TODAY: Medvedev emphasizes need for new personnel.  NATO to resolve differences with Russia soon, Clinton wants Russia dialogue in light of Iranian threat; Russian scholar predicts US demise…again and again.  Khodorkovsky judge will not step down; Bakhmina ruling delayed; China arms sale scam.

President Dmitry Medvedev is concerned that his new Golden 1,000 recruitment drive will create a new Soviet nomenklatura, but insists that new people are needed in top Kremlin positions, blaming eroded government efficiency on the failure to regularly rotate top officials.  He also urged his government to recruit more women, apparently after receiving a reproach from Spain.  NATO will aim for a high-level meeting with Russia soon if alliance ministers agree to resume formal ties at today’s meeting.  Russia’s NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, said that the ‘period of estrangement’ was ‘largely behind us‘.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has insisted on the importance of dialogue on missile defense with Russia, emphasizing what the US perceives as a serious threat from Iran.  Russian scholar Igor Panarin predicts imminent US collapse.  ‘He also noted he had been predicting the demise of the world’s wealthiest country for more than a decade now.’