The article examines the main vectors for the implementation of the state information policy. Priorities, strategic goal-setting and tactical tasks of the state information policy are examined on the example of the city of Moscow in the context of topical problems of reputation management.

Key words: state and society, information policy, public relations, tactical tasks, goal-setting, reputation management.

 

This article conducts an analytical review of the predominant modern theories of the ethnic origins of the population of ancient Troy and the historical veracity of the images of the Trojan War described in Homer's poems. Schliemann, Blegen and Dörpfeld’s excavations were once thought to have confirmed the historicity of the legend of the Trojan War. However, as early as the late XIX century, serious studies appeared demonstrating that the material culture and housekeeping practices of the Homeric heroes did not correspond to the cultural environment of the Mycenaean civilization and should be associated with a later period.

Works by M. Parry and A. Lord (1920-1930), M. Finley (1954), M. Ventris and J. Chadwick (1953) and the results of a more detailed analysis of the archaeological data obtained by C. Blegen imbued the question of the reliability of the evidence of the Trojan War with new urgency. One hypothesis suggested that stories about Ilion and Troy from different ethnic and cultural traditions of the Greek world and even from different epochs had been conflated. This hypothesis is supported by Hittite sources, in which the names "Wilusa" and "Taruisa" appear. Scientists have identified these names with the Homeric Ilion and Troy, respectively, and these titles clearly refer to geographically distinct locations. A number of researchers have argued that Homer accurately described the war waged by the Greeks with Ilion and that Troy, which was located near the kingdom of Ilion, has not yet been found.

Curiously, the Hittite documents contain no mention of major hostilities in the region of Troas. However, this omission has not prevented several researchers from demonstrating the historicity of the Trojan War. According to Rismag Gordeziani, a recognized Soviet expert on Homeric history, the Trojan cycle may reflect the events of a great war that occurred throughout western Anatolia between 1260 and 1220 B.C. and led to the destruction of Assuva, an anti-Hittite coalition of states in Asia Minor that coincides with the list of Troy’s allies in Homer’s Iliad. Alternatively, A. Volkov and N. Nepomnyashchy, two Russian experts on the Hittites, proposed that the Trojan War described by Homer could have been the Greek-Hittite war that began after the loss of the Greek colony in Miletus. Having lost their advanced post in Asia Minor, Ahhijava attempted to secure a foothold in another part of the peninsula, namely, in Troy.

The question of the ethnicity of the Trojans is problematic. The predominant theory for many years was that Homer's Troy was inhabited by ethnic Greeks (as proposed by, e.g., C. Blegen, A. Goetze, and J. Mellaart). However, the findings of M. Korfmann in the early 1990s suggested that in the Bronze Age, Troy was a part of Central Anatolian, not Mycenaean, civilization.

Thus, although the results of archaeological excavations do not provide convincing proof of the historicity of the Trojan War, ancient Oriental documents convincingly demonstrate this possibility. The Achaeans indeed undertook military campaigns in Asia Minor, colonized its coast, and went to war against the Hittites and even the Egyptians. Moreover, along Central Anatolia’s short-distance lines of defense, two strongholds—Wilusa and Taruisa—were able to fully deter the intense attacks of the Achaean forces. 

Key words: history, philosophy, archeology, mythology, ancient Greece, Hittite Empire, Homer, "Iliad", Troy.

 

Colour revolutions, hybrid wars (informational and psychological warfare as part of it) and controlled chaos theory start playing sufficiently big role in the recent development of the world political process, for which relatively new instruments of political reality formation are distinctive.   Thematic justification is determined by the potential threat being common to the so called “bloodless”, but illegal change of power of the state; relative novelty of the techniques above mentioned; its destructive power for the grounds of modern states as well as insufficiently worked out countermeasures to this negative phenomenon.

Key words: political technology, color revolution, a coup, a hybrid war, controlled chaos, soft power, smart power, information society, destructiveness, safety.

 

The characteristic of some publicity and scientific works in issues of manipulation of social consciousness is given. The article analyzes the tools, which the authors use for manipulation of facts from history and now.

Key words: manipulation, kinds and tools of manipulation, classification, counterarguments, pomor.

 

Symbols of national identity function as signs identifying the ethnos and genetic memory of the culture. In the traditional everyday life ordinary consciousness uses these symbols as “self-evident”. Based on the similarities between the everyday and the mythological consciousness, the author considers the structure and mechanism of functioning of these symbols as self-designation and spatial representations in the culture of Sakha (Yakutia) as an example.

Key words: self-awareness, daily routine, symbol, identity, ethnicity, traditional culture, everyday consciousness, the collective unconscious, relevance.

 

The contemporary relationship between Russian and Western Balkans can be attributed to the renewed Russian energy interests in the Western Balkans and Serbian regions. The proposed South Stream project is supposed to transport Russian oil and gas through the Western Balkans and Serbia region to the European continent, so it has generated interest among various countries interested in the energy project. Russian energy projects in the field of transport infrastructure in the region largely correspond to the energy interests of Serbia. most. Beside that, Russian energy companies are trying to seize the energy infrastructure of Serbia and the Balkans, and in the last decade have been quite successfull in it.

Key words: Russia, Serbia, Energy, South Stream, Europe.