The global strategy of the United States is characterized by a great degree of continuity, adherence to basic ideas of American ideology, aims, tasks, and the methods of realization of national American interests, though different administrations bring tactical minor changes to the real policy and official rhetoric. Similar trend is seen when we describe and analyze the US strategy towards Russia. The hypothesis of the author is the following: American policy towards Russia has been developing within a quite clear historical paradigm of confrontational competition; American actions do not depend on whether the Russian State exists as the USSR or the Russian Federation. The dominant factor defining this kind of confrontational strategy is that Russia remains one of the leading world powers that is playing a very influential role in international relations and the world order formation, demonstrates an opposite to American view of global governance and world development. In the US, it is seen as a serious obstacle to the realization of the American concept of world liberal order - a monocentric /US centric world order.

Restoration by Russia of a great power status after the dissolution of the Soviet Union has not been fully predicted and is unacceptable to the US, and first of all, to the ruling political elite. Opposition and criticism of Russia has been growing since 1995, and in the 2010s the deterrence of Russia evolved into a new cold war. Cold war confrontation between the US and Russia during the Trump administration became large scale and multifaceted, and could be characterized as a political, economic, and information war. There is a quite clear consensus on the Russia issue between the representatives of Congress, political parties and the groups of interest, mass media and think tanks, the representatives of intelligence community and some federal agencies. The article suggests the analysis of the views and recommendations of the leading think tanks as their influence on the policy towards Russia has been quite visible during all administrations. Though the Trump administration is in opposition to practically all liberal media (the majority of all mass media) and think tanks, the policy of the United States towards Russia is being formulated within the traditional paradigm. The author suggests a structural realist school of thinking as the most relevant for the better understanding of the situation in the Russian-American relations.

In 2015, the attention of Western researchers was attracted by the concept introduced by Timothy Dye, the American political scientist, who described Big Data analysis as an invaluable resource for the foreign policy of states. Its relevance is evident as in 2020 the methods of data collection, processing, and usage in the projects of digital diplomacy were successfully implemented by the governing bodies in the United States, Russia, China, Iran, Brazil, and others. Thanks to the interest of the countries in Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Europe in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), this trend is sure to take a global character. Some authors consider this advancement of digital diplomacy to be a promising leap into the future, but others - a huge threat to cybersecurity around the world. The purpose of this article is to study a new technology for the development of foreign policy influence called (Big) Data Diplomacy through the analysis of the publications of authoritative scholars and experts from the United States. The American experts are the first drivers for the introduction of the Big Data Diplomacy to word politics. Therefore, the present paper examines the expert community’s views on the Data Diplomacy and reveals the essence, functions, qualitative characteristics, and the main challenges emanating from this new digital instrument in relation to the foreign policy of various countries. In conclusion, we have formulated the general conclusions regarding the vision of the concept of Data Diplomacy and its impact on world politics.

The article covers the history of founding the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the interaction of Iran and this organization, as well as the prospects and benefits that Iran will receive if it joins it. The author supposes that if such a union happens, among the advantages and benefits of Iran in foreign policy there will be overcoming of isolation on the international arena, the ability to successfully resist the Western pressure, strengthening of peace, security and good neighborliness in the vast region of Eurasia, as well as intensifying of political and economic relations with the culturally close states of Central and South Asia. Furthermore, Iran’s entry into the organization will bring about its economic stabilization: Iran will have the opportunity to increase exports of its main source of income - oil, and begin to actively export its goods to the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This will lead to a significant increase in the standard of living within Iran, as well as to an increase in its economic power, and therefore to its political weight in the region and the world.

The article examines the relations between Russia and the member states of the European Union in the period from 2014 to 2019. Methodologically, the author assumes that the European Union is a heterogeneous structure that affects the Russian-European relations. This is especially true for the foreign policy field where each EU state pursues its own interests. The author sets a task to study the impact of the differences between the EU member states on the dynamics of their relations with Russia through quantitative analysis. Within the confines of the empirical study, the dependent variable is presented as the state of the relations between the EU countries and the Russian Federation, and it is operationalized by an event study. To identify the differences between the EU states, the author proposes to use a set of factors such as the duration of EU membership, dependence on the trade with the Russian Federation, the type of democracy and the great power identification. Mann-Whitney U-test is the tool to investigate the connections between the variables. The result of the quantitative analysis demonstrates that in the period under review it was only the factor of belonging of a number of EU member states to the great powers that had a significant impact on their relations with Russia.

The article examines the main challenges to the national security of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region. In particular, the author analyzes the reasons for the behavioral patterns of Russia and the NATO countries in relation to the Arctic through the prism of a realistic paradigm in the theory of international relations. It is the comprehensive approach to the consideration of the Arctic situation that determines the novelty and relevance of the study.

In connection with the discovery and development of large mineral deposits, the role of the Arctic region in modern world political processes has increased. Also, since the late 20th - early 21st century, the Arctic has been in the focus of increased attention of international actors due to its geopolitical importance. All this makes it a priority for Russia.

The intensification of the economic activity of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, as well as the implementation of such projects as the Northern Sea Route, has become the cause of the growing tensions in the region. The United States and other NATO countries, whose geopolitical interests are affected, are not only strengthening their anti-Russian rhetoric, but also increasing their military presence. In turn, this is perceived by the Russian side as a strategic threat and leads to mirror measures, including the deployment of a military infrastructure and an increase in the number of military exercises. However, despite growing tensions in the Arctic, Russia has consistently demonstrated its readiness for open dialogue and cooperation with its Western partners.

The article is devoted to the Blitz commemorations of the citizens of London. Such WWII memoirs are extremely precious since they give the reader a first-person view of the witness’s actions, feelings, experiences. Reminiscences make us deeply involved in different events of the Blitz, showing both the unbelievable ruthlessness of the enemy and the endeavor of the citizens of the British capital to retain their human nature. The Blitz period has originated a lot of accounts connected with the scale of bombardment. The present paper tackles the recollections of renowned writers, war correspondents, artists, people at work - firefighters and local defense volunteers. Ordinary citizens - grown-ups and children - were also among the onlookers. Ernie Pyle, a famous journalist, presented a description of blanket night bombings, one of which resulted in the Second Great Fire of London. Virginia Woolf did not only describe her feelings during an air raid but also reflected on future peace. Eyewitnesses’ accounts convey the images of devastation, sufferings, horror. And, at the same time, people stayed heroic and defiant, they continued living among the ruins - sheltering, developing their own mini-governments in the Tube, playing cricket amidst debris, digging for victory. Moreover, as Henry Morton, another famous journalist and traveler, reported, Londoners had not lost their sense of humor even under unrelenting bombardment. The documentary sources indicate that the spirits were high: the old and the young, the rich and the poor were getting along, joined together. Those people were not going to give up, they turned out to be staunch to the end. Many scholars tend to think that the courage of Britons during the Blitz, their determination and confidence in victory have brought about the British national identity.

Research institutions and specifically think tanks have existed and developed in the United States for more than 100 years. Since their inception, they have changed and evolved in many ways, while expanding their research foci and political impact. Since the 2010s, a few experts in the field have observed that the U.S. policy expertise is now in crisis. To understand current challenges of policy analysis institutions it is important to study them in a historical retrospective. This article explores the political and socioeconomic contexts in which think tanks emerged and developed from 1910 to the 1950-s. It particularly examines the role of international crises, as well as domestic political factors, such as the role of philanthropy organizations, institutional changes in the government, and others. It discusses how these domestic and foreign policy aspects affected the early development of the Carnegie Endowment for the International Peace (1910), the Council on Foreign Relations (1921) and the RAND Corporation (1948).

Nowadays there exist many works dedicated to the Russian Abroad and its multifaceted cultural heritage. The Russian documentary historical and cultural legacy brought by Russian emigrants is the most striking evidence of the spirituality of the Russian emigration; it also demonstrates its significance in preserving the national unity in the emigrant community. Moreover, by reviewing those sources, we can evaluate the role of the Russian emigration in maintaining the historical traditions of the Russian Diaspora. This article will analyze the data connected with the language adaptation of the Russian emigrants of the first wave in the First Republic of Czechoslovakia; it is this aspect that can allow us a deeper look at all the aspects of emigration, as well as provide a possibility to learn about the everyday life of our compatriots in a foreign land. The aim of the research is to study the linguistic adaptation of the Russian emigrants in Czechoslovakia in the interwar period, to reveal their attitude towards the necessity to learn the Czech and Slovak languages and to analyze the methods of mastering those languages. As a result of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that not all emigrants wanted to learn the Czech and Slovak languages; they did not see any need for that, since they were confident they would return to their motherland. However, over time and with no hope of returning, the emigrants who had remained in Czechoslovakia started displaying a growing interest in learning the language and culture of the host country that was to become their second motherland.