If any country has a record of poor road safety, it is certainly Russia. Perhaps this is what qualifies Russia to host a landmark conference on the issue next year.

The labor movement has been making a lot of headlines lately. Workers at multinational companies were the first to strike for higher wages, but now the conflict has spread to Russian firms as well. For example, in mid-March, workers at the KamAZ automotive construction plant -- the former flagship of Soviet industry -- walked out on their jobs, and by the end of the month, bauxite miners in the Urals were also striking.

The U.S. presidential candidates are increasingly playing the Russophobia card in their campaigns. In addressing Russia, Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton have resorted to insulting President Vladimir Putin as a KGB spy who has no soul. Russophobia is truly back into fashion, as Senator Joseph Biden admitted last week in a comment published in The Wall Street Journal.

A visit to the village of Belozersk is a trip to a time when life was more simple.

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