FROM THE EDITOR

This issue pursues a number of themes that have figured in past issues: relations among Siberian regions (RAS No. 12), the criminal economy (RAS No. 13), and the history of the Cold War (RAS No. 5). Under the latter heading we have a pair of pieces that show how the intelligence agencies on each side vastly exaggerated the other side's economic potential.

Projects for new oil and gas pipelines are usually analyzed from the point of view of economics and geopolitics. But they also have important implications for the environment. This is the focus of the ecology section in the current issue.

RAS No. 17 will be a special historical issue on the first post-revolutionary years. The next special issue, to follow later in the year, will be on the theme "Russia and globalization."

-- Stephen Shenfield