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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During the recruitment of army against the Ottomans commissioned officials wrote muster registers and name lists of recruited soldiers. Two registers written in German are preserved in 1553 and 1554 from Krupina. Commander of the army at Krupina was officially János Krusich, but part of the army under his command were other lower officers. The registers inform about tens of names of soldiers from the ranks of infantry and cavalry, as well as about their month’s payment. Names of soldiers show their different origin. Muster registers, in addition, indicating the incomplete number of military forces.
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Today’s regional roundup: U.S. threatens Kosovo aid cutoff; Crimea, six years on; human rights in Moldova; bloggers in Uzbekistan; and Russian hackers.
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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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This article analyses the arms trade between Iran and the Czechoslovak company Škoda Works in the 1930s. When Reza Shah Pahlavi came to power and Czechoslovakia established diplomatic relations with Iran, the Iranian market opened to Czechoslovak companies. This moment was also an opportunity for Škoda Works. Škoda Works needed to compensate (at least partially) the reduction in exports caused by the Great Depression. New business opportunities were offered by the Iranian army which needed modern cannons. At first, it was necessary to persuade Iranian clientele to give priority to the products of the Škoda Works over the competition. The first contracts for the supply of cannons were signed in 1934. The largest business contracts were realized in the following year. However negotiations on some contracts were very difficult and lasted for several years in some cases. Some of the contracts were not very advantageous for Škoda Works. But Škoda Works were forced to sign these contracts to prevent losing Iranian customers.
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The relations between Japan and Philippines date back to the Sengoku Period. However, because of the Sakoku Period, bilateral relations were interrupted and it was necessary to wait until the Meiji Period for restarting relations. In this respect, the Meiji Period is important both in terms of the recovery of relations and the beginning of formal relations between Japan and Philippines. On the other hand, another important point of this period for Turkey is that in 1941 Japan’s occupation of the Philippines was based on this period. However, it has been seen that this issue has not been adequately addressed in the Turkish literature. So Japan’s interest in the Philippines during the Meiji Period and mutual relations have been identified as the subject of this study. In this study, it has been discussed that whether it had been laid the basis of the occupation policy of Japan towards the Philippines in the Meiji Period by the writings of the Meiji intellectuals.
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This article aims to probe the impact of nuclear sanctions upon state, capital and social classes in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It will reflect on the social dimensions of sanctions instead of the much discussed geopolitics of sanctions, which evaluate the impact of these punitive measures mainly through change or continuity in state behavior. Building on Historical Sociology’s theme of the constitution of the domestic by the international, this study will focus on the structural transformation of state-society complex through sanctions. Once elaborating on the major dynamics of state and capitalism in post-revolutionary Iran, the article will analyze the 2006-2016 period and the post-2018 era. It will discuss the economic and social repercussions of sanctions, state institutions and political factions being empowered by these policies and the impact of sanctions on the emerging discourses and search for legitimacy in domestic politics. The article finds out that nuclear sanctions fostered crony capitalism in Iran, led to militarization of state and strengthening of security actors with the rising economic might of the Revolutionary Guards. Besides, sanctions resulted in shrinking and deprivation of middle class and workers, whilst culminating in the growth of Iran’s nouveau riches. Meanwhile, the state has reproduced the post-revolutionary discourse of resistance for the economy as well in an effort to protect its legitimacy in the eyes of the deprived classes. Yet, it also relied more on coercion than consent to rule over socio-economic grievances. The article will also discuss the interaction between social and geopolitical dimensions of sanctions and stress that the geopolitics of sanctions will be determined by the social dimensions of these policies, which have resulted in restructuring of paths, actors and structures.
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The conflict between Russia and Georgia dates back to 1801 when the Russian Empire annexed the eastern part of Georgia. The country was under the direct rule of the Tsarist regime until May 26th 1918 when Georgia regained its long-awaited independence as a consequence of Russia’s ongoing civil war. Yet Georgia’s democratic republic was short-lived. When the civil war ended in Russia, the Bolsheviks once again subdued the South Caucasus region, including Georgia. From 1921 to 1991 the country was part of the Soviet Union. After the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained independence.
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As a mandatory public finance tool, there are theoretical and applied studies which research the effects of military expenditures on economic growth. This study also aims to investigate the relationship between military expenditures and economic growth by using the data of G7 countries. For this purpose, a Panel Data Analysis is handled over the dataset of Canada, Germany, France, England, Italy, Japan and United States of America for 1970-2017 period. In this analysis, real GDP is used as the dependent variable and military expenditures, export and gross capital formation are used as the independent variables. As a result of the econometric tests, it is determined that the Panel Data Analysis must be done by Driscoll-Kraay Standard Errors estimator. According to the results of the study, military expenditures affect economic growth positively in G7 countries.
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