Around the Bloc: OSCE Monitors Come Under Fire in East Ukraine
The incident comes nine days after monitors were held at gunpoint by rebel forces, and follows a fresh attempt at a lasting ceasefire.
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The incident comes nine days after monitors were held at gunpoint by rebel forces, and follows a fresh attempt at a lasting ceasefire.
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The just war theory is one of the main approaches to the ethics of war. It is typically divided in two parts concerning the beginning of the war and fighting the war. In the paper we explain what the just war theory is and how it differs from the other approaches to the moral problems of war, such as pacifism and realism. We point out to its origins, functions and the role it has in the contemporary international law. We also point to its flaws and answer the question about its consequences, its true purpose and relation the theory has towards the possibility of establishing peace and overcoming the war and violence. The main problem of the paper is the moral acceptability of the characterization of some wars as „just“.
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Hea juhtimine tagab üldjuhul organisatsiooni edu ja selle, et õnnestub täita ülesandeid. Liidriks ehk eestvedajaks ja juhiks olemist on palju uuritud ning seda ka Kaitseväe Akadeemias, kus õpetatakse Eesti kaitseväe jaoks välja juhte. Samas ei ole välja kujunenud üht ja õiget õpetust, kuidas olla hea juht. Erinevad autorid ja spetsialistid on arutlenud palju juhtimisteooriate ja selle üle, milline peaks olema hea juht või kuidas peaks üks organisatsioon tegutsema, et tagada kestlikkust ja edu. Olles olnud teenistuses viimased kümme aastat, olen näinud mitmeid erinevaid ülemaid ja nende juhtimisstiile ning osaliselt ka nende töö tulemusi. Sellepärast arvan, et Johan Larssoni ja Stig Vinbergi 2010. aastal ilmunud artiklis „Leadership behaviour in successful organisations: Universal or situation-dependent?“ on esitanud väga hästi ühisjooned, mis on omased eduka organisatsiooni juhtidele. Selle essee eesmärk on analüüsida neid Kaitseväe kontekstis.
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Since 2014 a key development emerging from the crisis in Ukraine has been the extensive use of various disinformation and propaganda techniques used by Russia against not only Ukraine, but also against the European Union (EU) member states and the West in general. While such campaigns were gradually acknowledged in Berlin, Brussels, and Washington, the reactions of the EU and NATO came with a long delay. This article focuses on the institutional and political (re)actions of the EU to the Russian disinformation campaign against the European Union member states and Eastern neighborhood countries after the beginning of the Ukraine crisis in 2014. The key developments are the launch of a special Eastern StratCom Task Force within the EEAS as a completely new institutional formation, the adoption of the Action Plan for Strategic Communication, and the increased financial support for the European Endowment for Democracy. Tracing the EU collective response indicates that there was a decision of the member states to favor an EU-level solution over a solely national one in the foreign policy arena. This article argues that these developments are indicative of the Europeanization of the foreign policies of the member states, which is in itself a remarkable development given the altered European security environment.
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Politically, 2019 was a very important year for Belarus. It was dominated by two trends: the authorities pursuing relations with the West and pressure by the Kremlin to deepen the integration of both states.
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After the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the Habsburg Monarchy gained control over territories between the rivers Drava, Sava and Danube, that were split between civilian and military administration in the 18th century, known as Civil Slavonia (The Kingdom of Slavonia) under feudal rule and Military Slavonia (The Slavonian Military Frontier) under military and direct imperial rule. The Slavonian Military Frontier, which was situated in the Posavina region on the river Sava, bordering the Ottoman Empire to the south, was very rich in alluvial, flood plain forests, which were put under imperial protection and control. For the purpose of an improved hold and control of these forest resources, the Habsburg administration brought forth various regulations and imperial decrees during the 18th and 19th century, that lasted, with minor or major changes, until the industrialization and dissolving of the Military Frontier system in the second half of the 19th century. This research focuses on the impact of these regulations on the relationship between the military authorities, local population and their environment in the part of the Slavonian Military Frontier which was under the administration of the 7th Brod Grenzregiment. Besides the relationship, it gives also an analysis of the many environmental and social changes and their stages that were described through various sources in the period between the mid-18th and mid- 19th century.
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The U.S. administration puts close ties with Kosovo at risk in a high-stakes bid to restart the Western Balkans peace process.
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The Middle East is one of the most turbulent regions in the world, and its resource potential makes it a major field for geopolitical clashes. The American strategy in this region is in many cases contradictory, almost always pragmatic, but often based on idealistic motives. The context analysis, the policies and the means the United States implement allows the essence of the American strategy to be traced and evaluated – whether it is transforming and how.
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The enormous changes and constant developments in theapplications of technology and communication have changed the waythe world is perceived. The information revolution has impacted intelligencegathering, processing, analysis and dissemination, as well ashow decision-makers can access reliable information in a timely manner,and the sources they are likely to rely on when concrete information is needed to make decisions. This article attempts to describe, analyze andexplain the nature of the ongoing information revolution, its main impacton intelligence and security policy, and the importance of intelligenceanalysis in the context of peacekeeping operations.
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The 1940 Welles Declaration, which strongly condemned and refused to recognize the Soviet annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, should never have been necessary in the first place. Washington has markedly stepped up its defense cooperation with all three Baltic states since 2014. Given the threat from the East, all three Baltic states have argued for more American boots on the ground and following the recent U.S. decision to station more troops in Poland, this may come in the future. But more importantly, unlike in 1939–1940, the fact is that the United States and the European allies are deeply engaged in the Baltics like never before.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania held the international conference “Pivot to Asia: Challenges and Opportunities” at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania on 24 and 25 October. For the first time ever, the conference in Lithuania has brought together members of the academic community and independent analysts from more than a dozen of Asian and European countries, the USA and international organizations. Participants discussed ongoing developments in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as their impact on Europe and Lithuania.
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The military structure of NATO is of two components; command and the force structure. Command structure comprises military headquarters responsible for the command and control of the military forces.Force structure of the Alliance is made up of forces allocated to NATO by member states. The Alliance has experienced four major transformative steps in command structure since its establishment. The initial force structure of the Alliance which covers all allocated forces including the fixed ones to NATO has gradually transformed to deployable (movable) force structure by three subsequent changes after the Cold War. The new force structure is set based upon considerations on a gradual readiness level. This paper deals with the historical changes and continuity of NATO’s both command and force structures’ transformation and their justifications -which have been rarely studied academically. Based upon this knowledge adequacy, effectiveness and rationality of both structures are scrutinised. The argument of the paper is that throughout NATO’s past the military structures has not only been a result of organizational change but also one of the main causes and determinants for the evolution and transformation of the Alliance.
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When we look at the relations between Putin and Russia in Ukraine, with Putin's election as the president, Russia and Ukraine have become deadlocked. The reason for this was initially attempted to restructure Russia's relations with Ukraine in a normal way, not with the power of arms and then the armed clashes were made with the events that developed. The biggest sanctions on Ukraine have been on natural gas. Also Ukraine's desire to join Nato also caused tensions to become tense. One of the developments that escalated the events was the accusation of Ukraine for providing weapons to Georgia in the Russian-Georgian war. Yanukovych, who was pro-Russian at the time of the Maidan events, was forced to resign, which is one of the reasons that negatively affect the Russia-Ukraine relations.
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The defence policy of the Republic of Bulgaria has the unique opportunity for the last 30 years to implement a comprehensive rearmament program. Despite the crises, the economy is developing confidently, with the help of European Union funds, and the security environment and critical technological backwardness allow the generation of the required public and political support. However, the ambition cannot be limited to the accomplishment of a portfolio of investment projects. Rather a new quality level of our defence capabilities should be achieved. This ambitious goal requires the development of both the necessary defence management tools and the true implementation of the concept of Defence Governance. Otherwise, we face the risk of repeating our sad experience of 2004-2010.
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This article examines some national and allied features of the European defense industry and the EU defense market. The article claims that on one hand, the EU countries share a common position for the importance of military-industrial cooperation, which they see as a tool for achieving the EU's strategic autonomy. On the other hand, this research insists that at national level the EU countries see the issue through the prism of their own sovereignty and independence. There are some alternatives before EU governments and businesses. The first option is to lose some of their independence, but to develop and acquire with other countries new weapons and equipment, which in general means lower costs. The other option is to preserve their sovereignty but to pay a high financial price. Finally, this paper presents some aspects of the EU's political commitments and examines the European Defense Fund as a tool for defense-industrial cooperation.
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Who should compensate the victims of Soviet and Nazi repression is still a live question in Moldova
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Analysis of data on arms exports worldwide reveals relative stability in the international arms market that increased in 2019 compared to 2018, by about 4%, with growth in the United States of 6.6%, equal to that of China. This trend in the United States of America may diminish considerably in the coming period, given the limitation of the increase in the defence budget from fiscal year 2021, and in the case of China, the sars-CoV-2 coronavirus crisis will have effects including in the defence industry.Recent developments resulting from the economic crisis caused by the medical emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, induced by the worldwide spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, will also have effects in the defence industry, mainly on the the basis of the contracting of gross domestic product at state level. To overcome this crisis situation in the defence industry, innovative measures are needed to enable the development of state-of-the-art military products adapted to the market requirements and defence needs of resource-enabled States financial support, while accelerating the work of the applied Research and Development sector that will enable such products to be produced
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This paper deals with some of the challenges faced by the post- December Romanian economy, in the transformation from a supercentralized economy, specific to communist regimes, to a market economy that must be adapted to the current peculiarities of global society. The author presents a diverse range of risk factors for national security interests in the economic field, indicating the context of the emergence and manifestation of risk factors, how they evolve, the consequences produced at the societal level, mainly in terms of security, and last but not least the measures what should be adopted to counteract their effects. The author's approach is limited to the importance of economic security in the integrative whole of the concept of security, it is well known that it has a fundamental role in ensuring the optimal functioning of human society.
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A material that aims, synthetically, to highlight the causes that led to the creation of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as well as its evolution during the period when the Russian Federation began to impose, aggressively, its geopolitical strategies, especially as it became more and more aware of the threats posed by NATO enlargement to Eastern Europe. It is an attempt to reveal, as briefly as possible, the interest shown by the Russian Federation for the development and implementation of a military security policy appropriate to its strategic goals.
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