Today's POLITICUS in the New York Times tries to fathom the extent to which NATO and the Western powers really trust Russia to cooperate in putting pressure on Iran, regarding its nuclear programme.  Whilst certain recent moves by the West suggest an element of confidence in the Kremlin's good nature, such as the Mistral deal, and, depending on who you read, the scrapping of the missile defence scheme, others imply a latent distrust.  How much trust do -- or should -- the Western allies accord Russia in attempting to get its cooperation to stop Iran's drive for nuclear weapons?And while good faith is the issue, what practical Western steps or accommodations are understood in NATO Brussels' home-office line that the allies owe Moscow recognition of its "security interests"? ...

TODAY: Security shake-up in Ingushetia; blame put on local police; Russia does tit-for-tat on diplomats; Medvedev and Peres meet to discuss Middle East, Russia to reevaluate plan for weapons to Iran?; hope for power plant disaster survivors wanes.  CPJ fears for the death of journalism.According to the BBC, President Medvedev has appointed a new interior minister in Ingushetia, Viktor Zhirnov.  Russia's Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev's has slammed local police for failing to act on a tip-off they received about the bombing.  Medvedev has sent 'battle-hardened' Deputy Interior Minister Colonel-General Yedelev to Ingushetia to put the region 'in proper order'.  Reuters reports on the 'Afghan-isation' of the North Caucasus where the Kremlin's policy of '...

– Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), the two last major investment banks left standing after the carnage Wall Street, have ended the era of investment banking by changing their status to bank holding companies. The change means the two firms can now create commercial banks that will be able to take deposits.

– The move marks a sea change on Wall Street 75 years since the Glass-Steagall Act that separated them from deposit-taking banks. The Federal Reserve will now take over from the Securities Exchange Commission as regulator of the two banks.

– “The decision marks the end of Wall Street as we have known it,” said William Isaac, a former chairman of the FDIC. “It’s too bad.”

– Concern is growing that Hank Paulson’s vast rescue plan for Wall Street may “crush” the dollar. According to Bloomberg: “The combination of spending $700 billion on soured mortgage-related assets and providing $400 …