Bronzes.

Gold medallists: Men's Biathlon 15 km mass start Evgeny Ustyugov; Men's Cross-Country Skiing Individual Sprint Classic Nikita Kriukov; Ladies' Biathlon 4x6 km relay Anna Bogaliy-Titovets; Olga Medvedsteva; Olga Zaitseva and Svetlana Sleptsova.

Silver medallists:  Women's Biathlon 12.5 km mass start Olga Zaitseva; Men's Figure Skating Evgeni Plushenko; Men's Cross-Country Skiing Aleksandr Panzhinskiy; Men's 10,000 metre Speed Skating Ivan Skobrev.

Bronze Medallists: Men's Two-Man Bobsleigh Aleksandr Zubkov and Aleksei Voevoda; Men's Skeleton Aleksandr Tretyakov; Men's 5000 m speed skating Ivan Skobrev; Women's Team Sprint Free Irina Khazova and Natalia Korosteleva; Men's Team Sprint in Cross-Country Skiing Nikolai Morilov and Aleksei Petukhov; Figure Skating Ice Dance - Free Dance Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru

The Ekranoplan flies within surface effect which means it cruises on an air cushion just above the surface of the water at about 10-30 feet. Although capable of high speed, they can not fly as conventional aircraft do, hence the abbreviated wings.

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The building of the museum was created by the architect A.Melnikov in 1838. In November 1930 the museum was founded by the order of the Soviet Government as a Department of the Arctic Research Institute called the Arctic Museum, based on exhibits and material of"Polar Exhibitions"which were held in Leningrad, Moscow, Arkhangelsk during 1923. The doors were opened for visitors in January 1937 Russia.rin.ru reports.

During the Second World War the museum was closed and evacuated to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. In March of 1950 the doors of the museum were opened again for visitors. Since 1958, after the commencement of Antarctic exploration and research by the Russians , the new Department of Antarctica was amalgamated with that of the Arctic to become"The Arctic and Antarctic Museum".

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The US Emperor, in his trip to Russia, has continued a not so fine tradition of the US, reaching into a foreign nation's internal politics and trying to jiggle the levers. Unfortunately for the US, Russia is not Iraq or Serbia and this is not Yeltsin's era. The US has actively, in just the past 18 post cold war years, intervened in the internal politics, with crass actions of: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Albania, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and at least half a dozen other nations I can not think of at the moment. Even now, the crass hand of the bankrupt, corrupt and inept Empire stretches down into peaceful Hondurans to force a despot and puppet upon them too Pravda.Ru reports.

Obama's relationship with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin, has been rocky at best. Obama first made an arse of himself with crass comments that Medvedev was selected by Putin, never mind a fair election where turn out was triple the typical American Imperial farce and where the vast majority, with international observers present, voted for Medvedev.

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Cooperation of Russia and the EU on incident prevention in Georgian-South Ossetian border reinforces stability in the region, stated the Foreign Ministry of Russia after the phone talk of Grigori Karasin, the deputy Foreign Minister, and Pierre Morel, the special representative of the EU Georgia Times reports.

The sides discussed the situation in the area of Georgian-South Ossetian border, the work of the EUMM in Georgia and the joint mechanism on incident prevention. The mentioned the constructive mood of all the joint mechanism participants, clearly revealed at the meethign on August 14 2009, what "proves effectiveness and use of that instrument of trust for stability in the region".

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Natalia Ishchenko gave Russia another gold in synchronized swimming Thursday with what she called a perfect performance. Performing to Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," Ishchenko added to the gold she won in solo technical with a score of 98.833 points, receiving one perfect 10 for technical merit and a straight line of 9.9s for artistic impression Courant.com reports.

The silver medalist thought she was even better. Rekindling the debate over judging in a sport where the results often seemed determined in advance, Spain's Gemma Mengual was clearly upset that her performance in the final of solo free came up a half-point shy of Ishchenko's winning total. "I hope one day the judges understand that people expect fair and accurate judgments from them," said Mengual, who sobbed on the medal stand as she received her silver.

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Largest swan: length 54 m, equipped mass 267 tons, maximum takeoff weight - 275 tons. Wingspan with minimum sweepback (20 degrees) - 57,7 m, intermediate (35 degrees) - 50,7 m, maximum (65 degrees) - 35,6 m Read more

Karl Marx gave us a perspective on history focusing on class struggle. It was called 'historical materialism'. Here is offered another thesis that is based on the principle of 'differentiation'. In the cosmos all things differentiate over time, they become more diverse, more individual, more particular over time. This is a long-term process in the world too, call it 'historical differentiation' Pravda.Ru reports.

Two peoples are at war today in a very interesting and symbolic conflict - Afghanistan and America, a very tribal culture vs. the most advanced culture on the planet, one culture near the beginning, one very far away. This raises some interesting questions about history.

In this view, class struggle is incorporated as one type of 'differentiation' though it is modified here. The general notion addresses not only classes but all forms of inequality - gender, race and more. The thesis also appends the class issue with problems in the formation of individuality. It addresses the rise of social institutions, the rise of complexity in society, and the war of institutions. It addresses the consequent war of minds within the brain. It addresses the appearance of false ideologies and delusions like consumerism and more.

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Those who live under glass roofs should not cast the first stone

August 12th is the anniversary of the end of the war in South Ossetia. The question that interests Russia in connection with this anniversary is the USA's activities to supply military hardware to Georgia. The question arises as the present condition of the Georgian army slightly differs from that before the war Pravda.Ru reports.

As estimated by Russian experts, Georgia has the 28,500-strong army. The National Gendarmerie has 6,500 people, and the Border Surveillance Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - 5,500 and 100,000 reservists. It seems obvious at first sight, that the USA helps Georgia, for its Iroquois helicopters are of the US production. In addition, the Pentagon declared an intention to provide military assistance to Georgia in the sum of $16 million.

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The unemployment rate continues to decrease in 47 Russia's regions, an official at the the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development told Itar-Tass on Monday. The total number of officially registered jobless people in the country decreased by 0.1 percent in the period from August 13 to 19 and stood at 2,132,713 as of August 20, the ministry's official said, adding that the indicator went down by 0.4 percent over the week from August 6 to August 12 ITAR-TASS reports.

"In the period under review, the decline of the officially registered unemployment rate was registered in 47 Russian regions, including the Chukchi Autonomous Area, the Leningradregion, the Republic of Altai, and the Stavropol territory," the official said.

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Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has urged compatriots living abroad to contribute to the modernization of Russia. Speaking at the 3rd World Congress of Compatriots in Moscow he said that the country needs new ideas and proposals which considered the experience of other countries RUVR reports.

The President stressed that the government will support the wish of compatriots to go back to Russia. He said that by now 17,000 emigrants have already returned to the country. Medvedev said that the government will continue to provide assistance to the young compatriots who wanted to study in Russia. He added that this year the admission quote in Russian universities for them had been increased to 10,000 places.

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In total, the current cooperation program between India and Russia entails about 200 special projects, which are expected to be singed during the India-Russia Summit scheduled for December Russia Today reports.

Ever since Nikita Khrushchev advised India to "shout across the Himalayas if you ever need us," military cooperation between India and Russia has rarely taken a pause. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting today with his Indian counterpart Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna in Moscow for the latest round of talks aimed at beefing up military cooperation between the two nations.

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The achievements of the three Baltic countries with respect to EU and NATO membership make the pro-Western governments of Ukraine and Georgia regard them as role models, both in politics and economics Pravda.Ru reports.

It came to the pointwhen the former Estonian Prime Minister Mark Laar serves as an economic adviser to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. In many ways Victor Yushchenko's and Mikhail Saakashvili's desire to follow the Baltic states is caused by the fact that these states are the strongest in Europe supporters of both internal and external policy of the Ukrainian and Georgian governments.

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US President Barack Obama is coming to Moscow on July 6-8. The world expects that Obama and Medvedev will achieve significant progress in signing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. However, Russia will also raise the question of the new Missile Defense Treaty Pravda.Ru reports.

Dmitry Medvedev said on June 20 that Russia was ready to cut its strategic offensive arms several times. However, it will happen only if the United States takes efforts to relieve Russia of its concerns about the deployment of the US missile defense system near Russian borders in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

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About 300 kilometers (190 miles) separate the Taman Peninsula steppe in the north and the resort city of Sochi in the south on Russia's Black Sea coast. From May to October, the country's resort life is concentrated on this relatively short coastline. Dozens of coastal towns and villages, hundreds of hotels and health resort centres, welcome millions of vacationers from all over Russia, and foreign tourists from different countries to the Black Sea coast. It is situated at the same latitude as the Adriatic Sea, the Italian and the French Rivieras and, therefore, resembles them in many respects JustRussia reports.

Why is the Black Sea called "black"? There is no definite answer. The ancient Greeks and Romans called it Pontus Euxinus, the "hospitable sea," whereas the Turks, on the contrary, nicknamed it Karaden-Giz, "inhospitable." It is also assumed that the sea got its name because of the color of the silt left on the beaches after storms, or due to the fact that metal items turn black when they are deep underwater.

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Why doesn't NATO take Russia's approaches on a new security pact seriously? Because the Freedom, Democracy, Stability and Prosperity labels attached to the Organization are no more than outer packaging which hides the reality within: NATO is no more and no less than an instrument which serves the interests of the arms lobby.

Russia's approaches for a bilateral security treaty, which would inevitably pass by a serious and long-standing binding bilateral agreement on friendship and non-aggression, will not be accepted by NATO for one reason alone: NATO is not about collective security any more and has not been since the Warsaw Pact was disbanded on July 1, 1991.

Last month, Andres Fogh Rasmussen, the non-elected Danish Secretary-General of the non-elected NATO (which nevertheless still dictates the foreign policy of its member states), declared "There can be no doubt whatsoever that NATO will remain our framework for Euro-Atlantic security". In a nutshell, there is no space for collective agreements with Russia because NATO continues to focus its attention on the Western Europe-Atlantic space common to the Cold War.

It is old hat. NATO has not moved on. It is an anachronism. NATO provides jobs for the boys. NATO serves the interests of the arms lobby which gravitates around the Pentagon and which has its tentacles deep within US foreign policy. NATO is a stone around the neck of the taxpayers not only of the United States of America but also of its member states. Who, after all, funds its operations? Just in Afghanistan and Iraq, the operations of NATO countries have cost almost one trillion dollars (one thousand billion, or 1,000,000,000,000). How many hospitals and schools could be bought with that?

Where NATO could move forward, reinventing itself and including Russia would be by respecting its pledges over the years not to expand (yet NATO's word means nothing), by fighting international terrorism, by fighting piracy and by fighting international crime, including trafficking of drugs, human beings and weapons, side by side with Russia or any other nation wishing to modernise its objectives and fight what exists, instead of inventing ghosts to justify the self-perpetuation of the anachronism.

Yet while NATO likes to mention these areas, it maintains its Euro-Atlantic stance, freezing Russia out, not paying attention to Russia's concerns and all the time aiming for an expansion into central and Eastern Europe, where there are plenty of customers for weaponry. And why should NATO reinvent itself when all it is today is the instrument to implement the policies of the arms lobby?

NATO's strategy is clear in its breach of a pledge given to Russia in 1998 not to station "substantial combat forces" on territory formerly belonging to the Warsaw Pact. Why then did it expand? Who can give one single military reason for the expansion onto territory the Organization promised not to enter?

And what is NATO doing in Afghanistan? Today, Afghanistan produces twice as much heroin as the entire world produced in the year 2000 before the military invasion, by NATO, against the Taliban. Given that the cultivation of the opium poppy funds the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, what exactly is NATO doing? In recent years, instead of diminishing, the heroin production on Afghanistan has grown not two-fold. Not three-fold, not ten-fold, not even by twenty times. Today, the heroin production from Afghanistan is 40 times higher than it was in 2000.

In 2009, heroin produced in Afghanistan killed over 90.000 people around the world. Everybody knows that NATO pays the Taliban not to attack, so is the priority to allow them to produce heroin so that they can afford to pay, to keep NATO's losses down?

In which case, what is NATO?

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

PRAVDA.Ru