The Power Vertical Is Seeking Support—and Finding It Far from the Capital and Regional Centers

At the next session of the Council of the Federation the law "On the General Principles of Organization of Local Self-Government in the RF" that was adopted by the State Duma will be considered. This will probably be the most difficult test for the draft law. Even those governors who understand in their minds the necessity for the changes embodied in it are not always prepared to accept them in their hearts. What will be more weighty: logic or personal ambitions? This will be clear from the way that the representatives of the regions vote in the Council of the Federation. Many analysts predict a searing battle.     

Comparison of injuries caused by the pistols Tokarev, Makarov and Glock 19 at firing distances of 10, 15 and 25cm

Firings at cloth targets and at human skin from autopsy material were performed from the pistols 7.62 mm Tokarev (TT), 9 mm Makarov (PM) and 9 x 19 mm Glock 19 with common ammunition. The differences were in the soot deposit pattern, the degree of scorching of the synthetic fibres on the edges of the entrance hole and in the findings of the soot and the gunpowder particles. The results were similar on the cloth and on the skin targets. In the case of the TT and the PM, the soot deposit patterns reminded of a blossom or shafts of rays or fans, or the bullet wipe had four narrow and four wide sections regarding the number of lands and grooves. The TT left a large amount of soot and many gunpowder particles and caused the melting of the synthetic fibres on the edges of the entrance hole, producing a defect of the material 0.1-0.3 cm in diameter and defects of textile fibres around the entrance hole. In the skin the TT caused many intraepithelial tears, folds of the epidermis and recesses of the epidermis containing soot. Firings from the PM and the Glock 19 caused the melting only of the ends of individual synthetic fibres on the edges of the entrance hole. The PM left a large amount of soot and only a few gunpowder particles. The Glock 19 gave the least soot and the greatest number of gunpowder particles and also caused tears and recesses in the epidermis. Only in the case of the Glock 19, hexagonal or polygonal zones were seen in the soot deposit pattern. The differences in the soot pattern were more distinct at the firing distance of 10 cm. By increasing the distance from 10 to 15 cm, the intensity of soot diminished and began to disappear at 25cm, but remained more visible in the case of the TT. The gunpowder particles could be found in the epidermis and deeper in both layers of the dermis at all distances fired from the TT and the Glock 19. In the case of firings from the PM, at the distance 10 cm some of the gunpowder particles had penetrated into the dermis and most of them were in the upper layer of the dermis. At the firing distance of 15 and 25 cm, the gunpowder particles were only on and in the stratum corneum.     

Luxury goods,vertical restraints and internet sales

We propose a model describing consumer demand for a luxury good, in which the perceived quality of the good is related to its scarcity. We use this model to analyze the optimal production and price setting decisions of a luxury good manufacturer and contrast them with the decisions that would be made by a social planner. We show that irrespective of the way social welfare is defined, a monopoly producer of the luxury good may select socially optimal prices and quantity. Thus the incentives of the monopolist and the social planner may to some extent be aligned. We also analyze whether the producer and social planner would be willing to sell the luxury good over the internet if this allowed to increase the number of potential customers for the product. We show that under reasonable assumptions the monopoly producer would not oppose the introduction of internet sales, whilst the social planner may do so, depending on the specification of the model’s parameters. This result is important in the light of the recent revision by the European Commission of its Guidelines on Vertical Restrains (2010).     

Proofing the Ban on `Witness Proofing’: Did the ICC Get it Right?

This paper focuses on the reasons for disaccord between the ICC and the more seasoned international criminal tribunals on the issue of allowing substantive preparation of witnesses for testifying in court. The rationales behind the opposing decisions and the ensuing debate on the legitimacy and utility of witness proofing continue to be overshadowed by competition between the ?adversarial’ and the ?inquisitorial’ ideologies unfolding in the guise of policy rhetoric. The ban on witness proofing imposed by both Pre-Trial Chamber I and Trial Chamber I of the ICC is based on a stringent application of Article 21 and the evidentiary regime in which the Court's discretion to elect the applicable rules of evidence is more circumscribed than under Rule 89 (B) of its counterparts. Although the ICC trial scheme is rather obscure, attempts to read the possibility of witness proofing into it may well reveal that the practice would be an extraneous element in the ICC procedural system characterized by a different configuration of the truth-finding mandate that eschews the concept of partisan ownership of witnesses. The antipodal judicial stances on witness preparation stem from the substantial dissimilarities between the two models of international criminal procedure, and each of them may be defended both legally and in policy terms. While there is little chance of attenuating the fragmentation of international criminal practice in this area, the ICC’s dissent may have had positive systemic effects insofar as it emphasizes the independent value of witness familiarization and the need for enhanced judicial control over witness contact.     

Comparison of injuries caused by the pistols Tokarev,Makarov and Glock 19 at firing distances of 25, 50, 75 and 100 cm

Firings in the horizontal direction at cloth targets and at human skin from autopsy material were performed using the pistols 7.62 mm Tokarev (TT), 9 mm Makarov (PM) and 9 mm × 19 mm Glock 19 with common ammunition.