Valdai Club

And, fortunately, the quality of modern communications makes interaction with us easier. Relatively recently, institutions akin to Valdai – an international intellectual community – were practically unable to make public the results of their research and understanding of the developments independently. No matter how deep the reflections of, for example, the Club of Rome were, non-members of the Club's sessions could only learn about them from newspapers, magazines, television or radio, or books. The current communication situation turns every website into a media outlet.

The website of the Valdai Discussion Club is no exception. The resource allows anyone anywhere on the planet to read, hear or watch the opinions of Valdai experts at any moment, to find and observe discussions between them and even – in certain conditions and in a certain form – to participate in them.

We really hope that our content will not be only academic or aimed at discussing fundamental issues of modern times. We believe that on our website you will find expert opinions about events unfolding practically in front of our eyes.

Speaking about the topics and problems that we believe to be worthy of attention, there are practically no boundaries here. Pure international politics is not the only subject of our studies. At least because ultimately politics is the result of influence of many forces and takes place in a certain environment. The economy and climate, achievements of medicine and biology, new technologies, whether peaceful or military, and many, many other nuances determine the functioning of the modern world, form the model of political, social, economic and cultural conduct.

As I mentioned earlier, the choice of topics for analysis and debates within the framework of the Valdai Discussion Club is largely akin to the approach formed, for instance, at the Renaissance-era Florentine Academy of Marsilio Ficino (although, I would like to note that such academies were numerous). In particular, bringing a problem into view requires understanding of its topicality, as well as the presence of a thinker or thinkers capable of analyzing it and offering top-level solutions. Many ignoramuses, including diligent ones, cannot be a substitute for one brilliant mind.

I would also like to note a sort of intellectual optimism inherent in the Valdai Discussion Club. If we look at the common tone of intellectual products stemming from reflections about the current situation in the world, we see an explicit eschatological sentiment, an agitated and anxious perception of the developments, horror-struck assertion of mounting hardships, dangerous challenges, and justified and unjustified fears.

It goes without saying that humanity has always been keen on instilling fear into itself. Apocalyptic awe has been widespread throughout all ages and has spawned the majority of religions across the world. However, if such sentiments had prevailed, humanity would not possess the opportunities it has today. Without intellectual optimism, without faith in the power of the human mind to solve any problems, without a free discussion of intellectually free and fearless people, confident that tomorrow will be better than today, humanity would have probably died out or been doomed to a wretched existence.

We really hope that our website will become a field for free and unprejudiced discussions, for sound and honest analysis that can help understand the developments and find solutions to the most crucial modern problems.