The essays by the RAS Academician Robert Nigmatulin, published in the form of a small monograph, are based on his lectures at St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions and his presentations at Russian and international conferences. These essays are remarkable in that they raise the most pressing sociopolitical and science issues. The four phenomena mentioned in the headline-the key issues of our time-are discussed in the four chapters of the book, with economy and ethnos being discussed in most detail. Responding to Nigmatulin's call that scientists must analyze the concerns of their Fatherland, not only those associated with their narrow professional field, I make brief comments on some (far from all!) of the issues raised by the author in the order in which they come in his book
