Europe is now haunted by the specter of debt. All European leaders quail before it. To exorcise the demon, they are putting their economies through the wringer.

The financial crisis that started in 2007 shrunk the world economy by 6 percent in two years, doubling unemployment. Its proximate cause was predatory bank lending, so people are naturally angry and want heads and bonuses to roll.

Fifty years ago, as decolonization accelerated, no one had a good word to say for imperialism. It was regarded as unambiguously bad, both by ex-imperialists and by their liberated subjects. Then, in the 1980s, a revisionist history came along.

It is often said that Russia lacks a “civil society.” But it partly makes up for this by having a rather interesting public sphere in which serious topics get debated. September has offered the Valdai Discussion Club and the Global Policy Forum.

A year ago, tiny Georgia tried to regain control over its breakaway enclave of South Ossetia. The Russians quickly expelled the Georgian army, to almost universal opprobrium from the West. South Ossetia (with a pre-war population of 70,000) and Abkhazia (about 180,000 people) promptly declared their “independence.” They created two new fictional sovereignties and acquired in the process all the official trappings of statehood: national heroes, colorful uniforms, anthems, flags, frontier posts, military forces, presidents, parliaments and, most important, new opportunities for smuggling and corruption.

All epoch-defining events are the result of conjunctures -- the correlation of normally unconnected events that jolt humanity out of a rut.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the forced sale of Merrill Lynch, two of the greatest names in finance, mark the end of an era. But what will come next?

Russia's integration into the world economy has been based on energy. Energy is predominant both in its domestic economy and foreign trade.

Russia's temporary halt to oil supplies through the pipeline crossing Belarus earlier this month was the latest in a sequence of public relations disasters for the Kremlin.

Parts of Russia are well-suited to follow in Bangalore's footsteps. Russia already has the knowledge base, labor and basic infrastructure.

President Vladimir Putin used the bulk of his state-of-the-nation address to spell out measures aimed at improving the living standards of ordinary Russians.

Russia will get only two cheers from investors at the Russian Economic Forum, which opens in London this Monday.

President Vladimir Putin's proposals to centralize power in the Kremlin even further gives an opportunity to revisit the debate between Richard Pipes and Alexander Lukin in the pages of The Moscow Times on July 6 and 21.

Most people believe that rich natural resources make a country rich. Fertile lands and abundant mineral wealth are seen as a natural endowment, available to support an abundant life.

My friends had just ordered a beer when masked men with automatic guns, wearing OMON badges burst in.

There will be much ritual obeisance this weekend to the idea that Russia is an integral part of Europe and European civilization. No one will be impolite enough to point out that the visa regime makes a mockery of this grand conception.

If war is inevitable, let us at least go into it with open eyes.

Is capital flight a problem for Russia? Most people would say ""yes"" and would regard the recent reversal of capital flight as a positive sign for the Russian economy.

Russia has very little to gain politically or economically by supporting U.S. military action in Iraq.

Today capitalism is under attack for the first time since the fall of communism.

The United States has officially demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Israel has vowed to continue its ""war for survival."" Meanwhile the peacemakers shuttle sadly round the Middle East, oblivious to the fact that no one is listening to them.

It's fashionable to say that the events on Sept. 11 have profoundly changed the world.