On February 21-22, the Valdai Discussion Club, with the support of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, holds its eleventh Middle East Conference. The speakers of the fifth session discussed cultural change and societal attitudes in the Middle East. John Bell, Director, The Conciliators Guild (Great Britain); Andrey Kortunov, Director General, Russian International Affairs Council; Vasily Kuznetsov, Head of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of the Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Oriental Faculty of the State Academic University for the Humanities. The session was moderated by Dareen Khalifa, Senior Analyst on Syria, International Crisis Group (Egypt).