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The conflict in Ukraine which has raised from Maidan revolution in 2013/2014 is becoming one of several frozen conflicts in the Post-soviet space. While the conflict has been slowly frozen, a new crisis came in 2020. This article represents a continuation of the previous author’s research of the Conflict in Ukraine. The author tries to find how a pandemic has influenced the conflict. He tries to identify some changes in the behaviour of actors of the conflict. He focuses on the possible changes in behaviour on both, the qualitative and the quantitative level. Finally, he tries to recognize how the conflict has been changed during the pandemic.
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After the Second World War, in order to close the gap in the balance of power in world politics, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) increased its influence in Central and Eastern Europe and partially in the Balkans and developed its nuclear capacity. These developments posed an important threat to the USA. In order to fight with this threat, the report number 68 (NSC-68) was prepared and implemented by the American National Security Council in 1950. In this study, in addition to the analysis of the NSC-68 which was one of the most significiant documents of the Cold War, its Cold War strategy implemented against the USSR and its relations with Turkey are examined accordingly. This report was a guide to the Cold War strategy of the United States of America (USA). The USA focused on nuclear armament and aimed to strengthen the military capacities of its allies within the framework of realistic policy outlined in NSC-68. Thus, it aimed to prevent the USSR's strategy to dominate the world politics. The USA organized its relations with Turkey in line with this report. . The USA entered into military and economic cooperation on many issues by making bilateral agreements with Turkey. This cooperation played a major role in preventing the efforts of the USSR to dominate the World politics by going down to the Mediterranean Sea and hence to warm seas.
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Post-conflict arrangements are always welcomed since they provide solutions to very complicated problems by solving the divisions of power inside non-cohesive societies, harmed by ethnical, national and religious, even sectarian divisions. But those creative solutions as those involved in constructive ambiguities have side effects that produce in time new crises, without a possibility to be solved in the existing framework. Lebanon case could give us lessons learnt on how such arrangements that seem panacea are fighting back and weakening a society and a state. And a crisis of the kind Lebanon faces nowadays is exposing those shortcomings. Those experiences should require a more thorough analysis of the effects in time of the administrative, diplomatic and negotiations agreements, due to solve crisis.
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This article investigates the causes of the shutdown of Libya’s nuclear weapons program, which lasted from the establishment of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime until 2003. The author analyses the phases of the nuclear weapons program, observing three periods, from attempts to purchase a produced nuclear bomb, through establishing cooperation with other countries in order to procure production technology, to the last phase of relying on own capacities with external assistance and illegal procurement of nuclear elements on the black market. By analysing the practices of foreign policy and internal nuclear activities, the author tries to locate the main causes of the stoppage of Libya’s nuclear program through the prism of a realistic paradigm. Rejecting the thesis of insufficient personnel capacity as a reason for stopping the nuclear program and the possibility of economic sanctions to deliver results, the author emphasizes the fear of targeting as the main cause for abandoning nuclear ambitions. Elaborating on Gaddafi’s pragmatism and the difference between declared and real intentions, the author emphasizes the importance of understanding the nature of the regime driven by the desire for the first Arab nuclear bomb. The theory of hegemonic stability offers a basis for a theoretical interpretation of Libyan behaviour and the final abandonment of the nuclear weapon program. This article opens up space for future academic analysis, such as the issue of the capability of nuclear weapons to deter military intervention and whether Libya would be attacked in the case of further work on the nuclear bomb.
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The development of artificial intelligence and management in the field of informatics and cybernetics brought drastic changes in the technical means used in armed conflicts at the beginning of the 21st Century. Technical innovations have made a significant impact on the capability of the Armed Forces. Due to increasing technological progress the Law of Armed Conflict has become inadequate and for that reason has attracted the attention of the doctrine. The use of autonomous and automated combat systems (drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned vehicles and vessels, self-propelled weapons, etc.), which can find targets on their own, do not have a clear legal (international legal) status. Autonomous and automated combat systems themselves are tools, weapons and thus a legitimate military target. The scientific and technological revolution has made significant changes in the field of conducting combat operations, but especially in the area of preparing combat operations and issuing orders for conducting those operations. Thus, the extremely fast and drastic technological development of combat means has doubly influenced the modern conduct of armed struggle. First, he perfected the technique for conducting armed combat and second, according to the principle of feedback, such developed means influenced the emergence of new methods of conducting combat operations and vice versa, the emergence of new demands by military thought for new more sophisticated combat means. The paper aims to define autonomous and automated combat systems and point out possible violations of the norms of international law of armed conflict during the use of these systems. Also, the author points out the legal gaps in the international law of armed conflicts that have emerged with the development of new types of combat systems and their use.
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The article aims to illustrate the evolution and international reactions to the current secessionist crisis in Cameroon. Firstly, the anglophone crisis is presented as the result of a minority’s identification with a colonially inherited identity, as well as the consequence of the regime’s authoritarian style and constant exclusion of the anglophone elites from the structure of power. Secondly, the article concentrates on analyzing the reactions of various organizations, institutions and states regarding the Cameroonian secessionist conflict. However, although there are certain minor measures which have been taken against Cameroon, the actions of the international community are still below the expectations of the anglophones, who are the ones directly affected by both the government’s and separatists’ use of extreme violence. In addition, the international support for the fight against terrorism in the region is perceived with suspicion due to the double security crisis the country is facing.
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Faced with a terrorist movement, the authoritarian or democratic power deploys a repressive response. At certain times, it was massive against the armed group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). To study its effects on the group’s operationality, we used two original databases (ETA actions, arrests of its activists). Statistical analysis underlines that the most intense deployments of police repression had a radicalising effect on the Basque national liberation movement, whether under authoritarian or democratic regimes until at least the 1980s, and that this radicalisation phenomenon does not occur at the end of a protest cycle as a backlash against its exhaustion. The effectiveness of repression is only real when it is not only police-related but also judicial, and when it is supported by transnational cooperation.
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Human rights and freedoms are the most sensitive area and the ultimate measure of democracy in a state and society. Absolute human rights and freedoms cannot be restricted, even in conditions of war or emergency. This paper focuses on human rights which were derogated by declaring a state of emergency due to the imminent danger of the infectious disease COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The author addresses the issues related to the definition of state of emergency and the derogation of the guaranteed human rights and freedoms, as well as the proportionality between the taken measures and intended goals of such restrictions. In particular, the author examines the international sources of law pertaining to the restriction of human rights, with specific reference to the situations and conditions when such restrictions are admissible. The content of the proportionality clause which is to be fulfilled by the state when restricting human rights and freedoms is one of the supreme precepts for admissibility and justifiability of such restrictions.
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The aim of this article is to present the life (cycle) of the song entitled Siekiera, motyka… and the role it plays in Polish culture in traumatic situations. During World War II, numerous variants of this song were sung by street performers. After the end of the war the song became popular thanks to the 1946 film Zakazane piosenki (Forbidden Songs), and its wartime versions were later used by many artists. Subsequent contrafacta of Siekiera appeared in the Polish People’s Republic, especially during martial law, as a manifestation of the resistance against communist government, hence the strong associations of the song with the resistance movement. The Siekiera, motyka incipit is still used to create rhymes commenting on contemporary events, published on the Internet. New versions of Siekiera, motyka have been created in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In this case, the enemy, instead of the German occupier and the communist regime, has been the virus. The versions from different times share many features in common – e.g. they are strongly rooted in contemporary reality, evoking the names of well-known figures and humorous wording. They appear in situations of social tension, disorganisation, and they serve to help people come to terms with new reality and traumatic experiences.
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