S U M M A R I E S O F M A J O R A R T I C L E S

A.M. Strelkov. “Shrih Kalachakra Lagkhuh Tantrah Radjah Khridaya” – an Extract of the Teaching of Kalachakra. The Discovery of the two Early Publications of the Tibetan Translation of the Monument

“Shrih Kalachakra lagkhuh tantrah radjah khridaya” belongs to the class of the basic texts of the latest (the beginning of the XI cent.) and one most important teachings of the Indian Buddhism, the teaching of Kalachakra (sansrit “A circle of time”). This work is an extract of this teaching made – as we have shown for the first time – on the basis of the text of the “Shrih Kalachakra namah tantrah radjah”. However, the translation of “Shrih Kalachakra lagkhuh tantrah radjah khridaya” (the Sanskrit original is not known) appears only in the later lkhassic edition (1921 [Ko zhul grags pa ‘byung gnas, 1992, p. 395]) in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. The local publications of the Tibetan translation of this work found by us at the monastery of Gumbum in 2007 and at the Radjah monastery in 2009 were not known in science till then. These publications of the monasteries of north-eastern Tibet have proved to be of the earlier time (1820–1850), but the Gumbum publication was made on the basis of the Radjah one. The accompanying text in both these publications of the monument reveals the history of its new finding dated by us to the years 1750–1770. This present work contains the description of the mentioned three publications of the monument, their comparative analysis as well as the reflections of the text of “Shrih Kalachakra namah tantrah radjah” in the text of “Shrih Kalachakra lagkhuh tantrah radjah khridaya”.

“The Sovereign’s Eye” (the Spies) in Ancient India (According to the Data of “Artkhashstra Kautilya”)

The present article is part of a big research into the text of “Artkhashastra Kautilya (KA)” under the title «“Artkhashastra Kautilya” I.II. The World of the Text and the World in the Text”. This book has remained unpublished. The author’s untimely and sudden death cut short the work on it.

V.A. Tyurin. Aceh, a Polity on the Periphery of the Islamic World

Aceh (Atieh), a region on the extreme north of Sumatra, has always been specific in Indonesia. Having risen in the XVI cent. as one of the trade centres and polities usual for Nusantara Atjeh using its ties with the great Moslem empires of the time tried to create a centralized structure, to which the international political situation had conduced: the struggle between the Dutch and the Portuguese in the area of the Malacca Straits and the weakening of the rival in the Malayan world, the Johore-Riau Sultanate. Atjeh had become a centre of the Moslem learning and the spread of Islam in Nusantara. However, a change in the foreign trade situation had revealed the weakness of the new structure, which as it had happened to the predecessors (Srivijaya, the Malacca Sultanate) proved to be absorbed by the local, more traditional and stable, structure. But in the situation of the disintegration of the Sultanate and its decline Islam has preserved extremely strong positions in the country and has turned a “special province” now of Aceh into the most “Islamic” region of the Republic of Indonesia.

M.M. Yakushev. Ottoman Protocol in the Relations Between the Porte and Russia (Late XVIII – Early XIX Century)

This article touches upon the subject of offi cial Ottoman protocol following the treaty of Küçüc Kaynarca up to Tanzimat in the relations between the Sublime Porte and the Russian Empire. The study of reception ceremonies in the context of diplomatic relations using both Ottoman protocol registers and detailed embassy reports presents a rich terrain for historical exploration. The disastrous defeats of the Ottomans by the Russians in the wars of 1768–1774 and 1787–1792, the loss of the Crimea convinced the Porte of the necessity to reform the Ottoman State financially, militarily and diplomatically. The development of relations with European States including Russia led to the europeanization of Ottoman diplomacy. The Ottomans had to observe the principle of reciprocity and abandon the practice of imprisoning envoys, whose states were at war with the Sublime Porte. Reception ceremonies were no longer centered on a single culture, but were determined by commonly perceptible diplomatic values. The Ottoman ceremonial tradition, which had always been based on established practice, rather then on written agreements, gave the way to customs in the European idiom. Some rituals and objects, e.g. the attire of Ottoman offi cials from headgear to garments, changed, others, like the custom of bestowing robes of honor was abolished.

M.V. Eryemina (Minz). Sheikh Tantawi’s Perception of Russian Estate Structure of the XIX Century

Egyptian Muslim scholar Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Sa‘ad at-Tantawi lived and worked in Russia about one third of his life. His main work “The description of Russia” (full name “The Present for bright with messages about Russian country”) is kept in the department of scripts of Russian National Library in Saint-Petersburg. This script is unique as it is the only monument of the XIX century Arabic Literature, devoted to the detailed description of Russia, the Russian history, the Orthodox religion and culture of this period in particular. This work has a signifi cant importance for the cultural, ethnographical, historical, geographic, language and literature studies, which remains translated partially and unappreciated till this moment.

This article reviews parts of the script telling about Russian estate structure. Meanwhile the cultural context features and cross-cultural cooperation are taken into account. We also try to bring to light the level of the Arab Muslim tradition influence on the author’s (Tantawi’s) interpretation of Russian estate structure.

N. Ter-Oganov. The Persian Cossack Brigade: a Period of Transformation (1894–1903)

The Persian Cossack brigade was one of the most extraordinary concessions ever obtained by a foreign power in Iran. At the turn of the XIX–XX century when the British-Russian rivalry in Iran had reached the highest point the Persian Cossack brigade became a powerful military and political instrument of the Russian influence at the Shah’s court. Consequently, the strengthening of the Persian Cossack brigade’s position in Iran was beginning to answer the foreign policy tasks of Russia in this country. It is not accidental at all that the qualitative growth of the brigade as also the rise of the status of its Russian commander in 1895 and then in 1900 coincided exactly with the period of the highest activity of Russian policy in Iran (1894–1903).

The rise of the status of the Russian commander of the brigade colonel V.A. Kossogovsky when he found himself directly subordinate to prime-ministrer Ali Asgar-Khan Amin os-Soltan and then of Mozaffar ed-Din-Shah not in a small degree contributed to the further strengthening of the political influence of Russia at the Shah’s court.

Seeing the brigade as Russia’s outpost in Iran England from the time of its formation was trying hard to get its cancellation or, at least the weakening of its position.

V.M. Akhmedov. The Military and the Political Islam in the Near East: the Framework of Mutual Relations and the Limits of Cooperation

The study of the peculiarities of the cooperation of the institutions of traditional society and the army makes it possible to understand to what degree the belonging to the military strengthens the officers’ secular world outlook and the secular character of the army. It allows to predict the politics in the conditions of ethnic and religions conflicts and determine the ability of the military to settle such confl icts.

A.N. Lankov. North Korea after 2002: the Attempts of Counterreforms

From the beginning of the 1990-s the social and political system of North Korea created after the post-war USSR’s model was in a deep crisis. In 2002 the authorities decided to carry out moderate reforms. But some improvement in the econonic situation did not bring about further reform. On the contrary from 2004 the government of North Korea began to carry out the policy of counterreforms. During the recent time the authorities of the Korean Democratic People’s Rebuplic have been trying to revive – at least partially – the system of the social and economic relations of the time of Kim Ir Sung.

Organizing the discussion of A.V. Akimov’s article (Vostok/Oriens, 2009, No. 4) written by him of the basis of his book “The year 2300: the global problems and Russia” (M., 2008) the editorial staff has been led by the scientifi c significance of the problems raised by the author of the article (and of the book). The subject concerns the probable consequences for the character and forms of the interaction of modern civilizations as a result of the growth of the number of the “third world’s” population with the decrease of the people in the developed world in the near and distant future. The scientific analysis of the mentioned problems has also a politically practical aspect, for its results cannot be but considered in the attempts of the international community to overcome the dissent and distrust on different levels which exist between the civilizations and cultures and, thus, to lower the international, interreligious and interethnic tension on the ways to the creation of the mutual understanding and agreement between them.

N.M. Shuyskaya. The Social and Political Picture of Arab Society in the Works by Woman Writer Gada as-Saman

Gada as-Saman, born in Damascus in 1942, is rightly considered one of the stars of the first magnitude on the sky of the Arab literature. In her works devoted to the fates of people in Syria and Lebanon, where the writer moved in the second half of the 1960-s, great attention is given to the social and political aspects of the Arab society’s life. The writer’s memory keeps all, beginning from 1948, the Arab-Israeli wars, and she herself belongs to the generation eager to get moral independence and clearly feeling the necessity of changes in social relations. This article is devoted to the analysis of the short stories by Gada as-Saman.

S. Shokhzoda. Security Mechanisms in Central Asia: the Theory and Practice

In 1970–1980 because of an energy crisis and the changes connected with it non-military aspects of the policy of ensuring security became topical. The influence of the consequences of these transformations and other factors on the bipolar system proved to be so great that two decades later it ceased to exist. With the collapse of the USSR the areas of responsibility and the centres of taking decisions have multiplied, for the USA has not been able on its own and alone bear the load of financing the security policy. Therefore the norms of the international law in the fi eld of providing the global security have ceased to reflect the reality. As a result the regional subsystems of security have started to developed.