#10 Smuggling in Southeast Europe. The Yugoslav Wars and the Development of Regional Criminal Networks in the Balkans

Author(s): Marko Hajdinjak / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2002

Smuggling in Southeast Europe analyzes and reviews the connection between the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and the growth of the trans-border crime in the region, and also looks at the related issue of corruption. The paper highlights the decisive impact the Yugoslav wars had on the development of the regional criminal networks, which were often set up and maintained not only with the knowledge, but even with active participation of the highest state officials. The research also represents a contribution to the study of conflicts in the Western Balkans. The majority of existing interpretations of causes, course and consequences of the Yugoslav wars try to provide the answers through ethno-political explanations. They unjustly ignore the importance that interweaving of interests of political elites, the organized crime groups, which appeared in this period, and the "mediating class" of corrupt state officials had in this process. The paper is divided in three parts: • An analysis of the causes and course of emergence of Balkan smuggling channels in the context of Yugoslav wars and international sanctions; • A review of the recent developments in trans-border crime in Southeast Europe; • An overview of prevention efforts, undertaken both by the regional governments and the international community’ The first part analyzes the emergence of officially sanctioned "state-building" smuggling in those parts of the former Yugoslavia, which were involved in the war. The intermediary role of Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania is also discussed. In these four countries, smuggling networks were not developed under open patronage of the governments, but the role of high-positioned politicians was nevertheless extremely important. The second part traces the evolution of the initial semi-official smuggling channels and their transformation into "classical" criminal networks. The so-called "suitcase trade," cigarette smuggling, smuggling of narcotics, and the trafficking in human beings are discussed in more detail.

#14 Weapons under Scrutiny: Implementing Arms Export Controls and Combating Small Arms Proliferation in Bulgaria

Author(s): Philip Gounev,Emil Tsenkov,Bernardo Mariani,Larry Attree / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2004

The report concludes that despite the evolution of Bulgaria’s arms export controls and its relatively clean record, compared to most of the 1990s, there is still room for improvement. The best approach to tackling all the issues raised in this report is through stricter implementation of the new export control mechanism adopted in 2002. The report is divided into five parts. Part one provides an analysis of the social and economic reasons that have contributed to the reluctance among Bulgarian politicians to strengthen arms controls. It describes the transformation of the defense industry in the post-Communist transition period, as well as its current state. Part two provides an analytical description of Bulgaria’s arms control mechanism. Part three examines the factors contributing to illegal arms exports from Bulgaria and offers some data from recent cases. Part four focuses on the potential social, economic, and political effects of stronger arms controls. The last section offers a number of recommendations for the improvement of the export-control system.

#14bg Българският износ на оръжие: оценка на контролния механизъм върху експорта на малки оръжия и леко въоръжение

Author(s): Philip Gounev,Emil Tsenkov,Bernardo Mariani,Larry Attree / Language(s): Bulgarian / Publication Year: 2004

The report concludes that despite the evolution of Bulgaria’s arms export controls and its relatively clean record, compared to most of the 1990s, there is still room for improvement. The best approach to tackling all the issues raised in this report is through stricter implementation of the new export control mechanism adopted in 2002. The report is divided into five parts. Part one provides an analysis of the social and economic reasons that have contributed to the reluctance among Bulgarian politicians to strengthen arms controls. It describes the transformation of the defense industry in the post-Communist transition period, as well as its current state. Part two provides an analytical description of Bulgaria’s arms control mechanism. Part three examines the factors contributing to illegal arms exports from Bulgaria and offers some data from recent cases. Part four focuses on the potential social, economic, and political effects of stronger arms controls. The last section offers a number of recommendations for the improvement of the export-control system.

(006) RE-ENERGISING EUROPE’S SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY

Author(s): Nick Witney / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2008

Ten years after the launch of the EU’s defence effort at a Franco-British summit in St Malo, the European Security and Defence Policy badly needs a shot in the arm. Procrastination, weak coordination, and persistent absenteeism by some Member States have hobbled the Union’s ability to tackle the real threats to its citizens’ security, and to make a significant contribution to maintaining international peace. Europe’s leaders have agreed what is needed, in the 2003 European Security Strategy. They have acknowledged that security for Europeans today lies not in manning the ramparts or preparing to resist invasion, but in tackling crises abroad before they become breeding-grounds for terrorism, international trafficking, and unmanageable immigration flows. As this report will argue, this situation demands a concerted effort to revitalise the European Union’s Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The EU’s individual Member States, even France and Britain, have lost and will never regain the ability to finance all the necessary new capabilities by themselves. Today, only cooperation amongst Europeans can eliminate the massive waste associated with the duplication of resources by Member States, and help transform Europe’s armed forces into modern militaries capable of contributing to global security.

(011) SHAPING EUROPE’S AFGHAN SURGE

Author(s): Daniel Korski / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2009

Unnoticed by many, the last few years have seen something of a European military surge in Afghanistan. Since late 2006, 18 of the 25 EU countries participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO’s Afghan mission, have increased their troop contributions, and as a result EU member states now account for 43% of ISAF’s total deployment. This military surge has been accompanied by a steady growth in European efforts to contribute to Afghanistan’s reconstruction, from development aid to police training – although not every EU member state is pulling its weight. These measures have made the EU a major stakeholder in Afghanistan. Yet the EU’s real impact on the country has been limited. In the face of a likely request from the Obama administration to do more, European governments should now formulate a hard-headed political strategy as a complement to the coming US military surge. The overall aim of this strategy should be to begin systematic outreach to Afghanistan’s insurgency groups. To prepare the ground, the 2009 presidential elections will have to be safeguarded from insurgent attack and fraud. After the election, EU governments should push for the twin processes of reconciliation and constitutional change. But European governments cannot revert to a purely civilian role. They should continue improving their training of the Afghan army and police, and assist US and local forces in emphasising “human security” in military operations. This should be backed up by well-funded and long-term aid commitments, the launch of a European provincial reconstruction team in Kabul, a developmentbased approach to counter-narcotics, and a revived Pakistan strategy.

(040) HOW TO STOP THE DEMILITARISATION OF EUROPE

Author(s): Nick Witney / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

Discounting threats of armed attack and disillusioned with liberal interventionism, Europeans are shrin-king their militaries and banking on “soft” power. But this betrays a failure to understand the nature of the new, multiplayer global environment that will determine Europe’s future security and prosperity. The value of Europe’s armed forces is less in countering specific “threats” than as necessary instruments of power and influence in a rapidly changing world, where militaries still matter. Unless it gets over its discomfort with hard power, Europe’s half-hearted efforts to improve the efficiency of its defence spending will continue to fail. This Policy Brief argues that Europeans now need to reassess their strategic environment, reconsider the role that hard power should play in it and relaunch their efforts to combine their defence efforts and resources. The Weimar Triangle – Germany, France and Poland – should jointly press for a heavyweight commission to conduct a European Defence Review, which would examine member states’ defence policies, much as the budget plans of eurozone members are now reviewed in a “European semester”; rewrite the European Security Strategy; and present to Euro-pean leaders a menu of big, bold proposals for decisive further defence integration. The alternative will be not just the end of the common defence policy but the steady erosion of Europe’s ability to defend its interests and values in the twenty-first century.

(AVRUPA) ORTAK GÜVENLİK VE SAVUNMA POLİTİKASI

Author(s): Sait Yılmaz / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 27/2015

Lisbon Agreement on Dec 1st, 2009 has remarked the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) of EU instead of European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). European Union has suffered from vital incapabilities in her defense structure although took part in some military operations in World wide such as peace keeping in Africa and police missions in Afghanistan. Hard power gap between EU and USA has drastically widen in recent decades. EU countries provided modest contributions into NATO operation in Afghanistan. EU makes much more effort to develop her soft power and aims transformations in near geographies. However, it is fact that EU system is bulky as witnessed in Arab movements. NATO and EU have to reconsider their defense policies in common understanding.

(Ne)etičnost i (ne)legalnost upotrebe dronova u ratu protiv terorizma

Author(s): Ivica Kelam,Darija Rupčić / Language(s): Bosnian / Issue: 73/2016

Powerful increase in the use of drones in fight against terrorism through the tactic of targeted killings, especially after the arrival of President Obama to power, causes increasingly ethical and legal issues. The intention of this paper is to investigate exactly these issues. The basic hypothesis is that the US use of drones in war against terrorism is a major threat to international security, human rights and democracy. Instead of reducing the threat of terrorism, drones uses additionally incites hatred and desire for revenge, since it leaves severe adverse consequences on the lives of civilians. The expected contribution of this paper lies in the demystification of drones activities and questioning the many dangers that the use of drones in the fight against terrorism carries.

(NOT SO) SPECIAL RELATIONSHIPS EXPLAINING ALLIANCE BEHAVIOUR IN THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD

Author(s): Dylan Kissane / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2010

Throughout the 20th century, the major powers in the global Anglosphere often found themselves allies in armed conflict. These war-time alliances – sometimes temporary, more often part of a longer term cooperation – are sometimes held to arise because of common histories, common values, similar national ideologies and similar notions of international right and wrong. Indeed, the political rhetoric surrounding the declarations of war has often cited such factors as colonial history, international friendship and “special relationships” as motivators for joining armed coalitions against third party states. Yet while there stand stark examples of these major English speaking powers acting entirely in congress there exist numerous instances where one or more of these powers chose not to join a coalition alongside their Anglophonic associates. This article argues that explanations of Anglophonic coalitions that rely on notions of a shared history, similar political ideologies, common political and social values or similar notions of international morality all fall short of explaining the coalition joining/rejecting behaviour of the major powers of the Anglosphere in war-time during the 20th century. Drawing on data from the Correlates of War (CoW) project, this article will show that pure national interest drove the decisions of states to join or reject coalitions, lending strong support to a structural realist explanation for their behaviour, with this conclusion presenting opportunities for re-assessing alliance politics in Eastern Europe and South America.

(Re)focusing the Atlantic Alliance: Reframing Security Readings into a Peace Agenda

Author(s): Maria Raquel Freire,Licínia Simão / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

Bringing a new reading to collective defence after the Cold War allowed, among other things, an expansion of NATO’s tasks as well as membership. This being said, it is high time for deep reflection about the opportunities and limitations for the Alliance from the perspective of the promotion of peace, more than 25 years after the end of the bipolar order. Drawing on the introductory remarks to this special issue, the paper will focus on 1) the strategic differences between a security versus a peace agenda for NATO in the context of increasingly transnational and complex threats, 2) Russia as both a necessary ally and a challenger at NATO’s borders, including its positioning regarding a “shared neighbourhood” with the European Union (EU) and the Atlantic Alliance, as well as Moscow’s investment in the development of military alliances to the east (the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, or CSTO), 3) the Middle East as a geostrategic area where the conflation of competing interests, norms and values has revealed complex dynamics, both in-country and regional, and impacted on the NATO space (for example, the effect of the Syrian conflict), and 4) whether the conceptualisation on a “European security architecture” remains useful or has become meaningless in face of current challenges.

(Не)реална очекивања југословенско-совјетски војни преговори 1948.

Author(s): Aleksandar Životić / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 2/2014

Yugoslav-Soviet military negotiations were initiated in an already tensed relations related to Yugoslav attitude towards the question of Balkan federation, Greek civil war and Yugoslav presence in Albania. Ambitious plans of economical and military development were contrary to country's actual possibilites as well with potential Soviet assistance. Unreallistic and overambitious Yugoslav plans for strenghtening of military industry, creation of strong, numerous and up to date equiped army, as well navy capable to react not only to defend its own coast encountered the Soviet restraint. In several occasions Soviets demonstrated willingnes to help Yugoslavs within the boundaries of their own reallistic possibilities. Disagreements between the two concepts of development, as well Yugoslav insisting on realization of their own plans resulted in Soviet denial of further assistance. Failure in military negotiations coincided with the beggining of Yugoslav-Soviet conflict which finaly led to complete interruption of military cooperation.

,,Смем ли се ја, син таквог оца осрамоћен вратити у Србију“: Александар, син Живојина Мишића у руском јункерском училишту

Author(s): Vasily Borisovich Kashirin / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 1/2008

This article looks at an interesting and as yet completely unknown episode in the life of Aleksandr Mishich, son of a prominent Serbian commander field-marshal Zhivoin Mishich (1855-1921). Aleksandr Mishich (1891-1941) served as an officer in the Balkan wars of 1912-13 and in the First World War. In 1941 he died heroically as one of the leaders of the chethnic movement in Yugoslavia. One of the blank pages in his biography is the time he spent in Russia from 1908 to 1912, where he tried to receive a military education. This article, based on previously unknown documents from the Russian State Military History Archive and the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Empire looks at how Mishich and his two Serbian friends joined the Vilna Infantry Junker school, their subsequent expulsion, acute conflict with the college’s authorities and the long and unsuccessful efforts of the three Serbs to obtain a review of their case from the military-bureaucratic machine of the Russian empire. The article also examines the discussions which took part between Russian authorities at interdepartmental level concerning the education of southern Slavs in military institutions of the Russian empire, which coincided with Mishich’s presence in Russia. The difference in opinion of representatives from the Russian military and diplomatic institutions on the problems of raising the effectiveness and the goals of Russian military-educational policy towards southern Slavs is shown. Also covered are the circumstances regarding the preparation of the Rules of admission of subjects of south Slavic states into Russian military-educational institutions, approved in 1912. This article can be of interest to all those interested in the life of field-marshal Zhivoin Mishic and his family, as well as in the questions of Russo-Serbian cooperation in the sphere of military education at the start of the 20th century.

10 lat Polski w NATO

Author(s): Anna Szymańska-Klich / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2009

10 razloga za NATO

Author(s): Jelena Milić / Language(s): Serbian / Publication Year: 2014

100 dni Donalda Trumpa – próba oceny polityki zagranicznej nowej administracji

Author(s): Patrycja Sasnal / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2017

10x in Favor NATO

Author(s): Jelena Milić / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2014

The initial provision of the North-Atlantic Agreement defines the principles, conditions and standards that countries aspiring for membership need to achieve in order to become a NATO member...So far, NATO countries have not gone to war against each other. Historical experience offers us strong evidence that NATO membership, and its expansion, leads to historic reconciliation (France, Germany) stability and democratization of states (Spain, Greece, Portugal..)...Many relevant comparative research unquestionably shows that, in the long-term, the countries with such an inner-political establishment are by rule of thumb the most stable, not only socially, but also economically, because independent institutions, division of powers and rule of law and protection of human rights...Through full-fledged NATO membership, a country becomes an integral part of the decision-making mechanism in NATO... The first and most basic direct benefit of membership is enjoyment of the rights, as well as obligations, arising from Article 5 of the North-Atlantic Agreement which states that an attacked Member State will be defended by the entire Alliance...According to Article 4 provisions of the North Atlantic Agreement, each state has a right to call for consultations whenever it considers necessary and when, according to its assessment, her territorial integrity, political independence or security of that NATO Member State is threatened.NATO Member States have transparent defense budgets. They try to strategically plan these expenditure together, thus forming mechanisms of joint participation in procurement of equipment and other joint use of resources...In the North-Atlantic world, NATO has no alternative, as it is often argued in Serbia. There is no other military-political alliance with a clearly defined method of decision-making and a developed joint command structure. Although it is hard to detect the exact proportion that only NATO membership brings in economic terms, all new Member States agree that they have experienced a so-called “NATO effect” after joining – starting with an increase in GDP...Therefore – join NATO!

130 година организованих војноисторијских истраживања у Србији - Избор излагања са округлог стола о решавању статуса Војноисторијског института (1. фебруар 2006.)

Author(s): Ljubodrag D. Dimić,Milan Ristović,Miroslav Jovanović,Dragan Bogetić / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 1-2/2006

Уочи обележавања 130-те годишњице организованих војноисторијских истраживања у Србији (5. фебруар 1876, дан оснивања Историјског одељењa Главног ђенералштаба српске војске), одржан је, 1. фебруара 2006. године, Округли сто у Дому војске Србије и Црне Горе, у организацији Војноисторијског института (ВИИ). Повод за његово одржавање биле су најаве и планови за решење статуса Војноисторијског института, односно његовог укидања као самосталне установе. [...]

1923 Nüfus Mübadelesine Mizah Penceresinden Bakmak: Zümrüdüanka

Author(s): Nuray Firindioğlu Yılmaz / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 2/2017

The Greek- Turkish 1923 population exchange has played an important role in Turkish history both politically and socially. Since about 2 million Greeks and Turks were ousted from their homelands, this issue has quickly become problematic due to some main concerns and conflicts over its form and instruments, the definition and the scale of the refugees, and the legal status of their left property. These problems led the refugees to experience a number of tragic incidents from the start of the implementation of the exchange almost until it is completed. This study reviews the Greek- Turkish population exchange that has been engraved in collective memory in every respect by analyzing the texts and caricatures in the comic book, Zümrüdüanka, that reflect its idiosyncratic sense of humor.

1979-2014 Yıllarında Afganistan Siyasetinde General Dostum’un Rolü ve Bunun Afganistan Türk Toplumuna Etkileri

Author(s): Abdulbashir Azad / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 1/2019

This study examines the role of General Rashid Dostum in political life of Afghanistan between 1979-2014 and its effects on Turkish society in Afghanistan. The study investigates the subject under three main titles. Firstly, the position and importance of Dostum in political life of Afghanistan before 1991 is examined. In the second part,information on the role of Dostum in the period of civil war and the struggle against the Taliban is given. Finally, the effect of Dostum and Turks on the Constitutional Loya Jirga is analyzed. Accordingly, some suggestions are presented in order deal with the problems that Dostum and Turks of Afghanistan face nowadays.

1st German Infantry Regiment within the Army of the Moldavian Democratic Republic (1917-1918)

Author(s): Anatolie Leşcu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

The increasing effort for affirming national identity was one of the consequences for the disintegration of the Russian Empire, in 1917. Basarabia, abruptly taken away from Moldova about a century before, was suddenly finding its own place, due to the total separation from Russia. Consequently,on 27 October 1917, Basarabia proclaimed its autonomy. At the same time, the Country Counsel (Sfatul Țării) was established, as a legislative body.In 1917, Southern Basarabia was engulfed in a disastrous situation, caused by the numerous acts of vandalism and disorganisation triggered by the Sovietisation of the region. In order to stabilise and calm the situation in the area, German colonists, allying themselves with the Moldavians in their fight against Tsarism, formed detachments, patrolling the towns.Even though its history was brief, the 1st German Infantry Regiment within the Army of the Moldavian Democratic Republic played its part in enforcing order, guarding goods and, last but not least, fighting anarchy.