The political economy of the resource curse in Russia

The resource curse is a concept that is becoming increasingly relevant to describe the politico-economic risk that Russia's natural resource wealth poses to its development. This article discusses this adverse effect of the fundamental resource industries on the politico-economic development of a country. It explores the degree to which this logic is particularly applicable to Russia. It also discusses the counterargument to this logic and provides some comments on the possible extrication from this undesirable development outcome.<br />

Web publishing revisited-a case study of literary websites in Russia

The concept of web publishing has been widely discussed in IS research literature since the WWW emerged. The discussion in various publications often revolves around the issues of business success and profitability, web design, and effective content presentation. This paper is a study of one of the &ldquo;unknown&rdquo; segments of the Internet - a family of websites publishing literary works in the Russian language. We demonstrate that the innovative model adopted by site owners in building the relationships with the site customers, and the information technology selected for the sites can play a crucial role in the success of a web-based venture. Our analysis is based on the concepts of virtual community and socio-technical interaction. We discuss the&nbsp; contribution of this case not only to the innovative use of the Web-based business models, but also to the new forms of literary life and national&nbsp; culture. Some of the concepts, principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and communities worldwide.<br />

Virtual non-profit organisations : literary virtual communities in Russia

This paper is a study of one of the &quot;unknown&quot; segments of the Internet - non-profit ventures in the Russian language. Based on the understanding of the concept of virtual community we consider the family of free publishing literary websites. We discuss their experience to demonstrate their contribution not only to the national culture, but also to the creation of open and democratic society in the former communist world, and to new forms of literary life. Some of the innovative concepts, principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and communities worldwide.<br />

Reflection of eGovernance on websites of India and Russia

Governments of the developing countries have been exploring new ways to allow participation of citizens in the governance, enabled by the Internet revolution. In this paper, we have explored, through a preliminary analysis of national government web sites, the attempts of two developing nations -- India and Russia, to establish digital governance. We have used the KPMG E-Commerce maturity model, WiIIcoks eBusiness evolution model and the WebQual site analysis tool as a theoretical framework to analyse the website performance and content, as a social construct that reflects government intentions, attitudes, digital governance directions and policies.<br />

Fusulinoideans from the early Midian (late Middle Permian) Metadoliolina dutkevitchi-Monodiexodina sutchanica Zone of the Senkina Shapka section, South Primorye, Far East Russia.

Fusulinoideans from the <i>Metadoliolina dutkevitchi-Monodiexodina sutchanica </i>Zone of the lower part of the Chandalaz Formation in the Senkina Shapka section in South Primorye, Far East Russia, are described. The fusulinoidean zone is assigned to the early Midian (=Capitanian: late Middle Permian) based mainly on the morphologie and biostratigraphic characteristics of <i>Metadoliolina dutkevitchi</i>. Previously, a Midian age has been established for the <i>Metadoliolina dutkevitchi-Monodiexodina sutchanica</i> Zone by the coexistence of <i>Lepidolina </i>species. However, the occurrence of <i>Lepidolina </i>with the two zonal species in this area has not been verified by the illustration of <i>Lepidolina </i>specimens. We examined a fusulinoidean-bearing sample from the <i>Metadoliolina dutkevitchi</i>-<i>Monodiexodina sutchanica </i>Zone, and three fusulinoidean species, <i>Monodiexodina sutchanica</i>, <i>Pseudofusulina </i>sp. and <i>Metadoliolina dutkevitchi</i>, are de-scribed and illustrated.<br />

Virtual non-profit organisations: literary virtual communities in Russia

This paper is a study of one of the &ldquo;unknown&rdquo; segments of the Internet - non-profit ventures in the Russian language.Based on the understanding of the concept of virtual community we consider the family of free publishing literary websites. We discuss their experience to demonstrate their contribution not only to the national culture, but also to the creation of open and democratic society in the former communist world, and to new forms of literary life. Some of the innovative concepts, principles and practices, adopted on those sites may be of interest to the Internet developers and<br />communities worldwide.<br />

Palaeobiogeography and palaeogeographical implications of Permian marine bivalve faunas in Northeast Asia (Kolyma–Omolon and erkhoyansk–Okhotsk regions, northeastern Russia)

The paper considers the biogeography and palaeogeographic implications of the Permian marine bivalve faunas of Northeast Asia, with a focus on the dynamic relationships between biotic similarities and palaeogeographic distance through an interval of ca. 50 million years. A stage-by-stage time series analysis of the biotic similarities between two previously recognized biochores in Northeast Asia, the Kolyma&ndash;Omolon and Verkhoyan&ndash;Okhotsk provinces, has been carried out using both the Jaccard and Dice similarity indices based on the spatio-temporal distributions of 355 Permian marine bivalve species in Northeast Asia. The outcome of this analysis, combined with other empirical data and previously published tectonic, sedimentological and palaeontological information, suggests that (1) the bivalve faunas from these two provinces were distinctive from one another as two separate biochores throughout all but the earliest (Asselian) Permian stages and (2) the biotic similarities between the Verkhoyan&ndash;Okhotsk and Kolyma&ndash;Omolon provinces remained consistently low since Sakmarian, all falling well below the minimum threshold of the Jaccard index of 0.42 required for distinguishing marine biotic provinces. We interpret these below-threshold Jaccard biotic similarities as an indication of significant palaeogeographic separation between the Verkhoyan-Okhotsk and Kolyma&ndash;Omolon provinces, which is in turn considered to indicate rifting and seafloor spreading of the Omolon microcontinent and associated terranes and island arcs away from the North Asian craton, at least from the Sakmarian to the beginning of the Late Permian. <br />Palaeo-distance separation appears to be the primary and most significant biogeographic determinant in accounting for the differences in the spatial distribution of most Permian bivalve species in Northeast Asia. Several other variables also appear to have played a significant role, including regional climate conditions, ocean currents and merged island chains as geographic barriers. In particular, the relatively high biotic similarity between the Verkhoyan&ndash;Okhotsk and Kolyma&ndash;Omolon provinces during the Late Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian may have been related to the shallowing of the deep-water basins (Oimyakon, Ayan-Yuryakh, Balygychan and Sugoi basins) that had previously separated the two provinces and the flooding (submergence) of the Okhotsk&ndash;Taigonos volcanic arc system, thus allowing the invasion of lower latitude warm-water Palaeotethyan and even Gondwanan species into Northeast Asia.<br />

Russia's Soviet nostalgia trip

It is strange to see so many symbols of the Soviet past alive and well in Russia. It is too simplistic to say this reflects nostalgia for Soviet times. Much of it is personal nostalgia. The intertwining of private and public memory is complex.<br />