Macedonian Diplomatic Bulletin 2007/05

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

We did criminalize it – now what? Western Balkans response to the foreign fighters threat

Author(s): Andreja Bogdanovski / Language(s): English

The civil war in Syria has attracted plenty of attention due to various reasons, starting from the appalling humanitarian catastrophe, the criticism for inactivity of the big powers and the use of prohibited arms such as chemical weapons. Lately, more and more signs of worry come as a result of the considerate number of foreign fighters present on the Syrian battlefields. The Balkans and the EU are no exception to this and it is believed that few hundred fighters coming from the Western Balkans have joined the anti Assad rebellions. The main question therefore is what is the risk connected with the foreign fighters when returning home? This policy brief focuses on the actual situation with the foreign fighters and the measures that are put in place by the governments in the Western Balkans with focus on Macedonia. The text borrows from the relevant experiences of Germany, UK and Belgium in addressing this question. Therefore it looks for possible solutions in employing greater resources into prevention and rehabilitation programs through engagement of civil society and local communities. The policy brief ends with set of recommendations directed to the authorities in Macedonia.

A NATO Solution for Macedonia

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English

Macedonia hopes to get an invitation to join the NATO alliance, along with Croatia and Albania, at next month's NATO Summit in Bucharest. However, the prospects of Macedonia to be invited to NATO membership when the NATO allies meet on 2-4 April 2008, is in a state of impasse, with Greece having made it clear that it would veto in the NATO summit any decision for inviting Macedonia to join the Alliance, unless Macedonia and Greece would agree on the name dispute, which under current circumstances will be difficult to happen. Macedonia’s name, the Greeks say, implies territorial aspirations on their own northern province, also called Macedonia.

Towards 2nd Generation of Security Sector Reforms in Macedonia

Author(s): Andreja Bogdanovski,Magdalena Lembovska / Language(s): English

The peaceful dissolution from communist Yugoslavia in the 90s, together with the experiences from and after the Internal Armed Conflict in 2001 and the efforts to join EU and NATO make Macedonia an interesting case for observing how its security sector governance has evolved and whether it has actually succeeded in institutionalising good practices. This policy paper, therefore, aims at identifying the trends and the main challenges for governance of Macedonia’s security sector for the period 2009 - 2012 in three arenas: externally (through the Parliament), internally (through the executive control) and lastly, the control over the spending of public funds. The authors of this publication try to illuminate the stage to which Macedonia has progressed in the implementation of the second generation of Security Sector Reforms identified by Timothy Edmunds as “the consolidation of previous reforms, and the effective and efficient operation of institutions and procedures at a sustainable cost for the state and society.”

Progress in the Europeanization of the Security Sector in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia

Author(s): Foto Duro,Arjan Dyrmishi,Magdalena Lembovska,Florian Qehaja,Fjolla Raifi,Mentor Vrajolli / Language(s): English

The EU aspiration pushed the Western Balkan states towards wide-range reforms, and the issue of security sector in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia is one of the main issues where many international external actors have been broadly included. Since both NATO and EU memberships are inter-related in 2003 NATO and EU decided to work on a joint strategic approach for security and stability for the region. The main focus of external influences in reforming the security system are NATO and EU membership focused on Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) and Visa Liberalization process. While NATO highly focuses on defense and military reform, the efforts of EU institutions present in these countries are focused in governance issues and police reform. As the three countries expressed political will to enter the process of integration, the EU has offered and been involved in the process of as we refer to in this paper “europeanization” of security structures, and governance. EU however tends to see the security sector from a broader perspective which often implies the vast number of areas under the "rule of law" framework. Hence it is case with this publication which evaluates hollistically the progress made in the different segments of rule of law of the three countries of the region.

№292. E3+3 coercive diplomacy towards Iran: Do the economic sanctions add up?

Author(s): Stefan Waizer,Steven Blockmans / Language(s): English

Uncertainty about the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme still poses a major challenge to the international community, and to the Middle East in particular. More than ten years of negotiations have brought no resolution to the dispute, so in recent years the EU and the US have upped the pressure on the Islamic Republic. In January 2012 the EU adopted an unprecedented sanctions package, mainly directed at the Iranian oil industry. Together with US measures, this strike at the centre piece of the Iranian economy was intended to force the Iranian regime to agree to demands of the international community in the framework of the ‘E3+3’ (Germany, France, the UK, plus the US, China and Russia) negotiations, conducted under the auspices of EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton.

NATO and Central Asia

Author(s): Jos Boonstra,Alexander Cooley,Marlène Laruelle,Sébastien Peyrouse / Language(s): English

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has a keen interest in Central Asia due to the security and stability risks the region generates, as well as the negative spill-over effects from Afghanistan that impact upon the region. Although all five Central Asian Republics take part in NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP), concrete cooperation remains limited and is mostly oriented towards maintaining a dialogue. The Central Asian regimes feel they need to balance security cooperation with NATO with that of Russia (the Collective Security Treaty Organisation) and Russia-China (the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), but at the same time they exploit NATO’s and the U.S.’s dependence on keeping the Northern Distribution Network alive for troops and supplies to Afghanistan. Meanwhile NATO seeks to balance the demands of hard security interests with not losing sight of Central Asia’s deploring democracy and human rights record. However, cooperation is clearly weighted in favour of NATO’s practical interests: the ISAF mission in Afghanistan largely defines NATO relations with the Central Asian region.

BETON - Kulturno propagandni komplet br. 60, god. III, Beograd, utorak, 9. decembar 2008.

Author(s): Milica Jovanović,Saša Ćirić,Predrag Lucić / Language(s): Serbian

MIXER, Milica Jovanović: Naš korak nije tako čvrst; antiCEMENT, Saša Ćirić: Želudac humanosti; VREME SMRTI I RAZONODE, Predrag Lucić: Arap vrti gde burgija neće; BULEVAR ZVEZDA, BUHA, Aleksa

The security issues and negotiations concerning the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict

Author(s): Eduard Ţugui / Language(s): English

The military-strategic security issue represents the great unknown in the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. When the negotiation agenda was established in the "5 + 2" format, on April 18, 2012, the security issues were camouflaged in the untouched "basket 3", according to the philosophy of "small steps" which does not allow complex discussions on military security. Recent events in the eastern part of the European continent where Russia and the Euro-Atlantic community are involved in the re-drawing of the European security architecture, Russia's intention to liquidate the expired ammunition stored in Cobasna, the tensions related to the non-signing of the Bratislava Protocol, or the "powerful autonomy" announced by President Igor Dodon for 2020, all of these issues demand an increased attention towards the security regime in the eastern part of the Republic of Moldova.

Bomba

Author(s): Tom Stevenson / Language(s): Serbian

Review of: 1. Fred Kaplan, „The Bomb: Presidents, generals, and the secret history of nuclear war / Bomba: Predsednici, generali i tajna istorija nuklearnog rata“, Simon and Schuster, 2021; 2. Keir A. Lieber i Daryl G. Press, „The Myth of the nuclear revolution: Power politics in the atomic age / Mit o nuklearnoj revoluciji: Politika moći u atomskom dobu“, Cornell, 2020.

Opasna greška

Author(s): Jakob Augstein / Language(s): Serbian

Kancelar Olaf Šolc je u nedelju 27. februara u nemačkom parlamentu rekao da je za nemačku vojsku namenjen poseban fond od 100 milijardi evra i da će vojni budžet ubuduće iznositi više od 2% BDP-a. Ova suma nikad dosad nije dosegnuta. Šta su poslanici na to uradili? Ustali su i dugo aplaudirali. Kancelareve reči izgubile su se u aplauzu. Bilo je jezivo. Nemački parlamentarci slavili su najveće naoružavanje Nemačke posle Drugog svetskog rata. Primereniji bi bili ćutanje i nema ozbiljnost. Umesto toga, izgledalo je kao da je Bundestag u februaru 2022. opet dočekao svoj avgust 1914. U zgradi Rajhstaga poslanici su hvalili paket od 100 milijardi kao što su njihovi prethodnici odobrili ratne kredite u leto 1914: oduševljeni i mirne savesti.

Lov na rusku podmornicu

Author(s): Alexander Golts / Language(s): Serbian

Ako je neko želeo da se uveri u to koliko se, zahvaljujući seriji konstantnih uspeha njene spoljne politike, položaj Rusije u poslednje vreme drastrično promenio, dovoljno je bilo da obrati pažnju na događaje koji su se prošlog vikenda odigrali u Švedskoj. Tamo su tragali za sovjetskom – o ne, izvinite – za ruskom podmornicom. Prema saopštenjima lokalne štampe, odgovarajuće službe su prošlog četvrtka, u švedskim teritorijalnim vodama bliže Kalinjingradu, ulovile signal poziva za pomoć poslat po kanalu rezervisanom za eksternu vezu Baltičke flote. Ubrzo zatim je inekom ribaru pošlo za rukom da fotografiše nekakav neidentifikovani podvodni objekat.

Rat i/li lov?

Author(s): Žarko Puhovski / Language(s): Croatian

Prije nekoliko dana glasoviti je „Der Spiegel“, oponašajući već tradicionalnu francusku zbirku “Perles du bac”, objavio zbirku najglupljih odgovora na ovogodišnjim ispitima u njemačkim školam a– u nastojanju da pokaže kako ni u gluposti Njemačka ne zaostaje za „prijateljskim rivalom“. Među ovim se biserima našao i odgovorna pitanje: „Zašto je u XIX. stoljeću u lovu često korišten rog?“, a glasio je: „Radi upozorenja životinjama“. Ako se je njemačkim izbornicima odgovor i mogao činiti paradigmatički glupim, onda jeto najvjerojatnije samo stoga što su – u najboljoj (a zapravo najgoroj) pedagogijskoj maniri – tekst interpretirali lišavajući ga svakoga konteksta. Nije, dakako, izvjesno da je anonimno njemačko đače doista imalo širi kontekst pred očima (a možda, vremenski i nije moglo), ali rečeni odgovor doista djeluje kao posve pogođeni opis nove izraelske vojne taktike u nedavnim napadima na Gazu.

Televizijska slika sveta

Author(s): Igor Yakovenko / Language(s): Russian

Kada sam pre pet meseci pisao o vodećoj ulozi medija u raspaljivanju rata s Ukrajinom, mnogima se to pokazalo kao moja, prilično nategnuta želja za iznalaženjem autentičnih paradoksa. A danas je to notorna činjenica, banalno opšte mesto. Iz slike sveta koju stvara ruska televizija, rat ističe prirodno kao reka Angara izvelikog Bajkala.

Histerija istorije

Author(s): Adam Gopnik / Language(s): Serbian

E to je brzina. Početkom godine je izgledalo prikladno meditirati o katastrofama proteklog veka i izgledima da se ponovo ukrcamo na Titanik istorije, na čijem će trupu neka nepredviđena santa napraviti malu pukotinu. Činilo se vrednim pomena da je brod potonuo – ukratko, zašto se desila 1914. – iznad svega zbog osetljivosti otvorenih društava na uspaničeni priziv časti i strah od poniženja. „Nepopustljivo isticanje sramote i obraza, položaja i kredibiliteta, straha od toga da budete shvaćeni kao slabi, obeležava retoriku 1914 – od trenutka kada je pogođen Franc Ferdinand do trenutka kada je vojska upućena na Zapadni front“, pisao sam. „Kada neko kaže, ’Udri u santu leda! Ne smemo dopustiti da izgledamo kao slabići’, vreme je da se istrči na palubu.“

Kako sprečiti rat

Author(s): Benjamin Wallace-Wells / Language(s): Serbian

Niko u Vašingtonu ne kaže da želi rat, ali su svi u niskom startu. Obaveštajni krugovi su medijima doturili procene da bi u slučaju napada Rusije na Ukrajinu moglo stradati i do 50.000 civila. Analitičari dešifruju vojne oznake na fotografijama i analiziraju mačo ponašanje Vladimira Putina na sastanku sa francuskim predsednikom Emanuelom Makronom. Zimska Olimpijada u Pekingu je pri kraju, a zemlja u Ukrajini je još uvek dovoljno tvrda da izdrži tenkove. Vreme je za strah. Iz vašingtonskog miljea nacionalne bezbednosti periodično dopiru razne ideje o sprečavanju najgoreg ishoda: jedan stručnjak za evropsku bezbednost mi je rekao da po njegovom mišljenju Nato snage treba da organizuju zajedničke vežbe sa ukrajinskom vojskom u nekoj od okolnih zemalja, kako bi se ona na vreme sklonila s puta razornom ruskom napadu. U trenutnoj situaciji ovakve ideje istovremeno zvuče i suludo i pragmatično.

Kraj vojnih reformi

Author(s): Aleksandar Goljc / Language(s): Serbian

Neki čitaoci se možda sećaju da sam već više puta pisao o tome kako će se tajni rat Rusije na jugoistoku Ukrajine kobno odraziti na Oružane snage Ruske Federacije i da će dovesti u pitanje rezultate delimično uspešnih vojnih reformi koje je tokom 2008, pa sve do 2011. sprovodio bivši ministar odbrane Anatolij Serdjukov. Ali to da će se pogubne posledice mojih zlih slutnji tako brzo obistiniti, nisam mogao ni da pretpostavim.

Nuklearni odmetnik

Author(s): Aleksandar Goljc / Language(s): Serbian

Raketna paljba po stambenim četvrtima Mariupolja od koje je poginulo nekoliko desetina nedužnih Ukrajinaca, označila je kraj nade da će se Rusija u dogledno vreme vratiti u društvo civilizovanih zemalja. Već za danas je zakazan hitan sastanak ministara inostranih poslova Evropske unije i sednica Komisije Ukrajina-NATO, s jednom tačkom dnevnog reda: koje se još sankcije mogu primeniti na Rusiju da bi se zaustavila ratna dejstva. Naša otadžbina, naočigled svih nas, postaje zemlja izopštena od ostatka sveta.

Bez anestezije

Author(s): Ljubodrag Stojadinović / Language(s): Serbian

Invaziju na Ukrajinu Rusija je odredila kao „specijalnu operaciju“. Masivna upotreba sile jeste operacija, ali ni po čemu specijalna. Nije ni klasična, u samoj zamisli to bi morala da bude negacija pozicionog rata. Nije ni munjeviti rat, kako je izgledalo na početku. Ništa se na tolikom prostoru, koji je ciljan kao teritorija pod potpunom okupacionom kontrolom, ne može završiti brzo.

National Security & Defence, № 008 (2000 - 08)

Author(s): Andriy Bychenko,Leonid Polyakov,Sherman Garnett,Grigoriy Perepelytsia,James Sherr,László Nagy,György Varga,Dimitry A. Danilov,Serhiy Zgurets,Martin Malek / Language(s): English

ROUND TABLE BY CORRESPONDENCE // UKRAINE-NATO: ACHIEVEMENTS, PROBLEMS, PERSPECTIVES // HOW MUCH OF NAT0 DO UKRAINIANS WANT? // UKRAINE - NATO RELATIONS: EXPERT'S VIEW // UKRAINE AS AN INTERNATIONAL ACTOR // NATO RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE: PROSPECTS FOR PROGRESS // UKRAINE AND NATO: PROSPECTS FOR CO-OPERATION // THE FUTURE OF NATO-UKRAINE CO-OPERATION: A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE // CONTACTS BEMEEN UKRAINE AND NATO: THE VIEW FROM HUNGARY // MOSCOW AND NATO EXPANSION: READY FOR THE SECOND WAVE? // UKRAINE'S CO-OPERATION WITH NATO: ARE THERE ANY GROUNDS FOR CONCERN? A VIEW FROM MOSCOW // ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO BACK OR, ON UKRAINE'S NOT-ALLIED LIFE BVEEN NATO AND RUSSIA // NEUTRAL AUSTRIA AND NATO: POSSIBLE MODEL FOR UKRAINE?