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2013 Asia and Africa today

THE OAU/AFRICAN UNION IS 50 YEARS OLD

   Ceremonial meeting   of  the  Council of  the  Institute  for African  Studies took  place  in Moscow  on May  27 devoted to Africa  Day  and  the  50th  anniversary of the  Organization  of African Unity (OAU). The participants were addressed by the Director of the Institute for African Studies, academician A.M.Vasilyev, Director of the Africa Department, Ministry of Foreign Affaires of the  Russia  S.N.Kryukov,  the  head  of the group of African ambassadors in Russia, Ambassador of Madagascar in the  Russian  Federation Eloi  Alphonse Maxim Duvu.
The  basic report «Russia  and  Africa yesterday and  today»
was made by A.Yu.Urnov Dr.Sc. (History).

«OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICA IS  GAINING MOMENTUM» by S.N.Kryukov, Director of the  Africa Department, Ministry of Foreign Affaires of the  Russian Federation

Keywords: Russia, the African Union

   Noting  that in the  past  the  Soviet  Union  did a lot to help former African colonies to gain independence, S.N.Kryukov stressed that nowdays  Russia  is aimed  at further expansion of cooperation with  the African Union  and African countries. He pointed that the  AU  is playing  an  important role  in the coordination of integration processes on the continent, strengthening political,  economic  and  humanitarian cooperation between African countries, including the interaction of Africa with major multilateral forums such as the UNO,  G20, G8, the BRICS and others.

«THE AFRICAN UNION WILL BUILD A NEW AFRICA» by Gabriel Kochofa, the  Ambassador of Benin  in the  Russian Federation

Keywords: the 50-anniversary of the OAU, the Institute for African Studies, Moscow

   The speech made by H.E.Gabriel Kochofa at the conference held in the  Institute for African Studies. According to him, all these  years  Russian   scientists «helped   us  to  study   our  own continent. Russia  prepared for Africa  a lot  of highly  qualified specialists». G.Kochofa briefly  outlined the  Black  continent’s successes and achievements, as well those challenges  and problems  which  the  African  countries are confronted with nowadays.

AFRICA, RUSSIA AND THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF OAU/AU by  E.N.Korendyasov, PhD (Economics); A.Yu.Urnov, Dr.Sc. (History);  V.G.Shubin, Dr.Sc. (History)

 Keywords:  50th  anniversary of OAU/AU, Russian-African cooperation, BRICS, Thekwini Declaration

   The paper deals with 3 main themes. First.  The way the Pan Africanist  ideas  have   been   implemented  in  practice  in  the course of the last 50 years by the OAU formed in May 1963 and of  the  African  Union   which  replaced in  July  2002.  Second. Russian-African cooperation. The article  cites the provisions of the  renewed Russian-African cooperation which  relate  to  the principal vectors   of  its  policy  toward Africa.  Third.   Russia, Africa, BRICS. The authors consider BRICS a very prospective channel of Russia-Africa cooperation. The provisions touching upon the interests of Africa, contained in the Thekwini Declaration adopted by  the  Vth  BRICS summit   in  Durban (March 26-27, 2013), are examined.

SUMMIT OF THE AU IN ADDIS ABABA by A.N.Bragin, our Staff  correspondent in Ethiopia

Keywords: OAU/AU, African rapid reaction force

One  of the  key  outcomes of the  summit  was  decision  to create  the African forces of rapid response  to crises (ACIRC).
   Along with  this,  African leaders  agreed  that the  instability and the presence  of multiple existing  and potential crisis situations in many countries of the continent require  more decisive action  from the AU. In their  opinion,  conflicts  in Mali, Libya,  Rйpublique de  Cфte d’Ivoire  could  be resolved  faster and more successfully  if the Western countries didn’t  interfere with  and  a leading  role  in  their  settlement would  have  been provided by Africans themselves.

WORLD CRISIS: RECOVERY PROBLEMS

   WILL CHINA KEEP THE  COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES OF ITS ECONOMY? by E.N.Samburova, PhD (Geography)

   Keywords: China,  competitive advantages, economic growth, domestic consumption, external factors

    The paper analyzes possibilities of maintaining competitive advantages  of  China’s  economy   and  rapid  economic development. New challenges  and are also covered.
   In connection with  the current decrease  in rates  of economic growth in China, the question arises: is this the end of the  Chinese   «economic miracle»? Or  China   still  claims  the world  economic  leadership? Will  China  preserve  high  rates  of economic   growth, will  the  economy   succeed   in  overcoming current negative tendencies?

   RUSSIAN-PAKISTANI RELATIONS: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS by S.N.Kamenev, PhD (Economics)

   Kewwords: Russian-Pakistani relations, bilateral cooperation

   Russian-Pakistani relations during its existence from 1948 (before the collapse of the USSR  the Soviet-Pakistan relations) had a lot of ups and downs. This article  focuses only on our relationship in  the  XXI  century. In  the  first  decade  of this century,  after   many   years   of  stagnation,  there   are  evident positive  prospects for the development of multilateral relations between Russia and Pakistan.

   BRAZIL - AFRICA: AN EXAMPLE OF A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE COOPERATION by A.Yu.Borzova, PhD (History)

Keywords: Africa, Brazil, the BRICS, external relations

   For a long time now Brazil is making  efforts to increase  its cooperation with  Africa.  In  the  early  2000s  it  developed and launched a course, called «Preferential policies of Brazil to Africa».  It is based  on  the  principle according to  which  the Brazil’s policy toward the African continent must  be attractive for the African nations. The main tasks of Brazil’s work in Africa are  eradication of poverty and  hunger, achieving of universal primary education, observance of equality of men and  women, reducing child and maternal mortality, combating major diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, financing for sustainable development.

   REVOLT IN THE  ARABIAN WORLD: CROPS AND SHOOTS

THE NEW STATE IDEOLOGY OF LIBYA by E.I.Doroshenko, PhD ( Philology)

   Keywords:  Arab Spring,  Libya, ideology,  “degaddafication”, “gaddaphilia”

   The article examines the making and socio-political manifestations of the six key ideological points  which appeared in Libya after  the  overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s  regime  in

2011. These  points  greatly affect both  the  present-day policies adopted by the  new  government and  the  relations within the new Libyan  society.  Thus, they  are considered a valuable  asset in discovering and characterizing the now-existing socio- political trends in the emerging  state  of Libya.

   FERTILITY IN  SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: RISK OF DEMOGRAPHIC EXPLOSION by Yu.V.Zinkina, PhD (History)

   Keywords: Tropical Africa, fertility, demography, population projections

   In  2010-2011  under   the  program of  Research of demography and  health , established by  the  U.S.  Agency  for international development (USAID), the  surveys  were conducted  in  several   African   countries.  The   obtained data allows  to analyze  the  dynamics of the  level of fertility and  its probable consequences for the development of the demographic situation in sub-Saharan Africa in the coming decades.

   INDONESIA  AND   SPACE  by  L.V.Shkvarya, Dr.Sc. (Economics)

Keywords: Indonesia, outer  space exploration

   The  article  examines  the  current status and  directions  of space  activities in  Indonesia. It is shown  that the  country  is playing  great  attention to this  sphere  of science  and economy, doing its best to use the world experience and cooperation with the  world  leaders  in the  field of outer  space  exploration. The author considers the  possibility of Russian-Indonesian cooperation in the sphere of space and the main directions of its development, emphasizing the mutual benefit  of such cooperation for both  parties.

   RUSSIA AND  THE CCASG COUNTRIES: STRENGTHENING OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION by E.S.Birukov, PhD (Economics)

   Keywords: Russia  Cooperation Council for the  Arab States of the Gulf, economic  relations

   The article  examines  economic  relations of Russia with  the countries-members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG) which  is a political and economic union  of Arabian  states  bordering the Persian Gulf.
   It is shown that current level of cooperation between Russia and the region yields substantially to the existing potential. The analysis  focuses on the existing  projects, that enable  to make a conclusion that  “from  below”,  on  the  level  of  business,  the cooperation is carried out in a wide spectrum of different directions. Recommendations on the ways of activization of cooperation with the region are given.

THE ARABS IN THE «TOP-500» by P.V.Gusterin

   Keywords: magazine  «Foreign Policy»,  Top-500,  leaders  of the Arab world

The American  Journal «Foreign Policy» published a list of500 names of «the people who control the commanding heightsof the world leading  spheres  - from politics  to finance, from the
mass  media   to   energy,   from  military  affairs  to   religion.» The  list  includes  32 Arabs  from  13 countries. They  made  up6,4%  of  the   total  list,  i.e.  about   every   16th   nominee   is  arepresentative of the Arab East.

TRADITIONAL CONFERENCE OF RUSSIAN AFRICANISTS by T.M.Gavristova, Dr.Sc. (History), A.Y.Zheltov, Dr.Sc. (Philology)

Keywords: African studies,  Dmitriy Olderogge
   This paper  is a brief analytical survey  of the  conference on African  Studies under   the  name  “Readings   in  memoriam to Dmitriy Olderogge” which took place in St. Petersburg in April,
2013.

   TOUGH DIALOGUE AFTER THE  XXth  CONGRESS OF THE CPSU by I.N.Selivanov, Dr.Sc. (History)

   Keywords: Soviet-Vietnamese relations, Sino-Soviet relations, the XXth  Congress  of the CPSU

   The  20th  Congress  of the  CPSU, held  in February  1956, became  a kind  of milestone in  the  USSR   relations with  the socialist  countries of Eastern Asia, significantly weakening Russian  influence  in this region. Although the vast majority of
«fraternal» parties,  some only formally, supported its decisions, they reacted with dismay to messages about  the glorification of the cult of personality of Stalin  and those methods that he used during the  course  of the  socialist  construction in  the  Soviet Union  and in the countries of «people’s democracy» in Eastern Europe and the Far East.

   JAPAN AND   THE   ASIAN SCENARIO  OF  JOSEPH NYE by Е.L.Katasonova, Dr.Sc. (History)

Keywords: Japan, J.Nye, «soft power»

   Tokyo, the first on the Asian continent has come to understanding and  active  using  of «soft  power»  as a powerful tool of international influence.  The Japanese  interpret it as «an impact  on  the  world  affairs  with  the  help  of, humanitarian- cultural activity» and considered it in close interaction with the diplomacy in its classical form.
   What are  potential  resources of  Japanese   «soft  power»? J.Nye presents the following figures: Japan takes the 1st place in the world in providing economic  assistance to developing countries.  The   country  takes   the   leading   position  on  the number of registered patents. 2nd - in sales of books and music records,  3rd - in expenditure on research  and development etc. But  the  most  important resource of «soft  power»  is a global influence  (especially in  the  Asian  countries) of Japanese  pop culture - comics, animation movies, pop music, fashion, food and etc.

   «REVENGE» ON EASTERN WAY: NEW FACETS OF THE  OLD  FILM  by E.A.Ikonnikova, Dr.Sc. (Philology), T.K.Pavlova, Uzhno-Sakhalin State University

Keywords:   Anatoly   Kim,   Yermek   Shinarbayev,  movie «Revenge», Korean  culture

The  article   tells  about   the  movie  «Revenge» (filmed   in 1989,  digitized  in  2010)   of  the   Kazakh   Director  ErmekShinarbaev.  The   plot   of  the   film  includes   three   stories   of Anatoly  Kim from the debut collection «Blue Island».  The film reveals   the   national  peculiarities  of   diverse   characters.Philosophical search  for the  main and  secondary characters ofthe film are rendered through the prism of Eastern culture and popular wisdom revealed  by certain individuals.

Japanese  Soul   Mirror:  a  Sakura  Branch  or  Comics-Manga by Y.M.Rusakov, PhD (History)

   The book by Dr.Sc.  E.L.Katasonova The  Japanese in Real and  Virtual Spaces. An Overview of Modern Culture (Moscow, Vostochnaya  Literatura,  2012,  359  p.)  paints   an overall  picture of today’s  cultural life in Japan,  ranging  from manga  to  music  , with  such  complex  phenomena as cyberculture.  The   research   proves   that  Japanese   popular culture spreads  far beyond  Japan.

 Summary