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The Crimean crisis erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych’s departure from powerfollowing the 2013-2014 anti-government protests. Its trigger was the time to repeal thelaw on the status of regional languages, by which several languages used in Ukraine wereremoved from official use. The involved actors were, on the one hand, the Russian-speakinggroups that opposed the new political changes in Kyiv and wanted the annexation of Crimeaby Russia and, on the other, the Ukrainian groups and the Crimean Tatars, who supported theEuromaidan movement.The analysis, first of all, requires understanding the key concepts and threats other thanthe conventional ones that have arisen in Ukraine for the practical implementation of Russia’sstrategy and policy of protecting the divided Russian-speaking compatriots, restoring theRussian civilization and reconstructing the Russian world (Russkiy mir).Considering the importance given by global, European and national security institutions tothis geopolitical conflict with perverse geometry, we intend to present this study from theperspective of the following conceptual elements: the historical context; political and strategicassumptions; the physiognomy of the military actions carried out in a hybrid context; theanalysis of the characteristics of the hybrid type conflict in the understanding of the RussianFederation.
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Current theorizations in military-related studies outline the need for a fresh postmodern approach, extending the “modern”, the positivist foundation of military thought and aiming at increasing the potential of institutional adaptation, with both knowledge management and action related goals. Institutional adaptation gets a multi-level approach, extending from the frames used to conceptualize the space of military action to the framework defined to set methodologies and procedures, down to the military action and its material related assets. In such a context, the “network” and the “social network” turned into pervasive concepts during the last two decades, defining a route to understanding the new increased complexity in the action space: for understanding the human terrain in military settings, the intelligence realm and its challenges, the law enforcement and the legal framework it is built on. A brief conceptual archaeology of the “network” term is employed to outline some peculiar transformations during the evolution of Romanian security institutions during the last decades, as parts and as an integrated ensemble, in terms of missions, values and operational approaches.
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After more than three decades of bipolar epoch, followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall,the United States of America became the unique superpower in international relations.Currently, there is a multipolar era, in which the world power has distributed to many actorsin the international arena. The United States of America and the Russian Federation are twoof the greatest powers of the new multipolar epoch, whose state-of-the-art geostrategicrelationships will influence the way the world order in the 21st century will be configured.Russia’s opposition to Washington’s actions in the post-Cold War era is one of the causes thatgradually resulted in the transition to a multipolar era in the international system. The presentpaper briefly presents, by the political realism perspective, the dynamic of the USA and theRussian Federation power relations, in the context of the current multipolar world order.
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Agenda 2030, as major paper assumed within UN framework by member states, consecratesimportant parts to sustainable development topics, imposing to the states the increasingof environmental quality, to protect it and to preserve it, as a part of the human securityand of the enlarged concept of national and global security, too. More precisely, at thebeginning of the 21st century, we can accept a connection between the three types of security,due to the effects produced by aggressions on environment or by the lack of public policiesimplementation (irrespective of governances) on the local communities security, on states,on regions (regional ecosystems), on entire continents, and to the global level. Within the21st century it is necessary a new understanding of traditional concepts on security, from theperspective of environment and the challenges to which it is exposed, to a larger extent thanin other times. The dimension of protecting the forests (inclusively through methods and proactivepolicies to gather waste or through reforestation, protecting biodiversity, protectingecosystems as such) represents, in our opinion, an active dimension of implementing the 21stcentury strategies related to human and national security. The present paper presents anapproach to forest protection at European and national level, starting from the definition ofhuman security, from the perspective of connecting to the security dimension, the environmentas part of national security, briefly considering the forests issue, their quality as a part ofnational and European security.
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In this paper we will try to analyse the concept of “food security” as part of national security,considering both Agenda 21, Agenda 2030 and the perspectives – already outlined in a recentUN report – on the global food crisis connected with the negative effects on environment,especially regarding the reduction of fertile surfaces and drinking water, due to the extensionof desertification, massive forest fires, chemical intensive agriculture, various aggressions,industrial exploitation or large-scale pollution with toxic or non-renewable waste of theenvironment. In the 21st century, it is possible to develop new concepts related to “power”,namely “green powers”, which are able to manage their relationship with the environment inorder to increase their political decision-making power and geopolitical importance in worlddecisions (including as “food powers”) as well as to provide increased protection and securityto their people. These “new powers” are those countries which, from now on, focus on thedevelopment of national, even regional agricultural industries, and on the protection of theirfertile areas as well as of their ownership over them, areas defined as “strategic areas”, inorder to ensure, from the surplus of food raw materials, a regional or even global influence, interms of sustainable development (post-realism).
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Decision-making in the current operational environment, characterised by complexity,dynamism and unpredictability, requires continuous adjustment and optimisation of trainingand education processes in the military training field.Romania’s affiliation to international organisations and alliances involves seamlessstrategic approach, from the conceptual point of view, to implementing common standards,as outcomes of best practices specific to the defence intelligence field. This approach requiresfuture military leaders’ training in an interdisciplinary and multicultural cognitive space.Thus, continuous innovation in the educational field has direct contribution to projecting anddeveloping early warning systems in order to avoid strategic surprise.Virtualising the battlefield replaces the hierarchic-type thinking with the network thinking, areflexive collaborative approach where working tools specific to the intelligence activity mustbe characterised by adaptability and flexibility for timely decision-making.
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Romania, by the nature of its political orientation, its Euro-Atlantic community membership,the specific agreements, treaties and undertaken partnerships, as well as its geographicalposition, lies at the Eastern border of both EU and NATO. As a result, one of the assignedmissions of its air and naval forces is the monitoring of the situation developments in the BlackSea region, in order to ensure the early warning and useful information needed at strategicand operational decision-making levels.The occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, its saturation with troops and military equipmentby the Russian Federation and the public declarations of Russian officials, referring to someNATO countries, have generated a lot of tension and uncertainty in the region. All thementioned aspects have led to the Black Sea area gradual transformation, from a quiet areaof free trade and the germ of economic development at regional level, to a “stormy” areabetween the Russian Federation and the West.The connection between action and reaction causes a cyclical effect, as in any system. Inthat manner, the consolidation of Anti-Access Area Denial (A2AD) capabilities by a state willgenerate, even though only as a precaution, a sustained effort from another state or coalitionof states to find out a solution to counter them.
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The Black Sea is a security complex that has come to the fore today as a result of thegeopolitical changes in recent years. The changes have the effect of modifying the borders.Moreover, new “frozen conflicts” have emerged. The area has gained consistency in theincreased attention paid by Turkey and the Russian Federation but also by the US and NATObeing positioned on the border of Europe with Asia and with the new great Middle East. It isthe source of risks with still imprecise effects defined, having a very high destabilizing potentialwith implications that can even be global.In the past years and in the context of the changes in the policy of all the actors in the area,in the paradigm of NATO Defence, a new type of conflict, the hybrid conflict has emerged,and/or specific measures to counteract its effects have been generated. Also, a new arms racebegan with the involvement of all actors with influence and interests in the region includingRomania. We can say that Romania is in the middle of a “perfect storm”.
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The information society based on technologies, as a phenomenon and consequence ofglobalization, favours the extension of threats and vulnerabilities while generating new meansand ways to combat them. The developments in information technology offer an unprecedentedamplification of human abilities to access critical information that governs any field of activity.In the context of the full NATO integration, the Romanian Armed Forces undergo profoundpolitical, economic, social and cultural transformations. This set of transformations affectsthe life of each of us. Therefore, “innovation”, as such, could become a “weapon” to defendagainst risks, anticipating the development of new vulnerabilities that will surely appear in thesociety of the coming decades.In this paper, I will summarize the presentation of some innovative ideas that may havethe effect of diminishing the vulnerability of military information transmitted in the electronicenvironment under the conditions of adopting a new development doctrine in Romania, theone of the information society based on knowledge, training and education.
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Any act of terrorism constitutes for the democratic societies a real psychological andemotional aggression, capable of producing fears in the mentality of the population. Froma semantic point of view, terrorism achieves its ultimate goal here, by creating a climate ofinsecurity, fear and terror. The act itself, which may be a conventional terrorist attack or onethat takes place in the online environment, is sufficient to profoundly influence professionalactivities, leisure and travel. Therefore, the profoundly intrusive and violent nature ofcyberterrorism can encourage the occurrence of psychiatric disorders or risky behaviour. Inorder to be able to correctly estimate the impact of cyberterrorism, we must first of all identifythe psychological profile of the cyber terrorist. Secondly, cyber terrorism is most often part ofconventional terrorism, and therefore has a similar impact.
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The reality of the current century is shaping new security challenges. Spectacular changesin terms of technological progress, the ubiquity of digital technologies, the digital revolution,the global digital order, the constantly increasing importance of digital platforms, the speed atwhich information is transmitted, the algorithmization of personal life, the power to direct andchange public opinion, are only a few features of the 21st century.With this evolution, threats, risk factors and current vulnerabilities of each state havereached new states of manifestation. In this context, the fake news phenomenon has thepotential to influence the attitude and change the perception of entire audience segments.A first step in combating this phenomenon is to familiarize the population with thisconcept that is rapidly becoming a threat. Building a strong security culture and identifyingvulnerabilities constitute important steps in establishing a good foundation for a secureenvironment.
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In the last four years, fake news has overtaken the cancan and the mundane world to beused as a “weapon” in the arsenal of social manipulation.Fake news is today a very effective tool by which democratic institutions are eroded and thestate entities demonized.Although most often the identity of the perpetrator, of the one who triggers a fake newsdirectly or through a software application, is unknown, the state must fulfil its obligation tomaintain national security and to ensure the nation’s defence, as well as to guarantee theexercise of the fundamental rights and freedoms of man and, increasingly, the obligation toguarantee the right of citizens to be properly and truthfully informed.The eradication of the fourth power, by shifting information from professionalism to the“tweet” news, makes these state obligations much more difficult to fulfil.This article brings to the readers’ attention a series of effects generated by fake news andhow they have or can have an impact on national security and national defence.
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Starting as a great science fiction movie topic, Artificial Intelligence has already begun toimpose itself on our society. If until recently it was not an extended phenomenon but rathera desideratum, a goal that seemed almost impossible to achieve, now things have changed.Artificial Intelligence has been on everyone lips in the last few years.We take advantage of its benefits whether we speak of automated responders and onlinecustomer support, smart personal assistants, autonomously-powered self-driving vehiclesor autonomous military systems. However, the technology is still in its infancy. Although theprogress made in this field is extraordinary, it is time to take into account how much of aneffect this technology will have on our future.
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The risks and threats of a conventional, unconventional, asymmetrical, and cyber naturebecome increasingly complex and unpredictable. Their combination generates the productionof apparent disturbances in the contemporary operational environment, with severeconsequences on the security of the states.A conclusion that emerges, analysing the evolution of the military phenomenon over thelast thirty years, is that, in the future, both great powers and non-state actors will resort to themost different actions to reach their interests. These actions have demonstrated their efficiencythrough their unusual nature and the lack of effective countermeasures such as informationwarfare, cyber warfare, network warfare, electronic warfare, psychological warfare, or mediawarfare.If the future of military action is to be marked by hybridity, states, alliances and coalitionsmust develop those conventional, unconventional, irregular and cyber capabilities that willensure the planning, preparation, execution, and evaluation of operations in the full spectrum.
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The military requires that leaders should make the right choices, often in critical situations, and establish a unique and inclusive vision for the organisation. Military leaders must always take responsibility for the conduct and management of missions, provide the purpose, direction and motivation needed to carry them out and improve the organisation. In order to succeed in fulfilling these desiderata, a series of correlated actions are necessary, the amount of which is transposed in the competences of the military leader, so necessary in the totality of the military actions.
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The global economic crisis of 2008 has had a negative impact on defence budgets in most European countries. After 12 years of efforts taken for the economic recovery, the member states of the European Union are once again facing financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Defence budgets are once again in danger of being reduced, but at the same time the European Union needs more than ever to show unity and cooperation. In the wake of the 2008 crisis, defence cooperation was one of the solutions adopted by EU member states to protect and strengthen their military capabilities. The development of multinational capabilities has proven to be more cost-effective than nationally sustained efforts. The current situation, generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, reminded us that cooperation initiatives need continuous adaptation to the evolution of new types of crises. The planning, development, procurement, operation and support of joint defence equipment should be complemented by efforts to innovate and prepare for new risks and threats.
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The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it not only the risk of infection with a new virus but also the possibility of attacks on national security by affecting national critical infrastructure. Maintaining a greater focus on national security is a necessity in any situation. During this pandemic period, the most affected critical infrastructure sector is health. We hope that the measures taken will lead us to a stabilisation of the situation and not to witness a more pronounced affectation of this sector. We must also pay special attention to the trust in the public administration in order not to be undermined by state or non-state actors with various economic and geostrategic interests on the Romanian territory.
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