The paper analyses the history of the Faculty of History and International Relations of Kemerovo State University since the start of teaching History students at KemSU in 1953 up to the present-day multi-profile educational programmes. The Faculty’s history is discussed within 4 aspects: 1) dynamics, 2) the stages of development, 3) significant dates and outstanding people, 4) the departments of the Faculty.

The paper analyses works of the founder of Kazakh archaeology, A. Kh. Margulan, who focused his research on ancient monuments – menhirs, which have not been studied well enough so far. To evaluate A. Kh. Margulan’s research contribution, the authors review numerous data on menhirs published by him as well as the principles and results of material systematization and approaches to attribution. On the one hand, the authors come to the conclusion that A. Kh. Margulan's works are undoubtedly valuable as an abundant source of original material, on the other hand, they stress the need for systematic recording of menhirs to be held on the level required by contemporary field techniques.

In studying the history of science it is important to identify the period of its establishment as an independent discipline and criteria for its history periodization. The Siberian archeology has accumulated some experience in solving these issues (E. B. Vadetskaya, A. I. Martynov, V. I. Matyushchenko, A. V. Zhuk).
The author of the paper offers her version of determining the period of establishment of archeology as a science in Siberia, as well as more a precise determination of its specific periods.

The paper examines the materials of petroglyphs revealing traditional female costume of the ethnographic time of Altai-Sayan peoples. Peculiarities of tailoring, types of headdresses and hairstyles are considered. The peculiarities and the value of the ornament on the clothes are noted. The conclusion is made about the main types of traditional national women's clothing of the peoples of Siberia and its influence on the social role of women.

The paper presents some results of the traceological study at the Sydinskaya rock art site located in Krasnoyarsk Кegion on Bychikha Mountain. At present, a new direction in rock art research is being formed in archaeology – experimental-traceological  investigation.  It  presumes  a  combination  of  the  method  of  experimental  modeling  and  the traceological analysis. The methodology developed in the framework of this direction was applied to the study of petroglyphs at the Sydinskaya site. The selection of images for the analysis was based on the already obtained data on their cultural and chronological attribution, which enabled us to focus on the study of the most important or disputable examples. Analyzing the traces of pecking, we established in some cases the material of the instrument used (metal or stone) and the way of using it (direct pecking or pecking via a mediator), i. e. the study revealed the complex of techniques and tools that ancient masters used to create certain artistic images on the rocks in different periods.

The paper analyzes the formation of Kemerovo Scientific School of primitive art researchers, and especially the period marked by the activity of A. I. Martynov, B. N. Pyatkin and Ya. A. Cher, who laid the foundation for one of the most productive areas of the School’s researches – the study of rock art sites.

The paper focuses on the functions of specific forms of ceramic vessels in burial rituals of the Early Metal Age cultures of Western and Eastern steppe Eurasia. A classification of polypod vessels is suggested, their place and role in burial rituals of Pit-Grave, Catacomb, Afanasiev and Okunev cultures are considered. The positions of polypod vessels in burial complexes are analyzed. With this basis, the author attempts to reconstruct the role of polypod vessels in burial rituals of the Early Metal Age cultures of Southern Siberia.

The paper considers the views and ideas of major French political writers in the 17th century, regarding power and its interaction with the citizens at the time of the heyday of absolutism in France. Attention is focused on the forms and methods, including the role of violence in this interaction.

On the basis of analyzing T. Elyot’s literary and epistolary heritage, the paper attempts to present his portrait in the context of socio-cultural processes of the English society in the first half of the 16th century. The nature of the relationship between Elyot and his outstanding contemporaries is analyzed.

The paper deals with the basic factors and mechanisms of the fall of the Turkic nomadic tribes in Mongolia. The research is based on the complex analysis of the factors and reasons which determined the schism or liquidation of the Turkic empires. The research demonstrated that the Turkiс Khaganates crises resulted from certain factors which were different in each case. First of all, they were the complicacy of socio-political institutions in the nomadic empires and the Kaganates leaders' intention to implement some settled states’ governing elements into their political system. The lack of a consolidating political power resulting in acute ethnic and social contradictions was a very important disadvantage as well as Chinese diplomatics and military intervention, "imperial" army conditions, in some cases "overproduction of aristocracy" and the loss of Assabiyah. The paper concludes that the crisis of nomadic empires usually occurs when an empire reaches a certain peak in its cultural and political life: building of cultural traditions and the elite culture, appearance of statehood elements, more complex social structure etc. This indicates to a certain complexity threshold which is critical and, in many cases, insurmountable for nomadic empires.

The paper provides the comparative historical model of transition of medieval Eastern societies in the Early Modern period. Specific types of “modernity” in the East were defined by a system of internal and external factors. They are considered in the context of Modernization Theory and World-System analysis. Theoretical synthesis allows to raise the question about “Relative-Ottoman” and "Relative-Chinese” general types of transitional processes in Eastern posttraditional societies. The Asian countries pass this Early Modern period with different speed in 1453 – 1840.

The paper describes the process of the 1990s deployment of German historians’ works to analyse the repressive structures of the Third Reich on the basis of regional and European sources. The major trends and research methodology are analyzed in the paper. The novelty of the research and its value for the science and the society are assessed.

The paper investigates the problem of study and interpretation of totalitarianism by French researchers in the 20th century. The author focuses on issues related to overcoming the totalitarian past. The paper covers potential problems and options of overcoming totalitarianism suggested by French authors.

The paper discusses some techniques of manipulating speech addressee and their implementation in utterances with future time reference within the specific conditions of electoral discourse. Manipulation strategies are realized in this case on the levels of text and sentence as interference and interaction of propositions intended at avoiding uncertainty of predictions and subjectivity of promises.

The paper deals with the role and place of mentality in the history and culture of the Khitan who created Liao state (907 – 1125). The author shows that mentality can be considered a form of self-culture, on the basis of which "high" culture develops eventually. It creates the people’s picture of the world, and the necessary set of ideas and concepts for the development of society. A particular image of a representative of the people (Khitan) is developed. Interaction of mental and "high" culture in Khitan society goes all over the history of this nation. Decisive synthesis of these principles in the Khitan empire comes in the form of "Renaissance". Of particular importance for the history is the relationship of Khitan folk culture and mental substrates of the Chinese culture and other neighboring cultures. Millennial experience of the Khitan culture shows for at least as high a level of development as in sedentary societies.

The paper aims at considering significance of the category of time in the historical and political views of O. Spengler as a representative of “life philosophy” in historical and political thinking within the framework of postclassical understanding of time in the 20th century historiography. The author comes to conclusion that time is presented in Spengler’s works as fate, logic of history and myth, and acts as a kind of fatality in world history, devouring and dissolving cultures and humans completely.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the British historians works addressing coronation rituals of English rulers of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. The author studies some urgent problems and defines the level of significance of the the issue for British specialists, presents the historians’ opinions about the coronation evolution, marks the contribution of researchers of different periods of the 20th century into the problem its development.

The paper is devoted to debt growth of the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish war period, 1768 – 1774 and 1787 – 1791.On the basis of archives analysis the author studies the dynamics of the Russian external debt (including new loans, acquittals, old loan conversions, changes in terms of loan), brings to light the causes of the process, makes a conclusion that it is foreign policy that conditions the external debt of Russia. The results of this research can be used in teaching History of Russia, XVIII century, in secondary and higher education institutions, as well as in external debt service of contemporary Russia.

The paper considers the issue of developing civic consciousness of future specialists in the field of history and international relations and some pedagogical methods and techniques used in the teaching process for productive professional communication.

The paper provides an assessment of journalism as a historical source for studying the problems of contemporary Russian History. The development stages and genres of journalism are defined and characterized.

The paper analyzes the main points of view expressed in the Russian historiography about the causes, prevalence and consequences of the famine in 1932 – 1933.

The paper is devoted to revealing Russian historians’ points of view on the role of the 1965 reform in the development of the USSR economy. The author pays attention to the periodization of the USSR economy reform and to the role that the resolutions of the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee of September 1965 played in this process. The author connects the formation of the historians’ points of view with the logics of Russian history development.
The author’s essential conclusion is that the most convincing point of view by the early 2000s is that the model of the Soviet society’s reform since 1965 was a failure. Another thing is that for 1965 the public consciousness could not suggest any other healthy alternative.

The paper is devoted to forming patriotism as a civic value and to the tasks of Higher Education institutes.

The paper focuses on one of the significant concepts of the modern Russian linguistic world-image – RUSSIAN WOMAN; some characteristics of this concept are described.

The paper addresses the staff of architects who worked in the towns of Western Siberia in the 1860s to the 1880s. The purpose of the paper is to identify the most demanded architects and the proportion of graduates of Russian leading architectural schools. The paper also deals with the activities of architects whose work had an important influence on the formation of the architectural appearance of the west Siberian town.

The paper focuses on the ideological campaigns connected with the image of J. V. Stalin and expanded in USSR in 1946 – 1953. The authors analyze the content of the campaign materials on the base of Kemerovo region. In the above mentioned formulation of the problem, the topic is studied for the first time. The archival documents and periodicals served as the basis for the preparation of the study. In early postwar years, the image of J. V. Stalin in the Soviet ideology continued to evolve. All political and economic achievements of the country, the constant care for the people, Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 – 1945, future achievements of the state were associated with the name of the leader. Ideological campaigns were aimed at mobilizing the society in the postwar restoration of the USSR. They consistently received support and feedback from Kemerovo region population. The ideological campaigns were particularly urgent in Kemerovo region – the region of industrial development, as one of the campaigns’ components was the adoption of higher labour commitments.

The paper focuses on the methods of studying and analyzing historical sources. The database “School teachers of West Siberia (1860 – 1917)” is used to exemplify the process electronic database creation: the main principles of creation are analyzed, the main results and perspectives of using such databases are listed. The authors conclude that such methods are definitely valuable for historical research.

The paper describes a set of different factors influencing the development of primary education in Western Siberia in the last quarter of the 19th century On the basis of the analysis of statistical data, the author comes to the conclusion that it was necessary to establish the Directorate of public schools in the region.

The paper is devoted to the study of propaganda aspects during Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign in the Soviet Union (1954 – 1964). The following questions are considered: ideological methods of the Soviet government’s policy in the sphere of state-religion relations; the role of mass media, propogandists of scientific atheism and intelligence services in anti-religious activity.

The paper focuses on the contribution of Siberian scientists into the defence needs of their Motherland during World War I. It analyses various forms of army fiduciary activities which envolved Siberian scientists.

The paper discusses some aspects of the development of basic vocational training in the field of culture and art, as an element of the system of training staff for these institutions . The authors focus on the historical aspects of studying the initial level of training staff for culture and art institutions. The paper concludes that, despite the specifics of music and art institutions in Kemerovo region, they generally perform their functions, but dramatic changes in the socioeconomic, political, cultural and spiritual life of the country led to a systemic crisis of basic vocational education.

In 1696, silver ore was found in Tomsk district on the river Kashtak. In 1697, Kashtaksky jail was built at this place and an attempt to establish ore extraction and silver melting from it was made. This work was carried out by Greek craftsmen headed by A. Levandian. Our knowledge of the history of Kashtaksky development was based on a very small number of sources published in the 19th century. To a considerable extent, these publications occurred at random and did not reflect all the issues of the history of that development. Meanwhile, there is a significant set of documents on Kashtaksky development that were copied by G. F. Miller in 1740 in Tomsk and Tobolsk archives which are now stored in the Achieve of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg Branch and in the Russian State Achieve of Ancient Documents. The location of silver ore by the river Kashtak is marked in “The Draft of Tomsk City Area”, a copy of which is available in all the three atlases by S. U. Remezov. The foldout to the drawing of the river Tom in the “Chorografic drawings book” by Remezov contained an unnamed drawing of a jail and a mine. The authors believe this drawing to be a genuine image of Kashtaksky jail and mine.

The paper is devoted to Polish political exiles serving sentences in the territory of modern Kuzbass in 1830 – 1860. The author determined the number and placement areas of the Polish exiles, as well as their living conditions and life in exile.

The paper analyzes the main factors that contributed to improving the general education potential of residents agricultural areas of Kuzbass in the 1930s – early 2000s. Particular attention is paid to the development of school infrastructure, improvement of the educational process, provision of educational institutions teaching staff. The authors conclude that the peculiarities of education in agrarian territories influenced the slowdown in educational level of rural popula tion.

The paper is devoted to one of the poorly studied topics in Russian historiography – that of public and political activity of the Russian intelligentsia during the World War I. the author appeals to the example of the fate of attorney M. S. Stravinsky to show the professional growth of the Russian nobleman, a graduate of the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University. He came to Siberia in 1897, when the bar as a legal institution was just being created there. However, M. S. Stravinsky was not limited only to professional activities. He quickly became a well-known public figure in Irkutsk. He was involved in a variety of activities: from fighting tuberculosis to supporting the newly created Irkutsk University.Therefore, it is not accidental that in 1914 he became an honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Irkutsk. M. S. Stravinsky managed to help that country, which was rather desperate at that time, in that sphere.M. S. Stravinsky’s family ties deserve special interest. He was the father-in-law of N. L. Gondatti, a well-known officer in Imperial Russia and explorer of Siberia and the Far East.

The paper analyses the origins of recruiting coal mining staff for Kuzbass in the 1920s – 1930s. The paper aims at characterizing the main categories of the staff working in Kuzbass coal mining industry. The authors determine the main social groups that coal miners originated from. Characteristic of each group is provided, including qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The authors conclude that working staff for Kuzbass mining industry originated from a number of different backgrounds, and distinguish the role of each in the formation of coal mining industry in Kuzbass.

Article contains data on the main problems of agricultural production in the territory of Kuzbass, more particularly, Kuznetsk and Mariinsk districts of the Tomsk province in the period of the 1880th – the beginning of the 1890th years. The purpose of work was to characterize a state, to track dynamics, to reveal features of functioning of agricultural economy of edge during the specified period.
Processing and the analysis of the statistical data containing in appendices to annual reports of the Tomsk governor for 1881 – 1893 as a whole allowed to designate tendencies, to define structure, to confirm essential regularities of agricultural production in the territory. In generalizing works on history of Kuzbass the corresponding subject didn't receive due reflection in this connection the presented material can be used in the educational and scientific purposes.
The conducted research allowed to come to the following main conclusions. The base of economic development of the considered district in designated time there was an agriculture. Abundance in the region enough fertile land grounds along with small number of the population and lack of a large private property on the earth promoted development here extensive refalse agriculture. The country economy, based on traditional, archaic ways of cultivation of soils, in the conditions of backwardness of means of communication and the monetary credit remained mainly natural.
In the conditions of lack of innovative methods of increase of level of productivity, the climatic and meteorological factors, therefore in Kuzbass as, actually, and in Russia as a whole, periodically there were the crop failures interfering stable development of country economy had paramount and, actually, unique value; development of agricultural production wasn't promoted in the region by lack of transport infrastructure and the commodity-money relations.
At the same time it is necessary to consider as a clear advantage of Kuznetsk and Mariinsk plowmen abundance of the free qualitative virgin lands, allowing to reap more big crops, than in the European Russia; however the specified handicap should be considered temporary as the intensive growth of the population at the expense of annual natural profit and increase in resettlement movement the region in the conditions of lack of mechanisms of an intensification of agricultural production inevitably promoted decrease in coefficient of consumption per capita that shortly could lead here to an aggravation of "a country question" as well as in the European part of the country.

The paper studies the reflection of the socio-political movement of the early 20th  century in the documents preserved in museums and archives of small towns in Eastern Siberia, which were not province center. The author shows the importance of introducing police and local governments records as well as special collections of archives and museums to the scientific community.

The topic of intelligentsia is not new for historians. However, in present days many scientists note substantial changes in definition of its status and role.
As a result of the difficult period of social and economic transformations of the Russian society the rural intelligentsia of Kemerovo region (Kuzbass), namely teaching, medical and cultural professionals, suffered the threat of losing their position of the advanced members of the most educated and active group of rural population.
At the level of agrarian regions of the country, Siberia and Kuzbass rural intelligentsia has not been studied sufficiently.
Three periods in the development of the rural intelligentsia of Kuzbass are defined in this work: 1985 – 1991; 1992 – 1998; 1999 – 2008. Thus, in 1985 – 1991, the state gave big social importance to rural intellectuals’ work. At the same time, the intellectuals carried out huge educational and public work for fellows villagers. Then tendency for the decrease in the number of social and cultural facilities in rural regions was outlined.
In 1992 – 1998 negative tendencies and problems of the rural intelligentsia were aggravated. As a result, the professional activity and authority of teachers, workers of medicine and culture in the agrarian areas of Kuzbass continued to decrease, which led the rural population’s alienation of from traditional cultural values and strengthened a gap between the city and the village.
According to many researchers, it is considered that the period of 1999 – 2008 was the time of economic recovery and social stabilization for Kuzbass. But at those years the situation of the position of rural intellectuals didn't improve. Its professional problems received a long perspective.
A common strategy of the regional and state authorities’ actions can be a possible way to revive the status of the rural intelligentsia. There are a lot of examples on providing support to workers of the welfare (budgetary) sphere in Kemerovo region, which received further development in national projects at the state level.
There are huge opportunities and conditions for creation and implementation of the new project for revival of the rural intelligentsia in Kuzbass.
The author has practical know-how on revival of the rural intelligentsia by the example of Leninsk-Kuznetsk municipal area.

The paper addresses the history of exploration and extraction of gold placer on cabinet lands of the Altai mountain district in the late 1830s – early 1840s. The author considers the searching parties’ activity this territory and gives details about the exact geographical locations and the amount of explored and extracted gold. The activity of Mountain board which testifies to the competent management of gold mining branch in this period is analysed.

The author allocates the main stages of development of the Kuzbass Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the basis of the following criteria: change of a standards and legal basis and organizational structure, change of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the members. Special attention is paid to change of quantitative characteristics of the Chamber’s member base which brightly characterize the development. As a result of research the author came to the conclusion that the quantitative characteristic is one of the criteria defining the Chamber’s development. The Chamber’s member base growth over 20 years confirms that fact that the Chamber’s mechanism and conditions of membership were clear and attractive for small business.

The paper addresses the issue of training specialists for the coal industry of Kuzbass during the pre-war period. Various options are considered: retraining workers, organization of courses, working courses. Special attention is paid to opening of the first specialized technical schools in Kemerovo and Prokopievsk.

RETRACTED ARTICLE

The paper addresses the issues of formation and reorganization of the structure of the West-Siberian Directorate of Civil Aviation Authorities in the mid-1960s – 1990s. The paper lists the legal acts, serving as the basis for the change in the structure of the Directorate, as well as the airlines and airports that belonged to the Directorate.

The paper aims at considering the development of the Orthodox liturgical institutions of Tomsk diocese in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The author concludes that the system of Orthodox liturgical institutions of the diocese was characterized by high growth rates, which was associated with the resettlement policy, land development and construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The paper reveals the process of discovering new deposits of ores and coal, as well as their practical application in the initial period of the industrial development of the region. The paper defines the reasons for searches for minerals by major groups of researchers – dowsers-practitioners (M. Volkov, S. Kostylev, K. Gordeev, I. Panov, I. Shestakov) and scientists-travelers (D. G. Messerschmidt, G. F. Miller, I. G. Gmelin, E. Laxman). The fact of Kuznetsk hard coal discovery by the dowser M. Volkov is justified, and his activities are analyzed. The projects of using hard coal in metallurgical production (Berg-Collegium, A. Demidov) and construction of copper smelters in the area (V. N. Tatishchev) are revealed. The reasons for the lack of industrial development of coal deposits are identified (uncompetitiveness with wood fuel, need for change in the metallurgical furnaces process, inability to transport by water to the Urals). The attempt of silver mining renewal on the river Kashtak (N. Kleopin, I. Shishkov, P. Startsov, A. Ivanov) is considered.

The paper focuses on the participation of the Department of Marxism and Leninism in the development of teaching and educational process in a Higher Technical School against the background of changes occurring in the USSR after the XX congress of CPSU. The main attention is paid to the history of the Department and revising the names of all the staff members who made contribution to the development of higher school education.

The paper is devoted to formation and development of Kemerovo branch of the Union of Writers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which was created in 1962. The research aims at identifying the stages in the development of Kemerovo literary organization and their main features. As a result, three main stages of development of the local branch of the Union of Writers were defined: the stage of formation (1962 – first half of the 1970s), the crisis stage (the second half of the 1970s) and the stage of sustainable development (the 1980s). In first stage, members of writers' organization had to perform tasks and solve problems of the Union. The main problem was irregular publications of the almanac «Ogni Kuzbassa». Many problems were solved in the first half of the 1970s, but since the middle of the 1970s writers of Kemerovo region encountered the crisis. The organization lost nearly a third of its members and had to send its efforts to attracting talented young writers. Staff crisis ended by the beginning of the 1980s. Writers' organization reached a new level of work with young authors in the 1980s, when literary studio «Pritomie» was created. Kemerovo branch of the Union of Writers reached a new level of development in the 1980s.

The paper analyzes the problem of interaction between Germany and Russia in the context of the rise of international tensions, and in particular, the escalation of the Syrian crisis. The authors examine the main aspects of the Syrian issue, in which Russia and Germany interact, as well as give a brief description of the positions of these states on this issue, highlighting the main negative and positive aspects of bilateral relations.

The paper focuses on the problems in the relations between Russia and the USA at the contemporary stage. The author highlights the reasons for the “reset policy” formation, its main activities, and the reasons that led to its termination. Furthermore, the author provides the opinions of both Russian and foreign experts on the positive and negative results of the “reset”.

The paper deals with the problem of interconnection between the policy and the level of technologic development and their impact on the economic development of modern Russia. The author exposes the regularities and background experience of the previous three and the next Russian modernizations and makes a comparative study. The problem is contemplated in the context of mutual relations between Russia as technologic receiver and the West as technologic donor in the conditions of the WTO restrictions. The author raises a question of internal and external backgrounds and obstacles to technologic modernization of contemporary Russia.

The paper reveals how the vocabulary of the modern German language is enriched by lexical items in such spheres as information technology, economy, society, sport, medicine  and fashion. Enrichment occurs by borrowed words and derivation. The paper gives specific regard to the specifics of English-German contacts.

The paper is devoted to the role of distance education in teaching foreign languages. The authors investigate the prospects of using virtual educational platform both for teaching process and for career guidance. The main features of MOODLE system are described, key characteristics of the system are given, three main conditions of the organization of educational process are revealed and the operating procedure of platform MOODLE concerning career guidance is offered.

The paper deals with the position of the United States against the German settlement in the meetings and conferences of the anti-Hitler coalition. The author shows how the American views on the German question changed in the course of World War II, and evaluates the USA’s contribution to the development of the principles of post-war Germany.

Thepaper is devoted to the establishment of the United States Information Agency and restructuring of the radio “Voice of America” activities in the light of the development of information-psychological warfare of Eisenhower’s administration against Eastern European countries in 1953 – 1955. The author discusses the factors that influenced the effectiveness of the radio’s performance and the search for new mechanisms to attract Eastern European audience.

The military conflict between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia in August 2008 led to active involvement of the European Union in the peace-making activity. The EU Observer Mission in Georgia has been operating since October 2008. The Mission was to observe the conflict resolution and promotion of humanitarian actions for those who suffered in the warfare and the ethnical conflicts, so it became directly involved in the context of the Ossetian-Georgian, GeorgianAbkhasian and Russian-Georgian conflicts. The study of the information materials reflecting the Mission’s activity shows that its interaction with Georgia was positive, which allowed it, on the one hand, to restrain the Georgian authorities from radical military actions of 8 August 2008, but on the other hand, to create the informational image of Georgia as a country striving for peace and effective resolution of its revolting autonomy’s problems. As for Georgia’s opponents, the Mission’s activity allowed to fasten the withdrawal of Russian troops and provided Georgia with external protection from Russia’s direct power politics. The Mission’s website interprets South Ossetia, Abkhasia and Russia’s refusal to let the Mission in the observed territory for permanent work as the countries’ refusal to facilitate the real peace-making process. Thus, the idea promoted among Internet users is that the Russian authorities’ actions break the “Medvedev-Sarkozy” plan and hinder conflict resolution. So, the Mission’s activities do not correspond to the real peace-making activity, but rather to the EU’s policy to reduce Russia’s influence on the post-Soviet space.

The paper seeks to examine the specificity of social relations in the virtual media of social networks. The emphasis is put on the political and economic spheres of social interaction in the Internet. The analysis is based mainly on European material. The author concludes that the introduction of social networks in economic and political reality of Europe is extremely broad, and that the emerging social networks are diverse, but contradictory and complex.

The subject of the article is that aspect of the Israeli Merkel government's foreign policy vector in Germany, which is associated with the search for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Based on comparative-historical method, the author for the first time in post-Soviet historiography has attempted to identify general and specific in approaches Berlin and Tel-Aviv in the subject matter in the same period. Appeal to this purpose of the research process helps to understand the possibilities and limits of the German-Israel cooperation on the subject of the Middle East peace settlement. The main result of this process was a comprehensive analysis of the discussions for a peaceful settlement in this region on the GermanIsrael negotiations at the highest levels from 2005 – 2014. The author leads to the following conclusions: 1) German Middle East policy is in a tense relationship between the historical responsibility towards Israel and trustworthy German-Israel settling solutions; 2) during Merkel reign she only partially has managed to align these goals. This article could be interesting for scholars of international affairs, as well as diplomats who are involved on the German-Israel relationships.

The problem of NATO's crisis during the Suez crisis in 1956 (military intervention of Britain, France and Israel to prevent the strengthening of Egypt in the Suez Canal zone) is analyzed in the paper.
The author examines the position of the leading NATO countries – Britain, France and the USA – in the conflict, circumstances of involvement of Israel in the war, influence of the Soviet Union’s position and the Warsaw pact, and the possibility of using of nuclear weapons.
Special attention is paid to the danger of disintegration within NATO. The author ascertains reasons for the negative attitude of the USA to the military operation in the Middle East and their refusal to join the regional alliance under British leadership («the Baghdad Pact»). The USA position in the Suez crisis was conditioned by fear that as a result of the war the Middle East will be engulfed by anti-Western protests and it’ll be in the hands of the Soviet Union. Washington offered a peaceful resolution of the conflict, and London and Paris sought to involve the USA in this intervention. The United States were able to ensure that NATO had not played any significant role up to the highest point of the crisis. «Dialogue of deaf-mutes» during the crisis escalated in heavy quarrel between the United States, Britain and France during the war. President Eisenhower had unwittingly set NATO on the brink of collapse. However, all this was passing behind the scenes, and the public did not notice that during the Suez crisis, NATO experienced one of the worst crises of the Cold War.

The paper addresses the issues of successful intercultural communication. The author emphasizes the need for studying the foreign culture when preparing for intercultural contacts. The author provides the example of a cross-cultural study of Russians’ and Americans’ speech behaviour in model situations from daily-life and professional spheres to prove the potential of using the results of psycholinguistic research as a tool for nations’ mutual awareness.