“In a land of shadows where the state has all the power and all the secrets and its citizens have neither, simple survival can require at least a dialogue, if not a deal, with the devil. The lines separating prudence from cowardice, silence from acquiescence and compromise from collaboration can …

REVIEW TOPICS: Novaya Gazeta blames Russian secret services, army special-task troops on involvement in death squads Russia seeks British help in Litvinenko’s death probe, asks for permission to interview more than 100 people Russia’s FSB hosts informal meeting of 118 security services from 55 countries

REVIEW TOPICS: Purge in Bulgaria’s security services, National Security Service head sent as ambassador to Africa Czechs and Slovaks agree to split military archives Poland’s Communist-era security police members to lose high pensions

REVIEW TOPICS: The Kremlin might be interested in removal of Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, political analyst speculates President Lukashenko’s elder son introduced into Security Council of Belarus Kyrgyz opposition leader detained in Bishkek airport, faces legal charges

Serbia goes to the poll on 21st January. Since October when a new Constitution was adopted by referenda the county goes through an everlasting electoral fever, which, without any wonder, causes an electoral fatigue

REVIEW TOPICS: Special meeting of Polish bishops after Archbishop Wielgus affair In Krakow, Poland, a book will identify priests, whose name were found in Communist secret police files CIA secret document publicized crimes by Croatian paramilitaries’ leader

REVIEW TOPICS: German BND to investigate reasons of oil pipeline shut down Second prominent Polish churchman, Dean of Krakow’s Wawel Cathedral, quits in spy scandal Vatican says it knew nothing of Archbishop Wielgus’s past 

REVIEW TOPICS: British inspectors know who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko¼br /> Berezovsky is sure he will not be exchanged for Litvinenko case participants Russian diplomat’s mysterious death possibly related to murder of Litvinenko

On the Christmas Eve, the parliamentary foreign relation commission in Latvia decided to back the current presidential Chief of Staff as the country’s next ambassador to the United States.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Sudan’s visiting Defense Minister Field Marshal Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein met with Iran’s Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel here in Tehran on Sunday.