Around the Bloc: Fugitive Russian Banker Sues Kremlin for Stripping His Assets
Sergei Pugachev was once known as ‘Putin’s banker’ for his close ties in the Kremlin.
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Sergei Pugachev was once known as ‘Putin’s banker’ for his close ties in the Kremlin.
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Anti-quota bloc appears to be winning the day.
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Latest spectacular find at this crossroads of the ancient world.By TOL
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Russia accuses Ukrainian military pilot in murder of two journalists in the eastern war zone.
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Lack of worship space forces many of Moscow’s 2 million Muslims to pray in the streets.
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Hungary may be unable to transfer 54,000 asylum seekers to other EU states.
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The article presents the results of research on spatial changes related to the implementation of the investment over the last decade. The study comprised nearly thirty towns and villages in Małopolska Region, where such investments have taken place. They were aimed at increasing the attractiveness of public spaces, development of economic activity, acceleration of urbanization by increasing the housing areas, and improvement of the health resorts and infrastructure related to environmental protection and transport network. The studies were conducted in the years 2010–2013. The results reveal that the largest amount of investment has taken place in the past few years. Most of it are small projects. Apart from infrastructural investments, they were largely aimed at improving the quality of public spaces in towns and villages.
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This article is the result and partial summary of the author’s research on thespatial degradation of Poznań metropolitan area – a complex problem, which is brieflydiscussed in this work. The aim of the article is to present the most successful examplesof contemporary buildings in the analysed area that are in contrast to the majority ofbuildings, which do not respect the cultural legacy and building tradition of the region.It shows that it is possible to successfully combine modern design with traditionalforms and that such an approach always gives benefits to the surrounding area and itsspatial order. The scarcity of such buildings proves that the level of architecturalawareness of society regarding local building traditions and cultural heritage ofWielkopolska is low. It also results in progressing spatial degradation of suburban areas.This elaboration shows that the recipe for improvement of spatial order in Poznańagglomeration is to propagate the knowledge of cultural identity of this region andpromote correspondence of contemporary architecture to the local building traditions.
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The picture of Polish space is predominantly influenced by local planning regulations. Nevertheless, in the era of market freedom, exuberance of investment processes and overinterpretation of property rights, local spatial policy faces a great challenge. It must reconcile economic growth with rationality of planning activities. It is very difficult in a situation when there is freedom of construction associated with the right to build freely on your own land. It is simply impossible to stick to basic priorities of spatial planning such as spatial order and sustainable development as every piece of space becomes a potential investment area. Practice shows that contemporary spatial planning diverges from the assumptions of sustainable development and rational shaping of spatial structures. It is very often synonymous with finally approving investment areas and making new building land available. This leads to excessive spatial urbanization fostered by local government units also in small towns. The process of earmarking considerably large areas for development is under way even though it has no reflection in actual investment needs. It results in chaotic parcellation and expansion of urbanized areas. Nowadays spatial planning is dominated by the freedom of construction principle, which takes into consideration the wishes of the potential investor. There is no tradition of thrifty management of space, which is a particularly precious and limited asset serving both present and future generations.
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The observed changes in Małopolska health resorts that have resulted inimproving the quality of their public spaces and technical infrastructure over the last10 years, are directly related to the effective financing with EU funds obtained bymunicipalities and health resort companies. The implementation of costly investmentsprovides a basis for further economic development of these localities, as well asstrengthens the position of Małopolska spas among other Polish and European spas.On the example of selected spas the author presents the improvements taking place,with special regard to investments co-financed from EU funds.
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This article presents reflections on the role of centres of small towns as localstructural nodes in the polycentric space of the metropolitan region. After explaining thetheoretical assumptions of the research approach to this issue, the author described theproblematic situation of the central part of Skawina near Cracow and outlined proposalsconcerning municipal projects to be financed by the European Union.
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The purpose of this article is to present some changes which have occurred in urban fabric of chosen small towns in recent years, and their effect on the attractiveness of urban space. The changes are connected with the development and transformation of the functional and spatial structure of towns, and are accelerated by the European Union funds. First of all, the condition of infrastructure as well as the quality of urban space have been improved. New facilities have been built and the most attractive spaces have been renovated. As a result of the changes that have taken place new opportunities have appeared for towns to become more competitive, basing on their individual features and local conditions. However, they are facing new problems connected with their new character, functions and bigger sizes. Also, a new image attracts other types of investors.
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The development of shopping malls affects in different ways the outer areasof large cities. It can result in changes in the economy, labour market, consumerbehaviour, and land-use planning. The negative effect can be the disappearance of theeconomic foundations of the functioning of business entities in small towns, whichprovide services to the surrounding rural areas, while the positive effect can be thedeclining prices and improving quality of the services offered. The aim of this work isto assess the impact of shopping malls on entrepreneurs operating in small towns andrural areas, located in the southern sub-region of Silesian Voivodeship, in the zone ofinfluence of the city of Bielsko-Biała. On the basis of a survey conducted in 2012 amongentrepreneurs in selected municipalities of the Bielsko-Biała sub-region, the economicimpact of shopping centers is presented. Shopping centers are direct competition fora small number of the entrepreneurs surveyed (only 7% of the total number). Loss ofcustomers has been offset by new orders. Especially the new, friendly forms of shoppingare appreciated. Shopping malls are competition for entrepreneurs but also contribute toimproving the quality and competitiveness of the services provided.
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Transport accessibility is one of the most important research topics ingeography of transport. Accessibility analysis allows not only for the creation ofdiagnoses relating to the movement of people and goods, but primarily contributes to theconduct of appropriate transport policy, which reflects an important dimension of theapplication of this kind of research. In the case of the Łódź region transport availabilityis of particular importance given its position in the existing (and created by the EuropeanUnion) Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). The paper presents the concept ofaccessibility and its grounding in European Union policy, and as a method to analyze thephenomenon of the potential approach has been adopted. Defining the attractiveness oftowns and identifying efficient road and rail connections made it possible to examine thetransport and settlement potential of the Łódź region, with a particular focus on smalltowns
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Humans spend an average of 80% of their lives in their households. Good housing conditions are crucial for the attractiveness of the city, its urban area and quality of life of their inhabitants. In the following text, the author focuses on two basic issues. Firstly, living conditions in small Polish towns are examined. One of the aims of this article is analysis of changes in the housing conditions of small Polish towns in the years 2004‒2010. Urban centres inhabited by less than 10 000 people are regarded as small towns (having civic rights and an adequate population in the year 2004 and in 2010). The analysis of changes in housing conditions in small Polish towns takes into account the size of the apartments, their technical and sanitary conditions, and the number of occupants. As a result, 5 groups of towns have been identified, differing in the level of infrastructure and the rate of changes. The second aim of this article is to characterize housing conditions in a small town on the example of Uniejów, a town located in the voivodeship of Łódź, and to present opinions of the residents of this town about the housing conditions. Uniejów is seen as a town of success in recent years and may indeed serve as a reference for other cities as regards the parameters analysed. The above analysis shows to what degree the economic success of a city translates into the perception of housing conditions by its residents.
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The main aim of the article is to evaluate the accessibility of statisticalinformation for small towns in Ukraine and to present the authors’ concept of changes inthis system. In the first part of the text the authors characterize the statistical informationsystem in Ukraine and present available sources of statistical data about the socio--economic situation in small towns. In the second part of the article the authors presentstheir own concept of integration of existing data sources into one system.
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Contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina is based on Dayton International Agreement, which steps out at the same time as one of the basic and fundamental postulate of state sovereignty. Based upon this, the author analyses the sovereignty problem from the aspects of philosophical reflexing, political, legal framework and state and legal development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The problem analysis of the sovereignty has been elaborated through the analysis of independence, supremacy and legal non-determination of the authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, the sovereignty problem has been explained throughout state (dis)continuity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in former Yugoslavia (federal state), which has been done through explanation of legitimacy, legality and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina (federal unit) according to Constitutions from 1946, 1963 and 1974. The character of federal constitution of Yugoslavia points out notorious fact that sovereignty undoubtedly and exclusively belongs to federation, since the one is exclusive international subject and the bearer of disposition with Kompetenz-Kompetenz (the ability of determination of its own competency). According to that, it can be concluded that the competency of competency, as the most important sovereignty element in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been exclusively charged by Federal National Republic of Yugoslavia in accordance with the Constitution from 1946 (people‟s sovereignty). And, after that the Constitutions from 1963 and 1974 had been emphasizing for the sovereign rights to be realized in socialist republics. According to this, the author bases his analysis on the legal and political foundations in order to analyses the sovereignty problem of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an autonomous, independent and sovereign country. The culmination of the research when it comes to sovereignty problem is represented by analysis of authority organization and structure according to Dayton Constitution, which emphasizes the presence of a problem for constituting of sovereign rights in Dayton Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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This paper problematizes the question of (internal) sovereignty of post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. The phenomenon of the efforts to construct Bosnia and Herzegovina through peace treaty which transformed the conflict into a peace process, as a post-sovereign non-state on the basis of the sum, or the differentiations of its ethnic-territorialities should be examined in the context of international and geopolitical conditions from the time of Dayton. From the first aspect, the issue of the sovereign in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be problematized, whether it belongs to its institutions, entities or the constituent peoples, while from the second the impact of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, institutionally and politically presented through OHR, will be analyzed thus demystifying the background of the post-Dayton constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an improvised, scenario-state. In this way, the Bosnian interventionist experiment led by the United States is trying to be shown as the cornerstone which established its unipolar, post-Cold War foreign policy, making it a global hegemon, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as an experimental area of the international community led by the United States.
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O suverenitetu drţave Bosne i Hercegovine ne moţe se govoriti izvan konteksta suvereniteta uopće. To prevashodno i preliminarno podrazumijeva kratku opservaciju elementarnih teorijskih pretpostavki tretmana pojma suverenosti. Suverenost uopće je jedna izuzetno kompleksna kategorija koja je veoma ĉesto, u skladu sa zahtjevima vremena, odnosno mijenama povijesti, mijenjala svoj sadržaj i stanovišta.
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Taking into regard the crucial facts in the acquisition and development of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the turbulent course of its history, one can rightly conclude that it is about a country with too little geography and too much history, a country placed at the crossroads of the worlds and constantly affected by big powers, the country that has been since the beginning of time influenced by cultural, political and religious waves, and taken by conquerors of different races, religions and ideologies. In such political environment, in relations of political influence in the acquisition, development, lost, recovery, as well as erosion of the state sovereignty, there are elements of the overall national, cultural, religious and any other constituents of the Bosnian being in such polychromic metamorphosis. In this sense, at the debate on the subject ” The Sovereignty of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina” of 25 February 2016, organized by the “Pregled” Journal‟s Board of Editor to mark the occasion of 24th anniversary of the Referendum on independence and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina, I tried to give my contribution by focusing and emphasizing on the forms of Bosnian statehood that in different time periods and forms of political authority had qualitatively different forms of sovereignty and identity. One question was permeating throughout this long way of development, both in periods of full and limited the sovereignty of foreign rule, “To whom Bosnia belongs?” Of course, that question was raised without taking into regard BH personal sovereignty, integrity and its nation(s). In this sense, the paper attempts to focus on certain milestones and reminiscences of Bosnian sovereignty and identity, as well as its attempts to deny, endanger, perfidiously and brutally dilute it, as it was done in the Dayton Peace Accords and continuing to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina in a perfidious manner.
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