Around the Bloc: Baku Threatens to Shell Karabakh Capital
Unverified reports speak of drone strikes, hundreds of ‘neutralized’ troops.
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Unverified reports speak of drone strikes, hundreds of ‘neutralized’ troops.
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The aim of the present paper is an attempt at viewing the European Union’s and Russia’s policies towards Ukraine from the perspective of crises experienced by the country and the whole area of Eastern Europe, as well as regarding the issue of security. Russia – Ukraine war drives EU decision-makers into focusing merely on stabilization of the eastern neighbourhood. On the other hand, Russia destabilises the internal situation in Ukraine and eastern neighbourhood of the EU by supporting Donetsk and Luhansk separatisms. Eastern Europe is a neighbourhood mutually shared by the EU and Russia. As a consequence, the area is vitally important for Russia and, to a lesser degree, significant for the EU. The analysis will encompass the consideration of the following research questions: Will the Ukrainian crisis result in a change of geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe? Will Ukraine become an unstable area, an area experien¬cing a next “suspended conflict”? Has Russia’s policy towards Ukraine reached its objectives? Is the current EU policy a token of EU decision-makers’ lack of vision as regards the prospective EU-Eastern Partnership countries’ (especially Ukraine) relations?
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Development could be a sign of shifting balance of power in Central Asia.
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In Moldova, U.S. military hardware removed from Chisinau square ahead of 9 May celebrations.
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Bullets fired after car refuses to stop at checkpoint, drawing ire of human rights activists.
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As tensions reached the boiling point in Nagorno-Karabakh last month, the breakaway region saw support from some unlikely allies: U.S. state governments.
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A group of seven men received sentences totaling 42 years for recruiting for the Islamic State or fighting on its behalf in Syria.
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Were ‘Taliban’ fighters crossing the Afghan border terrorists, drug smugglers, or both?
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Openly critical of the U.S. presence and policies, Kremlin officials seek deeper ties to the Kabul government – and the Taliban.
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Report on Russian brigade’s involvement in Malaysian plane’s downing over Ukraine full unworthy of ‘serious comment,’ Defense Ministry says.
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The paper seeks to show the Phenomenon of modern terrorism that started in the 1920's and is present now. Article has calling attention on puropse on global character of terror and lack of forceful manner to attempts overcoming. In first sequence are depicts the reasons of terrorism (present short historic outline leading to the most important events of terrorist's attacks and motives what terrorists use), terrorism's consequences (terrorist's attacks in last decade and important role of mass media that played in devolution of infomation about participations of terrorist's events) and this, how to belonged to defend before it (antiterrorism) from prospect of Michael Walzer – American philosopher for over thirty years concerning of the problem of using violence in international conflicts, considered of one of the most important American polemicist and public intellectual, a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey. All above-mentioned notions have been analyzed about main three Walzer's papers: "On toleration", "Just and Unjust War", and "Arguing about War".
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Police models are designed to improve safety in society. Although Estonia has not deliberately used any (combination of) police models for developing its policies of safety and its police reforms since the country regained independence, its safety has improved considerably during the last couple of decades. The scholarly discussions about police models are overwhelmingly about the possible effects of different models on safety management and about their application to particular countries. However, countries like Estonia with no consistent conceptions of police have received little attention in academic literature. We aim to fill this gap by analysing the developments of the Estonian police in its philosophical, strategic, tactical and organisational dimensions over the period between 1991 and 2013. The analysed materials include the official police development plans, legislation, statutes, training programs and statistics about the police. Our analysis shows that although safety in Estonia has improved considerably, developments of the Estonian police are characterised by internal discrepancies and inconsistencies. In view of this, we put forth some hypotheses for further studies regarding policy development in a situation where policy is not explicitly stated or where organisational reforms are seen not as “simple” or “complex” problems, but as “wicked” problems.
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Poland’s reaction to the proclamation in 1999 by the European Union – the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), was restrained, and even critical. However, after the accession to the community, the authorities of Poland have started engaging in shaping and carrying out this policy. Poland is participating in building assets and capabilities of ESDP: in the process of European rapid reaction forces generation, in creation of “battle groups”, in work of the European Defence Agency, and in building of ESDP civilian capabilities. It is engaging in the EU crisis management operations,military and civilian missions. During last years Poland is showing high activity in favour to strengthening the Common Security and Defence Policy (new name of ESDP after Lisbon Treaty); it gave the evidence of that at the time of the Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2011. In matters of strengthening the CSDP Poland cooperates closely with Germany and France within the framework of the Weimar Triangle.
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Migration is one of the characteristics of people as human beings. From early beginning people moving from one place to another. With the development of human society, this phenomenon gets more and more complex and organized. Migration, as a contemporary social phenomenon, attract the attention of almost all social sciences. Angle and definition of this phenomenon depends on the scientific field to which it belongs. Illegal migration, associated with the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of human beings, which are criminal acts of transnational organized crime, significantly increased interest in security science for this phenomenon. In addition, impact which have organized criminal groups, the security threat related to migration spreads to other forms of endangering security. In contemporary political and security situations, which are marked with a global presence of Islamist terrorist networks, migration is recognized as a serious threat of spreading transnational terrorism. Migrant wave that hit Europe this year, among other reasons, is caused by the action of so-called “Islamic state”. Hundreds of thousands of people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan fled in fear of Islamist fanatics’ terror. However, the terrorist organizations are among migrants, by their members, causing a variety of security problems on the migrant routes. That proves arresting members of terrorist organizations who were infiltrated among migrants and serious doubts that one of the suicide bombers who participated in a terrorist attack in Paris, France arrived as a refugee from Syria. In addition, such a large number of migrants from a different cultures and religions, domicile population in the receiving countries consider as a serious threat to identity. That leads to the growth of extreme-right organizations which are special form of security threat. Leaders of the European Union failed to recognize the extent of the security threat timely and did not show a willingness to make plans for joint response to the threats posed by the mass immigration of migrants. On the summit that was held in Malta in early November were created conditions for finding a common European response to the threat. The Republic of Serbia, through which from the beginning of the crisis passed around half a million refugees, has responded well so far and has managed to avoid serious security incidents in its territory. In the future, functioning of the very important joint response with other European countries is of essential importance. Also, commitment to the protection of national and state interests, if it comes to closing borders or other procedures that other European countries may be taken at the expense of Serbia, is equally important.
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Emergencies, crises and disasters have become part of daily life in today’s “risk society” with very serious consequences and high cost in human lives, material losses, environmental degradation and symbolic damage they cause to human communities. Due to various reasons of systemic nature, societies in transition are particularly vulnerable to crises. In addition, the crisis in these countries are significantly politicized and media-exploited what, with the fundamental tensions between domestic (national) and European (and / or Western) standards, rules, routines and habits in terms of how to act in a specific situation or in what direction it is necessary to reorganize the structures and institutions responsible for crisis management. Republic of Slovenia has developed a relatively effective system of crisis management, although of course there is still much room for improvement of the strategies of crisis management and linking the different elements of crisis planning and preparedness. The system of response is flexible and actors of crisis management are motivated and empathize with the victims. They also display a high level of voluntarism. In major emergencies relations between the different local, regional and national, military and non-military actors at the operational level are not always quite clear and are occasionally followed by certain tensions and confusion regarding responsibilities and competences. The process of decision-making and leadership practice are in many cases contrary to the rules and procedures planned, with the switch of responsibility or simply its assuming, accompanied by improvisation and ad hoc solutions. The media in crisis situations have an ambivalent role, torn between commercial interests and social responsibilities. Like in other countries in transition the crises in Slovenia often have a tendency of politicization, but unlike some other countries there is no expressed tension between national and European values. Building a crisis management system in Latvia took place in conditions of profound political, economic and social changes in the context of its relations with Russia. After the establishment of independence the decision-makers try to overcome the system of civil security designed and built after the Soviet model and get the civil defense out of military structures, but these efforts are limited by a lack of resources and a kind of political-administrative indecisiveness. The inertia of the old system with incomplete comprehensive system of crisis management proves to be a serious problem in terms of the existence of the media who are no longer under the party control. Structural factors that have conditioned the frequent crisis are inadequate and unstable regulation and institutionalization, limited resources, weakening infrastructure, the shadow of authoritarianism, changing media culture, ethnic tensions and “infected” external relations. The old institutions and regulatory arrangements get rejected or incorporated in a radically altered institutional and political context. Segmented and uneven process of legal and political reform leaves gaps and a political-economic imbalance, which facilitates the incubation of crisis. Crises management is significantly hampered by inherited mistrust between Latvia and Russia, and a particular challenge in this aspect is the lack of tact and political wisdom in treating significant Russian minority in Latvia. In building a system of crisis management, Bulgaria rather wanders in institutional and legislative terms, not successfully using the opportunity to learn from the mistakes made in responding to and managing crises. For a long time the country is trying to get rid of the Cold War paradigm and militarized structures of crisis management, but with an unclear vision of development and priorities, and no integrated approach to this problem. Attempts are being made to harmonize national legislation and establish specific procedures, mechanisms and optimum conditions for crisis response in line with European and international standards, but there is still duplication of tasks and functions between the different bodies and agencies, the system is in important respects obsolete and outdated, so that a multiple revision is needed in the light of new social, political and economic conditions. The problem is the constant lack of resources and funds of state institutions, which affects the structure of crisis management, as well as other government institutions, as well as the unclear relationship between civil servants and political decision makers.
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The draft European Constitution crafted in the interval between the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in New York and those taken place in Moscow, Madrid, was concluded shortly before the attacks on public transportation in London in 2005, including what is called a solidarity clause (art. 42) and its implementation modalities (art. III-329), however after various vicissitudes, it was never ratified by the Member States and felt into oblivion; while it remained a driving force in the subsequent Lisbon Treaty in force since 2009 as, section 222 in the fifth part under Title VII.
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Terrorist attacks in various parts of the world evidence’s what a complex and dangerous problem we are facing, even though a great number of states and organizations have committed themselves to combating it, deploying a variety of resources and mechanisms for this purpose. Nevertheless, there is no fully efficient method or system to counter terrorism. It is no use hoping that it will emerge soon (or ever), either. Therefore, combating terrorism resembles the struggle of the ‘global community’ with a globally operating enemy.
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In 2022, Poland experienced a migration crisis on two borders – Belarusian and Ukrainian. In both cases, this triggered a strong public reaction. This article presents the results of field research conducted in selected communities located on the Polish–Belarusian and Polish–Ukrainian borders. The first part presents the context, the methodology of the research and the definition of the concept of crisis, which is crucial for further analysis. The second part describes how the crisis is perceived by local social actors providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the surveyed communities. The last part focuses on the characteristics of those social actors and particularly on their motivations.
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This analysis aims to evaluate the implementation of the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the challenges it faced, with particular emphasis on the objectives of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy. The article describes the French Presidency in a broader European geopolitical context, which affected the final shape of the presidency’s goals and their implementation.
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The article discusses a general vision of constitutional law matters related to sustainable development during wartime in Ukraine. The research contributes to the study of legislation by using legal norms, acts and cases. Enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution of Ukraine, the state strategic course for Ukraine’s full membership in the European Union and NATO provides for positive developments in approximating Ukrainian legislation to EU regulations. The article shows that the benefits of cooperation for susta- inable development may occur only if the central and municipal authorities undertake environmental protection measures in Ukraine in three dimensions: environmental security and preventing the pollution of the environment during the war; private–public cooperation under martial law; and community leadership and mass media contacts.
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