MOSCOW - United Russia won again — and not only as a party: It also has 105 more party members in the new Duma as winners in single-mandate districts. The Communists lost most of their single-mandate districts. The positions of United Russia were strong not only in its traditional regions, as its representatives won in red- and right-wing-oriented places as well. The Communists will have only 12 single-mandate districts (against 63 in the previous Duma), the Union of Right Forces managed to potato pearl keep two and Yabloko four. New bloc Motherland will have eight representatives, and 65 successful candidates were independents.

  The John Birch Society's "principle of reversal" is alive and well in this brand of Russian thinking. Finally, Move Four adds that Russians should do likewise and think only of their own interests. Russia should be strong like America. It should destabilize the Middle East to twisted pearl necklace raise the price of oil. And, of course, Russia should hit back at America with schemes for realizing Russian interests at America's expense. In fact, hitting back at America seems to be the main motive for this entire verbal construct. Russians get to praise America and satisfy their anti-American urges at the same time. They can get away with unlimited cynicism and avoid any accusations of anti-Americanism, as long as they put it under the guise of praise. It also serves as a cover for some pretty weird Realpolitik schemes for Russia – the sort of things that would be likely to blow up in Russia's face if ever attempted. Russia will not be able to pursue its world interests, including gaining American co-operation, if its elites are not able to understand America with a modicum of accuracy. If Russians retain a cartoon picture of America, one that excludes America from sincere co-operation about anything; if they are unwilling to notice shared interests and if they never try to persuade Americans to support Russian interests, the country only hurts itself. Attacking America is becoming almost a national sport, something people compete in doing, a way to show off one's patriotism and rise in the establishment. Russians cannot hear a word of what Americans say through the thick layers of stories they tell each other about America. There are many, many Russians in the foreign affairs elite who think in this self-defeating way. They form an entire sub-elite, one that seems almost dedicated to confounding the interests of its own country as long as it can hit away at America at the same time. There is, of course, also an American sub-elite just as willing to confound America's interests for the sake of hitting away at Russia – the same ones who brought us the Taliban. Fortunately, there are other Russians who know better – including, evidently, President Vladimir Putin. Last month he read an extraordinary lecture to Russia's entire class of ambassadors, telling them, in effect, to potato pearl cut out the anti-Western nonsense and start focusing on Russia's real interests. Among those real interests, he pegged close relations with the West as top priority – United States first and Europe next. His foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, added for good measure that threats to Russia come not from the West, but from the south. We will see what effect it has. It would be a good time for President George Bush to give a reciprocal lecture to some sections of the U.S. federal elite. Ira Straus has been Fulbright professor of political science at MGIMO, the Foreign Ministry-connected State Institute of International Relations in Moscow.

A curious kind of discourse keeps cropping up here in Moscow. It might be described as "praise of America, with an anti-American twist." Or as two-layered speech, "pro-American on the verbal level, anti-American in the subtext." I have come across it on a number of occasions – from professors, from students, among naive young people, among sophisticated elders from the elite. I have described elsewhere a particular incident of such speeches. Here I'd like to freshwater pearl earrings outline the logic of the speech, in four moves. In Move One, the speaker describes how patriotic the Americans are, how strong this makes America. This is praised as a role model for Russians. If only we could be without our self-flagellating intelligentsia! (It is not mentioned that America has a somewhat similar intelligentsia and a similar neo-conservative opposition.) Move Two indicates that this patriotism in America consists of looking out for America's interest – solely, ruthlessly and cynically, at the expense of everyone else. Move Three describes how America is pursuing its selfish interest. Whatever America does is in its own interest; while Russia is described as always screwing up, giving in to America and ignoring its own interests. Some American policy or other is used to explain a cynical scheme to akoya pearl necklace advance America's interest at the expense of other countries. Often a pretty weird explanation is given for American policies, one that Americans would dismiss as having no connection to the actual thought processes. Intervention in the war in Kosovo, for instance, is thought to be an attempt to destabilize Europe, undermine the euro and prop up the dollar. Never mind that this has no connection to actual American policy, or that the war has left Europe more stable and ended a long series of Yugoslav crises – which is what NATO intended. American generosity and efforts to help other countries are explained as a cover for selfish interests. American mistakes are also explained as clever schemes to realize American interests. When the consequences are the opposite of the ones attributed to America, it is simply added that the supposed scheme didn't work. No falsification of the hypothesis is possible; a priori, whatever America does is for selfish purposes at the expense of everyone else. The more generous an action appears, the more ruthless America's plotting. The John Birch Society's "principle of reversal" is alive and well in this brand of Russian thinking. Finally, Move Four adds that Russians should do likewise and think only of their own interests. Russia should be strong like America. It should destabilize the Middle East to twisted pearl necklace raise the price of oil. And, of course, Russia should hit back at America with schemes for realizing Russian interests at America's expense. In fact, hitting back at America seems to be the main motive for this entire verbal construct. Russians get to praise America and satisfy their anti-American urges at the same time. They can get away with unlimited cynicism and avoid any accusations of anti-Americanism, as long as they put it under the guise of praise. It also serves as a cover for some pretty weird Realpolitik schemes for Russia – the sort of things that would be likely to blow up in Russia's face if ever attempted. Russia will not be able to pursue its world interests, including gaining American co-operation, if its elites are not able to understand America with a modicum of accuracy. If Russians retain a cartoon picture of America, one that excludes America from sincere co-operation about anything; if they are unwilling to notice shared interests and if they never try to persuade Americans to support Russian interests, the country only hurts itself. Attacking America is becoming almost a national sport, something people compete in doing, a way to show off one's patriotism and rise in the establishment. Russians cannot hear a word of what Americans say through the thick layers of stories they tell each other about America. There are many, many Russians in the foreign affairs elite who think in this self-defeating way. They form an entire sub-elite, one that seems almost dedicated to confounding the interests of its own country as long as it can hit away at America at the same time. There is, of course, also an American sub-elite just as willing to confound America's interests for the sake of hitting away at Russia – the same ones who brought us the Taliban. Fortunately, there are other Russians who know better – including, evidently, President Vladimir Putin. Last month he read an extraordinary lecture to Russia's entire class of ambassadors, telling them, in effect, to potato pearl cut out the anti-Western nonsense and start focusing on Russia's real interests. Among those real interests, he pegged close relations with the West as top priority – United States first and Europe next. His foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, added for good measure that threats to Russia come not from the West, but from the south. We will see what effect it has. It would be a good time for President George Bush to give a reciprocal lecture to some sections of the U.S. federal elite. Ira Straus has been Fulbright professor of political science at MGIMO, the Foreign Ministry-connected State Institute of International Relations in Moscow.

Russian prosecutors canceled an arrest warrant filed against influential billionaire tycoon Boris Berezovskii last Wednesday after he promised to return to Russia and speak to investigators, Interfax reported. The general prosecutor's office issued the warrant for Berezovskii's arrest two weeks ago on the suspicion that he had laundered hundreds of millions of dollars from Aeroflot, in which he has a stake. The former member of the Kremlin inner circle was also charged with abuse of power and with taking part in other illegal business activities while in office at potato pearl a number of government posts. Russian Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin, a loyal deputy of President Boris Yeltsin, last week proclaimed that he would not arrest the controversial businessman if he returned from Paris, where he had been staying. Berezovskii promised to return to Moscow by last weekend. The Prosecutor General's office sent Berezovskii's arrest warrant to Interpol, the international police organization. Deputy Prosecutor General Mikhail Katyshev said Wednesday that he canceled the warrant because Berezovskii promised to return home and testify. He said prosecutors' moves in the future would depend on Berezovskii's "behavior." Berezovskii's lawyer, Genri Reznik, told prosecutors that they should not arrest Berezovskii if he refuses to pearl strand wholesale testify or makes political statements they do not approve of, which he has the right to do. Prosecutors had said they issued the warrant after Berezovskii ignored several subpoenas sent to him in recent months. Berezovskii said Prime Minister Evgenii Primakov cooked up the money-laundering charges against him to influence Yeltsin, the Russian media, and the country's secret services. He has been on the losing side in an ongoing and rancorous war of words with Primakov and members of his government. The battle apparently led to Berezovskii's removal from his post as executive secretary of the CIS, the loose alliance of former Soviet republics. Russian analysts also said that the warrant for Berezovskii's arrest, issued only days after he left Moscow, was an attempt to dissuade him from returning home and testifying against senior government officials who allegedly participated in his business deals. On April 11, in an extensive interview on NTV's Sunday evening "Itogi" news analysis program, Berezovskii said he was the victim of a plot staged by the Russian political elite. He described himself as an innocent figure caught in a massive battle for power driven by the forces of communist and nationalist opposition. He was particularly critical of Primakov , who has denied any role in the case. Berezovskii said Primakov was "softly speaking a bit of slyness" as part of a plot to pearl strand restore the Soviet empire. The mogul also repeated earlier demands to ban the Communist Party. He dismissed the possibility of a communist revival, but warned that Russian nationalism posed a much greater threat as it rooted in communist ideas.