AuthorMartin Hladík

After his death the gardener does not become a butterfly, intoxicated by the perfumes of the flowers, but a garden worm tasting all the dark, nitrogenous, and spicy delights of the soil.

– Karel Čapek

Karel Čapek is undoubtedly one of the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century. He wrote both prose and drama, becoming famous worldwide for his science-fantasy fiction drama R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots). In this piece he was the first person ever to use the word “robot”, which quickly caught on in various world languages as the play gained popularity around the globe. He is often compared to George Orwell, since both writers often wrote about fictional dystopias with advanced technology and dictatorship. Unfortunately, Karel Čapek wrote about these topics from Czechoslovakia, right next to Nazi Germany. Right after the occupation, he soon became a ‘public enemy’. Here is his story:

Karel Čapek was born in Malé Svatoňovice into a family of a local doctor, MUDr. Antonín Čapek. Soon after his birth in the January of 1890, his family moved to Úpice, where Karel attended elementary school with his brother Josef. This elementary school is now renamed after the Čapek brothers. Karel then continued to study at a high schools in Hradec Králové and in Brno. He reportedly had to transfer all the way to Brno since his teachers discovered that he was leading a secret organized anti-Austro-Hungarian society among the students in Hradec Králové. During his University years, he travelled to Berlin and Paris, and finally finished his studies in Prague in 1915, with a degree in Philosophy from the Charles University in Prague.

Close towards the end of his University studies, he started suffering from Ankylosing spondylitis (Bechterew’s disease), which led to him being forbidden from participating in the First World War. Nevertheless, his outlook on the world was largely formed by the effects the Great War had on him and the people around him. In 1917, his writing career officially started, as he was accepted into a journalist position for the first time. In the following years, he worked for the Národní listy, Nebojsa and Lidové Noviny papers, establishing himself within the Czechoslovakian literary society. In 1921, he left journalism as a form of protest against the change of political direction of the Lidové Noviny paper.

After his career in journalism ended, he finally started dedicating his attention to writing drama and prose. First, he became a director at the Vinohrady theatre. Later on, he founded the Czechoslovak PEN club. Furthermore, he became a part of the weekly Friday meetings the Czechoslovak President T. G. Masaryk, discussing political and philosophical issues of the time with the most important cultural and political figures of Czechoslovakia. These meetings were also attended by Karel’s brother Josef, a painter, whom he was very close with, often even asking Josef to work on some illustrations in his books.

His work is often viewed as one of the origins of the modern Sci-fi genre. R.U.R, War with the Newts and The White Plague are all great reads for anyone remotely interested in early sci-fi, such as many of Čapek’s other works. Other types of readers might enjoy the noetic trilogy of Hordubal, Povětroň and An Ordinary Life, where Čapek focuses on the inner life of humans as individual beings and the boundaries of their knowledge. Furthermore, Čapek was also an avid traveler, who enjoyed writing travelogues about his travels throughout Europe between the World Wars with his wife, actress Olga Scheinpflugová.

After France and England handed over Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Karel Čapek’s world fell apart. Nazi Germans targeted him very soon, as he was one of the last Czechoslovak public figures standing up for democracy. The German gestapo did not get to get their hands on him, as he passed away just a few months before the full German invasion due to Pneumonia. His plays and books remain a key part of literary history to this day.

Please, do not let him be forgotten.

BY: DANIEL HOWARD

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Recently, yet another cigarette alternative has appeared on the Czech market. On average, up to 30% of Czechs have admitted to smoking tobacco in 2020, and many more could be smoking without admitting it. With the long-term negatives of smoking, even traditional large cigarette manufacturers are starting to offer alternatives, as medical professionals push harder and harder to eradicate cigarettes for good. Philip Morris International just launched a smokeless device on the Czech market called lil solid 2.0. Along with it, it also introduced new tobacco fillings. While it is a nice step away from some of the harmful effects of traditionally burning tobacco, these heated tobacco nicotine delivery instruments are still far from harmless for their consumers. Many even argue that replacing the systematically stigmatized form of a normal cigarette with a new product will even boost the number of smokers in the country, as it did in the vaping epidemic currently taking place among the youth in the US and EU.

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When you are running a modern business, employee retainment is very important. By ensuring that you have people who work well at your company staying as long as possible, you can make sure that your company will grow in a sustainable manner. The trick, whether you are a CEO or a HR manager, is knowing which processes to put in place to make this concept a reality. Thankfully for you, this guide has been created to outline a few key ways to make your employees happy. Read on now in order to learn all about it.

Pay a Fair Wage

One of the easiest ways to keep people happy, no matter whether they genuinely enjoy their job or not, is by paying them a fair wage. After all, people will be willing to tolerate long hours or work harder if they know that they will have enough money to live comfortably when they are not at work. This has risen in importance over the last year as the response to the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in people across the EU demanding higher wages and certain industries, such as the IT sector, are lacking in key workers.

Offer Private Insurance

While Czechia has a public health insurance scheme, this can oftentimes be replaced by a more useful private insurance scheme. As an employer, you can make sure that your employees are all covered under your company’s dollar. The benefit of doing this is that it allows them to save more money each month as well as have more comprehensive and often better health insurance. It’s worth seeking the services of a trusted provider of health insurance for companies today.

Stock Food and Drink in the Office

Simple measures can often be the most effective when it comes to keeping employees happy. For example, if you make sure that your office has lots of food and drink, as well as a great coffee machine, your employees will naturally feel that they are well looked after. Additionally, this will mean that they spend less time going out to get supplies, thus increasing their overall productivity. Make sure to have a wide range of goods and services—including fruit and vegetables and snacks when it comes to food, as well as soft drinks for working hours, and some beers (the most popular drink in Czechia) to allow people to kick back and chill in the evenings when work has finally come to an end.

Host Great Company Events

One way to make a great impression upon your employees that can last for a long time is by hosting a great company event. Try and think outside the box when it comes to these types of events and search the internet and the local area for a one-of-a-kind event that will help to stamp your company as one that is truly unique. One way to make sure that it’s a great event is to talk to your employees about the types of events that they enjoy.

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One of the most visited attractions in Prague was ceremoniously opened on September 28th in 1931. It was the first place in the city where the visitors could admire exotic animals that most of them had never seen before. Back then, the first director of the Prague Zoo in Troja became Jiří Janda. He was an ornithologist and a high school professor, who greatly contributed to the construction of the complex in the heart of the country. The first official inhabitant of the garden was a wolf named Lotta. For the great anniversary of ninety years, the Zoo held a 1930s themed celebration on Tuesday. All visitors were welcome to participate in several workshops and learn new skills, for instance in swing dance or take a couple of photos in the photo corner. Guests that arrived at the Zoo in a relevant costume were happy to receive a small gift at the entrance gate. Nowadays, the specialty of the Prague Zoo that distinguishes the garden from the other ones, is the breeding of the Przewalski’s horse. For a long time, the animal caretakers have been successfully returning these horses to the wild, where they naturally belong. Furthermore, the Zoo is also focusing on the protection of the Indian gavial and the Cuban crocodile in their natural habitat.

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In Prague, Kyje, a new special gas plant has just started production. It belongs to the largest technical gas producer operating in the Czech Republic, Linde Gas. 24 new jobs have been generated by the 9.7 million crown investment into a new part of the Kyje gas production complex ran by the company. Until now, the complex has already produced and sold many various gases, for example medical gases, which were vital to Czech hospitals throughout the worst parts of the covid-19 pandemic. The new special gases plant, which the company is opening after three years of preparation and a year of construction work, is one of the most automated plants in the entire Linde multinational group. According to Linde Gas, it has potential to optimize production costs and shorten delivery times. The investment plays a part in the change in the special gas supply system in Europe. The CEO of Linde Gas Czech Republic, Petr Partsch, has explained what are some of the special gasses the plant will be producing from now on: “We supply calibration gases, for example, to car manufacturers for measuring emissions, including technical inspection stations. Pure gases and certified calibration mixtures are used, among others, by units of the Fire and Rescue Services or Police laboratories. ”

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There are several factors that go into choosing a new place to live. If affordability and an abundance of outdoor activities are top of mind, these small towns across the U.S. might do the trick, while others are willing to pay more for the perks of big city living.

For those simply looking for peace of mind, Icelandair conducted a study analyzing factors such as light pollution, congestion, happiness levels, and traffic congestion to determine which cities around the world offer their residents the most relaxing environments.

Hoping to bring awareness to World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, Iceland’s flagship airline dove into this research after a survey by the American Psychological Association revealed the deep impacts of the pandemic. According to the survey results, 46% of Gen Z adults feel their mental health has worsened since the onset of the pandemic, while 33% of Xers, 31% of Millennials, 28% of Boomers, and 9% of older adults also report the same issue.

Since the environments we live in play a large role in mental health, Icelandair conducted this study to point people to cities that may offer them more tranquility. Using a variety of resources to rate locations around the world, the airline came up with a list of the top 20 most relaxing cities.

Coming in first place is Bergen, Norway, ranked highly for its very low levels of traffic congestion (13%), low levels of light and noise pollution (25), and a high average life expectancy of 83 years.

Read the full article.

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, the Balkans and around the world. On the occasion of local elections in Kosovo, scheduled to take place on 17 October 2021, IFIMES has analyzed the local political situation. We bring the most important and interesting excerpts from a comprehensive analysis titled “2021 Local Elections in Kosovo: A sort of defeat of international community.”

2021 Local Elections on Kosovo:

A sort of defeat of international community

On 17 October 2021, Kosovo will hold its fourth local elections since its declaration of independence on 17 February 2008. In Kosovo, heads of municipalities and municipal councilors are elected at local elections.

The Kosovo Central Election Commission (CEC) verified participation of 90 political subjects. Specifically, 32 political parties, 34 civic initiatives, one coalition and 23 independent candidates. There are 1,885,448 voters eligible to vote at the local elections.

Out of 35 candidates for mayors in 10 predominantly Serb municipalities, 19 are Serbs, including three women. Out of 167 candidates for heads of 38 municipalities on Kosovo, only 13 are female candidates. The CEC has also approved a list of 15,577 viters who will vote by mail from abroad.

Kosovo Serbs will have an opportunity to elect from 18 lists their candidates in 21 municipalities. Specifically, the Serbs constitute a majority in 10 municipalities, and in 11 they do not. The Serb community from the north of Kosovo (municipalities Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvečan, Zubin Potok and Leposavić) will participate for the third time at local elections organized by Kosovo authorities. The election campaign officially begun on 16 September 2021.

Kosovo still has problems with the final electoral roll, which is unrevised and not credible, as it is illogical that Kosovo has more voters than citizens.

CSM on hold

The Brussels agreement brokered between official Belgrade and Pristina in 2013, envisages establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) on Kosovo. The Community of Serb Municipalities would be established by a statute, but guaranteed by Kosovo laws. Modification of Kosovo laws requires a two-thirds majority. Hence, the Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) can be dissolved only by decision of member-municipalities. Although it is established outside the legal framework of Kosovo, the CSM is an integral part of the constitutional and legal order of Kosovo, and not part of the Republic of Serbia. Kosovo authorities do not want to implement the establishment of CSM and, in this respect, refer to the decision of the Kosovo Constitutional Court, which had ruled that 24 provisions were not in line with, that constituted a violation of, the Kosovo Constitution.

Analysts believe that establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities would be a way to finalize the dialogue and sign a comprehensive legally binding agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

Kosovo still without visa liberalization

Kosovo still faces numerous problems and challenges regarding its judiciary, economic development, enormous unemployment rate, emigration, dysfunctional administration, crime and corruption.

The talks on the Stabilization and Accession Agreement (SAA) with the EU, the talks on liberalization of the visa regime and the dialogue with Serbia are the processes that Kosovo has still not finalized. On the political scene, there has been a halt in the dialogue, primarily because of the failure to implement the Brussels and Washington agreements achieved between official Pristina and Belgrade. The agreements have to be fully implemented and the parties cannot take only what suits them in the signed agreements.

The Kosovo government has to invest additional efforts to achieve a visa-free regime for Kosovo citizens, because Kosovo is the most isolated area in Europe. Some of the challenges that the new Kosovo authorities will have to address include: enormously high unemployment rate, the situation regarding the respect of human rights, attracting foreign investments, relations with neighbors, stopping the emigration of citizens, fight against regional and international crime and corruption, etc. Therefore, the current Kosovo government has to ensure liberalization of the visa regime for Kosovo citizens and provide to the European Union convincing evidence regarding its fight against crime and corruption, which is one of the prerequisites for liberalization of the visa regime.

Decriminalization of Kosovo

The practice shows that political-criminal structures have never developed strong state institutions, but did just the opposite. The permanent political crisis on Kosovo was a political concept and method the current political structures pursued to remain in power. With the arrival of Albin Kurti (LVV) to power and after the political changes in Montenegro, primarily because of the uncompromising fight against crime and corruption led by the Vice-president of the Montenegrin Government Dritan Abazović (URA), the criminal structures have sought refuge elsewhere in the region.

So far, whenever a new government came to power in Kosovo it announced speedy development and promised to build strong institutions that would be a factor of internal stability and peace in Kosovo, which would contribute to stability and peace in the region. However, as the promises were never fulfilled, the citizens of Kosovo became deeply disappointed with the ruling political structures and are the only ones in the region without a visa-free regime. It is important that a visa-free regime is firstly established between Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina-if the intent is to implement the “Open Balkan” initiative.

The roots of the crime in Kosovo date back to the period of the government in exile. The nucleus of the criminal structures include commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK-OVK) and (para)intelligence service (ShIK), who act in cooperation with the political structures. The ShIK was to be dissolved back in 2008, because in 2009 the official Kosovo Intelligence Agency (AKI-KIA) was established.

It is important for Kosovo Albanians, just as it is for other peoples in the region, to properly face the past, because otherwise it is rather unlikely that they will be able to secure a better future.

Militarization of Kosovo

Despite the announcements on establishment of “reciprocity” regarding Serbian registration plates, the Kosovo government did not inform its citizens about when will that happen or what procedures will be in force. On Monday, 20 September 2021, it introduced “reciprocity” for registration plates issued in Serbia and at the north of Kosovo, started to charge fees for issuing of Kosovo temporary plates for passenger and cargo vehicles, which had registration plates issued in Serbia, and deployed heavily armed forces of Special Units of the Kosovo Police Force (ROSU). As a response to such measures of the Kosovo government, Kosovo Serbs erected barricades at border/administrative crossings Jarinje and Brnjak.

Freedom of movement was the first agreement brokered between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels. This has been the most frequently discussed agreement and some of its provisions have even been revised. The relations between the two parties have evidently been degraded to such an extent that they can no longer agree even on the issue of “reciprocity”, which practically affects the daily life of the population.

The crux of the problem are the registration plates issued by the Republic of Serbia for municipalities on Kosovo, which were valid until 14 September 2021. The agreement specified that upon expiration of the deadline both parties would reconsider, under EU mediation, this issue. However, Kosovo authorities unilaterally introduced temporary plates for vehicles from Serbia under the pretext of “reciprocity.”

Temporary plates were introduced by the 2011 Agreement, which gives Kosovo the right to, just like Serbia, issue temporary registration plates, as well as to issue the so-called “entry/exit documents”. Although so far Kosovo did not apply the respective provisions of the Agreement, it now issues only the temporary plates, and not the entry/exit documents.

The multiyear application of such a practice on cars from Kosovo is the reason why in Kosovo the latest move was interpreted as “justified”. The problem is that this decision will not affect Serbia, but Serbs on Kosovo, as well as further complicate the lives of Albanians from Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, whose livelihood is linked to Kosovo.

Gabriel Escobar, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the new envoy of the State Department for West Balkans stated “I think both sides should refrain from militarizing this issue and should not send special units to a place where there is KFOR and where there is no need for that. As far as the issue of license plates is concerned, we would like to see some progress in Brussels in the next seven days.”[2]

All until the establishment of second Kurti’s government, for over a decade Kosovo had been illegally collecting fees for car insurance for vehicles from third countries, which according to some assessments generated more than 100 million Euros in unlawful revenues from car insurance charged at border crossings on vehicles entering Kosovo. Car insurance tariffs were charged as follows: 15 Euros per vehicles for a period of 15 days and 30 Euros per vehicle for a period of 30 days. Collection of unlawful revenues is attributed to the closest members of Hashim Thaçi’s family. Kurti’s government abolished this unlawful collection of revenues, which was dubbed as “the Thaçi’s tax.”

According to analysts, the current situation is a result of the wrong moves the international community has made in Kosovo and is a sort of a defeat of the international community, particularly the EU. Poor mediation of the dialogue by the EU, the failed EULEX mission and unnecessary deployment of special units of ROSU, whose composition does not reflect the demographic structure at the north of Kosovo, bearing in mind that KFOR units have the mandate to guarantee security on the whole territory of Kosovo. Unilateral moves undermine the already fragile peace and latent stability, and the reciprocity measures would make substantial sense only after the signing of a comprehensive and binding agreement on normalization of relations between official Belgrade and Pristina. It is evident that the dialogue between official Belgrade and Pristina has to be continued and become a priority. So far, the EU had spent more than two billion Euros of EU taxpayers’ money in Kosovo- mainly in vain. Most importantly at this time, Belgrade and Pristina have managed to achieve under EU mediation a provisional agreement for the next six months, which will provide for unimpeded movement of cars without removal of registration plates. Actually, this agreement has prevented further escalation of the conflict.

De- Thaçization of Kosovo

Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutors’ Office (KSC-SPO), was envisaged as the response by Kosovo to the assertions from the Report of Special Rapporteur of the Council of Europe (CoE) Dick Marty on trafficking of human organs and, simultaneously. It was also an additional impetus to embark on de- Thaçization of Kosovo, that is dismantling of Thaçi’s regime, which should pave the way to internal consolidation of the country. Therefore, it is important that the KSP-SCO has taken root, as it will enable achievement of justice, which would provide satisfaction for the victims and their families, but also relax the relations in Kosovo and provide for a better and more certain future.

Marty’s report specifies that in the period from 1998 to 2000 members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (OVK- UÇK) had committed crimes. The Specialist Chambers has jurisdiction over crimes committed on Kosovo in the period from 1January 1998 and 31 December 2000. Although it is a Kosovo court, it is funded by the EU and includes international staff. Four leaders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (OVK/UCK), Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi i Rexhep Selimi, are tried on the basis of indictments for a number of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murders, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution and torture. Thaçi and Veseli were even involved in obstruction of justice, while one witness in this case was assassinated.

Showdown with Vučić through Kosovo

Local elections in Kosovo are once again an opportunity for a showdown between a part of Serb opposition and Albanian political parties, on one side, and the Serb List (SL), which is supported by the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (SNS) on the other. In fact, as the Serb List (SL) is a favorite to win the local elections in the Serb communities in Kosovo, they will try to use that for a showdown with Serbian President Vučić and in such a way influence the results of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia. As the day of the local elections in Kosovo approaches, the tensions aimed against the Serb List, including threats and violence are increasing. Therefore, it is of exceptional importance to finalize the Brussels dialogue between official Belgrade and Pristina with the signing of a legally binding agreement on normalization of relations, as well as to abolish borders and eliminate barriers in the region through the “Open Balkan” initiative.

Merkel recognizes Vučić’s central role in the region

During her recent visit to Serbia, the outgoing German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) stated that Serbian President Vučić was a person who “does not make false promises, but strives to implement in practice everything that he promises.”[3]

Analysts believe that thanks to President Aleksandar Vučić Serbia has become the center of developments in the region and is of key importance for preservation of peace and stability. Economic development and establishment of “Open Balkan” are the priorities in regional cooperation, because due to the economy of scale principle small countries cannot attract global investors and therefore have more difficulties ensuring sustainable growth and development. Elimination of internal borders and administrative barriers, as well as custom fees, would definitely be more efficient for West Balkan countries if they would have a harmonized infrastructure policy and work together on economic recovery of the region.

During his recent visit to Serbia, the Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz[4] noted the excellent economic development and added that while the pandemic had caused an economic setback in many countries, Serbia did not record almost any decrease in its economic growth. He reminded that Serbia’s forecasted growth was at a level between 6 and 7%, which, as he said, was a very positive development that will have a positive effect on the Austrian economy as well, because of the close ties between the economies of the two countries. Serbia managed the corona crisis well, which is good for Austria as one of the major investors in the country. We profit from positive development of Serbia, Kurz underscored.

While Vučić is fully rebranding Serbia, Kosovo has so far constantly regressed because of the irresponsible political elites, who held public offices and responsible positions but were always focused on their parochial interests and unlawful acquisition of wealth, not the interests of Kosovo.

Local elections– chance for groundbreaking changes

After the recent parliamentary elections, one of the key players on the political scene in Kosovo is the Self-Determination Movement (LVV), which has prevailing primacy over other political subjects and enjoys major public support. So far, the central authorities at Kosovo impeded development of individual local communities and the local elections are an opportunity to end that practice.

The voters are not inclined to support a coalition of LVV with other parties, because many voters believe that the political-mafia structure had unconstitutionally and illegally removed the first government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti. This applies primarily on the younger people who perceives the LVV and its leader Kurti as a breath of fresh air on the political scene.

Victory of the LVV at local elections would further stabilize the political situation at the local level and allow for groundbreaking changes in local communities in Kosovo. However, in this context, it is important that the LVV demonstrates political sensibility towards minorities and particularly the Serb community.

The citizens want positive changes. Every second citizen of Kosovo is under the age of 30 and their future is still uncertain and sealed.

Ljubljana/Washington/Brussels/Pristina, 8 October 2021

[1] IFIMES – International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has Special Consultative status at ECOSOC/UN, New York, since 2018.

[2] Gabriel Escobar, Interview with VOA: “Issue of plates to be discussed in Brussels, Serbia and Kosovo not to militarize the situation,” link: https://www.glasamerike.net/a/ekskluzivno-intervju-garbrijel-eskobar-glas-amerike-srbija-kosovo-tablice-dijalog-evropska-unija-integracije/6244592.html

[3] AA: “Vučić: Merkel was undoubtedly the true leader of Europe”, link: https://www.aa.com.tr/ba/politika/vu%C4%8Di%C4%87-merkel-je-nesumnjiva-liderka-evrope-koju-su-svi-%C5%BEeleli-da-%C4%8Duju/2363822

[4] RTS – Kurz: European integration is primarily a geopolitical issue, EU has to be a reliable partner, link: https://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/9/politika/4500970/kurc-evropske-integracije-su-pre-svega-geopoliticko-pitanje-eu-mora-biti-pouzdan-partner.html

On October 14th, the 9th annual Signal Festival will begin in Prague. A week prior to the spectacular event, visitors of Prague can already observe a number of interactive virtual installations. Thanks to a special app, beautiful works of art created by six different authors can be seen in the streets of Karlín since October 7th. Anyone can download the Signal Festival application on their smartphone for free on Apple Store or Google Play. The organizers designed the app especially for this occasion, with the hope that the guests would be able to experience art in augmented reality. It also contains a programme and a map of the entire festival which takes place from the 14th until the 17th of October, every day from 19:00 to 24:00. These days, interested visitors can discover art installations with their phones at Karlínské náměstí, Negrelli Viaduct, Kooperativa Headquarters, River City Karlín, Corso Court and Lyčkovo náměstí. The best time to visit is in broad daylight from 8:00 to 19:00, according to the recommendation from the organizers themselves. The new project was developed during the pandemic situation when the Signal Festival last year had to be canceled due to the covid restrictions. The organizers aimed to create a free open-air gallery of virtual art for all Prague visitors.

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Being a businessman and being a successful businessman are two very different things. Only the latter can maximize their efforts and make the most of the time and energy they invest in their company. However, there’s another thing that defines successful businessmen – the gadgets they use and the technology they rely on. And if you too want to turn from an ordinary businessman into an extraordinary one, this is precisely what you need to start doing as well. If you need some help to make that happen, here are five essential gadgets all businessmen should own.

Phone/laptop/tablet

These things are the basic combo when it comes to modern businessmen – if you don’t own a reliable phone, a powerful laptop, and a practical tablet, you won’t be able to take your business to the next level. You won’t be able to develop your business plans, communicate with your partners, get in touch with your clients and customers, follow your company’s social media accounts, and find new marketing ideas that might help you become better than ever.

Luckily, finding these things is easier than ever, and it comes down to the amount of money you can spend on these gadgets. That doesn’t always mean that pricier models are also better, but you need to do thorough research and find phones, laptops, and tablets that might work for you the most.

Portable battery charger

Whichever phone, laptop, and tablet you’ve chosen, you need to be able to use these things as often as you need and access them whenever you want. This won’t be always possible simply because their batteries aren’t as powerful as you’d like them to be, which is why a portable battery charger is a perfect addition to every new gadget you buy.

These come in all shapes and sizes, as well as different price ranges, which is why taking your time and paying close attention to their features is so important. Unless you do that, you’ll end up with a faulty charger that costs a lot but doesn’t get the job done – and that’s an outcome all businessmen are going to hate.

Wallet 2.0

Every businessman out there already owns a wallet, but do they own a wallet that comes with a bit of technology too? Well, unless they own one of those slim RFID blocking technology-powered wallets, they don’t have the right one. The best thing about these wallets isn’t their amazing visual appeal, but their safety feature – they come with technology that makes them totally safe and extremely hard to steal.

This sort of protection is something all businessmen are going to appreciate. And if you decide to choose an elegant metal minimalist wallet, you’ll get a gadget that suits you whatever you’re wearing and whatever you’re doing, which is why these are so popular with businessmen of the 21st century.

Smartwatch

Since you’re not just a businessman, but a man before anything else, finding enough time to enjoy your hobbies is vital in this day and age. This will help you take your mind off work and relax your mind, body, and soul, which is why hobbies are important. And if you’re into sports, you can combine your favorite hobby with the latest technological developments and buy a new smartwatch.

These things combine the precision of your traditional watches with the practicality of modern computers – all while looking very appealing and attractive. Again, you’ll be surprised to learn how many models of smartwatches are there, so stick to those that come with features that work for you the most, including your business communication and your email updates.

DSLR camera

This might not seem like the most essential gadget in the world of business, but it’s an irreplaceable one. A professional camera will help you capture every important moment in your professional life – and your personal life as well, of course – and it’s a gadget you can always rely on. Whether you’re getting ready for a business meeting or developing new marketing strategies, this is something you’re surely going to use every single day.

But, with so many cameras out there, finding the right model won’t be easy. It’s not about the money or the power – it’s about finding a camera that combines everything you’ll need into one compact and practical device. So, don’t be afraid to consult a professional photographer or someone who has some experience before you make the final choice.

These are just some of the gadgets you’re going to need if you wish to become the best businessman you can become, so make sure you check them out today!

By Peter Minkoff

Peter is a lifestyle and travel writer at Men-Ual magazine, living between Ústí nad Labem and Antwerp. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.

Throughout this year’s Q2, the Czech trade inspection has uncovered that 4 out of 5 online stores in the Czech Republic are violating the law in some way. The mistakes most often concerned the rights of consumers and, in particular, the fact that e-shop operators did not provide customers with information regarding product returns and out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes. This information came to light in a recently released press statement issued by the Czech trade inspection. It summarizes the findings the institution made during the 371 inspections it performed between the start of April and the end of June. During these inspections, the employees of the institution uncovered law violations in 287 cases and handed out 452 fines at a total cost of 2.64 million crowns. “The results of the inspections confirmed that there is still a high number of violations of consumer rights in the area of internet sales,” said the CTI director Mojmír Bezecný. This comes after online sales have rapidly grown throughout the covid-19 pandemic, as fear and government regulations moved some of retail business to the world wide web.

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THE ECONOMIC FORUM FOR FEMALE EXECUTIVES

9th – 10th May, 2022 | HOTEL ADLON KEMPINSKI, BERLIN | GERMANY

Welcome, this moment calls on us, individually and collectively, to collaborate and accelerate bold approaches as we rebuild our post-pandemic world to be more resilient, inclusive and greener. And as we navigate the “New Normal”, it is now more important than ever to join forces and strengthen our solidarity.

Therefore, I cordially invite you to join the Global Female Leaders’ summit where you will have the opportunity to engage in in-depth discussions with a diversity of mind, personality, background and experience on a range of crucial topics of business, politics and society. Take advantage of two and a half days full of action-packed conversations, new perspectives, questions, networking, and a lot of inspiration with a community of remarkable changemakers from all over the world.

You don’t want to miss this. It has been a long time that we haven’t met so I believe that like us you can’t wait to convene in-person again. See you there!

Sigrid Bauschert
Founder | Global Female Leaders
CEO | Management Circle AG

You can find all details in the programme here.

The traditional Czech alcoholic drink Slivovice, a plum-based fruit liqueur, is likely one of the staples of a night out in Czechia for many. However, even this product could not escape the large scale increase of prices throughout retail. The main producer of this drink, the Rudolf Jelínek distillery, reports the worst harvest of plums in 10 years. This year, the farming division of this company, which takes care of its plum orchards, has reported a harvest of just 150 tons of plums. For reference, they usually get a yield of at least 500 tons of plums each year. Fortunately, that will not mean that we will have nothing to pour in our shot glasses, but plums from elsewhere will have to supplement the demand of distilleries across Czechia, and transport of fruit at such a large scale will likely come with a hefty price tag. According to the director of the Rudolf Jelínek orchards Jiří Koňařík, the company normally fulfills at least 60% of its plum demand from its own or closely affiliated orchards. “Sometimes this share can be significantly lower, which will be this year’s case, at which point we have to cover our needs from suppliers, especially from the Balkans. There are fewer plums this year, but buying the required amount will hopefully not be a problem. Due to the smaller total crop volume in Europe and the shortage of workers for the harvest, the price of plums for processing has also increased by up to 50 percent. ” he added.

Source

There are always at least some children in the school canteens that hesitate to finish their meal. The big pile of leftovers then just goes to waste. The schools themselves are in charge of collecting the gastro waste, usually as an additional expense in their budget. Recently, a number of Czech high schools joined a new project intended to increase the amount of sorted waste in Prague. Exactly twenty-eight schools across the city decided to be a part of the innovative idea. The project will be funded by the capital city. Therefore, it is very convenient for the schools to participate as they previously had to deal with the payment on their own. Prague decided to create the mentioned plan after the release of a new law in January 2021 which states new restrictions for all Czech municipalities regarding the exact amount of recycled communal waste. As for now, approximately thirty percent of the waste collected in Prague is recycled. The introduced law aims to reach at least fifty-five percent of waste sorted in every Czech city by the year 2025. The development is currently just at its starting point, but the specialists expect the project to cover more institutes in the near future. Hence the leftovers from school lunches should be used for the production of biogases.

Source

The fall of Kabul to the Taliban, pre-negotiated with the US in Doha, Qatar, has launched yet another premeditated enterprise, as fruitless as the US effort to keep Afghanistan under its own control: so many IR scholars, pundits, and journalists, in all sorts of specialized and non-specialized publications in the US and Europe, are trying to prove that the 2021 version of the Taliban has not changed in comparison to the version of the Taliban which seized control of Afghanistan in 1996 and that they will again make Afghanistan a cradle for all kinds of terrorists. If they use facts rather than phrases, they commonly seek a confirmation of this thesis in the names of the 2021 Taliban leaders appointed to the interim government, the names which are not particularly different from those of the Taliban who governed the country from 1996.

Yet, all these experts (save the notable intellectuals such as Djawed Sangdel) have somehow failed to notice that the times have changed, and so has the geopolitical environment in which the whole overturn took place. Indeed, how can the Taliban remain the same, if the entire world has changed so profoundly, comparing the year of 2001, when the Taliban were overthrown by the US forces, with the year of 2021, when the US forces withdrew before the Taliban’s advance? No matter how rigid they are in their faith as a religious movement, the Taliban as a political organization had no choice but to adapt to the tide of change, if they wanted to seize and exercise power in a changed geopolitical context.

There are many symbolic signs of this new context which are directly linked to the second arrival of the Taliban.

First, both the Taliban and the US sat down to negotiate the withdrawal of the US forces and transfer of power to the Taliban, which signals that the US is no longer the same hegemonic power that refuse to ‘negotiate with the terrorists’, as the Taliban were characterized by the US diplomacy for so many years.

Second, the Taliban have adopted a different political philosophy, which gives precedence to diplomatic – rather than military – means, whenever the former proves more efficient.

Third, the negotiations took place in Qatar, a country that used to be the most isolated among the Arab countries due to its alliance with Iran, which shows that the Americans have accepted not only Qataris, but also Iranians, as mediators and potential partners.

Fourth, despite their ambiguous relations and deep ideological differences, Iranians have also accepted the Taliban as a potential partner, which is also mirrored in the fact that their only Arab ally, Qatar, played the role of the mediator and host to the US-Taliban negotiations.

Fifth, China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan did not close their diplomatic missions in Kabul after its takeover by the Taliban, which demonstrates that two global and two regional powers intend to cooperate with the Taliban-led government; moreover, that these four powers asses that they can benefit from such cooperation and accept the Taliban as a relevant regional partner of potential strategic significance.

Therefore, at the very least, the Taliban are not going to be so isolated as they were during their first incarnation, which will certainly open them up, for the first time, to various foreign policy options.

However, there is one important question that is rarely posed by those who write and speak about the Taliban. This question is the most basic one: who are, in fact, the Taliban and who actually created them? In a recent interview, the former National Security Advisor to the US President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, proudly admitted that the US intelligence agencies inserted a number of Islamist fighters’ cells into Afghanistan by the end of the 1970s, with the task to penetrate the territory of the then Soviet Union and perform military actions, so as to provoke the Soviet regime to invade Afghanistan.

The idea was to turn Afghanistan into the Soviet Union’s Vietnam-like catastrophe and thus bring the communist empire to a collapse. As we all know, the Soviets had fallen into that trap and the rest is history: they were eventually defeated and expelled by the well-organized Islamist fighters, better prepared for a guerrilla war than the Soviet army. However, no matter how Brzezinski now prides himself for this idea, it is well-known that its execution and implementation were in more than 90% left to a non-American agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, the country that was the most faithful British and American ally at the time. In an exceptional analysis Forever Friends? Pakistan and the Taliban Still Need Each Other, written by Zahid Shahab Ahmed and published in the National Interest, we can see it clearly:

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Washington approached Islamabad to become its frontline ally in a proxy war against the Soviets. During the Afghan-Soviet War (1979-1989), thousands of mujahideen were recruited from around the world and trained in Pakistan, and then deployed into Afghanistan. In addition to receiving billions in economic and military assistance from the United States, Pakistan expanded its influence in Afghanistan through close relations with the Afghan mujahideen as they later united into the Taliban in the 1990s. In 1994, Mullah Mohammed Omar founded the Taliban with fifty students in Kandahar. By 1995, the group’s control increased to twelve provinces and its size to 25,000 fighters. Due to its quick territorial gains, the Taliban managed to seize control of most of the country and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996. To date, their first takeover of Kabul is attributed to Pakistan’s strong backing.

Therefore, the Taliban’s recruitment from among the Afghani and Pakistani Pashtuns and their military training for guerrilla warfare and religious indoctrination with the mixture of Pakistani Deobandi and Saudi Wahhabi Islam are to be treated as a special intelligence operation conducted by the ISI, and the same may be applied to their military victory. Of course, this operation would not have been viable without adequate coverage by the American CIA and British MI6, and assistance by Saudi Arabia’s GID (General Intelligence Directorate). Thus, the Taliban and their hybrid ideology were created for a particular purpose and their heavy-handed policies upon the seizure of power also served a particular geopolitical agenda. It would go beyond the scope of this article to analyse in detail what this agenda was or might have been. Let us only notice that the Taliban in those times prepared the ground, both ideologically and literally, to legitimize the future American ‘War on Terror’, which has brought 20 years of continuous instability to the central part of Eurasia.

In other words, there is no reason to look at the Taliban as a genuine occurrence – they had been created as a proxy and were left with no option but to remain a proxy. Whose proxy, that is the only question.

There is no doubt that the second coming of the Taliban has been prepared and backed, again, by the ISI and Pakistan. On the operative level, the Taliban have clearly remained Pakistan’s proxy. However, in the meantime, Pakistan has totally changed its geopolitical orientation and switched loyalties. Initially created by the British Empire through religious partition of the post-colonial India and secession of a great piece of the Pashtun-populated part of Afghanistan, in order to enable continuous Anglo-American control of the heart of Eurasia, Pakistan found itself abandoned and cornered by its former sponsors and allies, when they invested their capital and geopolitical weight in the strengthening and rise of its archenemy, Hindu-controlled India. Of course, this was not the first time that the British-American axis supported India against Pakistan, just as they were supporting Pakistan against India. However, this time it happened in the context of the rise of the most extreme form of religious nationalism promoted by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, designed to eliminate Muslims as a constituent part of the Indian nation for good, which would force Pakistan to enter yet another conflict with India over a definite line of Muslim-Hindu separation. Ostensibly, it was a rational calculation by the British and Americans, to support instant economic rise of India and foster a redesign of Indian policy towards extreme, religiously based nationalism, so as to make India capable and willing to confront China, as India’s old and their new geopolitical adversary. However, such a tricky game has only pushed Pakistan to turn towards China as a potential ally and geopolitical patron. Thus the British and Americans have eventually pushed Pakistan away and lost their most faithful ally, and China has been delivered an entirely new leverage to fundamentally change the geopolitical balance in Eurasia.

With Pakistan under the US-UK patronage and Afghanistan under American control, China had a huge problem to secure its most important strategic project, the Belt and Road Initiative, in particular its China/Pakistan and China/Central Asia/West Asia Corridors. Also, the direct access of the Anglo-American intelligence agencies to the very borderland of China, through their stronghold in Afghanistan and the porous borders of the post-Soviet Central Asian republics, made it possible to instigate China’s own ‘Muslim problem’ in the form of the Islamist radicalization of Uighurs in Xinjiang. This, predictably, provoked the Chinese regime to respond in an extremely oppressive manner, which almost put in question its relations with the entire Islamic world, especially the countries of Central Asia, thereby undermining the prospects for their participation in the Belt and Road Initiative. As this problem proved to be too difficult to solve on the internal level, China’s imperative was to take Afghanistan out of the American control and reverse this trend that gravely threatened Chinese strategic interests. In these circumstances, Pakistan’s well-known proxy, the Taliban, appeared on the horizon as the best suited instrument for that purpose. In this context, it is not difficult to imagine why the Taliban were so quickly and efficiently restored by the ISI and why they suddenly became so politically pragmatic and militarily strong.

So, the Taliban’s 2021 takeover was also decisively supported by Pakistan, as it had been the one in 1996. However, this time it has all happened in a totally different geopolitical environment, with Pakistan under China’s geopolitical umbrella, which implies a totally different geopolitical orientation on Pakistan’s, as well as the Taliban’s, part. Instead of serving the goals of Halford Mackinder’s doctrine of permanent destabilization of Eurasia, so as to secure British-American control over the world’s sea-trade routes, now Pakistan and its proxies have become open to promoting the opposite geopolitical agenda, the Chinese doctrine of building Eurasian land-trade infrastructure as an alternative to the Anglo-American hegemony over sea-trade routes. Such a doctrine, embodied in the Belt and Road Initiative, requires a long-lasting stabilization of the Eurasian geopolitical space, and Afghanistan occupies a strategic place within this constellation.

Of course, most the Chinese officials could do in their public activities was to keep the embassy in Kabul open, recognize the Taliban, and send their Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, to meet the Taliban delegation in Tianjin. On their part, the Taliban described China as a ‘friendly country’ and invited it to participate in reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, guaranteeing the safety of Chinese investments. However, there is no need to make guesses about whether the new version of the Taliban will really prevent various Islamist militant groups to penetrate China’s territory, as well as the territory of the post-Soviet Central Asian republics: this time, the Taliban have been resurrected and installed as a watchdog, to serve no other purpose than this one, so as to eventually make Afghanistan a part of a potential strategic alliance of China, Pakistan, and Iran. All in accordance with the Chinese strategic vision to make the Eurasian land-mass stable for transcontinental development of infrastructure, trade, and industry, designed to lead to economic, and eventually political, unification of the Eurasian continent.

Dr. Zlatko Hadžidedić
is the founder and director of the Center for Nationalism Studies, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (www.nationalismstudies.org).

We are thrilled to cordially invite you to join our Virtual Fireside Chat with two incredible female leaders from our longtime partner and global leader SAP.

Thursday 14th October 2021, at 12 noon (CEST) – via Zoom

Intelligent Transformation –
Becoming More Resilient and Sustainable Enterprises

Guests:
Eva Zauke, SVP, Global Head of SAP Enterprise Adoption, SAP SE, Germany
Feiyu Xu, SVP, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence, SAP SE, Germany

As businesses navigate the new normal and technologies are changing at a very fast pace, the need to become more resilient and sustainable has become paramount. Leveraging the power of AI to rethink the approach to digital transformation has given rise to ‘Intelligent Transformation’ that can help realize business value while addressing some of the most profound environmental, economic, and social challenges of our time.

In this virtual fireside chat, hear from and discuss with SAP technology leaders and experts what intelligent transformation is all about, why it is the key to the future of companies and how to enable it. Gain invaluable insights and ideas on how to accelerate performance driven by intelligent transformation strategy.

Join us and get ready for an hour full of insights and ideas. Look beyond your industry for new inspirations to give your digital journey a meaningful push into the future.

Use this code to register for free: MEET-GFL

Please register here to join

• Netflix subscribers in Japan have access to the best-reviewed and most awarded TV and film content in the world
• The Czech Republic is second, South Korea is third, the UK is fourth and Switzerland is fifth
• The United Kingdom comes top when looking exclusively at countries with the best TV series

Japan’s Netflix library contains more top-quality TV and film content than anywhere else in the world, according to a new study by Uswitch.

The research calculated which countries have access to the best-reviewed and most awarded TV and film content by totalling the IMBD scores for every TV series and film in each country’s library. This was combined with the total number of award wins and award nominations and Uswitch then converted the overall total into a Netflix catalogue score out of a possible 100.

Where To See the Best TV and Film on Netflix

With an IMDB total of 27,284, more than 19,000 award wins and over 40,000 award nominations across its entire Netflix catalogue – Japan is awarded the maximum 100 Netflix catalogue points for its total score of 86,961, highest of all countries.

The Czech Republic is second on the list with a Netflix catalogue score of 97.61. In third place is South Korea with a score of 94.02, the UK has a score of 93.78 which lands fourth place, and in fifth, it’s Switzerland with a score of 94.74.

Interestingly, 50% of the top 30 list is made up of European countries, with the United States only just making an appearance in 29th place.

Netflix first became available in Japan in 2015, and the top five IMDB rated TV series and films in Japan’s library are: Breaking Bad (IMDB score of 9.5) Shawshank Redemption (9.3), Our Planet (9.3), Avatar: The Last Airbender (9.2) and Rick and Morty (9.2).

Read the rest of the article here.

On Wednesday, the Ministry for Regional Development of the Czech Republic sent out its first reply to the EU regarding the audit that found problems in the way our government detects conflicts of interests. Much information about the contents of this letter can not be shared publicly. However, since we roughly know what the EU wanted to hear, we can make some guesses about what the Czech government likely wrote to the EU. The European Commission requested a number of preventive and corrective measures from the Czech authorities to ensure compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act. For example, keeping a list of public officials and the companies they own or control. Or incorporating a methodological approach into the procedures addressing conflicts of interest in relation to trust funds. Czechia should describe its ‘ongoing improvement of the management and control system’ to Brussels and set a deadline for the completion of a specific action plan. Furthermore, the EU requests ‘re-verifications’ to be performed on 12 past operations together with a deadline for their completion. In the past, our government was already warned that it could lose access to EU funding if it were not to follow the guidance of the EU in this matter, which would be a massive problem.

Source

Many patients currently occupying hospital beds or those staying in quarantine may wonder whether they can still take part in deciding the future of this country by casting a vote. The answer is yes. Any Czech citizen who is unable to make it on October 8th and 9th and throw their election ballot in the box due to a reasonable excuse, they will be provided a proper opportunity to participate in the parliament election. People who will be in quarantine have two options to let their voice be heard. They can either throw in their ballot on October 6th in several drive-in voting stations in their region that will be open from 8am to 5pm or call the regional office which will send their employees straight to their homes on the days of the election. However, if an individual chooses the drive-in option, they will be required to bring in a certificate that proves that they are ordered to stay in quarantine. To vote from home, it is possible to send a request to the regional office up until October 7th. This option is suitable especially for the immobilized. Hospitalized patients or social services facility clients will be able to vote right in the certain institution, if requested. The election committee teams will also be visiting prison cells. The detainees can request to vote until the 1st of October.

Source

In January 2021, eight months ago, when rumours about the possibility of appointment of Christian Schmidt as the High Representative in Bosnia occurred for the first time, I published the text under the title ‘Has Germany Lost Its NATO Compass?’. In this text I announced that Schmidt was appointed to help Dragan Čović, the leader of the Croatian HDZ party, to disrupt the constitutional structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina and create precoditions for secession of the Serb- and Croatian-held territories in Bosnia and the country’s final dissolution. I can hardly add anything new to it, except for the fact that Schmidt’s recent statements at the conference of Deutsche Atlantische Gesellschaft have fully confirmed my claims that his role in Bosnia is to act as Čović’s ally in the latter’s attempts to carve up the Bosnian Constitution.

Schmidt is a person with a heavy burden, the burden of a man who has continuously been promoting Croatian interests, for which the Croatian state decorated him with the medal of “Ante Starčević”, which, in his own words, he “proudly wears” and shares with several Croatian convicted war criminals who participated in the 1992-1995 aggression on Bosnia, whom Schmidt obviously perceives as his ideological brethren. The question is, then, why Germany appointed him as the High Representative in Bosnia?

Germany’s policy towards Bosnia, exercised mostly through the institutions of the European Union, has continuously been based on the concept of Bosnia’s ethnic partition. The phrases that we can occassionaly hear from the EU, on inviolability of state boundaries in the Balkans, is just a rhetoric adapted to the demands by the United States to keep these boundaries intact. So far, these boundaries have remained intact mainly due to the US efforts to preserve them. However, from the notorious Lisbon Conference in February 1992 to the present day, the European Union has always officially stood behind the idea that Bosnia-Herzegovina should be partitioned along ethnic lines. At the Lisbon Conference, Lord Carrington and Jose Cutileiro, the official representatives of the then European Community, which has in the meantime been rebranded as the European Union, drew the maps with lines of ethnic partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina, along which the ethnic cleansing was committed, with 100.000 killed and 1,000.000 expelled, so as to make its territory compatible with their maps. Neither Germany nor the European Union have ever distanced themselves from the idea they promoted and imposed at the Lisbon Conference as ‘the only possible solution’ for Bosnia, despite the grave consequences that followed. Nor has this idea ever stopped being a must within their foreign policy circles, as it has recently been demonstrated by the so-called Janša Non-Paper, launched a couple of months ago, which also advocates the final partition and dissolution of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Such a plan is probably a product of the powerful right-wing circles in the European institutions, such as Schmidt’s CSU, rather than a homework of Janez Janša, the current Prime Minister of Slovenia, whose party is a part of these circles, albeit a minor one. To be sure, Germany is not the original author of the idea of Bosnia’s partition, this author is Great Britain, which launched it directly through Lord Carrington at the Lisbon Conference. Yet, Germany has never shown a will to distance itself from this idea, nor has it done the European Union. Moreover, the appointment of Schmidt, as a member of those political circles which promote ethnic partition as the only solution for multiethnic countries, testifies to the fact that Germany has decided to fully apply this idea and act as its chief promoter.

In this process, the neighbouring countries, Serbia and Croatia, with their extreme nationalist policies, can only act as the EU’s proxies, in charge for the physical implemenation of Bosnia’s pre-meditated disappearance. All the crimes that Serbia and Croatia committed on the Bosnian soil – from the military aggression, over war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, up to the 30 year-long efforts to undermine Bosnia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – have always had a direct approval and absolute support of the leading EU countries. During the war and in its aftermath, Great Britain and France were the leaders of the initiatives to impose ethnic partition on the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and now Germany has taken up their role. In such a context, the increasing aggressiveness of Serbia and Croatia can only be interpreted as a consequence of the EU’s intention to finish with Bosnia for good, and Schmidt has arrived to Bosnia to facilitate that process. Therefore, it is high time for the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina to abandon any ilussions about the true intentions of the European Union and reject its Trojan Horse in the form of the current High Representative.

Dr. Zlatko Hadžidedić
is the founder and director of the Center for Nationalism Studies, in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (www.nationalismstudies.org).

In today’s hypercompetitive digital marketing landscape, increasing brand visibility can be challenging. To put your website in front of the right audiences, you need to optimize it for search engines.

Before you invest in SEO, it is vital to understand what exactly it involves. In this article, we cover the SEO basics every business owner should be familiar with.

1. Getting External Backlinks from Relevant Sites is Essential

Off-site SEO tactics, such as guest blogging or local listings, are a crucial part of your SEO strategy. They increase website relevance, authority, and exposure. By writing guest articles on relevant websites, you also get noticed by wider audiences. That is how you increase organic website traffic.

Off-site factors heavily impact your rankings on Google. That is why you should assess every link-building opportunity. Whether you are outsourcing off-site SEO or handling it in-house, there are several factors to check. Some of them are the site’s popularity, domain authority, content quality, link freshness, and industry relevancy.

2. Quality Content and SEO Go Hand in Hand

A decade ago, SEO professionals did not care much about the quality of website content. They published keyword-stuffed articles without considering the actual quality of content. However, that trend has changed over the past few years.

Search engine algorithms are evolving at an astounding pace, and their primary goal is to deliver valuable results in a fraction of a second. They rank search results by their usefulness and relevancy to online searchers. In other words, if you want your content to appear high in the SERPs, make it beneficial to searchers.

Your blog content needs to be fresh, authentic, and informative. While it should be optimized for your top keywords, avoid keyword stuffing. Focus on delivering value to your target audience.

Finally, choose content marketing professionals strategically. They should understand the basics of SEO. They should know to perform keyword research and, based on it, choose the right phrases and article topics.

3. On-Site Optimization Boosts Rankings and User Engagement

When creating a website, hiring someone to handle your on-site optimization is essential. On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing web pages for specific keywords to improve search visibility and traffic.

On-page SEO includes practices, such as structured data, writing headers, internal linking with keywords, and meta tag optimization. They help you increase the site’s crawl rate, boost your rankings, and improve your visibility in local searches. That way, search engines will better understand the subject matter of your pages and rank you higher.

4. SEO Takes Time, so Combine It with PPC

SEO is an invaluable aspect of your online presence. It is an investment in the long run. However, keep in mind that it does not promise overnight success. It takes a lot of time, strategizing, and attention. While your success depends on a wide range of factors, SEO strategies usually show results within a 6- to 12-month period. That does not mean you will have achieved your SEO goals within this timeframe. However, you will see some measurable progress.

For new businesses aiming to boost brand exposure, combining SEO with PPC may be a logical move. While PPC carries no direct SEO benefits, it lets you cast your net wide. With it, you can appear in the SERPs faster and grab the attention of the right audiences. Once they land on your site and see the value of your content, they will remember you and keep coming back.

5. SEO Is an Investment in the Long Run

According to statistics, businesses allocate different sums of money to SEO. While some invest less than $1,000, others spend more than $20,000 monthly on SEO. The cost of SEO depends on the scope of the project.

Many small business owners consider SEO an unnecessary expense. However, observe it as an investment in the long run. By hiring SEO professionals and optimizing your website for search engines, you will boost your online visibility. Over time, you will attract new website traffic, boost conversion rates, and encourage repeat purchases.

Conclusions

Any decision you make regarding your company’s SEO strategy may make or break its success. So, choose the right techniques and hire industry professionals to help you boost your online presence right from the start. I hope these insights will help you!

By Peter Minkoff

Peter is a lifestyle and travel writer at Men-Ual magazine, living between Ústí nad Labem and Antwerp. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.

The unemployment rate in the Czech Republic has lowered to 3,6% during August 2021. At this time of the year in 2020, unemployment was reaching 3,8%. The statistics from the Czech department of Employment Matters show that the number of unemployed individuals applying for jobs has decreased, while the number of work positions keeps increasing. The analysts estimated an opposite trend as the economic situation in Czechia is still somewhat inconvenient after the pandemic. The further development of unemployment will be determined by the coronavirus situation throughout the upcoming months, but the rate is expected to stay the same or lower due to new graduates filling out job applications. The highest unemployment rate of 5,4% was experienced by the Moravian-Silesian Region. The Ústí nad Labem and Karlovy Vary Regions were also ranked high in the August unemployment research. As in the past years, the overall economic situations in these parts of the Czech Republic correlate with the number of jobless citizens. Pardubice region, on the other hand, shows the lowest unemployment in the country with 2,3%.

Source

Throughout the fall of 2021, prices of all baked goods in Czech supermarkets and bakeries are expected to rise at least by a few percentage marks. There are a number of reasons for this trend, mainly the rising cost of flour, transport and energy. The fact that bakers are demanding higher wages, since many other products are also getting more expensive, is at play too. This information was shared by bakers during the annual Days of Bread and the Bread of the Year competition, currently taking place in Pardubice. According to Petr Šedivý, the head commissar of the Bread of the Year competition, “As the price of wheat rises, millers increase the price, which ends up reflected in the price of bread. This also includes the flour required for organic products, cereals grown for organic products are already significantly more expensive. Yet, organic products will also increase in price.” He estimates that the prices of bread could rise by up to 10%. However, some small bakery owners are planning to increase their prices by at least 15%. One of these small bakers is Petr Křivka from Southern Moravia. According to him, “The price increase had to come, we want to pay the employees well, so we must reflect the prices of flour and energy in our pricing. Prices of pastry have to increase. “

Source

Historical circumstance left this colorful city remarkably intact. Thanks to first-class restaurants, outstanding hotels, and beguiling architecture, it’s become popular with visitors, who arrive in search of its ineffable magic.

With its obsidian-lined walls that narrow to a high, vaulted ceiling, the six-seat tasting room of the tequila company Casa Dragones feels like a sleek, pocket-size chapel from the future. Since it opened in 2016, it has become an essential stop in the Mexican colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, so I headed there my first night to pay respects to the tequila gods. Now I was sitting at the altar-like bar, admiring a long-stemmed crystal glass of Casa Dragones Joven, which the brand bills as a “sipping tequila.” Admiring her own glass was the manager, Eva Corti, an effortlessly stylish Italian with straight-cut blond bangs. “See how clear it is?” she asked. “No imperfections.” We passed our noses from rim to rim, searching out fragrances of citrus and spice, flowers and wood. Then we sipped, and warm tequila fuzzies floated through me.

After we’d done some more sipping, Corti told me about herself. Since moving to Mexico six years ago, she has lived in Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, and the Yucatán, but she said it wasn’t until arriving in San Miguel that she felt like she was home. The place has that effect on people. In fact, San Miguel de Allende was just named the world’s best city in the 2021 World’s Best Awards, topping the travel charts thanks to its exceptional architecture, revelatory hotels, and infectious sense of community.

Read the rest here.

As the population pyramid charts of 2nd world countries are starting to look less and less like pyramids, Czech Republic should start solving the many issues connected to this trend. Mainly, there should be an increased focus on pensioner housing, as the capacity of nursing homes and similar facilities in Czechia has been stagnant at best in the last few years. However, the number of potential customers is increasing each year. So, while the around 600 existing Czech facilities are almost permanently at 100% capacity, the government will have to start looking for new social care facilities for the elderly. While some such institutions are being built, keeping up with the demand through building requires long term dedication. Most of our readers surely know how a 1-year construction project can easily become a 5-year one in this country. Instead of letting their elderly loved ones wait years for a spot in a public social care facility, some families opt to enroll their mothers, fathers, grandmothers and granddads into privately ran care homes. Some experiment even further, and use smart technology to monitor their loved ones at their current place of residence to postpone their move to a dedicated facility. Nevertheless, both of the aforementioned methods are just quick fixes, which only a certain part of the wealthier population can afford. Hopefully, the government will shortly come up with a futureproof plan for preserving the dignity of those, who paid taxes to the state for much of their life, expecting a social security net at the dawn of their life.

Source

Weekly swap from 13th to 19th September in the Prague market in Holešovice

Are your closets brimming over but you are still convinced you have nothing to wear? Don’t want to spend much money on clothes? If you like to be supertrendy but at the same time you care about the environment and the impact of fast fashion on the climate, we have a solution for you: a new trend, the so-called swap (exchange of things). Come to the Prague Holešovice Market from 13th to 19th September and explore the First Sustainable Mall: Weekly Swap!

In Hall No. 17 you will find goods of high quality verified by the previous owners. You can get clothes, household items, books, and plants here. There will also be a variety of accessories, toys and children’s or sportswear. Besides all the original pieces, the whole week is full of very interesting program e.g., inspiring workshops and lectures.

This is not only a bazaar, but much more! On Monday 13th the launch of the new Czech board game Terra Futura will be held. The game was created as part of the cooperation with the international Game On project and Albi. All the visitors will also be able to play on site. The game takes players into the future, where they build cities and industry and strive to achieve the greatest possible balance between production and sustainability. At the end of the week, you are also very welcomed at a screening of the British documentary The Great Green Wall from the menu of the World on Plate festival.

“Terra Futura is a minimalist and pretty fast board game that has simple rules and a brisk pace, so no one will be bored playing it. You can play the game in a group of two to five players aged at least ten years old,” presents Viktorie Tenzerová from the organization Na mysli, which stays behind the Game On project and World on Plate festival. “Throughout the week, we will also organize guided tours for students from Prague schools. We want to show them how the swap works and that it is a funny and sustainable alternative to buying new things. The aim is also to point out how fast fashion is linked to climate change and why it is good to prolong the life cycle of the products. On Saturday, September 18th, from 6 PM, we will present the documentary The Great Green Wall as part of the program, in which the Malian musician Inna Modja and the audience starts an epic journey along the future Great African Green Wall. This is an ambitious project that aims to prevent the further desertification of Africa through greenery, which will restore the soil and secure the future for millions of people,” adds Viktorie Tenzerová.

Take what you need

As it was proposed, the largest part of the program will be one of the largest swaps in the world: the visitors themselves will bring things they no longer need and can please someone else. The organizing team will sort things out so that all visitors can choose things smoothly. It’s a playful way of getting things. One big advantage: you don’t pay for individual pieces. You simply buy an entrance fee, which covers organizational costs and the weekly program.

“The atmosphere at the events supports sharing, experience and bringing individuals and whole generations closer together. That is why the trend of swaps is reaching the hearts of the general public and those who do not know swap yet will sooner or later hear about it,” says Kristýna Holubová, co-founder of the non-profit organization SWAP Prague. “There are plenty of things everywhere, let’s finally be responsible to each other and to the environment and the resources we share, and finally to ourselves.”

❖ EVENT DECRIPTION ❖

★ The biggest swap ever, workshops and discussions on smarter consumption habits! This is the opening of the First Sustainable Mall!
★ We dreamt of a place where everything would be different from the traditional shops when we read articles about similar places in Sweden or Germany. That’s also why we introduced swap culture in Czech and Slovak!
★ Besides the main part – the biggest swap in our country ever – you will find lots of workshops, a programme connecting generations and showing solutions NOW AND HERE.
★ Are you ready? It’s up to us what the future looks like.

❖ WHAT IS SWAP ❖

Most of you already know:
Swap is about changing inappropriate gifts, good clothes, great books, preserved household needs. Throughout the SWAP we will receive good and function things! The better things you bring the more you can anticipate that someone will bring something you’ll appreciate and need too!

❖ HOW SWAP WORKS ❖

You get the ticket (https://bit.ly/30YemaO) and then you bring clothes, accessories, jewellery, small items and household items and you can take whatever you need or like for FREE. The number of pieces is not limited but be reasonable and get what you really like and need because that is the only way it can work.

❖ ENTRY ❖

190 CZK / 1 day
400 CZK / 3 days
600 CZK / 5 days

When:
September 13. – 19. 2021 everyday from 10.am to 8.pm

Where:
Pražská tržnice, hala číslo 17 https://goo.gl/maps/ZaLHgnB9qx4zDBtFA

Tickets:
https://goout.net/cs/jine-akce/tydenni-swap-prvni-udrzitelny-obchodak/mcevf/+gcetq/

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, the Balkans and around the world. Dr Mohamad Zreik, PhD of International Relations prepared comprehensive analysis entitled “Afghanistan 2021: China’s Reaction to the US Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan” in which he analyses the reactions after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan 2021:

China’s Reaction to the US Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan

US President Joe Biden has made a strategic decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, after twenty years of military presence under the pretext of eliminating terrorism and spreading democracy. Twenty years later, the Taliban has become more powerful and influential and has seized all the joints of the state and major cities easily and in a record period, which leaves many questions about the role that the United States was playing in Afghanistan and its relationship with the Taliban. Paradoxically, the superpower, accompanied by an alliance of powerful armies, could not eliminate an armed group not too numerous.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was one of the political promoters of the US (Western) intervention in Afghanistan, has expressed his shock at the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw military, and considered this decision “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary and idiotic.” Tony Blair led Britain to participate in the US campaign against Afghanistan in 2001 under the administration of President George W. Bush. In a scathing statement to the US leadership, Blair said, “the absence of consensus and cooperation and the deep politicization of foreign policy and security issues clearly weaken the power of the United States.”

Consequently, US allies feel mistrust in the absence of coordination and political and security cooperation on international issues of common concern. In the end, Blair recommended the US administration to develop a strategic diplomatic plan to put “maximum pressure” on the Taliban, and said: “We need to make a list of incentives, sanctions, and actions that we can take, including protecting the civilian population, so that the Taliban understands that their actions will have consequences.”

Some political analysts have argued that “US blood and money is wasted in the quagmire of Afghanistan.” Others view the decision to withdraw the military from Afghanistan as a terrible blow to the credibility of the United States: its credibility as a partner, and its moral standing in global affairs. However, President Biden indicates that the United States has returned with force again to the international arena. Will President Biden find a door for the United States to exit peacefully from the thorny issues that successive administrations have been involved in twenty years ago?

The current international scene is much different from the era of the beginning of the twenty-first century, China has become more powerful and possesses the second economy in the world, Russia has regained its strength and is working to form a Eurasian alliance, and Iran is expanding rapidly in the Middle East despite US sanctions. President Biden is aware that the United States will lose time and money in futile wars in the Middle East, because the imminent danger to the United States comes from East Asia and more specifically from China. Therefore, the United States seeks to increase its military presence in the Asia-Pacific and South China Sea, and establishing more political, economic, and military alliances in Asia with the aim of undermining Chinese progress.

International newspapers published pictures of evacuating Americans by helicopter from Saigon, Vietnam, fifty years ago, and recently from Kabul, Afghanistan, indicating that the US strategy has not changed since then. The context of international events today is fundamentally different from what it was in the 1970s. The United States – indeed, the West in general – is involved in many conflicts, but it is not the clear winner. The Afghan collapse could be a disaster, in the war known as the War on Terror. But Washington’s failure in the broader struggle between democracy and authoritarianism can be seen only as a serious setback. The main question is whether the allies of the United States, such as Israel, Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, will feel reassured about the recent US decision, or will they be afraid and insecure about the future of their country, which is closely related to US foreign policy.

The Western model that promotes the spread of democracy in the world has proven its failure, which increases the chances of the Chinese model based on cooperation, partnerships and a common destiny without interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Therefore, it seems that the Chinese model, one of its tools, the Belt and Road Initiative, is more attractive, has many economic benefits, and brings security stability. The US withdrawal may turn into an opportunity for China to fill the void and build strategic partnerships with this country rich in natural resources and with a distinguished geographical location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

US President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan in his address to the American people last week. For him, this decision reflects the rearrangement of US interests, and gives it a better position to deal with the new challenges of the twenty-first century, as he makes clear to allies and adversaries – on both – its priorities that determine if it will spend its resources here or there. Following the American decision, the foreign ministers of the European Union held an emergency session and criticism was directed at Washington, which is one of the rare times that Europe blames the United States publicly and explicitly, because what it did in Afghanistan may cause an influx of refugees to European countries, as it would return Afghanistan a platform for terrorism in Central Asia. “This era is over,” said the Latvian defense minister, “and unfortunately the West – and Europe in particular – is showing its weakness to the world.” German politician Armin Laschet, a candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, described the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan as “the biggest disaster that NATO has seen since its founding.”

The Taliban’s control of Afghanistan may bring to light the project of laying gas pipelines from Russia through the Black Sea to India through the territory of Turkmenistan and then Afghanistan. This gigantic project may change the world’s energy map, which may severely affect fuel prices. The danger here lies in the ability of the Taliban, if the pipelines pass through its territory, to control international energy prices to some degree, and to exploit this by manipulating the oil exchanges to their advantage. After talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Moscow last Friday, Putin said the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan shows that efforts by the West to impose democracy are futile. “It is necessary to end the irresponsible US policy, which aims to establish democracies in other countries according to principles that are incompatible with their societies, without taking into account historical, national and religious characteristics, and in complete disregard for the traditions in which other people’s live” Putin added.

The Chinese government has not yet taken a decisive position regarding what is happening in Afghanistan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the Chinese government will take its position after the formation of a government in Afghanistan, but the Chinese government is open to communication and dialogue with the Taliban. The two sides showed their goodwill when a Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin. In this context, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that her country “maintains contact and communication with the Afghan Taliban.”

This US decision will have long-term repercussions and impacts on security and stability in Central Asia, Pakistan and the Middle East, and may affect the narrow Chinese borders with Afghanistan, which has a Muslim majority of Uyghurs. The effects may extend to the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. China is focusing on enhancing economic connectivity with Afghanistan by building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, from which Kabul will eventually benefit. China-Taliban cooperation will deal with security, border protection with China, and non-use of Afghan territory for actions that endanger China’s security.

Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said several terrorist organizations, including the “East Turkistan Movement”, have gathered and developed in Afghanistan, hoping that Afghanistan will not become a “terrorist paradise again.” Through its contacts with the Taliban, China will seek to draw red lines, and confirm that the development of any relationship in the future depends on maintaining China’s security. The Taliban described China as a “friendly country” and welcomed it for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. The movement’s spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said in a press statement that his movement will ensure the safety of Chinese investments in Afghanistan. For his part, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese newspaper, Global Times, Hu Xijin, believes that China establishes its relations on the basis of mutual benefit, noting that if China goes to Afghanistan, it will not seek to fill any void, based on its foreign policy, which raises the slogan “respect for the choices of the peoples of all countries.”

During an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council, China’s envoy, Chen Xu, said, “the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries should take responsibility for the human rights violations committed by their armies in Afghanistan,” adding, “under the banner of democracy and human rights, the United States and other countries are carrying out military interventions in other sovereign countries and imposing their own model on countries with a vastly different history and culture,” noting that this brought “great suffering” to the peoples of those countries.

The West considers the countries neighboring Afghanistan to fall into the trap sooner or later. British analyst Richard Kemp, a former commander in the British army, likened Pakistan, Iran, China and Russia to a flock of vultures, which will fall on the Afghan carcass after the withdrawal of the United States. For its part, China considered that it would not allow itself to fall into the trap of military entry into Afghanistan, which was the graveyard of three empires: Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. China considered that the arrival of the Taliban to the north-eastern province of Badakhshan, which is located on the mountainous border with Xinjiang province; estimated at 80 square kilometres, may provide a safe haven for Uighur Muslim separatist rebels. This prompted China to recognize the Taliban and hold talks with them with the aim of security coordination in the future.

The relationship of the Taliban with the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” and its successor, the Turkistan Islamic Party, is solid since the 1990s. They have established training camps in Afghanistan since the “jihad” against the Soviet occupation, and it remained strong after the “Taliban” took control in 1996 of 90% of the territory of Afghanistan. What increases China’s concern is that in 2020, the United States removed the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, after the Security Council had designated it a terrorist organization under Resolutions 1267 and 1390 on September 11, 2002, for its association with Al-Qaeda. China considers that this organization may have increased its logistical and financial resources, manpower and weapons since Washington removed it from the list of terrorist groups in 2020. A report issued by the United Nations Security Council indicated that the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” is not only present and operating in Afghanistan, but also has a “transnational agenda”.

China will not neglect Afghanistan, as it is a strategic region on the Silk Road and a major economic partner, since the meeting of the Chinese ambassador in Kandahar with the leader of the “Taliban” movement Mullah Omar in December 2000, Chinese investments in Afghanistan began to increase and multiply dramatically, there are more than 100 Chinese companies, all affiliated with the Communist Party in various fields in Afghanistan, including oil and gas exploration, mineral sectors, communications, transportation and military supplies. In 2008, two Chinese companies obtained mining concessions in the “Mis-e-Ainak” mine, which was said to contain the second largest copper deposits in the world. China plans to build road and rail infrastructure projects between Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, and the Afghan capital, Kabul. So, the consolidation of China’s presence in Afghanistan will depend on Beijing’s success in reaching an understanding with the “Taliban”.

China will not fall into the trap of military entry into Afghanistan, which was the tomb of the three greatest empires, but will seek to intensify political communication and economic projects. China needs the Afghan land, which is rich in mineral deposits of copper, iron, sulphur, bauxite, lithium and rare earth elements necessary for the technology industry. On the other hand, the presence of the Taliban in power may threaten the security of the Silk Road, despite the Chinese communication with this group. The former commander of Indian forces in Kashmir, Deependra Singh Hooda, notes to the Washington Post that the resurgence of the Taliban is boosting the morale of Pakistan-based armed groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Pakistani Taliban. This makes Islamic militant groups more powerful and violent from Kashmir to Xinjiang. To reassure China, Taliban spokesman Muhammad Naim pledged that “the territory of Afghanistan will not be used to harm the security of any country.”

About author:

Dr. Mohamad Zreik is a PhD of International Relations, a researcher specializing in China’s foreign policy towards the Arab region, with a special focus on the Belt and Road Initiative, and has many writings and publications.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect IFIMES official position.
Ljubljana, 26 August 2021

[1] IFIMES – International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has Special Consultative status at ECOSOC/UN, New York, since 2018.

Human progress has always gone hand in hand with our energy development. However, it is nowadays unequivocally considered that our energy development and particularly our energy consumption is gradually leading more and more to the phenomenon of climate change. Looking at various studies, we can see that in the last 150 years, as our energy consumption has gradually been increasing, our global surface temperature over land and water has also risen by about 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In the last couple of years, these developments have rung several alarm bells internationally, so that as a result, various treaties, agreements, etc. have been concluded on a global stage. One of the best known and most extensive ones is probably the Paris Agreement. Following its magnitude and ambitious realization, the European Union then concluded the Clean Energy Package in 2019, in order to help push the implementation at the Union level.

The core content of the Clean Energy Package

Already in 2016, the European Commission presented the “Clean Energy for all Europeans Package” for the first time. It consists of four regulations and four directives, each of which were adopted by the European Parliament in the time frame from the end of 2018 to early summer of 2019. The package aims to make a significant contribution to stopping climate change, but above all, to usher in a new era of energy policy and to focus on individual citizens, by giving them a great deal of flexibility but also an impetus to take action themselves.

Among other things, the Clean Energy Package should simplify the process of switching electricity suppliers (in up to 24 hours). In addition, dynamic pricing and intelligent electricity meters will help to save costs and energy. However, in the event of impending energy poverty – quasi-droughts – the member state should then have the authority and it should also be able to regulate market prices at short notice and actively support and protect affected households. Furthermore, a support cap for environmentally harmful power plants in Europe is to apply from 2025. This measure will include all power plants that use fossil fuels.

The member states are also instructed to assess the risk of capacity bottlenecks, draw up national plans and to cooperate and support each other on a regional level.

Thus, ultimately, by 2030, in addition to the goal of gaining 32% of energy demand from renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 40%. At the same time, energy efficiency should increase by at least 32.5% and at least 15% of the networks should be interconnected on a Union-wide level.

However, in achieving these ambitious goals, the European Clean Energy Package envisages that one of the key segments should be the new format of so-called energy communities – which have been defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 and are to be implemented nationally in the same way as the other directive topics according to Art 288 TFEU.

Two concepts of energy communities

The EU has set two similar concepts of energy communities through its directives – the “renewable energy communities” (Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001) on the one side and the “citizen energy communities” (Internal Electricity Market Directive (EU) 2019/944) on the other side. The idea behind both of them is to push the creation of communities that organize collectively and of citizen-driven energy actions, which will help to pave the way for a much-needed clean energy transition while moving the individual citizens to the fore. Let’s take a deeper look at their respective structure.

Art 2 sec 16 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) defines a renewable energy community as a “legal entity”,

• which, in accordance with the legislation currently in force, is based on open and completely voluntary participation, is autonomous/independent and is under the effective control of the members or shareholders established in the immediate vicinity of the renewable energy projects owned and operated by that legal entity,
• whose members or shareholders are natural persons, local authorities or municipalities, or small and medium-sized enterprises,
• and whose aspiration is not primarily based on financial gain, but is to provide economic, social community and/or environmental benefits to its shareholders or members in which it is active.

Those communities have the right to collectively generate, consume, sell and store renewable energy. In addition, those entities shall generate a wider adoption of renewable energies, active participation in the energy transition, local investments, a reduction of energy consumption, lower supply tariffs, an improvement of energy efficiency and, in view of that, lead to the elimination of any energy poverty.

On the other hand, there is the citizen energy community, which was introduced by the Electricity Directive (ED II). It is defined in art 2 sec 11 as a legal entity,

• which is based on open and completely voluntary participation and which is actually controlled by its members or shareholders, who may be natural persons, but also legal entities (like local authorities or small businesses);
• whose main focus is not based on a financial return, but rather on offering community, economic or environmental benefits to its members/shareholders or to the local areas in which it operates;
• and may additionally operate in the areas of generation, supply, distribution, consumption, aggregation, storage and services (in the energy sector) for its shareholders/members.

At first sight, they both seem quite similar, but there are some fundamental differences. In short, citizen energy communities are communities that operate on a supra-regional basis and jointly use, store or sell their generated energy, and are not limited to renewable sources. Additionally, any actor can participate in such a community as long as shareholders or members, which are engaged in large scale commercial activity and for whom the energy area is constituting a primary field of economic activity, do not exercise any decision-making power.

Renewable energy communities, on the other hand, are regionally active players that are spatially limited to the generation, use, storage and sale of renewable energy, but will additionally benefit from lower local grid tariffs and presumably from a tax exemption, as they can operate on lower levels of the grid due to their geographical regionality. The renewable energy communities must be capable of staying autonomous, and also the participation of the members mustn’t constitute their primary economic activity. As a practical example, one could outline the following simple scenario: If 10 households in a locality join together to form an independent society, invest jointly in a suitable photovoltaic system and use the energy generated from it together, this will be known as a renewable energy community.

The idea behind the energy communities seems promising on paper, but the EU`s goals behind them are ambitious and require, in addition to the legal framework, a social rethinking of the European population, a steady backing of the state (at least initially) and, last but not least, the support of power-generating companies, without which the plan to generate 100% of the total electricity demand from renewable energy sources in the near future (and fulfilling the goals set for 2030 and 2050) will not be feasible.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges in this regard will be solving the question on how to create as many incentives as possible for every individual to ensure the establishment and participation in energy communities, since they are expected to hold a large share in the energy transition.

One of these incentives could be that the energy communities would also be regarded as companies for tax purposes and thus become entitled to deduct input tax. The rules for when a community is considered a business / or has entrepreneurial status for tax purposes vary somewhat from state to state. However, most of them follow the principle of the three fundamental pillars – permanence, self-sufficiency and intent to generate revenue. The new energy communities are fulfilling all three of these conditions. Especially the critical third point, namely the intention to generate revenue is met, since an energy community is subject to an exchange of services – electricity for reimbursement of costs – which altogether should ultimately suffice for the status of entrepreneurship, regardless of whether the revenue generation is in the foreground or not. So in my opinion the option for input tax deductibility should be affirmative. In such a scenario, a community could at least be reimbursed, (depending on the respective state) in Austria or Germany, for example, with 20% of the costs for maintenance, repair, purchases and thus make the model of energy communities even more economically attractive.

Another issue is the choice of the corporate form. When the EU announced the Clean Energy Package including the energy communities, it also stipulated that an easy entry and exit from the community must be possible for each individual. Of course, this also raises the question of which legal form to choose. The choice of legal form ultimately determines the organizational effort, the costs and the liability regime to a large extent. The legal form of public limited companies will probably be too expensive for small energy communities of private means and superstructure. In the case of limited liability companies, the strict formal requirements could result in difficulties with flexible changes of members, and in the case of associations and cooperatives, the ideational purpose must be clearly in the foreground, which could also become problematic in the instance of larger communities. Here, I think that real-life practice will show which legal form will prevail.

Likewise, the question of benefits vs. expenses is a valid one. From a purely economic and technological point of view, the entire power grid benefits from the fact that local energy communities are to consume the electricity where it is generated. This means that the electricity does not have to be transported over wide and higher-ranking network levels. This should also save the customers/members of such local energy communities a significant amount of money in grid fees for higher-level grid tiers. However, the question that is actually arising during the first implementation, is who and how exactly one would set up a simple, functioning platform where everyone from young to old, from technology aficionados to technology muffles can participate in this new way of energy consumption and exchange.

Several research projects are currently underway to solve these initial problems. It is already clear that a separate support and funding office is to be set up nationally (maybe even on a European stage), which is to serve as a kind of contact point for any questions from interested parties and is also to help and encourage the founding of energy communities in this regard.

With this in mind, many countries are considering the use of additional limited funding, for example, through special quotas and funding opportunities that are only granted for a limited initial period. In this way, first movers would ultimately generate advantages and, as an additional effect, it would likely be possible to achieve a greater influx to the energy communities right from the start.

Opportunities

Energy communities will allow us to combine technological innovations. The goal is to turn a user not only into a consumer but also into a producer, a so-called prosumer. Energy communities could soon be expanded to include other energy services, such as e-mobility concepts, where electric cars could also be used jointly as part of a car sharing system. In a further step, these e-cars could also serve as additional electrical storage units that can be supplied to the community via an intelligent e-charging station in the event of energy shortages.

Blockchain is also currently experiencing a big buzz in the energy sector. Just to name one example: This technology could be combined with digital platforms (apps) for energy communities in order to achieve better traceability and documentation by visualizing individual energy consumption, for example, and to create an additional incentive for the individual members of an energy community to save energy (competitions, prizes).

Through the implementation of energy communities on a large scale, the cityscapes will also have to change so that the broad masses will be involved as well. This opens up an opportunity to develop new innovations through broad public input and, subsequently, to work as a community on a sustainable city, community and region of the future.

Lastly, it is important to note that the Clean Energy Package and the goals it enshrines will also create many new jobs. Installations of megawatt solar farms on rooftops over agricultural land or between crops will provide additional revenue streams for farmers. The recycling of photovoltaic systems with a service life of 20-30 years will also offer a large, yet almost untapped, market of considerable potential. Experts expect up to 4 million new jobs created in the next 15-20 years in connection with the energy turnaround in the European Union alone.

As one can see, the goals are set high – it remains to be hoped that as many of these subpoints as possible can be implemented to finally achieve the great goal of the energy transition and the associated reversal of climate change in the upcoming decades.

About the Author:

Mak Bajrektarevic of the Vienna University of Economics. Besides researching legal and energy aspects of the contemporary world (authoring numerous articles and co-authoring the book on the topic for the US publisher), he is a cofounder of the largest university sports platform in Europe, ACSL.

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If you prefer to pay in stores by swiping the magnetic strip of your bank card through the machine, you will probably have to find a new way to pay pretty soon. One of the main producers of credit and debit cards, Mastercard, is planning to completely stop adding magnetic strips to their cards in the next 10 years. According to the company, the main reason for this is the fact that magnetic strips were added to cards as the first prototype of a faster way to pay. Now, there are the much more secure contactless payments through a microchip, which are harder to abuse or tamper with. Thus, the company views the swiping of a card as an obsolete type of payment. Consequently, the company plans to slowly stop using magnetic strips from 2024, and completely halt the production of cards with them by 2029. The first market on which they are planning to roll out this change is the European market, which also includes the Czech republic. Since more and more people have started paying with cards, especially as stores preferred contactless payments during the pandemic, an evolution of this payment device will likely be a welcome addition.

Source

Before the new academic year managed to start, the Czech School Inspection released a report, focusing on the last year. That year of education was considerably affected by the pandemic, which forced students in and out of schools, while many of their families were also destabilized by the crisis. This shows in their results, as tens of thousands of students seem to have such problems with the material they were supposed to learn last year, that it will take more than a year for them to catch up, which could drastically hinder their academic abilities. According to the report, there are 14.5 thousand elementary school students, 22 thousand middle school students and 18 thousand high school students in this situation. During the inspections, the Czech School Inspection questioned school staff on what they think could be the reason for poor results. Almost always, the answer was ‘distance-learning’. The report elaborates on this by stating that while some students got worse, others also got better. This is further explored, when the report lists the possible reasons for this. While some students did not have the proper equipment or environment for online study, many just experienced apathy towards having to listen to a computer, and felt disconnected from their education.

Source

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, the Balkans and around the world. Mak A. Bajrektarevic of the Vienna University of Economics, Austria prepared comprehensive analysis entitled “Decentralized energy supply systems of the EU” in which he analyses challenges and opportunities and of the energy communities in EU.

Human progress has always gone hand in hand with our energy development. However, it is nowadays unequivocally considered that our energy development and particularly our energy consumption is gradually leading more and more to the phenomenon of climate change. Looking at various studies, we can see that in the last 150 years, as our energy consumption has gradually been increasing, our global surface temperature over land and water has also risen by about 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In the last couple of years, these developments have rung several alarm bells internationally, so that as a result, various treaties, agreements, etc. have been concluded on a global stage.

One of the best known and most extensive ones is probably the Paris Agreement. Following its magnitude and ambitious realization, the European Union then concluded the Clean Energy Package in 2019, in order to help push the implementation at the Union level.

The core content of the Clean Energy Package

Already in 2016, the European Commission presented the “Clean Energy for all Europeans Package” for the first time. It consists of four regulations and four directives, each of which were adopted by the European Parliament in the time frame from the end of 2018 to early summer of 2019. The package aims to make a significant contribution to stopping climate change, but above all, to usher in a new era of energy policy and to focus on individual citizens, by giving them a great deal of flexibility but also an impetus to take action themselves.

Among other things, the Clean Energy Package should simplify the process of switching electricity suppliers (in up to 24 hours). In addition, dynamic pricing and intelligent electricity meters will help to save costs and energy. However, in the event of impending energy poverty – quasi-droughts – the member state should then have the authority and it should also be able to regulate market prices at short notice and actively support and protect affected households. Furthermore, a support cap for environmentally harmful power plants in Europe is to apply from 2025. This measure will include all power plants that use fossil fuels.

The member states are also instructed to assess the risk of capacity bottlenecks, draw up national plans and to cooperate and support each other on a regional level.

Thus, ultimately, by 2030, in addition to the goal of gaining 32% of energy demand from renewable sources, greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 40%.

At the same time, energy efficiency should increase by at least 32.5% and at least 15% of the networks should be interconnected on a Union-wide level.

However, in achieving these ambitious goals, the European Clean Energy Package envisages that one of the key segments should be the new format of so-called energy communities – which have been defined in the Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 and are to be implemented nationally in the same way as the other directive topics according to Art 288 TFEU.

Two concepts of energy communities

The EU has set two similar concepts of energy communities through its directives – the “renewable energy communities” (Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001) on the one side and the “citizen energy communities” (Internal Electricity Market Directive (EU) 2019/944) on the other side. The idea behind both of them is to push the creation of communities that organize collectively and of citizen-driven energy actions, which will help to pave the way for a much-needed clean energy transition while moving the individual citizens to the fore.

Let’s take a deeper look at their respective structure.

Art 2 sec 16 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) defines a renewable energy community as a “legal entity”,

• which, in accordance with the legislation currently in force, is based on open and completely voluntary participation, is autonomous/independent and is under the effective control of the members or shareholders established in the immediate vicinity of the renewable energy projects owned and operated by that legal entity,
• whose members or shareholders are natural persons, local authorities or municipalities, or small and medium-sized enterprises,
• and whose aspiration is not primarily based on financial gain, but is to provide economic, social community and/or environmental benefits to its shareholders or members in which it is active.

Those communities have the right to collectively generate, consume, sell and store renewable energy. In addition, those entities shall generate a wider adoption of renewable energies, active participation in the energy transition, local investments, a reduction of energy consumption, lower supply tariffs, an improvement of energy efficiency and, in view of that, lead to the elimination of any energy poverty.

On the other hand, there is the citizen energy community, which was introduced by the Electricity Directive (ED II). It is defined in art 2 sec 11 as a legal entity,

• which is based on open and completely voluntary participation and which is actually controlled by its members or shareholders, who may be natural persons, but also legal entities (like local authorities or small businesses);
• whose main focus is not based on a financial return, but rather on offering community, economic or environmental benefits to its members/shareholders or to the local areas in which it operates;
• and may additionally operate in the areas of generation, supply, distribution, consumption, aggregation, storage and services (in the energy sector) for its shareholders/members.

At first sight, they both seem quite similar, but there are some fundamental differences. In short, citizen energy communities are communities that operate on a supra-regional basis and jointly use, store or sell their generated energy, and are not limited to renewable sources.

Additionally, any actor can participate in such a community as long as shareholders or members, which are engaged in large scale commercial activity and for whom the energy area is constituting a primary field of economic activity, do not exercise any decision-making power. Renewable energy communities, on the other hand, are regionally active players that are spatially limited to the generation, use, storage and sale of renewable energy, but will additionally benefit from lower local grid tariffs and presumably from a tax exemption, as they can operate on lower levels of the grid due to their geographical regionality. The renewable energy communities must be capable of staying autonomous, and also the participation of the members mustn’t constitute their primary economic activity. As a practical example, one could outline the following simple scenario: If 10 households in a locality join together to form an independent society, invest jointly in a suitable photovoltaic system and use the energy generated from it together, this will be known as a renewable energy community.

The idea behind the energy communities seems promising on paper, but the EU`s goals behind them are ambitious and require, in addition to the legal framework, a social rethinking of the European population, a steady backing of the state (at least initially) and, last but not least, the support of power-generating companies, without which the plan to generate 100% of the total electricity demand from renewable energy sources in the near future (and fulfilling the goals set for 2030 and 2050) will not be feasible.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges in this regard will be solving the question on how to create as many incentives as possible for every individual to ensure the establishment and participation in energy communities, as they are supposed to have such a large contribution to the energy transition.

One of these incentives could be that the energy communities would also be regarded as companies for tax purposes and thus become entitled to deduct input tax. The rules for when a community is considered a business/or has entrepreneurial status for tax purposes vary somewhat from state to state. However, most of them follow the principle of the three fundamental pillars – permanence, self-sufficiency and intent to generate revenue. The new energy communities are fulfilling all three of these conditions. Especially the critical third point, namely the intention to generate revenue is met, since an energy community is subject to an exchange of services – electricity for reimbursement of costs – which altogether should ultimately suffice for the status of entrepreneurship, regardless of whether the revenue generation is in the foreground or not. So in my opinion the option for input tax deductibility should be affirmative. In such a scenario, a community could at least be reimbursed, (depending on the respective state) in Austria or Germany, for example, with 20% of the costs for maintenance, repair, purchases and thus make the model of energy communities even more economically attractive.

Another issue is the choice of the corporate form. When the EU announced the Clean Energy Package including the energy communities, it also stipulated that an easy entry and exit from the community must be possible for each individual. Of course, this also raises the question of which legal form to choose. The choice of legal form ultimately determines the organizational effort, the costs and the liability regime to a large extent. The legal form of public limited companies will probably be too expensive for small energy communities of private means and superstructure. In the case of limited liability companies, the strict formal requirements could result in difficulties with flexible changes of members, and in the case of associations and cooperatives, the ideational purpose must be clearly in the foreground, which could also become problematic in the instance of larger communities. Here, I think that real-life practice will show which legal form will prevail.

Likewise, the question of benefits vs. expenses is a valid one. From a purely economic and technological point of view, the entire power grid benefits from the fact that local energy communities are to consume the electricity where it is generated. This means that the electricity does not have to be transported over wide and higher-ranking network levels. This should also save the customers/members of such local energy communities a significant amount of money in grid fees for higher-level grid tiers. However, the question that is actually arising during the first implementation, is who and how exactly one would set up a simple, functioning platform where everyone from young to old, from technology aficionados to technology muffles can participate in this new way of energy consumption and exchange.

Several research projects are currently underway to solve these initial problems. It is already clear that a separate support and funding office is to be set up nationally (maybe even on a European stage), which is to serve as a kind of contact point for any questions from interested parties and is also to help and encourage the founding of energy communities in this regard. With this in mind, many countries are considering the use of additional limited funding, for example, through special quotas and funding opportunities that are only granted for a limited initial period. In this way, first movers would ultimately generate advantages and, as an additional effect, it would likely be possible to achieve a greater influx to the energy communities right from the start.

Opportunities

Energy communities will allow us to combine technological innovations. The goal is to turn a user not only into a consumer but also into a producer, a so-called prosumer.

Energy communities could soon be expanded to include other energy services, such as e-mobility concepts, where electric cars could also be used jointly as part of a car sharing system. In a further step, these e-cars could also serve as additional electrical storage units that can be supplied to the community via an intelligent e-charging station in the event of energy shortages.

Blockchain is also currently experiencing a big buzz in the energy sector. Just to name one example: This technology could be combined with digital platforms (apps) for energy communities in order to achieve better traceability and documentation by visualizing individual energy consumption, for example, and to create an additional incentive for the individual members of an energy community to save energy (competitions, prizes).

Through the implementation of energy communities on a large scale, the cityscapes will also have to change so that the broad masses will be involved as well. This opens up an opportunity to develop new innovations through broad public input and, subsequently, to work as a community on a sustainable city, community and region of the future.

Lastly, it is important to note that the Clean Energy Package and the goals it enshrines will also create many new jobs. Installations of megawatt solar farms on rooftops over agricultural land or between crops will provide additional revenue streams for farmers. The recycling of photovoltaic systems with a service life of 20-30 years will also offer a large, yet almost untapped, market with considerable potential. Experts expect up to 4 million new jobs to be created in the next 15-20 years in connection with the energy turnaround in the European Union alone.

As one can see, the goals are set high – it remains to be hoped that as many of these subpoints as possible can be implemented to finally achieve the great goal of the energy transition and the associated reversal of climate change in the upcoming decades.

About author:

Mak A. Bajrektarevic of the Vienna University of Economics. Besides researching legal and energy aspects of the contemporary world (authoring numerous articles and co-authoring the book on the topic for the US publisher), he is a cofounder of the largest university sports platform in Europe, ACSL.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect IFIMES official position.

Ljubljana/Vienna, 24 August 2021

References

• Aura Caramizaru, Andreas Uihlein, JRC Science For Policy Report, Energy Communities: an overview of energy and social innovation, (2020=.
• B. J. Kalkbrenner und J. Roosen, „Citizens’ willingness to participate in local renewable energy projects: The role of community and trust in Germany“, Energy Research & Social Science, Nr. 13, (2016). 
• B. Kampman, J. Blommerde, und M. Afman, „The potential of energy citizens in the European Union“, CE Delft, Delft (2016). 

• Bauern Zeitung, EAG soll Biomasse-Ausbau und Energiegemeinschaften ermöglichen (11. März 2021).
• Bernd Rajal in Der Standard, Stromerzeuger in Energiegemeinschaften willkommen, Der Standard (02. Dezember 2021).
• BMK Infothek, Mit Energiegemeinschaften werden Bürgerinnen und Bürger Teil der Energiewende (28. August 2020).
• Boss Hummel & Wegerich, „Europäische Förderung von kollektiver Eigenversorgung und Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaften. Rechtliche Stellungnahme im Auftrag von Bündnis Bürgerenergie e.V.“ (2019). 

• David Kotrba in Future Zone, Erneuerbare-Ausbau-Gesetz: Energiegemeinschaft mit Tücken (19.03.2021).
• Fellner Wratzfeld Partner, Das Gesetzespaket zum Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien – großes Potential für Energiegemeinschaften (24. März 2021).
• Friends of the Earth, „Unleashing the power of community renewable energy“, (2019). 

• J. V. Nysten, „Die neuen EU-Regelungen zur Eigenversorgung aus Erneuerbaren Energien“, Magdeburg (2019). 

• Jakob Pallinger In Der Standard, Regionale Strommärkte: werden wir bald alle unsere Energie teilen? (19. Oktober 2020).
• Jakob Steinschaden in Tech & Nature, WIR Energie: Kärntner bauen größtes dezentrales Sonnenkraftwerk Österreichs (20. August 2020).
• Jakob Steinschaden, „Tickende Zeitbombe“: Solaranlagen können zum Müllproblem werden (14. August 2020).
• Michaela Plazzo in EUWID, Clean Energy Package: EU Parlament beschließt neue Vorschriften zum Strommarkt (27. März 2019).
• Paul Nimmerfall, Bernd Rajal in der Standard, Schwierige Wahl der Gesellschaftsform für erneuerbare Energie (18. Februar 2021).
• REScoop.eu, „Europe’s new energy market design: What does the final piece of the Clean Energy Package puzzle mean for energy democracy?“ (2019). 
• Ruppe/Achatz, UStG Kommentar5 § 2 UStG (2017) Rz 20 mwN; Wind-steig in Melhardt/Tumpel (Hrsg), UStG2 (2015) § 2 Rz 74.
• Sara Grasel in Tech & Natur, Ourpower: Hier kannst du den Strom vom Dach deines Nachbarn kaufen (14. Februar 2020).
• Schönherr Newsletter, Neues EAG: Update zu Energiegemeinschaften (19. März 2021).
• Stephan Cejka, Energiegemeinschaften im Clean Energy Package der EU, ecolex 2020, 338

According to economist Štěpán Křeček, this year’s holidays will very likely be the most expensive ones in history for Czech families. Inflation is high, Chinese ports are on the verge of collapse, and shops are increasing their margins. Those are just some of the reasons for these unfortunate news. The clogging of Chinese ports is probably the most important problem, as some goods are already begging to be very hard to obtain. This is happening due to the spread of the Delta variant, which has resulted in limited working hours throughout Chinese ports. These ports are a vital source of toys, clothing and electronics for Czech shops. Low supply and high demand is simply bound to make these items more expensive as the Holidays will approach. Also, after the pandemic, Czechs are expected to spend more on Holiday gifts, since the purchase options of many were very limited last year. Thus, the biggest shortage is expected in the electronics department, where chips are used, which are in shortage for over a year now. Ultimately, anyone who can is advised to buy their gifts as soon as possible.

Source

Together with the delivery of cooked meals, the industry of delivering separate ingredients for customers to cook themselves has grown massively throughout the last 17 months. Supermarkets were, are and probably will be considered one of the more dangerous places to visit for a person during the pandemic. All sorts of people from the nearby area visit there, they all touch the same things, and then some proceed to ingest them into their bodies. This can be very dangerous during the pandemic, especially if government safety regulations are not followed. Thus, people shop online more and more, and the Czech company Rohlík.cz seems to be catering towards this trend across Europe. Recently, they have officially entered the German market under the adapted brand name Knuspr.de. They now deliver groceries in Munich, and are set to start delivering in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dortmund and Koln throughout the next year. They work every day except from Sunday, and deliver between 7:00 and 22:00. On top of that, most products are sourced directly from farmers and other producers, skipping many middlemen. Apart from Germany, they already deliver in Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. They plan to continue expanding across the EU, and with frequent multi-million euro investments, the company might be on the right way to becoming the number one grocery delivery service in Europe, despite being just 7 years old.

Source

Independent workers who rely on the tourism industry in Prague, like driver Valey, are struggling to recoup economic losses suffered during the pandemic, even as travellers slowly return to the city.

The father of two chauffeurs visitors around Prague’s Old Town Square in a vintage luxury car. For him, the lack of tourists has had a devastating financial impact on his family.

“I didn’t have a job for a year,” Valey said.

Prague was the fourth most visited city in Europe in 2019, according to Euromonitor International, with tourism activities generating more than half of the city’s income. The travel restrictions established last year because of the coronavirus slashed the number of visitors to Prague by over 73 percent, official city statistics stated.

The Czech government “told me to find another job” outside of tourism, Valey said. He added that he did not receive any financial support from the state during the pandemic.

Country officials approved 500 million crowns for travel agencies last year. However, the Czech Tourism Union said that the compensation wasn’t enough to support all 240,000 workers employed in the industry, many of whom are independent workers that earn money from commission.

Hash, a tour guide originally from Egypt, had to borrow money from friends and relatives to support his three children when the tourist company that employs him closed down due to pandemic restrictions. Now that he is working again, he is using his earnings to repay those debts.

See the rest here.

By: Sofie Kodner, Martina Kroa, Mihail Petrov, and Tereza Anna Štegmannová

In 1912 Czech Art Nouveau and cubist architect Emil Kralíček designed the Cubist Lantern during the rebuilding of Adam’s Pharmacy, whose facade overlooks Wenceslas Square. The one of a kind street-lamp is hidden on the secluded corner of Jungmann Square. Indeed, it is hidden in the very heart of Prague, and many tourists unfairly overlook it while visiting Prague.

The architect chose his favourite style, creating a lantern column of artificial stone in the form of truncated pyramids with a geometric pattern, and the metal base was designed as a figure with cubic facets. Trying to meet investors’ demands to spruce up the area and come up with a lightening solution near the Gothic arch that leads to the garden behind the church of Our Lady of the Snows, Kralíček designed the sculpture that turned out to be completely different from traditional city lanterns made of massive cast iron.

The street-lamp became a symbol of the popular cubism movement in Prague. Czech Cubism was developed in the beginning of the 20th century. The main source of inspiration for the Czech Cubists was French Cubism, represented primarily in the works of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Many young Czech artists of the early twentieth century learned the latest trends in painting and sculpture while traveling to Paris and drew inspiration for their own work from them.

Read the rest here.

By Anastasia Linevich

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization associated with the countries of the United Nations, just released a report that confirms that human actions are major contributors to climate change. Although it was only the first of three parts of the report that came to light, focused on the physical basis of climate change, it already set in motion people who were until recently strongly opposed to climate change. And how does this affect the Czech Republic in particular? A lot. For instance, with lack of rainfall in the spring and too much rain during the harvest season, Czech farmers are already facing difficult times. This weather pattern is becoming more common in Czechia and it causes severe damage to agricultural crops. Furthermore, according to the report, the Central European region (including Czechia) is expected to experience extreme periods of drought and floods due to climate change. Czech Republic is positioned on the border of continental and oceanic climate regions, so weather fluctuations are rather usual, but they have never been as dramatic and frequent. The recent tornado that devastated South Moravia in June 2021 is most likely an outcome of climate change. Events like these are expected to start happening way more often in the near future. The melting of glaciers in the Arctic could also negatively influence the European climate. The warm Gulf Stream is the reason why Europe experiences a much milder climate than Canada on the same latitudes. The colder water from the icebergs suppresses the Gulf Stream and that could soon result in a complete absence of the stream. Consequently, that would greatly affect the weather of Europe – the temperatures would generally decrease and in some areas, the conditions might not be as suitable for living anymore.

Source

The past year has been a difficult one for many small businesses around the world, but the effects of the COVID-19 crises have been felt by companies of all sizes. Business leaders have been hard at work throughout 2020 and 2021 to stabilize their companies in the new normal and allocate financial resources towards survival, but some were able to direct resources towards innovation and growth.

Regardless of the industry you’re in, though, there’s no denying that now is the time to invest in new solutions that will solidify your position in the post-COVID-19 world and help you achieve better results. That said, it’s important to note that not all business-boosting solutions require grand monetary investments, and that you can achieve many great things even if you are working with a limited budget.

Let’s explore these opportunities and take a look at some of the key steps you can take to improve your business and achieve success in 2022 and beyond.

Adapt to the demands of the new normal

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the business world in many ways, but that shouldn’t matter so long as things return to normal. The problem is that the pandemic has changed the definition of normal in the business sector, and we can expect many trends that rose throughout the pandemic to prevail in the post-COVID world. For example, remote work was a business model that the majority of companies needed to adapt to in order to stay afloat, and we can expect it to persevere in the years to come.

Your focus should be to enable and empower your remote teams to do better work, and capitalize on the technologies and solutions that make remote work lucrative for your business. Now is the time to introduce better communication and collaboration tools that will allow you to run a seamless remote operation, which will also help your employees deliver better results while working from home.

Boost efficiency and output with automation

Automation is a broad term encompassing various software and hardware solutions that aim to simplify and streamline processes in a company, and lift some of the weight off the shoulders of your employees. While there are many advanced automation solutions out there that require significant financial investments, there are some basic ways you can introduce automation to boost efficiency and output in your organization.

The focus here should be on automating as many menial and repetitive tasks as you can, in order to alleviate some of the pressure off your employees and enable them to allocate their time and effort towards complex tasks. A clear example here would be to automate parts of your customer support department by introducing a conversational AI tool that will handle simple customer queries while your human staff handles the more complicated issues.

Migrate your operation to the cloud

Cloud technology has been around for a while now, but in recent years it has reached a level of sophistication and accessibility that allows businesses of all sizes to capitalize on this groundbreaking tech. There are many benefits to migrating your business to the cloud, ranging from better collaboration and communication, all the way to reduced operational costs and maintenance, as well as elevated security that’s offered by leading cloud providers like Amazon.

However, the biggest advantage right now is that you can outsource cloud management and get professional AWS cloud services from expert teams without having to build an in-house IT team and put numerous IT experts on payroll. This way, cloud computing becomes even more financially sensible, especially for small businesses operating in the post-COVID world.

Invest in your employees

One of the best things you can do for the future of your business right now, aside from investing in the right technologies, is to invest in your employees. Whether you are hiring new employees or empowering your long-term staff, you should prioritize employee development in your organization in order to build value for your business.

Keep in mind that your employees want and need to advance their careers, and if you invest in their professional development, you will set them up for success in the long run. Most importantly, they will be able to leverage their new skills and knowledge to take your business forward.

Build a positive company culture

Another great investment you can make is to build a positive company culture that will inspire and empower your employee collective to achieve better results. Employee retention has become a real issue nowadays for companies of all sizes, and while a decent paycheck and various perks tend to solve that problem over the short term, your company culture is what will inspire your best employees to stick around for the long run.

Over to you

Now that the pandemic is dying down around the world, it’s important to direct our efforts and resources towards business growth, expense optimization, and innovative solutions. Be sure to take these crucial steps to future-proof your business in 2022 and the years to come.

By Peter Minkoff

Peter is a lifestyle and travel writer at Men-Ual magazine, living between Ústí nad Labem and Antwerp. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.

Fights and injuries occurring inside large groups of people could soon be easier to detect, thanks to a new Czech-developed crowd surveillance system that analyses drone footage via the use of neural networks.

The innovative new system was developed through a joint research programme between the Brno University of Technology and the Czech Police, who have increasingly turned to drones to monitor large crowds in recent years.

Existing drones, however, are nowhere near as efficient as they could be, according to David Bažout, a fresh graduate from the university’s Information Technology faculty.

“Police drones that are currently used above areas of interest do not have any training data. No one is able to assess what is normal behaviour and what not.”

Bažout therefore decided to develop a neural network system that analyses drone footage in a way similar to the human brain.

Video footage recorded by the drone is divided into several smaller “cells” that are then analysed by the network which establishes a general picture of what is going on. A model of standard behaviour in the given environment is then developed, and any anomalies to the pattern are reported to the observer by highlighting the area in red colour.

Read the rest here.

Authors: Tom McEnchroe, Barbora Kroutilíková

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, Balkans and also around the world. General Blagoje Grahovac is member of the IFIMES Advisory Board. In his article entitled “Europe is entrapped” he is analyzing the global trends facing Europe and the world today.

Europe is entrapped

1. Introduction

It is less important whether in appraisals of the new social-political processes there is more scientific ground or the laic comprehension thereof. It is important that the rate of those processes is far higher than the referent theoreticians have been predicting. Different kind of conclusions can be made today about the world as a “global village”. I am pointing out four of those which can have a great significance in consideration of geopolitical processes. Firstly, new technologies have made all the civilisation achievements in all fields accessible to almost the whole mankind on the planet. Secondly, the achievements in the field of democracy are intriguing to everyone, disregarding of the real value thereof. Thirdly, globalisation side effects are expanding and connecting faster than anything else. Typical globalisation side-effects are organised crime and corruption, neoliberalism as fascism and armed religious fanaticism. Fourthly, in the past times the role-models were in our surroundings. The role-models today are the ones from greater distances. Social networks are becoming the means in this conclusion. All of the aforesaid becomes a parameter of strategic significance in disclosure of geopolitical processes.

Based on the above, I repeat the thesis of this text saying: “Europe is fixed between three tsunamis: the first – neoliberalism as fascism; the second – organised crime and corruption, and the third one – armed religious fanaticism.”

2. Social-economical context 

The biggest advocates of globalisation were saying “Privatise, privatise, privatise!” Today, they admit they have been wrong. Here are few parameters of strategic significance which accelerate geopolitical processes on the planet. In the 1973, daily turnover of capital was 15 billion USD and today it has over 1.5 trillion USD; 47 multinational companies possess 40% of the global capital; 1800 billionaires keep 8% of the global GDP; 4 world’s richest men have more wealth than 57 poorest countries together; less than 1% of the world population has access to over 90% of the global capital; the number of inhabitants living from 2 USD a day has increased from 2.5 to 2.7 billion for the past 20 years; 1 billion people goes to bed hungry every night; one billion people has lost employment based on automatization and robotisation for the past 40 years, the second billion will become unemployed for the same reason in the next twenty years and the third billion within the ten years after; global GDP amounts around 80 quadrillion USD and the global debt is 175 quadrillion USD.

2.1. Lobbying as the most dangerous corruptive action 

Since the oldest legal theories until the recent time, lobbying has mostly been avoided as a term. The reason is very simple – its essential designation means “bribery”. Opposite to lobbying, all legal theories are very much dealing with bribery, which is sanctioned by criminal codes.

For decades, lobbying as the way of bribery has been very efficient means either in protection or in destruction of some companies. Bribery (better said “corruption”) becomes transnational by overgrowing of certain companies in multinational ones.

There is no dilemma if organised crime and corruption today are upper form of endangering most of the countries and that it has taken transnational dimensions. Lobbying has shown up as very successful means in different placements. In order to place themselves on the position table, it is inevitable to destruct someone or to weaken his position. From that point of view, in open and market societies lobbying is no other than irregular, amoral and even hideous act.

Nepotism as a corruption network has grown into political-party corruption network in non-democratic and partocratic societies. The question is whether in such societies an eminent expert in any field can become employed, if he or she is not a member of one of the ruling parties. Different from the political-party nepotism which has become the most dangerous intrastate corruption, lobbying is becoming a dangerous and a very erosive transnational corruption network. It is moving from the field of economics into the field of political interests. Inasmuch as the officials even admit lobbying, they always justify it by state and national interests. The actual truth is that their political survival depends on allowing lobbying, mostly from the tax payers’ money.

I do not have any dilemma that all of those from the Western Balkans, who are paying lobbyists, as well as their own lobbyists are part of the transnational network of organised crime. It applies to all officials from the USA and the Brussels administrations who accepted to deal in any way with hazarders and pests from the Western Balkans.

2.2. The origin of organised crime and corruption

Basic mark of military doctrines of the former Soviet Union was arming of military forces of their friendly countries through selling the weapons and along with it the Soviet ideology, too. Those doctrines had always been facing the resistance of organisations and movements fighting for greater democracy and greater human rights. Former KGB was the power which was clearing the path for Soviet politics to its final destination. The breakdown of the Soviet Union brought the biggest change, which has not been sufficiently analysed. Basically, several hundred thousand disciples of a robust and brutal KGB were suddenly left without both their country and employment. They were ready to cause large quakes. At the same time, in a very short period a large number of overly wealthy tycoons appeared, who objectively had fear from the cruel KBG. The “formula” was discovered – fearful and overly rich tycoons were connected to the cruel but impoverished KBG operatives. That was how oligarchy was created. Instead of export of ideology and weapons, they expansively directed themselves to the export of suspicious and filthy capital, and they have nowhere found resistance anymore. “Domestic” tycoons (especially in transitional countries) were expanding their space. Networks of organised crime and corruption were multiplying. Armed forces of those countries were becoming a burden to the new authorities. All the army property was first exhausted from them, and then they have become insignificant empty shells.

Former ideological Russian-Balkan-South American transversal has grown into a transversal of organised crime and corruption. It has connected to the leg leading from Afghanistan through Iran to the Balkans, and it has outgrown into Asian-Balkan-South American transversal of organised crime and corruption. In order to survive on that space, the mafias (as the army of organised crime and corruption) have built political ambient suitable for them. Filthy and suspicious capital moves offensively towards the space of Western Europe and North America, it is being registered in different manners, and then as the “Western capital” comes back to the Balkans, primarily to the countries with mostly Christian Orthodox citizens. The organised crime and corruption have developed a very strong lobbyists’ network from afore mentioned transversal. That network has become the most dangerous corruption network on the planet. It lobbies for political personalities which have matured exactly on organised crime and corruption. New politicians quite knowingly promote the new political doctrine, whose primary sign is loud narrative of Euro-Atlantic integrations, beneath of which the owners of filthy capital are performing occupation of economic resources of the Balkans. During the same time, the policies of the USA and the EU are being exhausted by how to reform the armies of transitional countries which are, essentially, serving corruption. A conclusion can be made with certainty that the policies of the USA and the EU on the Balkans have been outwitted in geopolitical sense.

The countries of the eastern hemisphere, among which the countries of the former Soviet Union stand out, are the largest generators of organised crime and corruption. Today it is ravening the whole planet as the Eastern Tsunami.

2.3. Neoliberalism is fascism

Neoliberalism is social-economical surrogate of the liberal capitalism. It has been organised in an oligarchic manner, planetary. The owners of large capital, non-democratic regimes and mafias are completely coupled. That fatal trinity has become the hardest protector of neoliberalism. Banks and financial funds all over the planet are mostly owned by that same fatal trinity. For the first time in history, the banks are more motivated that the debtors do not pay the debt off, but to service it tidily. The reason is simple – banks have safe mechanisms of credit insurance, so they enter into the rest of the property of the poor debtors through their uncleared debts. Debt has become means of control and domination over the impoverished. Saving of fallen banks has become a systematic killing of society, because that too burdens the citizens. Currency clauses in crediting are striking debtors as epidemic tumours. Debtors enter into a slavery relationship.

Troopers of neoliberalism permanently explain that the sudden world economical crisis should be blamed for everything and they constantly promise that the situation will get better. This phenomenon has been best explained by the Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. Asked what he thought would have happened had we known all the issues related to the crisis in advance for years, he replied: “Nothing, it would have been all the same.” That exactly is the tragedy of neoliberalism. Even when you know something, you are drifting into your own illusion.

The madness of market economics has an epidemic ratio, wherein democracy, confiding in government, confiding in people and egalitarian solidarity suffer. Beside antifascism, those are exactly traditional European values. Saving, saving and only saving has become a motto of the occupant’s both political and economical doctrine, so the rich could exhaust even the last “pennies” left to the impoverished, in the fastest way. Neoliberal ideology has produced the manlike “beast” which you do not see, but you feel how it takes away your body and soul.

Audits and reprogramming of debts are being promoted as charity of creditors, and that essentially is nothing else but strengthening of their Superego. Sigmund Freud discovered the paradox of Superego – the more you conform to its demands, the more you feel guilty. Unfortunately, legalisation of all of the above stated is conducted through the parliamentary democracy, which is not able to protect the endangered majority from the ruthless minority. Self-organisation of the majority (in order to protect its bare life) is nothing else but desisting from representative democracy and is an introduction to the suspension of parliamentarianism. That is exactly the fascisamation of society. Max Horkheimer wrote in 1930 that the ones who did not want to speak of liberalism in critical manner should be silent about fascism.

In the history of human society there have never been less interstate wars but so many stormy social turbulences, in which an impoverished man is jeopardised in various ways. The planet today is not ballasted by wars between countries, but wars between the impoverished labour force on one and a brutal, vulgar, decadent and neo-colonial neoliberalism on the other side. Everything looks like revolutions, but formally there are not any. Walter Benjamin wrote long time ago that each fascism was the surest confirmation of unsuccessful revolutions.

The demise of majority in neoliberalism grows into an uncontrolled enrichment of the minority. A planetary war in which confronting sides cannot be detected has opened. In the defeated majority, people are largely suffering as individuals, but cannot realize who makes them suffering. Suffering of an individual grows into a collective frustration and the aggressor cannot be detected. The system is, actually, that vicious, invisible aggressor, which has generated different forms of radicalism. The ones who bribe or tolerate bribery are the greatest leeches of people’s blood. Worse than that is when you are fighting against the corruption through the system institutions and in a “democratic” procedure and then, through elections, you support that same party being embodiment of that corruption again. Formally, everything has passed through democratic procedure, but the “killers” of peoples remained as the authority. Corrupted Brussels and Washington bureaucrats mostly do not notice that.

Neoliberalism as fascism has been primarily been generated in the countries of the Western Hemisphere, but today is ravening the whole planet as the Western Tsunami.

2.4. Armed fanatiscism

The absolute authority on the planet today is in the hands of the above-mentioned fatal trinity. Conducted fascisation of society is a mechanism for maintenance of balance between the cold war and the hot peace. Religion has been very skilfully embedded into the mechanism of their absolute ruling. The politics has been elevated to the level of religion and the religion has become politics, whereby secularism of countries is directly collapsing. Both politics and religion are a true opium for the impoverished populous and it is easy to rule the intoxicated populous, all until the moment when some version of extremism does not boil out of it. The religious but armed one always grows into fanaticism. Unfortunately, we have already gotten it.

Neoliberalism has produced a planetary fascisation of society. Terrorism, as the largest visible problem of today, is being debated about with a reason and a worry. Different kinds of prefixes are being given to it. It has not been noticed that even higher evil than terrorism itself has appeared – it is the group or collective armed fanaticism with different ideological and religious backgrounds. Social hopelessness overgrows into a mass revolutionary riot. The armed one cannot be excluded. The cause to it is fascistoid neoliberalism, which has a systemic nature. To start resolving this evil, it is necessary to strike the most powerful ones, which prevailingly live a double life – the public one, mostly flawless, and the semi-public or the secret one, being characterised by their Superego, i.e. morbidity.

If an urgent, deep and wide change of social-economical systems do not get approached to, it will be difficult to avoid planetary cataclysmic changes.

The fatal trinity has succeeded in mixing politics and religion in most countries of the Southern Earth Hemisphere. When they inserted that mix into a socially endangered and frustrated mass, the armed fanaticism happened inevitably. Unfortunately, now as the Southern Tsunami it ravens the whole planet.

3. Implications

According to most parameters, the USA as the representation of the North American civilisation is still the wanted and promised land. If we analyse the foreign policy of the USA, we can come to the conclusion that it was both the inspirator and the creator of many democratic changes on the planet. West-East was the prevailing direction of that policy, and its reach was the whole planet. The foreign policy has always had a favourable reflection to the domestic policy of the USA. What has globalisation brought? Organised crime and corruption as one of the globalisation side effects do not bypass the space of the USA. On the contrary, from all the corners of the planet those too hit the vital national interests of the USA. The rate of changes in globalisation is such that the foreign policy of the USA does not have any more strength and means to follow the chain revolutionary processes. The USA today has become the most usual suspect for many issues. Some are charging the USA that (due to their own interests) they produce new crises, and the others that they do not provide enough support to the accelerated democratisation processes. For the first time in their history and due to too fast globalisation process, the domestic policy of the USA is more and more visibly bearing the consequences of the international processes.

I do not have dilemma that, beside all the difficulties, (after NATO) the European Union is the best product of all civilisations. If someone blames the USA policy to have the elements of imperialism or hegemonism, it is not to be said for the policy of the EU. The EU does everything to democratise the old continent, to make it safer for the people and to integrate it by the best democratic standards. Along with all problems, the results are there. But although the organised crime and corruption are the oftenest tools of non-democratic regimes, we can state with certainty that nobody is endangered as the EU is endangered by organised crime and corruption and by neoliberalism as fascism, as well. The EU politicians have not timely perceived that the organised crime and corruption (coupled with large capital) have become the top geopolitical means; that even small non-democratic countries have access to those means, and that some political circles outside of Europe are using those means for geopolitical aims. For their own “business”, those circles will in the future produce both terrorism and wars, which becomes the first-class threat to the EU. A model of the EU being arranged and organised as a multi-layered or multi-ring organisation is to be considered.

Russia is the space for which it can be said that has never in its history had democracy suitable to the man. Its policy has been evenly hideous for its own people, as well for the others. It has not been established whether more human casualties there was in all wars together (fought by Russia) or through the historical processes of disciplining its own people. I do not exclude a possibility that exactly the citizens of Russia could pay the biggest price of globalisation. When such (traditionally closed) state systems start opening, it usually happens through a civil war. Russia is in great lack of democracy, but has plenty of all resources. Resources aplenty can have beneficial effect to the authority (in transitional societies), but only until the moment when the impoverished and disempowered start noticing the output of the organised crime and corruption, and all kinds of injustice. Confronting that reality has always been revolutionary. Russia still has not found its state and democratic identity.

The countries which are systematically socially regulated and socially responsible have been left out of state property at one moment, by a too fast privatisation. The other aspect of this problem is contained in the fact that, in pursuit for a cheaper labour force and energy, the companies from those same countries have relocated the production to other and distant spaces. That is why the socially responsible countries have also remained without the fiscal (i.e. tax) profits, beside the loss of profit based on property ownership. The consequences are visible – regulated and socially responsible countries have significantly remained without mechanism for social reacting. Based on the relocation of production from the space of European countries to other spaces of the planet, the European work force, which can be deemed as the most trained one, has lost its work place. This also becomes the huge risk. Countries of Europe must preserve the higher level of independence in leading their economical policies.

Mafia clans today have more trained “headquarters” than the official ones are in many countries. The aforementioned fatal trinity does not lack money, and especially not the filthy one. They manage to penetrate any state systems, even those ones in North America and the EU. That “trinity” today both throws down governments and appoints governments to be political structures suitable for them, and then disciplines those same structures according to their needs. The fatal “trinity” is becoming the bearing architecture of intelligence work over the planet today. Instead of neutralising the intelligence work of the fatal “trinity”, the official intelligence agencies of many countries start to lean on the intelligence structure of the same “trinity”. That was how a very malefic inversion deranging the official authorities has been entered into. The mentioned “trinity” is the biggest threat to democratic countries and to the ones regulated by law. In the future it will appear as the producer of terrorist acts. They know that when an act of terrorism happens somewhere, the result is always the same: the authority is confused, citizens are scared, and the outcome of the fight is uncertain. That is exactly the most suitable ambient for mafia functioning.

There are no reliable parameters which could assure us that the process of globalisation can be controlled. The interest and only the interest is the proclaimed principle, which has become the foundation of all doctrines in the 20^th century. “There is no eternal friendship or hostility, only interests are eternal” was the ground in leading political doctrines of the 20^th century. It remains the matrix also in this 21^st century. This can be very dangerous. If it does not become understood as soon as possible that big social and political breakages can be precluded only by friendship between nations and countries, the civilisation cataclysms will be very difficult to avoid. Due to this, the principle that friendships between nations and countries (especially the regional ones) are the greatest value should be affirmed.

I am persistent in proving that the unmilitary challenges, risks and threats are, actually, the biggest ones. People who are performing high level of state duties still do not realize this. The proof for this claim is visible, because all the defence concepts and army models are adjusted primarily for defence from military forms of endangerment.

The issues are complex and have only been initiated. I will state my belief – there is no stable Europe without the Balkans integrated into Europe; there is no stable Balkans without stable Serbia integrated into Europe. Yugo-Region (countries of former Yugoslavia plus Albania) as one of the regions in the European Union is the best possible format of strategic significance as for the EU, also for the Ex-Yu countries separately.

4. The Conclusions

4.1. The whole planet is endangered by uncontrolled globalisation and Europe is fixed between the Eastern, the Western and the Southern destructive tsunamis. They are not confronted between each other, yet they act synergistically. After Europe, the whole North Hemisphere will be in the firing line thereof.

4.2. Monopolisation, unfair competition and uncontrolled globalisation can be stopped only on condition that the countries (as employers) return to the space of equal, open and market economics, in all fields of social and economical life. That goal is achievable only if the states (as employers) participate with at least 25% in all of those fields.

4.3. In case of larger economical crises, the states will be capable to socially protect their citizens only on condition that they achieve the goals from the clause 4.2.

4.4. Strong American-European-Russian partnership is necessary for defending the planet, but on new grounds. For saving the planet, this is of fateful matter.

Published in the July 2021 issue of the Revista ORBE – YAGU (Youth Association for Geopolitical Understanding) scientific magazine, Portugal. Published in the weekly magazine Monitor, Montenegro, in September 2016 

Ljubljana/Podgorica, 29 July 2021

Source: here

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES)[1] from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, Balkans and around the world. Dr Maria Smotrytska is research fellow at IFIMES/DeSSA, a senior research sinologist, specialized in the investment policy of China. In her comprehensive analysis entitled “IFIMES Analysis of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative: Genesis and Development” she emphasizes the importance of the initiative and its contribution to the cohesion of the countries of the 3 main continents (Asia, Europe, Africa) and the disclosure of their economic potential.

● Dr Maria SMOTRYTSKA, Research Fellow at IFIMES/DeSSA

IFIMES Analysis of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative: Genesis and Development

Understanding the foreign policy and geo-economic strategies of countries, especially in such a difficult time when national borders are closed and the “militarization” of cybersecurity (Hopkins, 2012), becomes an important, if not vital, task for each individual country in its attempts to take its rightful place in building a new world order and development economy.

In the XXI century, it was impossible not to notice the rapid economic growth of Asia, given that the growth rates of each of the national economies of the region exceed those of the Western countries (Mudbhary, 2006).

For a long time, Asian countries have taken the best of both worlds, building economic relations with China, and maintaining strong ties with the United States and other developed countries. Many Asian states for a long time have considered the United States and other developed countries as their main economic partners (US Dep. of State, 2020). But now they are increasingly taking advantage of the opportunities created by China’s rapid development.

Moving away from Asia, let’s have a quick look what is happening in East Europe, or Central Asia, or Latin America, or even Africa. Most of the countries in these regions are struggling (Nedopil, 2021) to take their place in “the geopolitical game” in pursuing of the benefits that Chinese investment can bring. But what is the main core and nature of Chinese Investments or Chinese geoeconomic “One Belt – One Road” project? The answer to this question is still unclear for most countries seeking to join (Jiang, 2021). To understand the Belt and Road Initiative, let us also take a brief look at 10 key basics of this initiative:

1. Why and when was the “Belt & Road Initiative” (BRI) created?

The Belt&Road Initiative (BRI) – is an umbrella initiative spanning a multitude of projects designed to promote the flow of goods, investment, and people. The new connections fostered by the BRI could reconfigure relationships, reroute economic activity, and shift power within and between states.

The Scope of the Initiative is very big which makes it difficult to clearly identify the main initiative’s goals. Thus, the best way to understand the purpose of the BRI – is to have a quick look on its development phases, each of which has its’ own aim and perspective:

1. Preparation period (1990s – 2000s)

After fruitful economic reforms in China (1970 – 1980s: during Deng Xiaopin’s reforms which pushed forward the transformation of China’s economy), in 1990s with the implementation of the concept of “one country, two systems” (biggest offshore zones Hong Kong and Macao returned under Chinese jurisdiction), the strengthening of Chinese geoeconomics became even bigger. As a result, during 1990s – 2000s financial crises China was the only country with steady currency (while regional stock markets collapsed), being able to provide to the region a platform for further economic boom (Sharma, 2002).

After 2008 global financial crisis it became clear that Chinese stock market is stable and can protect the development of regional economies (Wayne, 2009). China is starting to play a dominant role in the region (shift from “country with closed policy” into regional leader).

2. Conceptualization (2000 – 2012)

While 2000 – 2010 were accompanied by stable economic development (export oriented), the development gap between Chinese regions was getting bigger, weakening the status of a strong regional (and further global) economic power (OECD, 2010). Due to these Chinese administrations was trying to work on ways to develop less developed regions of the country – started to think on creating a regional integration mechanism within Asia, where China would play the key supplier role. Starting from 2004 China is getting more involved into supplying activities in the region, expanding the production and manufacturing, logistic facilities in low-developed areas of the country (2004 – opening of TRACECA transhipment line; 2008 construction of the transcontinental highway “West Europe – West China”; 2009 construction of gas transportation infrastructure between China and Iran; the early-mid-2010s large-scale transport and infrastructural projects in Central Asia etc.).

In 2011, when US Secretary of State H.Clinton proposed the development of a New Silk Road with Afghanistan as a centre (US Dep.of State, 2011), Chinese leadership decided to step in and to move from individual projects to a large-scale Eurasian strategy (Wade, 2016). This decision led to the creation of the BRI.

3. Implementation (2012 – 2017)

The main role of this stage was to build a stable basis of the Initiative, which could guarantee stable economic and infrastructural development. While promoting the BRI, Chinese were concentrating on diversification and facilitation of regions logistics system. Another important element of this stage was the creation of economically strong financial base of the initiative (2013 – launching of the BRI initiative (starting budget USD47 billion) (Page, 2014), October 2014 – creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Silk Road Fund etc.). and Initiative’s promotion (by May 2015 about 60 countries joined the AIIB (decision to join BRI project).

While putting enormous amount of investments into regions’ (mainly ASEAN, Russia, Central Asia) transportation systems, Beijing decided to spare a profit and export products outside using already existent transhipment routes (through TRACERA, Suez, Malacca straights etc.). As a result, in 2013-15, 348 international projects were started, while volume of USD 24.7 bln., in 2015 Chinese investment increased of 37% compared to 2014 and BRI became a “process – brand”, the period 2016 – 2017, total cost of infrastructural projects is estimated at USD 60 billion (Korolyov, 2019).

4. Expansion (2017 – ..)

In May 2017 radical changes in the dimension and nature of the initiative happened (Liangyu, 2017):

• initiative is based on transport corridors leading from China to Europe and Africa;
• Continuous flow of FDI to Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East;
• launched the creation of new markets in countries along transit routes;
• radical changes in approach to FDI protection (Sejko, 2019).

These changes brought certain results into the development of BRI and China itself:

• in 2017 China put an additional USD15 billion to the Silk Road Fund (Jie, 2017).
• by the end of 2017 China’s trade turnover with partner countries increased annually by an average of 6% (WITS, 2017).
• 2019 – 2020 additional USD8.7 billion has been allocated for the needs of developing countries that were involved in the project (Lee, 2020).
• Estimated that USD 4 – 8 trillion will be invested in the BRI project by 2030 (BRI, 2020).

Thus, 2017 played a crucial role in turning the “regional integration initiative” into a new global level one.

To sum up, during Initiative transformation, its’ aims were gradually transforming as well:

• First Phase – to develop an approach for stable economic development of China;
• Second stage – to guarantee country’s positions as stable strong regional leader;
• Third stage – regional integration with expansion to neighbouring countries;
• Fourth stage – global expansion and occupation of the geo-economic space of minimum three continents.

Nevertheless, few general aims, which were there from the very first day of BRI’s implementation, can be identified:

• improving intergovernmental communication to better align high-level government policies like economic development strategies and plans for regional cooperation;
• strengthening the coordination of infrastructure plans to better connect hard infrastructure networks like transportation systems and power grids;
• encouraging the development of soft infrastructure such as the signing of trade deals, aligning of regulatory standards, and improving financial integration;
• bolstering people-to-people connections by cultivating student, expert, and cultural exchanges and tourism.

The end result of BRI should be the creation of a “Community of Common Destiny for Mankind” (人类命运共同体), defined as a new global system of alternative economic, political, and security “interdependencies” with China at the centre (zhongguo, 中国). For this reason, Chinese leaders describe BRI as a national strategy (zhanlüe, 战略), with economic, political, diplomatic, and military elements (综合国力), not a mere series of initiatives (People’s Daily, 2017).

Thus, BRI directly supports many elements of China’s national security strategy. At a macro level, it seeks to reshape the world economic order in ways that are conducive to China’s drive for Great Power status.

2. What does the creation of the BRI mean in terms of globalization?

While talking on the role of BRI in Globalization trends, its’ global and national scopes (impacts), should be empathized:

Contribution to the “world’s” Globalization:

• Transport and infrastructure development increases trade;
• increasing of connectivity;
• stabilization in monetary policy;
• stabilization of the level of security in the region;
• contribution to the cultural exchange.

Responding to global trends in globalization, based on the principle of mutual benefit and having a far-sighted perspective, BRI has several foreign policy strategic advantages that can contribute to the cohesion of the countries of the 3 main continents (Asia, Europe, Africa) and the disclosure of their economic potential.

Contribution to the “country’s” Globalization:

• BRI is intended to support the development and reform of all provinces and regions in China through involving them into global cooperation with the worlds regions;
• development and connectivity of China’s provinces and neighbouring countries;
• contributing to continued strong and sustainable growth in China while simultaneously benefiting from new commercial opportunities (See Attachment 1 below).

Attachment 1: Strategy on “Globalizing” of China

3. How does BRI relate to Xi Jinping`s government’s characteristics?

While thinking on BRI as a new trend in Chinese foreign policy, it is worth noting that it was the new way of thinking (and developing of the policy strategy) of The 5^th generation of the P.R.C. administration (Administration of Xi Jinping). His predecessors were mainly concentrated on inner policy of China (namely strengthening of Chinese inner market, economy and reducing the “development gap” between the Chinese provinces and cities) and further strengthening of China as regional player (late years of the Administration of Deng Xiaoping). New Administration (Xi Jinping since 2012) decided to take Chinese foreigner policy to next level, announcing the conversation of the doctrine of the “Chinese Dream” (improving of well-being of Chinese people within China) into proper international status (first regional leader, then expansion of BRI into at least 3 continents).

What’s more, no Chinese leader has done more globe-trotting within such a short time (first term 2012 – 2016, second term 2016 – …). Since 2013, president Xi has logged 28 overseas trips that brought him to 56 countries across 5 continents, as well as the headquarters of major international and regional organizations.

As a result of BRI implementation, at least in terms of two of China’s policies – bringing in (qingjinlai) and going out (zouchuqu) – Xi’s first term (2012 – 2016) already marked a new era in Chinese foreign policy. But there was much more to the new era than the flurry of diplomatic visits. Xi introduced four new concepts into Chinese foreign policy: a new type of major country relations (P2P diplomacy, bilateral diplomacy approach, hub-regions integration (ASEAN, CEE etc.), major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics (strategy of “blue water” (Koda, 2017), “diplomacy of straights” (Smotrytska, 2021) etc.), a global community of common destiny (strategy “Chinese dream” (BBC, 2013), and a new type of international relations).

Further, in 2017, while announcing the start of the expansion phase of BRI, Xi Jinping underlined again the importance of the balanced development of both China and BRI: “Chinese government seeks to

• “ensure and improve living standards through sustainable development”;
• it condones market “reform and opening” (gaige kaifang 改 革 开 放) and
• encourages Chinese enterprises to “go out” (zou chuqu 走出去) especially along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (and Polar Silk Road in near future) (Smotrytska, Jul.2021).

Thus, it can be seen, that in 2012 new Chinese Administration (Xi Jinping) noticed that China’s relatively slow growth rate since 2009 has required a rebalancing of its economy away from investment-led growth and towards a more consumption-driven economy (SRS, 2019). The realization of this fact forced new Administration to think on other possible ways to sustain and develop Chinese economy, which further turn into idea of the creation of new economic integration mechanism in the region (and further continent) – the Belt and Road Initiative. The further phrases of its development have been commonly used in China to indicate the importance of this recalibration.

Meanwhile, because of Xi Jinping new approach of the development of China, the country gained a profound impact on global economic development (which, is safe to say, China has never had before).

4. Why does China seem to be focusing on African countries?

China is both a long-established diplomatic partner and a new investor in Africa (Wade, 2019). Chinese interests on the continent encompass not only natural resources but also issues of trade, security, diplomacy, and soft power. China is a major aid donor, but the scope, scale, and mode of Chinese aid practices are poorly understood and often misquoted in the press (since they mainly analyse Sino – African relations only in terms of “what does China gain out of these relations”). It will be fair to emphasize, that few analyses have approached Sino – African relations as a vibrant, two-way dynamic in which both sides adjust to policy initiatives and popular perceptions emanating from the other.

While analysing the main reasons of the development of Sino – African ties (within BRI or not), it can be underlined that China has four overarching strategic interests in Africa:

1.   China wants access to natural resources, particularly oil and gas. It is estimated that, by 2025, China will import more oil worldwide than the United States (Moran, 2010). To guarantee future supply, China is heavily investing in the oil sectors in countries such as Sudan, Angola, and Nigeria.

2.   a huge market for Chinese exported goods, might facilitate China’s efforts to restructure its own economy away from labour-intensive industries, especially as labour costs in China increases.

3.   China wants political legitimacy. The Chinese government believes that strengthening Sino – African relations helps raise China’s own international influence. Most African governments express support for Beijing’s “One China” policy (HK and Taiwan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are fully Chinese territories), a prerequisite for attracting Chinese aid and investments.

4.   China has sought a more constructive role as contributor to stability in the region, partly to mitigate security-related threats to China’s economic interests.

At the same time, African governments are counting on China to ensure political recognition and legitimacy and contribute to their economic development through aid, investment, infrastructure, and trade. To some degree, many African leaders hope that China will interact with them in ways that the United States and other Western governments do not – by engaging economically without condescendingly preaching about good governance, for example, or by investing in high-risk projects or in remote regions that are not appealing to Western governments or companies. Some Africans aspire to replicate China’s rapid economic development and believe that their nations can benefit from China’s recent experience in lifting itself out of poverty.

As one of the interviewers from African country noticed: “we (Africans) prefer to work with China, because if it (China) promises us (Africa) something (i.e. to build a highway or a plant, to invest in solar power facilities etc.) – it will do so, but if the same is promised by the US or Western Europe – we (Africans) will never see the results and furthermore will pay huge percentages and loans for nothing”. Afterall, it makes sense, as Central – East – European countries are mainly willing to cooperate with China because of the same reasons. Thus, it’s not surprisingly that not very high-developed (in terms of economy and infrastructure) countries are tempted to choose Chinese investments, over the Western countries or the WTO.

Thus, BRI, which mainly focuses on the development of large infrastructure projects, is a real hope for many African countries to fill their own infrastructure gap, with less cost and in a more efficient way (so far Chinese companies are top in logistics and infrastructure development and improvement) (Teixeira, 2019). As a result – as of September 2019, 40 of 55 African countries had signed some sort of memorandum of understanding or other agreement on the BRI (Development Reimagine, 2019).

Africa is also an important end user of China’s industrial overcapacities, particularly coal, cement, steel, glass, solar, shipbuilding, and aluminium, for use in BRI projects.

Also, it must be emphasized another, not necessarily official goal of BRI in Africa – geopolitics and geo-economics. Thus, with the help of African continent, BRI also increases China’s control of critical global supply chains and its ability to redirect the flow of international trade in the world’s sea. Central to these efforts are steps to open new sea lanes and expand China’s access to strategic ports around the world. Thus, while The Silk Road Economic Belt establishes 6 land corridors (or high-speed train and highways networks, oil, and gas pipelines), connecting China’s interior to Central Asia and Europe, The Maritime Silk Road (and possible Polar Silk Road) further establishes 3 “blue economic passages” knitted together through a chain of seaports from the South China Sea to Africa that also direct trade to and from China. (See Details in Attachment 2).

Attachment 2: Transhipment lines from Far East to Western Europe and Africa

African continent is of great importance to the implementation of China’s 13th Five Year Plan, a document adopted in 2016 that provides long-range implementing guidance in five-year increments, which calls for the “construction of maritime hubs” to safeguard China’s “maritime rights and interests” as it embarks on laying a “foundation for maritime Great Power status” by 2020 (GT, 2020). The centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, 2049, has been set as the year when it will become the world’s “main maritime power” (海洋强国). Accordingly, China’s drive to acquire port access and secure supply lines are likely to intensify alongside the expansion of the Maritime and Polar Silk Roads.

The Maritime trade routes help China diversify its supply chains and create a China – Indian Ocean – Africa – Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage to connect Africa to new maritime corridors in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. (See Details in Attachment 2).

But it worth noting, that China’s return on investment from increased port access and supply chains is not only about economics. In five cases (2 of which are in Africa) – Djibouti, Walvis Bay (Namibia), Gwadar (Pakistan), Hambantota (Sri Lanka), and Piraeus (Greece) – China’s port investments have been followed by regular People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy deployments and strengthened military agreements. In this way, financial investments have been turned into geostrategic returns. (See Details in Attachment 3).

Attachment 3: Global BRI strategy: roadmap

Within this scenario one can trace the implementation of well-known Chinese geopolitical strategy “string of pearls” and “blue waters”, which is primarily aimed at protecting China’s oil flows, establishing the country as a global Maritime power with diverse interests around the world, and overcoming US attempts to block access to China or its access to the world’s oceans (Smotrytska, 2020). Due to this strategies Africa (namely Djibouti and Walvis Bay) have a crucial role in this strategy in terms of security.

In this aspect we can see that the African vector of Chinese “diplomacy of straits” is playing a significant part in Chinese foreign policy. In 2016 it was stated that in Djibouti (the African side of the Bab el – Mandeb, connecting the Gulf of Aden (and hence the entire Indian Ocean basin and the Asia – Pacific region) to the Red Sea and further, through the Suez Canal, with the Mediterranean Sea), in the port city of Obock, work on the construction of a naval base of the PRC began. This base will not only enable Beijing to control the Bab – el Mandeb Strait to some extent, but also will serve as a military guarantee of Chinese interests on the African continent, which is (for 2014) USD 210 billions of trade turnover and USD 20 billions of FDI (Wang, 2007).

The base in Djibouti allowed the Chinese Navy to increase its presence in the Indian Ocean and became a stronghold in the event of an emergency evacuation of Chinese citizens from Africa (TRT, 2021).

In addition to purely security issues, Africa is also a market for Chinese weapons (Hruby, 2016). From 2013 to 2017, exports of Chinese weapons to Africa grew by 55% compared with the previous five years. From 2008 to 2017, China exported USD 3 billion worth of arms to Africa. Algeria already purchases 10% of all exports of Chinese weapons, including warships.

Thus, Africa’s importance to China in this regard stems from its location in the maritime zone, in which Beijing hopes to expand its presence and project its power. Indeed, ten years ago, China could not penetrate the adjacent waters of Africa. Today, it is estimated that the PLA Navy maintains five battleships and several submarines on continuous rotation in the Indian Ocean. This is set to increase in the coming decades as Chinese rival – India – ramps up its own presence in the area.

5. What is the significance of the Belt & Road Initiative in Europe?

When the policy of US Presidents D. Trump and later Joe Biden has brought uncertainty to relations between the world’s three largest economic partners – the US, China and the EU, collaboration between official Brussels and Beijing remained one of the most important factors in world politics. Thus, Sino – European relations are one of the primary factors determining the development of the entire system of international cooperation in Eurasia.

Modern relations between the European Union and China are characterized by a comprehensive content of the bilateral agenda, which includes issues of investment, trade, economic, political cooperation, environmental protection, etc. Same principals can be applied when analysing Sino – European collaboration within BRI (EP, 2020).

An important role in these relations is played by the countries of the Eastern borders of the EU – the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. As a kind of geopolitical bridge between Asia and Europe, the CEE countries providing the Chinese side with large platforms for investment and development of trade and economic collaboration. Despite the geo-economic prospects, however, the CEE countries also pose as a considerable threat to the promoting of the BRI project to the West (economically unstable, lack of reliable infrastructure and logistics, high level of political instability and conflicts) (Smotrytska, Sep.2020).

Also, providing a strong basics for development of China – EU ties, Sino – CEE relations, at the same time, bringing higher level of uncertainly and fears to European business and political circles. Thus, while implementing BRI in CEE region and hence strengthening economically and infrastructurally countries of the region, China contributes to shifting of “political preferences and support” of these countries from EU-oriented trends to East-oriented (which in some point can damage European identity and unity) (Smotrytska, 20.9.2020).

An important characteristic of Sino – EU relations (which the EU leadership is not fully supporting), is that instead of seeking a “block-based” approach with the whole of Europe, China develops multiple arrangements and memorandums of understanding, resulting in a certain East – West divide, with more Eastern European countries being BRI members (Lucas, 2021). This complicated puzzle of bilateral arrangements ultimately favours a hidden growth of Chinese continuous influence in Europe.

Nevertheless, it can be underlined, that the improving of Sino – CEE ties within BRI requires deep collaboration on the principle of mutual complementarity of economies of the region. Such complementarity provides an important basis for long-term business cooperation, because only in the process of joint efforts to create the BRI will it be possible to fully overcome the underdevelopment of infrastructure in the region. The cooperation between China, the EU and CEE countries can also contribute to the balanced development of Europe.

While talking about BRI from European perspective, the most relevant infrastructural projects of the Initiative are railways and ports. The BRI’s investments in railway and port infrastructure will certainly influence trade relations between China and Europe by lowering transportation costs and increasing trade volumes. New connections will develop trade and have an impact on each European country’s trade turnover with Asia. Thus, it is estimated that “a 10% reduction in railway, air, and maritime costs increases trade by 2%, 5.5% and 1.1% respectively” (Wade, Nov.2016). Nevertheless, the effects of new connections should also be analysed regarding the specific composition of trade flows.

The maritime route of the BRI then is going to be the most relevant component of BRI both in terms of volume (93% of total trade in 2016) and value (61% of total trade in 2016) of goods in the Sino – European trade (Smotrytska, Feb.2021). This will reinforce the status of the Mediterranean and Southern Europe as the terminal point of the main BRI shipping route. (See Details in Attachment 4).

Also, the new shift in Sino – EU relations within BRI were intensified by the parallel impact of three concurrent factors:

• expansion of the Suez Canal in August 2015 that doubled the daily capacity of cargo transit;
• emerging “naval gigantism”, or the strategic use by the main shipping companies of huge vessels (between 13,000 and 22,000 TEU) that can only be hosted by the Suez Canal;
• acceleration of global alliances made by shipping companies to reinforce their economies of scale, as in the case of the Ocean Alliance, consisted of the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), CMA CGM from France, Evergreen from Chinese Taiwan, and OOCL from Chinese Hong Kong, which controls 35% of the Europe – Far East route trade and 40% of the transpacific route trade (Prodi & Fardella, 2018).

These three concurrent phenomena (i.e., Suez enlargement, naval gigantism, and global alliances) are progressively reinforcing the competitive advantage of the Europe – Far East route, making it even more convenient than the transpacific route for the Chinese cargo directed towards the American north-eastern coast. These processes provide the European Mediterranean with an unprecedented “centrality” within both of China’s most important trade segments with Europe and the US.

Attachment 4: Projects presented under the EU – China Connectivity Platform. Projects in EU Member States

6. Why are there concerns about the expansion of Chinese trade routes? What threats BRI poses to other countries?

As any other project, global scope of the BRI reserves not only big number of opportunities, but also high level of uncertainly and challenges. Thus, the main groups of risks are as follows:

1. Environmental risks:

• BRI transport infrastructure is estimated to increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.3 % worldwide – but by 7 % or more in some countries as production expands in sectors with higher emissions (Raiser & Ruta, 2019).
• creating bottlenecks in cold waters (Straits of Malacca and Singapore, Suez, Gibraltar, Panama, etc.;) (WowShack, 2017)
• interferes in Arctic and Antarctic circles (melting of ice, global warming);
• oil spills (mainly Indian ocean);
• biodiversity loss (mainly South-Asia waters) (Eldridge et al., 2014).

2. Social Risks: 

• An influx of workers related to an infrastructure project could create risks of gender-based violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and social tensions.
• Increasing of development gap (between world regions and countries).

1. Monopolization risks: 

• There are examples of Chinese companies using the terms of a contract for financing the construction of infrastructure facilities to obtain, if possible, control over the recipient companies. For example, under the terms of the financing agreement, if the construction and commissioning of the facility is delayed, control of the foreign partner company passes to the Chinese company.
• countries’ technologies degradation (while implementing projects China prefer to use its manpower, raw materials, and technologies).

4. Governance Risks: 

• Moving toward international good practices such as open and transparent public procurement would increase the likelihood that BRI projects are allocated to the firms best placed to implement them;
• absence of clear and stable policies transparency;
• interfere in territorial sovereignty of the countries (best example – countries of South-East Asia, Pakistan, Ukraine);
• inconsistency in legal and financial policies due to political instability in countries participants (best example – Myanmar, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Kashmir).

5. Business risks: 

• BRI countries have more restrictive and burdensome FDI policies than high-income OECD countries, in terms of starting a foreign business, accessing industrial land, and arbitrating commercial disputes (Ruta, 2018);
• Risk of losing control over project (if country can’t cover the dept – construction company (China) can take over the facility/project/profits);
• corruption risks.

6. Debt Sustainability Risks: 

• Among the 43 corridor economies for which detailed data is available, 12 – most of which already face elevated debt levels – could suffer a further medium-term deterioration in their outlook for debt sustainability;
• FDI to projects exceeds country’s GDP (Best examples: B&H, Cambodia, Laos, Greece, Djibouti)

And the last group of risks can be identified in its geo-economic and geopolitical scope (should be noted that this group is a basic of majority of fears about the expansion of the BRI (especially from the EU, the US, and Indian perspectives)):

7. Geopolitical and geo-economic risks:

7.1. Geostrategic aspect:

–     the project is consistent with the logic of the classical geopolitical Formula: “…who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world”;

–     creating “fulcrums” within strategical transportation hubs (CEE, ASEAN region, Gwadar, Djibouti etc.) through over the world;

–     takes control over Indian Ocean: the realization of the idea of building the Kra – Canal (The Thai Canal through the Malacca Peninsula of Thailand), connecting the Pacific (Siamsky Bay) and the Indian (Andaman Sea) oceans.

–     according to the long-standing tradition of the “Chinese box” (foreign policy strategies “string of pearls”, “blue water”, etc.), the main geopolitical goal of the Chinese project is gradually revealed to the outside world:

• 2013 – 2017: gradual opening of foreign policy and economic objectives;
• 2017 – …: entering the path of reaching the main goal (creating a large Eurasian multidimensional space with a huge consumer market)

7.2. Resource’s aspect:

–     within Maritime Silk Road (MSR) the construction of oil and gas pipelines from the coast of the Arabian Sea to China’s Xinjiang provides stable oil imports bypassing the Strait of Malacca (hence not controlled by the US and India);

–     within Polar SR get access to resources-rich Arctic region (gas and oil);

–     within land BRI get access to resources of Eurasia and receive massive discounts on the import of gas (from Central Asia mainly);

–     within Polar SR along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic, facilitate increased resource extraction and cargo deliveries, as well as tourism and scientific opportunities;

–     As a result, second quarter of 2021: Total FDI Energy – 44 %, transport – 30% (considering Pandemic impact) (UNSTAD, 2021).

7.3. Military aspect:

–     Within MSR places military bases and electronic intelligence facilities in friendly Southeast Asian countries (Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh) ;

–     the deployment of a naval base and electronic intelligence station in Gwadar (on the Makranska coast of Baluchistan (Pakistan)) will ensure the security of oil imports from Iran and control the transportation of oil from the Persian Gulf zone to India;

–     Development diplomacy of Straights (strategies “string of pearls”, “blue water”, etc.);

–     the construction of a naval base in Djibouti allows to take under control imports of oil (the Bab – el Mandeb and Hormuz Straits) and gives military guarantees of Chinese interests on the African continent;

–     control over South China Sea and partially Indian Ocean (to control oil/gas import) (Smotrytska, 2021).

7.4. Geo-economic aspect:

–     A multidimensional model of regional cooperation will expand the geo-economic space for development by forming the following areas (corridors):

1. Transport Corridor,

2. Energy Corridor,

3. shopping corridor,

4. Cyber and Information corridor,

5. Scientific and technical cooperation,

6. Agricultural development,

7. Cultural exchange

8. Increase educational and career opportunities,

9. Tourism Development,

10. security and political interaction.

–     BRI, MSR and Polar SR along with the creation of Port outposts in ASEAN, Africa and CEE indicates intentions to take soft “economic” control over the whole of Eurasia and Africa.

8. Which BRICS members will take more advantage of the new BRI structures?

An obvious winner (from BRICS) of new structure is China. Thus, few aspects can be underlined during the analysis of an impact of BRI on separate nation:

• A large global economy such as China will almost inevitably gain market power through its economic size and its importance as a trading partner;
• Increasing the speed of the extension of use of Chinese goods, technologies and investments abroad (export not only of goods, but factories), gaining power through FDI and “shares” approach;
• In the last quarter of 2020, China’s trade with Belt and Road countries increased by 3.2%, almost 10% points higher than the overall negative growth rate of China’s foreign trade volume (Kuhn, 2020);
• BRI is expected to boost China’s GDP by 0.3% every year over a 10-year period, and provide access to new resource-rich markets and trade routes, and reduce its reliance on existing ones (UN, 2020);
• Chinese companies are entering the banking, technology, and retail sectors in BRI markets through 3 continents. Globalizing their economy and extending borders of country’s geoeconomics influence.

And that’s only talking in economical aspect, without mentioning the infrastructure, geopolitical impact, and geo-economic and cultural expansion.

Even though it is worth noting numerous benefits for Russia, South Africa (especially considering countries’ poor economic development, unsatisfactory logistics and Russian – Ukrainian crisis), outcomes for Brazil (which is rather distant player) and India (which rather loses than gains from the BRI), China remains the main “BRICS beneficial” of the BRI. 

9. Which countries will benefit the most from the BRI?

As BRI became a “process – brand”, the number of countries which could benefit from the Initiative grew gradually:

• Western Europe (Brattberg & Soula, 2018) and Latin America (Boo & de Los Heros ,2020) are expected to gain significantly in terms of economic development. Local companies, especially those involved in trade, logistics and construction, stand to benefit as the region begins to recognize the benefits of being a BRI hub;
• Central – East Europe: Development of energetic, logistics fields allow the region to strengthen its’ position within the EU as an important logistics hub of Europe, at the same time bringing energy Independence for majority of the countries of the region (Smotrytska, 20.9.2020);
• in Africa, as of late 2020, over 90 BRI-linked projects were estimated to be in the pipeline; the USD3.2 billion railway line linking Kenya’s capital Nairobi with its port city of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean is one example of the impact BRI is having on the continent (Smotrytska, 2021);
• China’s trade with the Middle East has grown over 10-fold between 2000 and 2016 to USD114 billion. And the BRI is expected to further strengthen this relationship, helping raise Dubai’s status as a key access point into the region for Chinese businesses (Sidło, 2020);
• In the Central Asia, China is investing USD4.5 billion worth of road, power, and gas pipeline projects in Kyrgyzstan alone. One of the routes through region is a 12,000km-long freight train line that connects China with the UK via Kazakhstan and Belarus, with the potential to cut cargo transit times by half, the China – Europe Railway Express service is already linking dozens of cities across Europe and Asia (Taliga, 2021);
• Major projects in the South Asia include upgrading Bangladesh’s transport links and building ports and power plants in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Other sizable investments include projects in Mongolia that are worth nearly as much as the country’s 2017 nominal GDP (USD3 billion) and USD5.2 billion to build three airports across Cambodia (Yuan, 2019);
• In ASEAN region, China’s FDI nearly doubling between 2014 and 2017. South Asia and Southeast Asia have received the lion’s share of Chinese outbound FDI to B&R countries. Countries such as Laos and Philippines are expected to benefit significantly – for example, from Chinese funding and technical know-how for the construction of rail links (Tritto & Sejko, 2021).

Thus, much of the increase in outbound greenfield FDI to BRI countries is concentrated in South Asia, Africa, and Central Asia, while the increase in construction projects is concentrated in South Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Even though, so far, the main beneficiary remains ASEAN region, as it is expected to require USD26 trillion in infrastructure investment between 2016 and 2030, or USD1.7 trillion a year, to maintain its growth momentum and BRI helps fund a sizable portion of that.

(See Details in Attachment 5 and Attachment 6)

Attachment 5: BRI’s impact on worlds regions

Estimated BRI investments across 150+ countries from 2020 to 2030. Forecasting model includes core infrastructure, including power, rail, road, ports and water, as well as related activity, including export manufacturing.

Attachment 6: Main beneficials of BRI

10. How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the progress of the Belt & Road Initiative?

When the whole world can see how a pandemic can change and affect people’s lives, one needs to understand that in politics, its consequences vary slightly from country to country.

In China they managed to take an outbreak under strictest control relatively fast, but it obviously influenced (and influences) Chinese economy and foreign policy significantly (especially in “lowest” level, considering that country strictly closed its borders to all the foreigners and limited to minimum inter-countries connections).

Moreover, due to the Pandemic restrictions China had to adapt the new BRI strategy in a way, the initiative can still fulfil its mission. Thus, the country implemented a new post-Covid-19 domestic strategy, which further was expanded on big implications for China’s trade with BRI countries. The new strategy was called “dual circulation” (strategy, which envisions a new balance away from global integration (the first circulation) and toward increased domestic reliance (the second circulation)) and implies several simultaneous shifts (Blanchette & Polk, 2020):

• Strengthening Chinese domestic consumer markets as a source of economic growth;

• Prioritizing domestic high-tech manufacturing and associated services for export;

• Reducing dependency on income from exporting low-value manufactured goods; and

• Reducing dependency on singular sources of imports into China.

This shift could benefit BRI countries, at least in the short and medium term. For instance, currently providing just 4% of China’s imports, African countries may gain from the import diversification and consumer market growth the policy implies.

Thus, the biggest impact pandemic had on the BRI – is an access to Chinese marked and access to China itself. From March 2020 it is extremely difficult to get even the most astute and innovative foreigner businesspeople and their new products into China, especially value-added products (Xiaolong, 2020). Entrance into China will require considerable relaxation of China’s immigration rules and non-tariff trade restrictions with BRI countries, both of which have yet to be seen in (hopefully) 2021.

But the impact was not only limited to an “access” restriction. Thus, in June 2020 China revealed that 20% of BRI projects had been “seriously affected” by the virus, with up to 40% being “somewhat affected” (Zou, 2020). That meant that the overall BRI investment dropped by a whopping 50% in the first half of 2020, down from USD46bn in the same period in 2019 (Shehadi, 2020). Due to this numbers (and since China’s internal economy is under great pressure because of Covid-19), Chinese leadership decided it is smarter for the time-being to concentrate more on inner development, rather than massively investing money overseas, so further investment is likely to be thought out much more carefully with a particular focus on profit, something that many BRI investments currently lack. (See Details in Attachment 7).

Attachment 7: Number of construction projects owned by Chinese corporations, 2010-2020

But this data does not mean that China could not keep BRI lending in high gear, however. BRI loans are just a small part of China’s overall lending portfolio, and China’s main policy banks have enough political backing to bear the cost of upcoming (and those “frozen” due to the pandemic) projects.

Additionally, in addition to the supply shock, Covid-19 has reduced the demand of many countries for BRI investments, not least due to falling energy needs and a decrease in the ability to borrow money.

Worth noting the current usage of BRI transhipment roads to supply other countries with medical technology and medicine to help fighting the Covid-19 outbreak outside of China. Starting from January 2020 government took “medicine field” (especially technologies that use AI and other innovations that monitor Covid-19 carriers) under the strictest control, giving “export rights” only to those enterprises which are checked (quality standards) and authorized (Shehadi, 2020). Meanwhile, international e-commerce initiatives in the field of MedTech are also being prioritized to help accelerate economic growth in China.

Investments on energy-related projects outside and inside China were influenced by Pandemic the most (Tu, 2020). Thus, the drop has hit traditional fuels the hardest. In fact, the first half of 2020 was the first six-month period in which non-fossil fuel-related energy investment (including large hydropower and solar power) dominated BRI energy investments, which further helped to implement the “Greening of BRI” strategies (Cell Press, 2019). The turn into “greening” became very resultative in long-tern run point of view (i.e., the EU always underlined that “the BRI is not green enough” to be safely and successfully implemented within Europe). But these trends will become clearer once the dust settles and a global Covid-19 vaccination programme begins.

As for current way to further maintain and develop the BRI, China seeks to share its valuable experience of battling Covid-19 with other BRI countries, one key area of potential will be in projects focused on strengthening the health systems of low-income countries, even if focused on soft processes rather than hard infrastructure.

Also, beyond the short-term, changes to global supply chains will bring new opportunities for diversification through joint activity with other countries. There is also potential for accelerated digital BRI (Digital Belt and Road) activity in relation to Chinese tech companies and private players may now become more active in the BRI (Lewis et al., 2021).

11. What are the long-term prospects for BRI? Can the Chinese Belt & Road be considered the beginning of the Asian century?

Exploring the nature of the new geopolitical project, it should first be emphasized that it is aimed at radically changing the entire economic map of the world. In addition, many economic experts consider this project as the first shot in the struggle between East and West for influence in Eurasia.

Belt&Road Initiative, based on a multidimensional approach (“five connections”) is promoting mutually beneficial international cooperation. Thus, in contrast to the United States, which relied on the path to world hegemony for neoliberal globalization, China’s foreign policy has taken a course to regionalize international economic relations.

Economically, China will remain the engine of growth for Asia and the world. Its contribution to global growth will rise to over 28% by 2023 (a compound annual rate of 6.1 per cent), according to IMF projections (Huiyao, 2019). However, the nature of China’s economic role will evolve along with domestic rebalancing.

The initiative is also projected to boost global trade by 12% impacting more than 65 countries and nearly two-thirds of the world’s population (Konings, 2018).

Short long-run Sum up:

• BRI is estimated to provide (Globe):
  • to raise global GDP by about 4.2 % in 2040, or 9.3% of GDP in 2019 – 2021 (Cebr, 2019);
  • up to 56 countries forecast to have their annual GDP in 2040 boosted by more than USD10 billion as a result (Cebr, May 2019);
  • establish over 35 economic corridors to include the following strategic distribution lanes, which will impact the future transport of commercial goods (OECD, 2018).
• A targeted completion date (100th anniversary of the PRC (2049)):
• China would make several trillion USD dollars’ (4 – 8) worth of investments – in ports, airports, roads, railways (including high-speed routes), bridges and tunnels, as well as power plants and telecommunications networks (OECD, 2018);
• One of the more notable examples included a clean energy “super grid”, consisting of ultra-high voltage electricity networks linking China and much of the Eurasian continent (Zhang, 2018).
• BRI is estimated to provide (China):
• a competitive advantage in the processing of vessels in the world’s major canals, processing of goods at the major ports of entry;
• the prioritization of the ground transport of goods in key countries’ economic zones;
• ability to leverage port economics within BRI participating ports provides it with a commercial advantage in the global market;
• as China’s industrialization and GDP grow, its exports will start levelling with US exports in the commercial market.

Thus, we can forecast 5 main scenarios (models) of the further development of the BRI:

1. Baseline Model: Continuing the current trajectory equals an estimated USD 940 billion in BRI infrastructure investments

If BRI infrastructure investments stay on their current course, the original 65 core BRI countries will continue to see significant investment, as will the recently joined Latin American countries. In this model, while the number of BRI projects will continue to increase, many projects will be of average size and smaller value, which is a trend already in evidence. (See Details in Attachment 8).

Attachment 8: Baseline Model 

2. Global Cooperation Model: Collaboration wins big, totalling USD 1.32 trillion in BRI investments

Lessons learned so far, point to collaboration as the win-win BRI solution that reduces political opposition and ensures the highest long-term success rate for infrastructure projects and better access to ongoing multilateral funding. This scenario is based around more formal partnerships between China and external 3rd parties, including other governments and private capital, and BRI-project alignment with the multilateral development banks. (See Details in Attachment 9).

Attachment 9: Global Cooperation Model 

3. Global Sustainability Model: Sustainability becomes a key driver, pushing future BRI investments to USD 1.2 trillion

If China adopts a policy of even closer alignment between its BRI goals and sustainable initiatives, it is very likely that it will gain access to new streams of multilateral funding for BRI projects. It will also make Chinese engineering and construction companies more competitive globally to win major clean energy and water project bids as part of BRI. (See Details in Attachment 10).

Attachment 10: Global Sustainability Model 

4. Supply Chain Relocation Model: With tariffs remaining high over a longer-term period, BRI infrastructure projects can still garner an estimated USD 1.06 trillion

Ongoing trade tensions between the US and China have led to the partial relocation of manufacturing away from China, including by Chinese companies, to low‐cost countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia. In this scenario the influx of manufacturing sees renewed interest in BRI infrastructure investments in these countries (private and through state-owned enterprises) to support the production relocation. (See Details in Attachment 11).

Attachment 11: Supply Chain Relocation Model  

5. Uni-Polar Model: Global protectionism dampens down future BRI investment, totalling USD 560 billion.

Fierce, politicized and protectionist competition among countries will almost halve global BRI investments when compared with the Baseline Model (Forecast 1). Of all the five forecasts, this one offers the most modest benefits to all stakeholders. (See Details in Attachment 12).

Attachment 12: Uni-Polar Model 

If we are talking about possible Asian Century, lying at the heart of the regional economy, China will undoubtedly play a central role in Eurasia. Implementing BRI and hence recognizing that multilateralism is the only way to meet our transnational challenges and sustain an open, inclusive global economy, China’s role in Asia and the world will be to uphold the international order while offering innovative solutions to global governance, in line with its responsibility as a major global player.

In the previous phase of globalization, Chinese exports drove global trade as foreign investment came in to help modernize the economy. In globalization 4.0, Chinese imports will play an ever-larger role as Chinese multinationals invest across Asia and the world. From now until 2030, Asia’s consumption growth is expected to exceed that of the US and Western Europe combined (Huiyao, 2019).

It is estimated that if fully implemented, BRI transport projects could increase trade between 1.7% and 6.2% for the world, increasing global real income by 0.7% to 2.9% and helping to lift 7.6 million people from extreme poverty in the process (Pazarbasioglu, 2019). To truly fulfil BRI’s potential, over the coming years, the BRI will shift towards a more multilateral approach.

But to discuss whether BRI’s implementation is the beginning of the Asian Century is not quite right. Moreover, it is still too early to talk about the existence of such at all (ADB, 2019).

Chinese economy and potential are strong, BRI’s and Asia’s are even bigger, but one needs to understand, that being a locomotive of the new era is not only about having strong economy and development, but about having the high level of stability and security. While some countries in Asia (i.e., China, Japan, South Korea) boast stability, the level of security and stability in the region as a whole is still low compared to the old world (Europe).

Moreover, BRI can be also considered as a new approach of Chinese foreign and domestic policies to adapt to the new trends in worlds geopolitics and disproportionate development of the country itself. In 21st Century, when Chinese Political Economy is observed, it is to be seen that engines of the economy that once led China to development become the very problems that are distorting the development and growth today. Those problems make the “challenges of China”, and they are deeply connected to each other making local operations ineffective in long term solutions. Hence, China needs a restructuring in social and economic architecture of the country that will not only enable a grand solution to those challenges but that will also guarantee the stability in domestic affairs. By employing BRI, China aims to achieve peace and harmony in its’ domestic structures regarding economy and society. Therefore, China’s domestic challenges render BRI essential for the survival of a stable China.

Referring to the global scale and importance of the BRI for current China’s existence, it should be noted that the BRI represents a possible integration mechanism in Eurasia, led by China, which unites Asia within its borders, but also has a dangerous asymmetric structure (the size of China’s huge economy and the smaller economies in most of the receiving countries along the BRI). It brings us to the issue of the creation of stable multilateral setting which can tackle not only economic, but security issues in Asia.

History shows that, unlike Europe, Asia was never forced to create a culture of negotiation: while the whole of Europe was twice involved in devastating wars in which it could not win, countries were forced to sit down at the table of diplomacy and negotiation, which ultimately led to the creation of a compromise – Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The countries of Asia, on the contrary, have never been on the brink of survival in recent history, which, as a result, has not forced the countries to create a pan-continental union or a single pan-Asian integration mechanism.

Up to day countries of the region did not create a stable multilateral mechanism which can help them to work out a compromise solution on the issue of legal registration of state borders and territorial claims (Bajrektarevic, 2014). Even despite the fact, that Asian countries today are more willing to consult and cooperate with each other on the integration and creating of the zone of co-prosperity issues, nevertheless in Asia, there is hardly a single state which has no territorial dispute within its neighbourhood. This issue is one of the most important, since it can guarantee the territorial integrity of States and ensure non-interference in their internal affairs, as well as represent one of the barriers to external threats to their national security, such as smuggling, international crime, extremist and terrorist movements, illegal migration.

Numerous integration mechanisms such as ASEAN, APEC, SAARC or BRI in most cases, are created to jointly solve economic problems, achieve economic integration in the region or sub-regions, but not to tackle security issues.

Economically and potentially strong East today lacks stable political integration and is unable to capitalize (on) its success. To consolidate the total power of Asian countries the largest continent must consider the creation of its own comprehensive pan-Asian multilateral setting, without which it is impossible to establish an Asian century.

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About the author:

Dr Maria Smotrytska is research fellow at IFIMES/DeSSA, a senior research sinologist, specialized in the investment policy of China; BRI-related initiatives; Sino – European ties, etc. She is distinguished member of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists. She has PhD in International politics, Central China Normal University (Wuhan, Hubei province, PR China).

Ljubljana/Shanghai, 3 August 202

Source: here

No matter your age or stage of life, every birthday can be celebrated with a big trip. Some exciting destinations are perfect for visiting in your 20s, like backpacking through Southeast Asia or road tripping the Pacific Coast Highway. Others, like a relaxing beach vacation in Hawaii or Thailand, might be better suited to those 50 and over.

We asked our trusted A-List of top travel advisors for their recommendations on the best places to celebrate a milestone birthday, whether you want to go alone or with a larger group, stay in one place or visit multiple locations. Here are their suggestions for over-the-top destinations to celebrate your big day.

Cayo Espanto, Belize

Three miles off the coast of Belize, this private, luxury Robinson Crusoe-style island offers just seven villas. Each one is luxuriously furnished with hardwood floors, mahogany beds, and crisp white bed-linen. Enjoy panoramic views from your private pier and plunge pool, and world class diving and snorkeling.— Will Bolsover, Natural World Safaris

Havana, Cuba

Start with a sunset convertible car ride through breezy Old Havana, soaking in the culture, colors and sounds of this enigmatic island destination. Then, have dinner at a private table at the city’s best rooftop restaurant with 360 degree views of the city—start with a rum and cigar tasting then dive into fresh fare caught locally. After dinner, head to the Tropicana nightclub for a taste of 1950s era cabaret, or ask for front row seats to a sold out live local music concert.— Chad Olin, Cuba Candela

Patagonia

Renting an authentic Patagonian Estancia with gauchos and all, and crossing the Andes on horseback, is a once-in-a-lifetime thrill. — Maita Barrenechea, Mai 10

Kenya

A private ranch in Kenya hands down would be my recommendation, something like Ol Jogi or Arijiju, they provide the clients with everything they need at their fingertips, from tennis courts, wildlife interactions, ATVs, to private chefs. You name it they have it here.—Leora Rothschild, Rothschild Safaris

See the rest here.

On 7-8 August, you can take part in guided tours and marvel at the palace’s interiors

This weekend, residents and tourists in Czechia will have the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful buildings in Prague: the Liechtenstein Palace. Although this palace is typically off-limits, the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic will make it open to the public on 7 and 8 August. The government’s action is part of its participation in the Open House Festival which seeks to make inaccessible buildings open to citizens and tourists.

What can visitors experience?

According to the government’s website, the Liechtenstein Palace dates back to 1555. Although it has had several owners over the years, the palace became the property of the Municipality of Prague in 1897. Now, it is used by the government for various official purposes and events. Thus, the public will be able to see and walk through halls and rooms which are currently used for conferences, state delegations and protocol events.

Expanding on this, the government disclosed that numerous influential individuals have stayed and/or visited Liechtenstein Palace. Some of these include King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofia, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, as well as the Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

In addition to this, visitors will be able to view an exhibition of the gifts and donations received by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The items which will be on display have been accumulated by Babiš during his time in office and while visiting other countries. As such, the collection is constantly growing and expanding.

Read the rest here.

Author: Svilena Iotkovska

“Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians & Other Regions of Europe”. This is the latest addition to the UNESCO natural world heritage locations list. One of the locations covered with this umbrella-term inscription lies in the Czech Republic. It is the “Jizerskohorské bučiny”, a beech forest located in northern Czechia.

While Czech Republic is certainly not new to UNESCO’s list, the addition of this forest to the natural world heritage list marks the first mention of the Czech Republic in UNESCO’s natural section. The Czech Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec has proclaimed that this news makes the Czech Republic “A part of the heritage of all of mankind”.

Furthermore, he shared that he believes that the addition of the 27km2 forest is a recognition of Czech efforts to preserve the nature on a global scale. Together with the addition of the latest of the 15UNESCO cultural heritage sites, this achievement gives the Czech Republic a boost in tourism appeal according to him. Overall, Minister Brabec views this as a great success. Now, a natural site in our country gets the same recognition as natural wonders such as the Yellowstone National Park, lake Baikal or the Great Barrier Reef.

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It is 100 years since we were supposedly getting over the war to end all wars, World War I, and forming the League of Nations with the purpose of preventing such a conflict and slaughter happening again. Regrettably, the only good that came out of it was the proposal to form the League of Nations; it was not much more than an idea though otherwise stillborn and we needed another World War before something solid resulted, the United Nations with some teeth, although they need sharpening. It was the time that the Chinese Communist party was formed and has just celebrated its centenary. What have we done in the time, apart from multiplying ourselves by a factor of 3, and perhaps upsetting the planet on the way. There are exciting scientific advances, of course, some of which we must use to address the wasteful manner in which we live.

The 1920s and 1930s were times of turmoil, new ideas. Socialism in the forms of nationalism and communism, each with an end result of forming a ruling elite, who would brook little or no interference from their perceived mission. The damage from WWI caused a Depression in the developed world, many of them democratic in form, and this meant they paid not or were not able to pay enough attention to the looming Nazi power growing in Germany. In China, the communist movement was putting down roots, establishing itself and, in the Far East the colonies of British India and the Dutch East Indies, the elite of those nations were listening with sympathy to the socialism that was being preached in Europe.

The end of WWII saw the proponents of each doctrine, social/communism and free market capitalism/democracy sharpen their dividing lines which led to the Cold War between east and west. However, this is too simplistic; Britain, for example, after WWII voted in a Socialist Labour government, which promptly set about nationalising key industries and created the National Health Service, all the basics of socialism, central government control. The key industries didn’t prosper, lacking accountability and arguably fleetness of the free market and in time, after Thatcher, were returned to the private sector. This was not entirely successful as times changed, but the National Health Service has been deemed a success in the overall scheme of things, looking after a nation’s health. Perhaps it was different because it only required a social accountability.

Returning to the division of doctrine, emerging from WWII, this saw the sharp divide of Europe between, on the one hand the Lenin/Stalin communist, centrally controlled regimes of the USSR which had gathered within their scope, whether they liked it or not, many of the countries of Eastern Europe. On the other hand, there were the democracies of Western Europe, which were bolstered by the USA. Germany was divided into two parts but Berlin, the capital, which lay in the Soviet jurisdiction, was a separate entity managed by the four allies who had together opposed the Nazis, namely the USA, the USSR, Britain and France. This arrangement continued, not without its problems, until the new president, Kennedy, in 1961 made a declaration against communism which alarmed Kruschev, the Soviet leader by now since Stalin had died. A Wall was put up by East Germany/ USSR in Berlin in 1961, which became a symbol of the freedom of the west against the restrictions that the Soviet Union enforced. The East German communist government was alarmed at the very large number of their skilled citizens who were defecting to the west; the Wall brought the number down to a trickle, lasting until 1989 by when times had changed.

In the East, China at war end was in the grip of a communist movement that was fighting to overcome the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai Chek. The communists prevailed and the nationalists departed for the island of Formosa, today Taiwan, taking with them the Emperor’s ancient, valuable signatures of office, a bone of contention. Meanwhile, Japan was healing from the bitter defeat inflicted on it from WWII with the help of the USA and was showing its resilience in recovery towards becoming one of the fastest growing economies.

The first test of the new communist China came in the early 1950s in the Korean peninsula, where they wholeheartedly backed the forces of North Korea in their fight against the armies of the south, backed by the USA and its Allies from the western democracies, including Australia. A truce was signed after a few years of hard fighting, with no side obviously prevailing, and Korea was divided between North and South. To this day they have entirely different styles of government, the communist north being dependent on China with the people languishing in poverty while their ruling elite are well off, and the South being one of the Asian ‘tigers’ and one of the most successful democratic economies. The difference is glaring.

The next conflict between communism and a semi pro-democratic form of government, the Vietnam War in the 1960s, had different origins. It was originally part of an anti-colonial struggle to depose the French from their Indo-China possession, which also included Laos and Cambodia. The defining moment came when the French forces were beaten by the N. Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which was a signal for the French to withdraw. The North Vietnamese government was led by Ho Chi Minh, who had also studied communism in Europe and been persuaded by its ideas.

The American government had been watching closely and were very worried that if all of Vietnam were to fall to communism, it would lead to the rest of Southeast Asia in time succumbing also. As the leader of the ‘free’ world the USA stepped in and gradually increased its presence to the point that it was perceived as full-scale war. The North Vietnamese devised a way in which they could frustrate the American troops by building a network of underground tunnels from which they could appear unexpectedly and avoid direct confrontation with the better armed American troops. The war did not seem to have an end, and either it had to be escalated or the troops withdrawn. The former route would require going to Congress in Washington and, since the war was becoming increasingly unpopular with the public this was not something that the US government would want to do. The Nixon government of the early 1970s decided on a strategic withdrawal and so the whole of Vietnam was taken over by the communist government of the north, the condition which the US had feared. But times had changed. The world was changing. Some countries were prospering and trading. The old communist guard was getting on, some dying.

In the meantime, India and Indonesia, each with current large populations and significant colonial histories, had leaders who had learned in Europe about socialism/communism. However, the countries they would be serving had large other complex problems to resolve. In India’s case they had to deal with its partition with a mainly Islamic country, Pakistan, on each flank. The Nehru led, mainly Hindu, faction had much sympathy with socialism and were suspicious of the west and western aid agencies such as the World Bank, which were not allowed in to help develop the country. India, for the rest of the century, moved slowly but did not make a move to either communism or the western democracies, perhaps because it inherited a system in which much power rested within the state governments. The national or federal government operated from Delhi in the form that the British left behind.

Indonesia spent the first few years from independence in 1947, establishing itself as a whole. Soekarno, the first president, was a gifted orator, and was a firm believer in socialism/communism, but was a poor administrator. The country had to fend off two break away actions in the 1950s in North Sulawesi and West Sumatra provinces, which were put down with some ferocity. An interesting development was Soekarno’s leading with the 1955 Non- aligned Movement which was held in Bandung. This firmly put him in the neutral camp, although his time in Europe had imbued him with left leanings. His inability to take the country out of poverty was greatly frustrating the political elite in Jakarta and when he was deemed to show his leanings towards communism, the Army with the elite had had enough. He had to go and forcibly resigned, bringing Soeharto to power. The USA, who had watched the moves carefully while, at the same time, being involved in Vietnam, were much relieved.

Soeharto made it clear that he had no liking for a communist form of government. He was also quick to realise that he needed the brains from the private sector to handle the economy. He appointed the Berkeley ‘mafia’, UC Berkeley trained economists to deal with the major problems of food, water and education to lift the country out of poverty which they did very successfully for thirty years. The country was run as a benign autocracy with a guided parliament which re-elected Soeharto every 4 years, until the Asian Financial Crisis struck and caused him to step down. However, well by then it was aligned with the western powers and was invited to join the G-17, the organisation of the world’s richest economies.

It should be added that the grouping of Southeast Asian nations – region that my colleague prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic calls “the most multilateralised portion of Asia – future of that continent” – as it formed an alliance, ASEAN, in August 1967, to establish itself as an independent bloc, headquartered in Jakarta. Currently, there are now 10 countries in the bloc, originally five, with widely differing forms of government.

Come the latter part of the last century, other feuds, some centuries old, reared up to cause some alarm. They were not ostensibly part of the main struggle between rigid rules, centrally controlled communist regimes and the free market western economies, but the one of the Middle East involving several differing elements, on the face of it based on Judaism and its three offset branches, Jewry, Christianity and Islam. On his occasion the struggle had some of its roots in the Balfour declaration of 1917, endorsed in 1926 at a commonwealth conference, and the contrary non-acceptance of Israel after WWII, as a homeland for the Jewish people, by the Palestinians. It has widened out in a determination by a right-wing Islamic fundamentalist group to form a purely Islamic country, a caliphate. It fed off old rivalries and brought differing factions into conflict. It is not settled to this day, and Syria, a land of ancient civilizations, has been torn apart with a refugee crisis that has caused much discomfit in Europe. The politics of the Middle East are very complicated, variations of squabbles centuries old, and possibly unresolvable at this time. They, however, don’t seem to directly affect the main thrust of the proponents of the secular division between the democratic approach and communism to government. Although both the USA and Russia have an involvement, it is not their most important issue, although takes up time.

There are other disruptions in Africa and South America, but not greatly affecting the outcome of the main struggle between left and right. In much of Africa, where colonial power had held sway for many years and where a huge number of slaves had been shipped across the Atlantic to support the American and Caribbean plantations, little had been done to prepare the indigenous peoples to govern themselves. The extractive industries that were put in to take out minerals needed in Europe had systems in place which were devised to ship out the minerals to the controlling country. There was little or no attempt to better the country, in terms of education, infrastructure and skills development, where the extraction had taken place. The result was that the elite of the country, gaining independence, carried on the way things had been before independence and became hugely rich, while the poor just became poorer and poorer. A terrible legacy of colonialism! And certain countries in the north have, in the past few years, been severely affected by fundamental Islamic factions.

In the case of South (Latin) America, we have a mix of countries and the way they are run, significantly influenced by their Spanish or Portuguese legacy. The main problem is the growing and manufacture and the export of drugs and the emigration of people to the USA to get away from poverty. There is no major war ongoing although there have been attempts by some internal factions to take over a specific country for personal gain, which meets with the people’s resistance.

However, China is a large country with a centrally controlled communist regime in charge. In the past 30-40 years, with the passing of Mao Tse Tung and the accession of Deng the strict rigidity of the rules of government were eased and the economy started to grow. As a result, their economy has grown steadily, if not spectacularly at times, albeit from a comparatively low base and is now one of the largest in the world. They are not averse to taking new ideas from the west, sometimes openly but other times by stealth, which is of considerable concern to the west, which have established the norms, rules and rights of business. There was hope in the 1980s that they were changing and welcoming some democratic freedoms, but this altered in 1989 when a student demonstration was brutally quashed at Tienmanman square. The leaders had taken fright, things were getting out of control, and freedoms had to be curtailed and brought back under control. This was also a warning to the western democracies; there was only one way to do business in China and that was the Chinese way.

In 1997, the lease that the UK government held over the territories that encompassed Hong Kong was coming to an end and the territories were due to be handed back. There was some discussion on trying to extend the lease but this was really a non-starter. One of the terms that the British extracted in the departure agreement was that for the first 50 years the conditions which had been set up for the citizens of Hong Kong would be honoured. China agreed to approve the idea of ‘’one country and two systems’’. However, in recent times with Comrade Xi Jaoping feeling that his and the Chinese government’s power is on the increase he could ignore the agreement. There have been unsettling very large demonstrations in Hong Kong as Beijing turns the screw on democratic freedoms, and Hong Kong is brought in line with direct central government policy.

Furthermore, the government is trying to bring the Uighur people, who are of Islamic faith and live in Xinjiang to the west of China, the largest province, into line by brainwashing them. The Uighurs have been treated to genocide, and are also used, not much better than slaves, to pick Xinjiang cotton, which is a significant and high quality product of this region. This is another worrying example of communist control, as George Orwell highlighted in his book entitled 1984. The UN and the American government have raised the issue strongly, but have been told it is a matter of terrorism!

In the past two decades or so the Chinese have ‘made’ small islands in the South China sea expanding their territorial waters illegally. The ASEAN countries have wakened up to this and showing signs of alarm as China are using these islands as military outposts. In short, they are testing the reaction of the Eastern ASEAN countries, who realistically are not strong enough to resist. The USA are aware of this and watching carefully. It is still China’s government’s aim that Taiwan, R.O.C., comes under Beijing control.

The Chinese government would appear to have a policy to ensure that the country has the ability to widen its borders and, further afield, to secure by whatever means is most suitable the resources that the mother country requires. This would put it in a very strong position among all nations and supersede the work of past dynasties, justifying its central control. A communist Empire.

The other main country which espouses communism as per Leninism is, of course, Russia, which has always vied with the democracies of the west, unlike China which was rather left on its own, distance being a factor, until recent decades. After Kruschev, in the 1980s there was a time for a modicum of ‘honesty’ from the Russian government. They could not keep up with the economy of the USA with which they were attempting to compete. They released their hold on several European countries, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and withdrew their border to a north-south line bordering Belarus and Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia and into the Black Sea. They retained a small piece of territory next to Lithuania which gives them a better outlet to the Baltic Sea and recently they took the Crimea illegally to secure a position in the Black Sea.

A few of the ‘freed’ countries have adjusted themselves in the years that have followed, for instance the peoples of Czechoslovakia decided to split along nationalistic lines into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. One has to draw attention to the former Yugoslavia, formed as a country of the southern Slavs, which was not part of the Soviet hegemony, which separated somewhat bloodily into its discrete parts, with the demise of Tito. This was the strongman who emerged from WWII and kept the disparate parts of Yugoslavia together and prevented the Soviets from adding it to the total taken. The countries that evolved from Yugoslavia were Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The European Union has greatly enlarged since these countries became independent, could exercise their freewill, and confirmed their willingness to join the EU after invitation. The bloc now adds up to 27 member states and the centre of gravity which was firmly in the west, has shifted eastward significantly.

Russia has to deal with a significant, admittedly rather unwieldy, EU, as well as the powerful alliance, NATO, The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was set up at the end of WWII to protect the western democracies with the involvement of the USA from any potential aggression of the USSR. Since the partial rapprochement of Russia in its adjusted format, over the past 3 decades, there is much less pressure on NATO. It doesn’t stop Russia trying to meddle with the former countries of the Soviet on their borders. Belarus has a regime that is close to the Russians, not necessarily the will of the people, and Ukraine, while looking west towards the EU, has had to fend off Russian aggression in recent times in which they lost Crimea. In the complex Middle East situation Russia offers support to parties that are opposed to western supported ones, for example Assad’s Syria. But overall, Vladimir Putin’s Russia does not pose as much of a long-term threat as the apparent threat offered by China. There is, from the people themselves, a wish to open up the country. However, this can be expected to take some time; change will be slow.

To return to the east, ASEAN as a bloc, partly modelled on the EU, is still feeling its way. In recent times, the military coup occurring in Myanmar has taken ASEAN by surprise. Their offer to mediate has been firmly rejected at the ASEAN annual meeting. This was to be expected as the military have been involved in actions against some of the Myanmar people almost continuously since Independence and in recent years the military have exercised utmost savagery against the Rohingya people. The country is of great strategic value to China and hence the Myanmarese can rely on their backing. Its value, apart from Myanmar’s considerable resources, e.g. the Jade mines of Kachin province, a nice earner for the military elite, lies in the fact that Myanmar provides a gateway to the Indian Ocean and thence access to China’s significant resources in Africa, where they have been slowly entrenching themselves for the part of half a century.

Looking ahead

Taking note of President Xi’s recent upbeat speech at the Centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, it is clear that the government of China feels confident that they are now in a strong position to push on with expanding their strategic aims. These will be pushed ahead by fair means or foul, honestly or not, by stealth if need be. If anyone dares to oppose them will get a ‘’bash’’ on the head! It is a warning to the western Allies. ASEAN should be concerned about the South China Sea.

Russia, in the next phase, will want to not upset matters too much and be reasonably content to have matters stay as they are. A significant revenue for them is oil supply to the EU. They have a growing mood in the populace that wants more freedom. This will be difficult to resist.

The Middle East has rumbled on for centuries. A solution does not appear to be likely in the short term although the majority of people just want peace so that they may live with a feeling of security. They cannot reach this position because the leaders feel they have some God-given mission to achieve first. There are pockets relatively peaceful, e.g. The Emirates.

The Liberal democracies of the west have some internal voices of dissent, but at the moment their biggest problem is dealing with a refugee crisis caused by the Syrian mess, and the peoples coming from Africa running away from poverty. These are all heading for Europe. The other area where there is a significant problem is the southern USA where there is an unrelenting movement of peoples coming from Central and South America, trying to escape poverty and/or poor government.

The problem has become larger in the past half century; the population has tripled without our becoming aware. The CO2, not surprisingly, has also increased which has alarmed some scientists, and the two issues may be related, because we breathe out CO2 as well as significantly use up more resources some of which, in turn, generate CO2. We must remember, however, that carbon dioxide is a building block of life; below 150 ppm the world starts dying, both flora and fauna. The world, whatever political persuasion, communist or democratic, has to take notice of the climate issue which is to be highlighted at the COP26 conference in November this year. It is interesting that the leading countries espousing these opposite forms of government, China and USA, are responsible for 36% of the CO2 output of the world, each of them, so far, shy of taking a leadership role. Will we see much progress on this issue if they don’t take a leadership role?

The Future

Science, building on what came before, has achieved almost unbelievable advances in less than a century. One of the foremost of them was finding the properties of the silicon chip, which led to the computer, becoming commercially available from the 1960s and thereafter aiding all aspects of scientific endeavour. Now we are looking at the digital age, and on into quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence. We have broken the barriers of space and there is a veritable limitless opportunity to be explored.

On the other hand, there are many more of us, 8+ billion as against 3- billion in the 1960s and we haven’t yet resolved the problems of poverty, pollution and paucity of some of our key resources, such as water, or why we have an apparent climate crisis. The problems have only become bigger, which means the millennial and subsequent generations who will be brought up with the new sciences from a young age will have plenty to do. What sort of government will they have dictated to them or will they resolve a better system that embraces the better points of each, so long as there is adequate freedom of action?

The world is changing; almost two thirds of its population already live in Asia and there is a shift in the ethnic balance. The United Nations is more important than ever; it has disappointed in not getting involved in a positive and robust way in certain disputes where a form of genocide has taken place, but they are constrained by their remit. Perhaps it requires a change of location from NY to reflect the changing population distribution and a time to review their raison d’etre.

The new generation have inherited a number of problems but, at the same time, they have the skills and tools to deal with them. One can but hope they do use them and with common sense.

Dr J Scott Younger OBE is a professional civil engineer who spent 42 years in the Far East undertaking assignments in 10 countries for WB, ADB, UNDP. Published many papers and columnist for Forbes Indonesia and Globe Asia. Served on British & European Chamber boards and Vice Chair of Int’l Business Chamber, for 17 years. His expertise is Infrastructure and Sustainable development and he takes an interest in international affairs. Dr. Younger serves International Institute IFIMES as its Board member.

Air travel can be stressful, so we’ve rounded up 25 things you should do before your next flight so you can relax.

Between making sure your suitcase isn’t an ounce over 50 pounds and rushing to your gate before the doors close, air travel can be a stressful experience — but it doesn’t have to be. We’ve rounded up 25 things you should do before your next flight, so you can relax and know that you’re totally prepared.

Note that some airlines’ guidelines and policies have changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, so be sure to check their websites for the most up-to-date travel information.

Read the article here.

Lately, some would even go as far as to suggest that there is an overflow of statistics and data about Covid-19, but thanks to the Mobilní Rozhlas tool, it is now possible to find specific data about any location in the country. Thanks to the artificial intelligence developed by the Mama AI company, it is now possible to obtain data from 1743 local governments with daily updates. Whether you live inside or outside the Czech Republic, the app allows you to search for the local government of your choice and see how the statistics evolve on a daily basis. This covid report takes both the data collected from the local government itself, as well as data collected from the surrounding area into account.

It also covers the country’s major cities. To find the information about your selected locality, you must first visit the website where the reports are generated: https://www.mobilnirozhlas.cz/cr-covid-report#country-search. Once there, you can search for the city or town you want to know about. Once the location has been selected, there are multiple ways in which this tool offers various data points. The percentage of citizens vaccinated with the first dose, the vaccinations that have been completed in the citizens of the district, the new cases or even the place that the locality occupies in the national order of worst struck regions are just some of them. Additionally, graphs are also displayed. They compare the situation of the selected place with its surroundings and provide visual information about the rest of the territories in the country in a very intuitive way.

Source

It is 100 years since we were supposedly getting over the war to end all wars, World War I, and forming the League of Nations with the purpose of preventing such a conflict and slaughter happening again. Regrettably, the only good that came out of it was the proposal to form the League of Nations; it was not much more than an idea though otherwise stillborn and we needed another World War before something solid resulted, the United Nations with some teeth, although they need sharpening. It was the time that the Chinese Communist party was formed and has just celebrated its centenary. What have we done in the time, apart from multiplying ourselves by a factor of 3, and perhaps upsetting the planet on the way. There are exciting scientific advances, of course, some of which we must use to address the wasteful manner in which we live.

The 1920s and 1930s were times of turmoil, new ideas. Socialism in the forms of nationalism and communism, each with an end result of forming ruling elite, who would brook little or no interference from their perceived mission. The damage from WWI caused a Depression in the developed world, many of them democratic in form, and this meant they paid not or were not able to pay enough attention to the looming Nazi power growing in Germany. In China, the communist movement was putting down roots, establishing itself and, in the Far East the colonies of British India and the Dutch East Indies, the elite of those nations were listening with sympathy to the socialism that was being preached in Europe.

The end of WWII saw the proponents of each doctrine; social/communism and free market capitalism/democracy sharpen their dividing lines which led to the Cold War between east and west. However, this is too simplistic; Britain, for example, after WWII voted in a Socialist Labour government, which promptly set about nationalising key industries and created the National Health Service, all the basics of socialism, central government control. The key industries didn’t prosper, lacking accountability and arguably fleetness of the free market and in time, after Thatcher, were returned to the private sector. This was not entirely successful as times changed, but the National Health Service has been deemed a success in the overall scheme of things, looking after a nation’s health. Perhaps it was different because it only required a social accountability.

Returning to the division of doctrine, emerging from WWII, this saw the sharp divide of Europe between, on the one hand the Lenin/Stalin communist, centrally controlled regimes of the USSR which had gathered within their scope, whether they liked it or not, many of the countries of Eastern Europe. On the other hand, there were the democracies of Western Europe, which were bolstered by the USA. Germany was divided into two parts but Berlin, the capital, which lay in the Soviet jurisdiction, was a separate entity managed by the four allies who had together opposed the Nazis, namely the USA, the USSR, Britain and France. This arrangement continued, not without its problems, until the new president, Kennedy, in 1961 made a declaration against communism which alarmed Kruschev, the Soviet leader by now since Stalin had died. A Wall was put up by East Germany/ USSR in Berlin in 1961, which became a symbol of the freedom of the west against the restrictions that the Soviet Union enforced. The East German communist government was alarmed at the very large number of their skilled citizens who were defecting to the west; the Wall brought the number down to a trickle, lasting until 1989 by when times had changed.

In the East, China at war end was in the grip of a communist movement that was fighting to overcome the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai Chek. The communists prevailed and the nationalists departed for the island of Formosa, today Taiwan, taking with them the Emperor’s ancient, valuable signatures of office, a bone of contention. Meanwhile, Japan was healing from the bitter defeat inflicted on it from WWII with the help of the USA and was showing its resilience in recovery towards becoming one of the fastest growing economies.

The first test of the new communist China came in the early 1950s in the Korean peninsula, where they wholeheartedly backed the forces of North Korea in their fight against the armies of the south, backed by the USA and its Allies from the western democracies, including Australia. A truce was signed after a few years of hard fighting, with no side obviously prevailing, and Korea was divided between North and South. To this day they have entirely different styles of government, the communist north being dependent on China with the people languishing in poverty while their ruling elite are well off, and the South being one of the Asian ‘tigers’ and one of the most successful democratic economies. The difference is glaring.

The next conflict between communism and a semi pro-democratic form of government, the Vietnam War in the 1960s, had different origins. It was originally part of an anti-colonial struggle to depose the French from their Indo-China possession, which also included Laos and Cambodia. The defining moment came when the French forces were beaten by the N. Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which was a signal for the French to withdraw. The North Vietnamese government was led by Ho Chi Minh, who had also studied communism in Europe and been persuaded by its ideas.

The American government had been watching closely and were very worried that if all of Vietnam were to fall to communism, it would lead to the rest of Southeast Asia in time succumbing also. As the leader of the ‘free’ world the USA stepped in and gradually increased its presence to the point that it was perceived as full-scale war. The North Vietnamese devised a way in which they could frustrate the American troops by building a network of underground tunnels from which they could appear unexpectedly and avoid direct confrontation with the better armed American troops. The war did not seem to have an end, and either it had to be escalated or the troops withdrawn. The former route would require going to Congress in Washington and, since the war was becoming increasingly unpopular with the public this was not something that the US government would want to do. The Nixon government of the early 1970s decided on a strategic withdrawal and so the whole of Vietnam was taken over by the communist government of the north, the condition which the US had feared. But times had changed. The world was changing. Some countries were prospering and trading. The old communist guard was getting on, some dying.

In the meantime, India and Indonesia, each with current large populations and significant colonial histories, had leaders who had learned in Europe about socialism/communism. However, the countries they would be serving had large other complex problems to resolve. In India’s case they had to deal with its partition with a mainly Islamic country, Pakistan, on each flank. The Nehru led, mainly Hindu, faction had much sympathy with socialism and were suspicious of the west and western aid agencies such as the World Bank, which were not allowed in to help develop the country. India, for the rest of the century, moved slowly but did not make a move to either communism or the western democracies, perhaps because it inherited a system in which much power rested within the state governments. The national or federal government operated from Delhi in the form that the British left behind.

Indonesia spent the first few years from independence in 1947, establishing itself as a whole. Soekarno, the first president, was a gifted orator, and was a firm believer in socialism/communism, but was a poor administrator. The country had to fend off two break away actions in the 1950s in North Sulawesi and West Sumatra provinces, which were put down with some ferocity. An interesting development was Soekarno’s leading with the 1955 Non- aligned Movement which was held in Bandung. This firmly put him in the neutral camp, although his time in Europe had imbued him with left leanings. His inability to take the country out of poverty was greatly frustrating the political elite in Jakarta and when he was deemed to show his leanings towards communism, the Army with the elite had had enough. He had to go and forcibly resigned, bringing Soeharto to power. The USA, who had watched the moves carefully while, at the same time, being involved in Vietnam, were much relieved.

Soeharto made it clear that he had no liking for a communist form of government. He was also quick to realise that he needed the brains from the private sector to handle the economy. He appointed the Berkeley ‘mafia’, UC Berkeley trained economists to deal with the major problems of food, water and education to lift the country out of poverty which they did very successfully for thirty years. The country was run as a benign autocracy with a guided parliament which re-elected Soeharto every 4 years, until the Asian Financial Crisis struck and caused him to step down. However, well by then it was aligned with the western powers and was invited to join the G-17, the organisation of the world’s richest economies.

It should be added that the grouping of Southeast Asian nations – region that my colleague prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic calls “the most multilateralised portion of Asia – Asia’s hope” – as the formed an alliance, ASEAN, in August 1967, to establish itself as an independent bloc, headquartered in Jakarta. Currently, there are now 10 countries in the bloc, originally five, with widely differing forms of government.

Come the latter part of the last century, other feuds, some centuries old, reared up to cause some alarm. They were not ostensibly part of the main struggle between rigid rules, centrally controlled communist regimes and the free market western economies, but the one of the Middle East involving several differing elements, on the face of it based on Judaism and its three offset branches, Jewry, Christianity and Islam. On his occasion the struggle had some of its roots in the Balfour declaration of 1917, endorsed in 1926 at a commonwealth conference, and the contrary non-acceptance of Israel after WWII, as a homeland for the Jewish people, by the Palestinians. It has widened out in a determination by a right-wing Islamic fundamentalist group to form a purely Islamic country, a caliphate. It fed off old rivalries and brought differing factions into conflict. It is not settled to this day, and Syria, a land of ancient civilizations, has been torn apart with a refugee crisis that has caused much discomfit in Europe. The politics of the Middle East are very complicated, variations of squabbles centuries old, and possibly unresolvable at this time. They, however, don’t seem to directly affect the main thrust of the proponents of the secular division between the democratic approach and communism to government. Although both the USA and Russia have an involvement, it is not their most important issue, although takes up time.

There are other disruptions in Africa and South America, but not greatly affecting the outcome of the main struggle between left and right. In much of Africa, where colonial power had held sway for many years and where a huge number of slaves had been shipped across the Atlantic to support the American and Caribbean plantations, little had been done to prepare the indigenous peoples to govern themselves. The extractive industries that were put in to take out minerals needed in Europe had systems in place which were devised to ship out the minerals to the controlling country. There was little or no attempt to better the country, in terms of education, infrastructure and skills development, where the extraction had taken place. The result was that the elite of the country, gaining independence, carried on the way things had been before independence and became hugely rich, while the poor just became poorer and poorer. A terrible legacy of colonialism! And certain countries in the north have, in the past few years, been severely affected by fundamental Islamic factions.

In the case of South (Latin) America, we have a mix of countries and the way they are run, significantly influenced by their Spanish or Portuguese legacy. The main problem is the growing and manufacture and the export of drugs and the emigration of people to the USA to get away from poverty. There is no major war ongoing although there have been attempts by some internal factions to take over a specific country for personal gain, which meets with the people’s resistance.

However, China is a large country with a centrally controlled communist regime in charge. In the past 30-40 years, with the passing of Mao Tse Tung and the accession of Deng the strict rigidity of the rules of government were eased and the economy started to grow. As a result, their economy has grown steadily, if not spectacularly at times, albeit from a comparatively low base and is now one of the largest in the world. They are not averse to taking new ideas from the west, sometimes openly but other times by stealth, which is of considerable concern to the west, which have established the norms, rules and rights of business. There was hope in the 1980s that they were changing and welcoming some democratic freedoms, but this altered in 1989 when a student demonstration was brutally quashed at Tienmanman square. The leaders had taken fright, things were getting out of control, and freedoms had to be curtailed and brought back under control. This was also a warning to the western democracies; there was only one way to do business in China and that was the Chinese way.

In 1997, the lease that the UK government held over the territories that encompassed Hong Kong was coming to an end and the territories were due to be handed back. There was some discussion on trying to extend the lease but this was really a non-starter. One of the terms that the British extracted in the departure agreement was that for the first 50 years the conditions which had been set up for the citizens of Hong Kong would be honoured. China agreed to approve the idea of ‘’one country and two systems’’. However, in recent times with Comrade Xi Jaoping feeling that his and the Chinese government’s power is on the increase he could ignore the agreement. There have been unsettling very large demonstrations in Hong Kong as Beijing turns the screw on democratic freedoms, and Hong Kong is brought in line with direct central government policy.

Furthermore, the government is trying to bring the Uighur people, who are of Islamic faith and live in Xinjiang to the west of China, the largest province, into line by brainwashing them. The Uighurs have been treated to genocide, and are also used, not much better than slaves, to pick Xinjiang cotton, which is a significant and high-quality product of this region. This is another worrying example of communist control, as George Orwell highlighted in his book entitled 1984. The UN and the American government have raised the issue strongly, but have been told it is a matter of terrorism!

In the past two decades or so the Chinese have ‘made’ small islands in the South China sea expanding their territorial waters illegally. The ASEAN countries have wakened up to this and showing signs of alarm as China are using these islands as military outposts. In short, they are testing the reaction of the Eastern ASEAN countries, who realistically are not strong enough to resist. The USA are aware of this and watching carefully. It is still China’s government’s aim that Taiwan, R.O.C., comes under Beijing control.

The Chinese government would appear to have a policy to ensure that the country has the ability to widen its borders and, further afield, to secure by whatever means is most suitable the resources that the mother country requires. This would put it in a very strong position among all nations and supersede the work of past dynasties, justifying its central control. A communist Empire.

The other main country which espouses communism as per Leninism is, of course, Russia, which has always vied with the democracies of the west, unlike China which was rather left on its own, distance being a factor, until recent decades. After Kruschev, in the 1980s there was a time for a modicum of ‘honesty’ from the Russian government. They could not keep up with the economy of the USA with which they were attempting to compete. They released their hold on several European countries, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and withdrew their border to a north-south line bordering Belarus and Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia and into the Black Sea. They retained a small piece of territory next to Lithuania which gives them a better outlet to the Baltic Sea and recently they took the Crimea illegally to secure a position in the Black Sea.

A few of the ‘freed’ countries have adjusted themselves in the years that have followed, for instance the peoples of Czechoslovakia decided to split along nationalistic lines into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. One has to draw attention to the former Yugoslavia, formed as a country of the southern Slavs, which was not part of the Soviet hegemony, which separated somewhat bloodily into its discrete parts, with the demise of Tito. This was the strongman who emerged from WWII and kept the disparate parts of Yugoslavia together and prevented the Soviets from adding it to the total taken. The countries that evolved from Yugoslavia were Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo.

The European Union has greatly enlarged since these countries became independent, could exercise their freewill, and confirmed their willingness to join the EU after invitation. The bloc now adds up to 27 member states and the centre of gravity which was firmly in the west, has shifted eastward significantly.

Russia has to deal with a significant, admittedly rather unwieldy, EU, as well as the powerful alliance, NATO, The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was set up at the end of WWII to protect the western democracies with the involvement of the USA from any potential aggression of the USSR. Since the partial rapprochement of Russia in its adjusted format, over the past 3 decades, there is much less pressure on NATO. It doesn’t stop Russia trying to meddle with the former countries of the Soviet on their borders. Belarus has a regime that is close to the Russians, not necessarily the will of the people, and Ukraine, while looking west towards the EU, has had to fend off Russian aggression in recent times in which they lost Crimea. In the complex Middle East situation Russia offers support to parties that are opposed to western supported ones, for example Assad’s Syria. But overall, Vladimir Putin’s Russia does not pose as much of a long-term threat as the apparent threat offered by China. There is, from the people themselves, a wish to open up the country. However, this can be expected to take some time; change will be slow.

To return to the east, ASEAN as a bloc, partly modelled on the EU, is still feeling its way. In recent times, the military coup occurring in Myanmar has taken ASEAN by surprise. Their offer to mediate has been firmly rejected at the ASEAN annual meeting. This was to be expected as the military have been involved in actions against some of the Myanmar people almost continuously since Independence and in recent years the military have exercised utmost savagery against the Rohingya people. The country is of great strategic value to China and hence the Myanmarese can rely on their backing. Its value, apart from Myanmar’s considerable resources, e.g. the Jade mines of Kachin province, a nice earner for the military elite, lies in the fact that Myanmar provides a gateway to the Indian Ocean and thence access to China’s significant resources in Africa, where they have been slowly entrenching themselves for the part of half a century.

Looking ahead

Taking note of President Xi’s recent upbeat speech at the Centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, it is clear that the government of China feels confident that they are now in a strong position to push on with expanding their strategic aims. These will be pushed ahead by fair means or foul, honestly or not, by stealth if need be. If anyone dares to oppose them will get a ‘’bash’’ on the head! It is a warning to the western Allies. ASEAN should be concerned about the South China Sea.

Russia, in the next phase, will want to not upset matters too much and be reasonably content to have matters stay as they are. A significant revenue for them is oil supply to the EU. They have a growing mood in the populace that wants more freedom. This will be difficult to resist.

The Middle East has rumbled on for centuries. A solution does not appear to be likely in the short term although the majority of people just want peace so that they may live with a feeling of security. They cannot reach this position because the leaders feel they have some God-given mission to achieve first. There are pockets relatively peaceful, e.g. The Emirates.

The Liberal democracies of the west have some internal voices of dissent, but at the moment their biggest problem is dealing with a refugee crisis caused by the Syrian mess, and the peoples coming from Africa running away from poverty. These are all heading for Europe. The other area where there is a significant problem is the southern USA where there is an unrelenting movement of peoples coming from Central and South America, trying to escape poverty and/or poor government.

The problem has become larger in the past half century; the population has tripled without our becoming aware. The CO2, not surprisingly, has also increased which has alarmed some scientists, and the two issues may be related, because we breathe out CO2 as well as significantly use up more resources some of which, in turn, generate CO2. We must remember, however, that carbon dioxide is a building block of life; below 150 ppm the world starts dying, both flora and fauna. The world, whatever political persuasion, communist or democratic, has to take notice of the climate issue which is to be highlighted at the COP26 conference in November this year. It is interesting that the leading countries espousing these opposite forms of government, China and USA, are responsible for 36% of the CO2 output of the world, each of them, so far, shy of taking a leadership role. Will we see much progress on this issue if they don’t take a leadership role?

The Future

Science, building on what came before, has achieved almost unbelievable advances in less than a century. One of the foremost of them was finding the properties of the silicon chip, which led to the computer, becoming commercially available from the 1960s and thereafter aiding all aspects of scientific endeavour. Now we are looking at the digital age, and on into quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence. We have broken the barriers of space and there is a veritable limitless opportunity to be explored.

On the other hand, there are many more of us, 8+ billion as against 3-billion in the 1960s and we haven’t yet resolved the problems of poverty, pollution and paucity of some of our key resources, such as water, or why we have an apparent climate crisis. The problems have only become bigger, which means the millennial and subsequent generations who will be brought up with the new sciences from a young age will have plenty to do. What sort of government will they have dictated to them or will they resolve a better system that embraces the better points of each, so long as there is adequate freedom of action?

The world is changing; almost two thirds of its population already live in Asia and there is a shift in the ethnic balance. The United Nations is more important than ever; it has disappointed in not getting involved in a positive and robust way in certain disputes where a form of genocide has taken place, but they are constrained by their remit. Perhaps it requires a change of location from NY to reflect the changing population distribution and a time to review their raison d’etre.

The new generation have inherited a number of problems but, at the same time, they have the skills and tools to deal with them. One can but hope they do use them and with common sense.

About the author:

Dr J Scott Younger, OBE, is a professional civil engineer; he spent 42 years in the Far East undertaking assignments in 10 countries for WB, ADB, UNDP. He published many papers; he was a columnist for Forbes Indonesia and Globe Asia. He served on British & European Chamber boards and was a Vice Chair of Int’l Business Chamber for 17 years. His expertise is infrastructure and sustainable development and he takes an interest in international affairs. He is an International Chancellor of the President University, Indonesia. He is a member of IFIMES Advisory Board. Lived and worked in Burma in 1980s.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect IFIMES official position.

Ljubljana/Glasgow, 21 July 2021

Dr J Scott Younger, President Commissioner of Glendale Partners and member of IFIMES Advisory Board

As you might have heard already Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is looking for eight crewmembers for a mission to the moon.

Maezawa, a controversial entrepreneur, announced in March 2021 that his dearMoon project, which aims to fly the “first civilian mission to the moon,” according to the project website, is now looking for eight crewmembers to fly to and around the moon and back on SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft.

The project was announced in 2018 with the original intent to bring a crew of artists to the moon. In this latest release, Maezawa calls for applicants to make up a crew of eight individuals from around the world for the week-long lunar trip.

In the video announcing this call for civilian astronauts, which features heavy rock music and footage of SpaceX’s Starship lifting off, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk voiced his support for the mission, stating “I think we’ll make a real difference.”

“I’m inviting you to join me on this mission. Eight of you from all around the world,” Maezawa said in the video. “The mission will take place two years from now, in 2023. I want people from all kinds of backgrounds to join.”

Renowned Prague gallerist Miro Smolák, founder of the Trebbia International Award, took the challenge of the Japanese fashion magnate and art collector Yusaku Maezawa and signed up to fly to the Moon. There are already more than a million candidates among applicants from all over the world.

Fingers crossed to Mr. Miro!

SOME FACT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT MR. MIRO

1. I was born in a village where the borders of three countries meet in the forest: Slovakia, Ukraine, and Poland.
2. I am currently a citizen of two states, Germany and Slovakia, and I have a permanent resident in a third state – in the Czech Republic.
3. I studied philosophy in Berlin and documentary film directing in Prague.
4. In 1987, I founded the MIRO Gallery.
5. In 2000, I founded the Trebbia International Award, where awards for creative activity and support of culture and art are being handed over. So far, 105 laureates from 27 countries have received the prize.
6. The Trebbia Award is presented by a bronze statuette depicts a Guardian Angel which was sculpted by the Czech sculptor of Bulgarian origin, Stefan Milkov.
7. I would like to take a miniature version of the Guardian Angel statuette with me on my lunar trip. As a result, the Trebbia Award will be the first interplanetary space award to be held in the field of culture in the coming centuries.
8. I believe in extra-terrestrial cosmic intelligence.
9. I assume I will be the oldest member of the flight crew to the Moon.
10. Therefore I am ready to make any sacrifice for the whole team.

Peace is the absence of war, while war is the absence of peace! A negotiated peace in Afghanistan presents a number of challenges. The duration of the war over several decades has created a number of situations, that requires an in-depth examination in light of the peace negotiations that took place between the United States and the Taliban leading to the signing of an agreement without inputs from the Afghan government in spite of their being a strategic partner of the United States.

The war has been a very costly undertaking both in financial and human terms.

On the human side, there has been a large number of civilian casualties and a flow of both internal refugees and those that have fled to neighbouring countries, Iran, and Pakistan in particular. Will the conditions of peace allow their return and what employment possibilities will they find? In particular will the professionals and corporate managers of the diaspora return?

On the financial side, the income of the Government of Afghanistan is too meagre to finance the rebuilding of the country. Will the United States and other major donors such as the World Bank contribute in a significant way to assist in this momentous effort?

Afghanistan’s geographic position has attracted major powers in the past. How will the country still be viewed as a masterpiece in the Great Game, and will it continue to be subject to constant instability? Corruption may well prove to be one of the most important barriers to development. What policies can be put in place to reduce, or eliminate, corruption? What process will be put in place to disarm both the Taliban and the other armed groups to prevent a civil war?

Why do powerful countries always easily achieve their goals in Afghanistan? The answer is simple, because some leaders are ready to do anything to gain power by asking for the support of these countries. In order to be able to bring political stability to Afghanistan, it is essential and indispensable that the Afghan leaders come to an understanding among themselves in order to have internal stability. As soon as they manage to put this in place, they will have moral authority over powerful countries with a specific, clear, and lasting purpose for Afghanistan. Presently its political leaders are ready to negotiate in an aggressive, competitive, egocentric, and defensive manner to have the power in order to remain in their current positions without worrying about the interests of the country or the people.

Often, we hear that Afghanistan is a strategically positioned country. Of course, Afghanistan is well placed, but our analysis is different: we believe that something else is more important than that situation. Afghanistan is a weaker country in the region with leaders who are only interested in political power, with a lack of global vision for the development of the nation: this is the reason why every powerful country achieves its goals very easily across Afghanistan, according to its wishes. At any time, they may abandon Afghanistan. At the same time, Afghanistan faces major economic and development challenges. Although the country is rich in natural resources, gas, minerals, and oil (estimated at over a trillion dollars), insecurity, war, lack of infrastructure, weak leaders, have limited the possibilities of finding and extracting these resources and Afghanistan is still among the poorest countries in the world.

Each country has its advantages and disadvantages, but Afghanistan has two major drawbacks that need to be addressed:

1) Very weak leaders or leaders by accident, who think only of their personal interests and who settle in power for life.

2) As mentioned above, Afghanistan is the weakest country in the region.

Every leader, when he comes to power, forgets his real job, which is to create enduring systems and values for today, tomorrow and the day after, and at least reduce existing problems and use their power to serve the people and the country, instead of monopolizing this power for personal interests.

On the contrary, unfortunately, when a leader comes to power, he increases the problem because he thinks traditionally, and above all he puts his relatives in the most important positions, without looking at their qualifications, because competence is less important than relational confidence.

Although there are very qualified people, but since they do not belong to the ethnicity of the political leaders, and share their point of view, thinking more for the country than their private interests, such kind of people have very little place in the mind of these leaders.

Today, politics in Afghanistan is becoming like a business, and everyone is doing politics … However, the real job is still abandoned, because the vast majority of the People no longer trust the Politicians, and even the real ones, those Politicians who want to change something for their country.

Before having to manage peace, they must understand why we are at war. The war in Afghanistan has five dimensions:

1. A leadership crisis, meaning that the Afghan leaders do not agree with each other and look at power sharing.
2. Certain countries of the region, and more particularly Pakistan, are very involved in Afghanistan, which they destabilise.
3. Major powers, too, have their own agendas on the region.
4. Certain countries support terrorism and extremist groups.
5. The negotiation process must be led not by politicians, but by neutral Afghan experts.

Therefore, we make the following recommendations:

1. Encourage the leaders to have a government in which no single ethnic group monopolizes power. There should be one president and four vice-presidents. Each two years a rotation of the president would be put in place. The entire mandate would be limited to ten years. This would allow power sharing that would prevent having one ethnic group monopolising power through a rotation system of two years as President.

This proposal would definitely solve the power problem while also allowing for government savings of time and money.

2. The United States should intervene in Pakistan to force a peace process between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has been a major destabiliser in the region by harbouring terrorists and using them as their second army as indicated by several international sources. Should this problem not be solved, it would become, sooner or later, a global threat for democracy and humanity. It would not be a good inheritance for the future world leaders.

President Joe Biden mentioned that the United States would again lead the world. We strongly believe that the above issue should be a priority, failing what, it may be too late to bring peace to the region and worldwide. The United States should avoid countries that back terrorism and, particularly, those actions that kill children and humanitarian workers.

3. As a major power, the presence of the United States in Afghanistan could develop a strong relationship, instead of a partnership, just as the United States has done in other countries, providing its presence in the area is of interest. This would be a break from the present situation in which the Afghan population lacks a clear understanding of its position. Should the United States develop a mutually beneficial relationship, the Afghan population would strongly support it. A complete departure before peace puts in danger democracy, women, and children not only in Afghanistan but also worldwide.

4. The United States, as a powerful country, should sanction all countries, or groups and persons, that support terrorism. As an example, economic sanctions banning the purchase of military material should be implemented. Doing so in Pakistan would be a good starting point.

5. The negotiation process cannot be done by people that are thirsty for power and have no vested interest in peace as they hold power. We would suggest that the negotiation process be led by neutral experts with politicians and the civil society backing-up them.

We are certain, if the United States takes into consideration the five points mentioned above, the peace process will be successful and lead to stability in the area. If there is no peace in Afghanistan, there will be a major threat in the area in the region and in the world. Afghanistan is the first line of defence against terrorism not only for themselves, but also for the entire world.

About the Author

Prof. Dr. Djawed Sangdel, professor of Leadership and Entrepreneurship
President of Swiss UMEF UNIVERSITY – GENEVE
July 19, 2021

A new railway station in Brno has already been one of the city’s priorities for a long time. Now, the architectural plans for the building have been selected and their visualisations were shared. The company selected for the job is Benthem Crouwel Architects, a company with plenty of experience with such large projects. They have designed the railway station in Rotterdam and worked on the reconstruction of the railway station in Amsterdam. The company claims that the new building will bring a positive impulse for the growing city and become its welcoming gateway. The city’s mayor, Markéta Vaňková (ODS), has declared that this building will become a milestone in the future development of the city. “It is the first step towards the beginning of the growth of a neglected district of the city. There will be new buildings, flats and parks for recreation.” she said. Other city officials have also shared their positive feelings about the future of the project. Now they have to obtain the last few pieces of privately owned land and begin construction, which is now set to be finished between 2032 and 2035 and cost around 45 billion crowns making it the most expensive station in Czech Republic.

Source

The Czech Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Jana Maláčová has personally visited a factory near Teplice. She also invited Matěj Stopnický, a member of a government coalition party to tag along during the visit. This visit took place as a part of the new Fair Work government initiative, which will mean a spree of surprise government inspections for employers around the country. According to Maláčová’s twitter account, some companies have started treating their employees as if the law did not exist after the second wave of the pandemic. The wave of inspections is supposed to remind business owners that the law still exists. However, some suggest that this visit along with the whole initiative is just an pre-election marketing stunt. Many have pointed out that inspectors already made sure that the rights of the workers are not infringed, without a ‘special’ initiative. Furthermore, the whole event has been heavily marketed in the media unlike other inspections. The fact that Matěj Stropnický, a seemingly unrelated politician, was invited also raised some eyebrows. Member of the European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský called the event ”The most disgusting way to lead an election campaign.” It seems that as the elections approach, tensions will only get higher.

Source

The EU is trying to make Europe the first ‘carbon neutral continent’ since the industrial revolution. It is way ahead of the competition with the regulations already in place. USA, China and other world’s economies are apparently way behind us. Furthermore, a new package of restrictions has been drawn up, offering extra changes in an attempt to save the planet from the further strengthening of the effects of greenhouse gases . According to these plans there should be carbon tolls on imported goods manufactured in an unsustainable way, penalties for sea and road transport as a part of the emission allowance system, and a full ban on the sale of cars powered by internal combustion engines by 2035. While all these changes seem positive, they will undoubtedly have an impact on the prices of consumer goods within the European Union, including the Czech Republic. “We’re also going to ask a lot of our industries, but we do it for a good cause.” said EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans. Despite the noble intentions, EU’s poorer countries as well as the automobile industry are expected to fight the adoption of this new restriction package. The package is originally designed to go into effect in 2026, but the discussions with the aforementioned sides of the debate might significantly postpone its debut.

Source

Increasing House Prices and Rents in the EU. Credit: Eurostat.

According to Eurostat, house prices in the Czech Republic have risen over 70% between 2010 and 2021 – the seventh highest increase in the EU. Rents have also risen significantly, approximately 30% over the last decade, the tenth highest rise in the EU. Photo Credit: KK / BD

Czech Rep., Jul 9 (BD) – Rents and house prices in the EU are continuing to rise, increasing by 0.4% and 2.2% respectively in the first quarter of 2021, compared to Q4 of 2020. This continues a long-term trend; according to Eurostat, between 2010 and 2021, rental costs in the EU have increased by 15.3%, while house prices have increased by 30.9%.

Among the 27 EU member states, Estonia has seen the most dramatic increase in accommodation costs, with a 140% increase in rents and 128% increase in house prices. Luxembourg saw the second highest growth in house prices (98%), but only negligible growth of 12% in rents between 2010 and 2021.

The Czech Republic reported the seventh-highest increase in house prices, of almost 70%, and an increase in rents of almost 30% over the decade since 2010.

On the other hand, Greece and Cyprus witnessed a drop in both rents and house prices over the same period; house prices and rents in Greece fell by 28.1% and 25.2%, respectively, by far the biggest drop in accommodation costs among EU member states.

Read more.

Author: Shyam Makwana

Are you one of those people who simply love to shop and can’t save any money because of their shopping habits? If your answer is ‘yes’, welcome to the club – you aren’t the only one here! A lot of people want to change their bad shopping habits once for good, so keep on reading if you want to learn how to make it happen, too. Here are five useful tips on how to do it with success, so check them out and enjoy!

First of all, make sure to set long-term goals

If you want to ditch bad shopping habits and stop spending too much money on unnecessary stuff, the first thing you should do is to set long-term goals. And what does it mean? Well, it means that you should pick one or two big goals and start saving money to accomplish them. It could be a vacation on an exotic destination, establishing an emergency fund, or just simply getting out of debt. No matter how tempted you are, make sure to stay persistent and stop blowing your money on non-essential things. Instead, take that money and put it towards your goal. You’ll see an incredible improvement shortly!

Distinguish between what you need and what you want

Truth be told, many people can’t distinguish between their needs and wants. We reckon that everyone has found themselves in this situation at least once in their life. So, you’re wandering around the shopping mall and you find the most perfect pair of shoes you’ve ever seen? Of course that you want to buy them immediately! But the real question is – do you really need them? Probably not. So, to prevent yourself from overspending, ask yourself this question every time you’re contemplating a purchase. If you need those shoes and they fit within your budget, just go ahead and buy them. If not, better save your money and use it to accomplish your long-term goal instead!

Find a shopping buddy

Finding a shopping buddy is another useful trick you can rely on when you want to change your bad habits. Obviously, you want to find someone who can talk you down – not a person who inspires you to shop and spend even more money. This is particularly important if you have a hard time saying no to your shopping impulses. However, finding a shopping buddy can help you save money in other ways, too. For example, if you’re shopping online on websites such as Shoppster, you can always join your forces and place an order together. Some websites offer reduced shipping costs on larger orders, so bear that in mind and take advantage of this benefit. It’s a great way to buy exactly what you need and save money at the same time!

Start tracking your spending habits

When you aren’t keeping track of how much you’re spending, it’s very easy to spend all of your money in the blink of an eye. Well, this is why you must break this bad habit as soon as possible. So, take a pen and a piece of paper and start writing down how much money you spend on what every month. If this approach is too old-school for you, download a money-saving app instead and start tracking your spending habits. It’s the only way to succeed!

Stop making impulse purchases

We all know that impulse purchases are bad for our bank accounts. There is nothing good about them – you’ll spend money on products you don’t even need, which is the last thing you want when you strive to save money. Millions of people tend to impulse-buy stuff such as clothing items, shoes, accessories, foods, and sweets. However, during the pandemic that hit last year, people impulse-bought toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies. If you tend to impulse-buy such products, make sure to think before you grab the last roll of toilet paper. Do you really need it, or maybe not? Don’t forget that and you’ll do a great job!

As you can tell, there are so many amazing tips on how to change your bad shopping habits once for good. These five unquestionably are one of them, so stick to them and you’ll make it happen. Just follow our guidelines and you’ll become a more mindful shopper, without a doubt!

By Peter Minkoff

Peter is a lifestyle and travel writer at Men-Ual magazine, living between Ústí nad Labem and Antwerp. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.

The inspiration you need to start planning an epic return to international travel.

Looking ahead to 2022, one thing seems clear: It is the year of the bucket-list vacation. After a year and a half of canceled plans, topped with a hefty dose of emotional recovery, we are unleashing our wildest, most over-the-top travel dreams on the year 2022.

Even in the throes of a pandemic, the hospitality industry never stopped creating, and as a result, there is so much opportunity to see something new in your dream destination. Whether you’re called to the crystal clear waters lining Sardinia or the revelatory Kyoto culinary scene, we invite you to plan your 2022 travel with these nine bucket-list trips.

Napa Valley, California

Napa is simultaneously a once-in-a-lifetime trip and a destination you’ll want to return to every year. After struggling through the pandemic and a heartbreaking string of wildfires, Napa has rebuilt — and its resilience is on full display at the hotels, restaurants, and wineries in the area. Start your over-the-top Napa vacation at Solage, Auberge Resorts Collection in Calistoga, California. Calistoga is known for an eclectic mix of off-the-beaten-path wineries and Michelin-starred restaurants. Solage, Auberge Resorts Collection just went through an elaborate renovation, and the dog-friendly property now has new multi-room suites; a brand-new restaurant, Picobar, from its impressive culinary team; and a stunning, reimagined pool area. On your 2022 trip to Calistoga, you’ll also find the highly anticipated Four Seasons Napa Valley — the brand’s first foray in Northern California wine country — where you can un(wine)d and dine in the lap of luxury.

Read the rest here.

According to Eurostat, 57 percent of people aged 16-74 in the EU used social networks in 2020. In the Czech Republic, the figure was slightly above average at 59 percent. Social media use in the EU has risen significantly from 36 percent in 2011, when the data began being collected. Photo Credit: Freepik / Illustrative Photo.

Czech Rep., July 6 (BD) – New data from Eurostat indicates a continuing rise in the use of social networks by EU citizens. According to the survey, 59 percent of people in the Czech Republic aged 16-74 used social networks in 2020. EU-wide, social media participation was 57 percent in 2020, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Social networks participation in the EU has significantly increased from 36 percent in 2011, when comparable data began being collected.

The level of internet access in Czech households has also risen substantially, from 54 percent in 2009 to 88 percent in 2020. The EU average rose from 63 percent in 2009 to 88 percent in 2020.

Source

Author: Shyam Makwana

Photo: (left) Dr. Dritan Abazović and Dr. Zijad Bećirović

Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro Dr. Dritan Abazović received the director of the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) Assist. Prof. Dr. Zijad Bećirović.

Director of the Institute Dr. Bećirović presented to Dr. Abazović the work of the Institute in the Balkan region and the Middle East, with special emphasis on Montenegro and the promotion of bilateral and regional cooperation. In the forefront were projects related to the process of Montenegro’s accession to the EU. In the next period, the IFIMES International Institute intends to publish a special issue of the international scientific journal European Perspectives, which will be dedicated to the process of Montenegro’s accession to the EU.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro presented the priorities of Montenegro on its path to the EU, the fight against crime and corruption, the rule of law, the importance of economic development of Montenegro and current events in this country. He emphasized the importance of the country’s faster progress on the path to the EU.

At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Abazović and director Dr. Bećirović agreed that regional security, stability and peace, as well as the accelerated resolution of open issues, are very important.

Director of IFIMES dr. Bećirović invited the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro to give a lecture at the Institute soon, which Dr. Abazović gladly accepted.

The official selection of the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), which takes place from August 20th through the 28th, features 32 premieres. The films will make their bow in the fest’s two competitions and Special Screenings section. Karlovy Vary will also celebrate the work of The Film Foundation via an extensive tribute.

In 2019, the festival adjusted the structure of its official selection by axing the documentary competition. The 2021 edition will formally see the updated version of the fest come into reality after the cancellation of last year’s edition. Feature-length documentaries are now, for the first time, incorporated into the two existing competitions – the Crystal Globe Competition and East of the West Competition – both previously restricted to fiction features only.

Exclusive premieres and sneak previews of foreign and Czech films will continue to be presented in the Special Screenings section. The programming team has chosen eight diverse titles to spotlight. Heading the Special Screenings selection is the festival’s opening film, “Zátopek,” David Ondříček’s highly anticipated drama about four-time Olympic gold medalist, the runner Emil Zátopek, who is widely regarded as the most popular athlete in Czech Republic’s history. The film will premiere on August 20th, 2021 in the Hotel Thermal Grand Hall on the opening night gala.

See the rest here.

Abstract

Objective. A study of the latest practices (forms, methods, tools, and technologies) of information operations, specificities of their hybridization, as well as the newest forms and methods of counteroperation.

Procedures and Methods. The increasing militarization of the information space leads to changes in the views toward forceful methods of changing the geopolitical balance. This, in turn, results in genuine technological revolution in waging infowars, hybrid wars, and trade wars. A study of this kind of complex and elaborate schemes requires the application of a methodology of system analysis of identification and algorithmization of all the ‘chains’ of indoctrination in the new type of information operations.

Results. This article provides a detailed description of the main forms, schemes, elements of modern-day information operations dating back to Panama Papers 2016; using the examples of New York Times publications (24.05.2019) and Wall Street Journal publications (3.06.2019) we demonstrate the types of information fake news stories and what they are intended for; using the examples of specific information operations (2020 Prague Incident with ricin, 2020 Susan Rice on the Russian guidelines for plotting coup d’états, the Skripals Poisoning Case (2018-2020, Venezuelan Precedent and Operation Gideon 2019-2020) we reveal how specifically fake news stories are used in modern-day tactical (operational wargames) and strategic operations of information wars; the strategic directions and key strategies for waging information wars against Russia are identified. Using the examples of the Russian practice of conducting information counteroperations (the Cabello Case 2019, Skripal Readings 2019, Searching for the Russian Mole in CIA 2019 (operational wargame with R.C. O’Brien, etc.) the latest forms and methods of setting up baffling of information operations conducted by foreign states and operational warfare of foreign intelligence services are revealed.

Theoretical and Practical Relevance. Information about the latest forms and methods of plotting and waging information operations may be used by government agencies responsible for setting up systemic interdiction of information aggression of foreign states, and it may also be useful to political scientists, and experts engaged in countering destructive political technologies.

Keywords: international relations, politics, information warfare, hybrid war, information operation, operative combination, Russia, USA, national security. 

The structure: 

• Introduction
• Technological Revolution in Information Wars: Information Operations of New-Type Information Operations
• Hybridization of violent conflicts
• Hybridization of Coups d’état (color revolutions)
• The latest practice of information operations
• Fake news and ‘hooks’
• Operational wargames
• Strategic operations
• The Skripals case (2018-2020)
• Venezuela Precedent
• Venezuela Precedent (Continued): Belarus Spring as a point of assemblage of the latest practices for setting up new-type color revolutions
• ‘Swarm’ tactics
• Protest coordination and management system
• Forceful suppression
• Anti-campaign
• Malicious takeover
• Tsikhanouskaya playing Guaido 2.0
• The Use of Resources of International Organizations: Operative Combination in the United Nations
• ‘Belarus Spring’ as a consequence of Wagner operation failure
• Strategic directions
• Key strategies of information warfare against Russia
• Forms and methods of countering information warfare operations
• Potential future cases and methods
• Discussions (in lieu of conclusion)

Introduction

Modern-day information wars and color revolutions in the period fast and furious hybridization: They become more complex and co-opt both the ‘best practices’ of other types of protest thereby adapting to various forms and conditions of conducting military operations. This is best illustrated using the example of modern-day color revolutions: the emergence in Venezuela in 2019 of the new technology for plotting coup d’états (the so-called ‘Venezuela precedent’) which combines the organization of large-scale protests (Maidan scenario) ‘at the bottom’ and active psychological ‘indoctrination’ of the close circle of a country’s leader ‘at the top,’ has for years ahead determined the direction of evolution of all ‘color’ technologies; during the large-scale protests in Belarus in 2000 that were also engineered using the ‘Maidan’ scenario they were augmented by the communications technologies and coordination of protest groups (initially developed for Venezuela only) that emerged during the ‘color revolution’ in Hong Kong (2019-2020); the technology of conflict mobilization around a non-political agenda which was initially tested during the ‘electro Maidan’ in Armenia in 2015, as well as the technology of organization of protesting masses into a ‘swarm’ (something like a bee swarm featuring higher mobility than a merely aggressive mob), certain elements of which were for the first time tested during Moscow protests (before and after the Moscow City Duma elections in 2019) and in Khabarovsk (2020). Under the same conditions information wars finally cease to be ‘mere aggressive information campaigns’ and they evolve into operative combinations, at the forefront of which are operative and secret service- and officer work coupled with the application of new methods of controlling the minds and behavior of ordinary people.

The emergency of these new and hybrid in nature, forms and methods of nonconventional warfare calls for the development of new approaches to countering these threats – and these counteroperations must be as complex and hybrid as the offensive methods and technologies.
Technological Revolution in Information Wars: Information Operations of New-Type Information Operations

Information wars in modern-day world have become commonplace in today’s reality. An information war now is a special type of armed conflict where the sides clash in the form of information operations with the application of information weaponry. The main objective of information wars is to divide and polarize society, tear it into small pieces and fragments, and make these fragments sincerely hate each other in order to have them collide with each other thereby initiating a fight for destruction or combine their aggression into a uniform stream and direct it against the ruling government. At the same time, the purpose of information wars is to dishearten the adversary and mitigate their will to resist and to bring the adversary into their will and control. High efficiency of information operations and perplexity, which is a typical reaction of most countries to information war actions, makes information wars one of the key elements of modern-day hybrid armed conflicted.

This, however, has not always been the case. As recently as 5 to 7 years ago everyone seemed to be wary of the application of information, psychological, and cyber methods of influence: They were far from perfect, they failed to yield guaranteed results, they were fraught with high risks of disclosure of identification data of the perpetrators themselves, for the most part, in combination with more reliable, powerful, and seamless methods of direct military aggression.

Information operations and attacks, which are commonplace today, five to six years ago were almost exclusively the resort of clandestine services and were elements of the operative wargames that intelligence services had played in the manner of chess games and poker games; contextuality of drafting scripts of operational wargames and the strictly tactical objectives sought by them caused by the desire to ‘pick on’ the adversary or trip them up did not allow for the possibility for such information operations to enter the ‘maneuver room.’ In this context the very term ‘information war’ for decades has not been taken seriously: It has been considered a smart find of news reporters who had been using the term to increase their print circulations; It seems that only the U.S. military took information operations seriously from the very start, back in 1988 they introduced the term “psychological operation” in the Field Manual of the U.S. Army (FM 33.1-1).

The very information operations in the same period (preceding the technological ‘revolution’ of 2014) begin to evolve as an independent activity, however, planning for them is still predominantly ‘handicraft’ i.e. each operation is custom developed and unique in nature; the same unique (tailored to specificity of a particular operational situation) organizational scheme which is not like previous ones; it is a masterwork of operational craft and it does not guarantee end result. In this plan direct military force methods would look more reliable and, if the situation permits, more preferable ones.

However, back in 2014 the situation changed overnight: The Crimea which was looking at the unfolding coup d’état in Kiev in terror made a clever move and voluntarily acceded to the Russian Federation. For the West and certain part of the East this decision of the people of the Crimea became a real shock: It looks like neither the United States that have been buying up kindergartens and high schools to enable comfortable stay of the American servicemen that planned to cover the Crimea with a network of US military bases, nor Turkey which was counting on the same conditions for its military and which planned in the foreseeable future (on the back of demise of the Ukrainian territory) to take the Crimea altogether, expected anything of the sort. The possibility of directly military interference in the form of, let’s say, debarkment of assault forces was there but it was lost due to perplexity of American generals bordering with panic: When they came to their senses and regained their ability to adequately assess the situation the Crimea was ‘already ours’ and the time had been helplessly lost. The US was left with only one instrument for their aggressive response: an information operation.

The situation with unexpected ‘escape’ of the Crimea from Ukraine and its joining the Russian Federation prompted the US spy services to act without delay and on the go, just-in-time, and without contemplation because indeed they had no time for ramping up, as the Russian President V.V. Putin[2] rightly noted. In these light previous approaches to waging information wars that featured high selectivity, were no longer tolerable: In 2014 the USA was in dire need of large-scale information operations which ensued one another as if they had been mass produced (just like Ford cars). This, in turn, resulted in the USA in transformation of planning processes and ‘industrialization’ of information operations and this became a kind of an ‘industrial revolution’ for information wars. The industrial approach, in turn, lead to unification and standardization of organizational- and technological schemes of information operations, which finally were narrowed down to the only versatile baseline scheme that the American secret services – allegedly- developed by the summer of 2015. This scheme had its combat debut in the infamous scandal called Panama Papers (2016): In fact, the standard Anglo-Saxon scheme of information operations which was an iteration-based consequence of fake news and technological pauses (‘silence periods’) exists in its clear, pristine, and totally unmasked form; it can be easily spotted by a layman, with the naked eye. Thanks to this scheme the Panama scandal, as we all know, enjoyed thumping success; since then information operations by US intelligence service have become a replica of Panama Papers as they are performed using the same, replicated template.

New technological solutions developed by the United States for waging information wars made it possible not only to increase frequency of the operations (i.e. put them into production line) but also allowed to test various scenarios and plots on this platform, which made modern-day information operations look like televised detective stories or soap operas. As an example, in ‘the Skripals poisoning case’ (a joint operation by British and American secret services which is ongoing) two scenarios were tried in 2018 alone – ‘game with step-up bidding’ and ‘bait fishing’ (where bait is already hung up); in the scandal with the so-called Argentinian cocaine – ‘dry lure fishing’ where cocaine arrested by Argentinian security police was the dry lure; the Maria Butina case – bait fishing’ where the figurante in the case was the bait, she was arrested and charged with creating the Russian espionage network in the United States; the story of interception in Ghent in 2018 of a major cocaine lot marked with signage which resembled that of United Russia – ‘label sticking,’ the ‘Interpol elections’ (November 2018) which resulted in the obstruction of election of the Russian candidate A. Prokopchuk – a ‘covert threat’ scenario (just like in Star Wars), etc. Thanks to such scenarios information operations have evolved as sophisticated multi-move psychological games.
Hybridization of Violent Conflicts

In turn a technological ‘revolution’ in the sphere of information wars that took place in 2014-15 indeed spurred the process of unification (or more precisely ‘assemblage’) of various nonmilitary types of forceful suppression of an adversary under the ‘umbrella’ brand. The term ‘hybrid wars’ has become this ‘umbrella’ brand. It was first coined F. Hoffman back in 2007[16], but all this time it has been passively waiting for the limelight in the shadows of the discussion about the nature of modern-day warfare [4]. It has now been taken ‘out of naphthalene’ and given a new doctrinal meaning: It is no longer something exotic – this is a full-fledged military strategy that provides for concurrent combination of various types of unconventional armed struggle – information, diplomatic, economic (‘trade’) wars, diversion- and subversive activities (such as modern-day color revolutions) which oftentimes feature the application of methods which are typical for transnational organized crime groups, network terrorist groups of generation III (such as al-Qaida) and IV (such as ISIS[3]), drug cartels, etc. In these wars conventional combat operations by military forces have not lost their meaning and significance [2] but they are less and less used (as compared with ‘trade wars’ for example) and they have become more selective and are now mainly used for public ‘punishment’ and humiliation of the defeated enemy that already lost his will to resist; first they ‘break’ the adversary with the help of an information, trade, diplomatic war, guerilla (insurgent), diversion- and terrorist operations (including the so-called state-sponsored terrorist[4] campaigns) and then they publicly ‘bring them down’ with the help of a direct armed intervention.

The emergence and rampant development of new forms and methods of armed struggle of nonmilitary type (hybrid, information, trade wars, new forms of insurgent wars, etc.) resulted in a substantial change in the qualitative change in the composition of its stakeholders. As a result, instead of regular armies at the forefront are now:

– Criminal, mafia-type paramilitary forces of transnational organized crime structures, among which drug cartels play a vital role;

– Armed formations of international terrorist organizations and groups;

– Extremist illegal militant groups that existed under the roof (patronage) of special services of various countries (the so-called proxy organizations);

– Titushky (Ukrainian – “thugs”) – irregular semi-criminal groups tacitly supported and funded by official authorities (with the help of which the authorities suppress protests in the country, i.e. they indirectly apply the methods of terror against those in disagreement with the authorities, such as ‘collectivos’ in Venezuela, ‘titushky’ in Ukraine, ‘proxy’ in Syria and Libya, etc.);

– Contract fighters;

– Tribal levies headed by tribal sheikhs that are typical for regions with existing congeneric practice and tribal societal system.

It is these unconventional actors that are ideal for waging new-type hybrid wars – special, mobile, diversion-terrorist, quasi-insurgent wars, three quarters of which are clandestine operations and operational combinations run by intelligence services (including secret services of drug gangs, transnational organized crime groups, etc.), in which conventional armies turn out to be too sluggish and therefore powerless. In terms of quality and structural complexity of the new actors there is marked regress and return to archaicism: once again significant role in armed military conflicts is played by all sorts of congeneric militia headed by tribal sheikhs and military leaders elected from among tribal elite; organized into terrorist organizations a-la ISIS[5] following the criminal principle of drug cartels and cemented by primitive medieval ideology (developed for illiterate Bedouins).

A transient position in the range of unconventional actors belongs to private military companies (paramilitary companies or PMC) that have evolved into something in the middle of criminal groups and regular armed forces. Intention of certain PMC to keep their army or police structure (i.e. to build out their activity using the regular army principle) enables them to get legalized and to take advantage (partially) of regular forms of warfighting. However, having become regular PMC structures lost their mobility which is typical for armed units of drug cartels or terrorist groups.

As new types of unconventional actors entered the sphere of waging modern-day wars the very character of combat activity changed: Wars are not network-type wars [22], or network-centric, typical for intelligence and sabotage, vindicatory, terrorist, insurgent/guerilla, and counter-guerilla activity. At the same time, many military experts grew to call this type of wars sixth generation wars (the very same wars, the emergence of which V. Slipchenko described back in 2002 [12]) and they began to relate the development of new forms and methods of waging armed struggle with the development of warcraft [18] which are especially efficient under the conditions of ‘global uncertainty’ and commonplace imbalance of the international relations system [14]. While we generally agree that the development of military craft may result in the transition to network-type wars [21] with inevitable archaization [13], we still would like to note that the network nature of modern-day hybrid wars has to do less with the advantages of its strategy and tactics, and more to do with the fundamental inability to build an efficient and versatile system of operational control of all types of unconventional actors engaged in a hybrid war on your side: In this war featuring armed drug cartels or other transnational organized crime groups one has to apply one method, while with tribal levies – another one, and with Titushky – yet another one, etc. End of the day it turns out that all these forces and means may be simultaneously deployed only in a war based on the network principle.

However, this diversity and non-unitability (fundamental inability to bring it to a common denominator) of actors carries with it certain advantages which enable them to wage wars based on the ‘project’ principle. For instance, if one requires to conduct a combat operation in a certain region, where drug cartels or insurgents prevail, then the resources for such an operation may be taken right on the site, just like your construction kit: For instance, one can use military force of radical insurgent movements or PMC groups (army or police special forces), supply systems and communications can be provided by drug gangs, ‘proxies’ of terrorist groups can help with diversionists, intelligence can be arranged by transborder organized crime structures, cocaine or synthetic drugs will help provide funding as they can always be exchanged for weapons or fighters, while sheikhs will represent the ‘people’ and ‘democracy.’ And all these components are already in place and present in the region in ‘disassembled mode,’ all there is left to do is to assemble them following certain configuration and with specific tasks in mind.

Hybridization of Coups d’états (Color Revolutions)

Hybridization which elevated information wars to a new level of evolution affected other types of unconventional wars forcing them to also actively hybridize and adapt to the spirit of the times. At the same time, a new tool was developed as part of information operations – fake news, a combination of which with viral technologies of dissemination (using the mechanism of ‘emotional contagion’ for fast transmission of fake news from one person to another) made them the ‘absolute weapon’ with nowhere to hide [7][6]; while in the area of plotting coups d’état (where color revolution technologies have played the premier violin for almost 20 years), on the contrary, there appears to be a rollback to older schemes of ‘palace coups’ and riots where a head of state is ousted once there is an arrangement in place with his/her inner circle, while large-scale protests and riots organized as per the canons of color revolutions unfold only to distract attention of the ruling authorities (to the ‘worthless element’). Apparently color revolutions are no longer in fashion having defined a decline of G. Sharp’s ideas: in 2019 in Bolivia and Venezuela these technologies already had no independent significance. In a certain sense 2020 Belarus Spring was the exception for this rule (the color revolution in Belarus) where the clearly visible and identifiable ‘color’ technologies of a coup d’état were subject to hybridization, having become an ‘assemblage point’ for the ‘best practices’ in plotting color revolutions in the post-Soviet space: For instance, the general layout for plotting a color revolution in Belarus is clearly a copy of the Kiev Maidan 2013-14 (but without the very Maidan – a permanent camp); the technology of communications and coordination of protest groups was borrowed from Hong Kong in 2019-2020; the technologies of conflict mobilization around a non-political agenda were borrowed from Yerevan ‘electro Maidan’ of 2015; the general scheme of a coup d’état, however, remains a true copy of the Venezuela precedent – the technology of plotting a coup d’état in Venezuela in 2019. The thing is there is little genuine ‘Belarus’ and ‘Minsk’ in the protests: With its authentic symbolism, actual lack of Maidan (which could be blocked, suppressed, and dispersed) – it is now mobile, like a gypsy camp, and it moves along with the protesting mob; and… an intense use of the new tool for protest communications – Telegram channels.

Yet this exception only proves the rule: The scheme for the Belarus coup d’état is exact copy (or more precisely it copy cats) the technology of the so-called Venezuela precedent – the attempt to plot a coup d’état in Venezuela in 2019. In this regard, the Belarus coup d’état is not exactly a color revolution and more exactly it is not ‘color’ at all – this was a top-down, ‘palace’ coup d’état, as a result of which the country’s leader was to be deposed by his closest allies and friends after prior discussions with the regime change organizers – the United States, while the ‘color’ revolution in Belarus was arranged only for a show (to shift attention of Alexandr Lukashenko and Moscow to the ‘worthless object’). Alexandr Lukashenko tries to challenge this, which nearly toppled the regime of N. Maduro in 2019, with ambivalence, ‘standup’ and the practice of improvisation, while Russia challenges the same with its ‘diplomacy of regrets.’

The latest practice of information operations

The main source of information about the strategy, tactics, forms, and methods of waging information wars is information operations conducted by the US special services: For example, the Anglo-Saxon operation in Salisbury (better known as the Skripals poisoning case of 2018), Argentine cocaine case of November 2018), the Interpol chief elections in 2018 which resulted in the defeat of the Russian candidate (A. Prokopchuk) and, of course, classics of the genre – the Panama Papers (2016). It is them that show how exactly one should plan, organize, and conduct information operations so that they reliably hit their targets without a single chance for survival. Contemporary information war operations are no unique creations; they are a meticulously calculated, codified, and formalized technology that pretty much does not misfire.

It is rather difficult to counter this technology, especially when the opposing side has not reached the technological level and is still struggling to counter information attacks it receives from all over the place – ‘smart improvisation attacks’ or ‘threatening silence’ (i.e. at the mediocre level): Strategically this tactics leads to failure.

The contemporary practice of information operations of 2020 includes the notable Prague case (an alleged attempt to transport the extremely dangerous poison ricin across the border by a ‘person with Russian diplomatic passport’ – obviously with the purpose of poisoning someone) and Susan Rice’s statement about the use of the Russian special ‘guidebook’ (to plot coups d’état) in order to destabilize political situation in the United States (according to Susan Rice she has personally seen and read it) and, of course, a weird story of Navalny poisoning which is a verbatim copy of the Skripals case. These are operations by the US special services and their allies featuring a substantial information and psychological component.

Some of the most prominent of them are hybrid-type information operations conducted in close cooperation with combat technologies of other classes and types, such as:

– The ‘anti-drug and terrorist operation’ of the United States against Venezuela which was launched on March 26, 2020 adds the scenario of information operation (in the course of which the bounty announced for Maduro and 14 of his closest allies and friends was $10 million – $15 million) using power methods: A threat of maritime blockage, a threat of abduction and arrest and, finally, a threat of military intervention a-la Panama intervention in 1989 (Gideon Operation in this sense is some sort of a rehearsal);

– CIA seizure operation (in collaboration with KGB of Belarus) of 33 Russian citizens who were flying through to one of the Middle Eastern countries (the US suspected they were employees of Wagner’s PMC) and the attempt to transport them to Ukraine (so FBI counterintelligence investigators could question them without hindrance) emphasizes active events undertaken by secret services by creating based on this operative combination a large-scale information campaign and strategic perspective and depth (including conditions for the execution of the schemes and tactics of choice used by the American information operation specialists – ‘drive hunting,’ manhunt, and blackmailing).

Fake News and ‘Hooks’

Information operation is an operative combination using OTN (open telecom networks). Structurally it consists of a sequence of fake news stories (dumps) divided into periods of exposition (silence). In turn, fake news is a specially prepared information piece that provokes the object of information influence to perform certain immediate counteractions (as a reaction to the external stimulus).

A typical example of fake news story is the article published on May 24, 2019 in The New York Times (Fig. 1). The article suggested that a ‘CIA agent and source was working in the close circle of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’; namely that person provided the US with information about the 2016 presidential election meddling and about ‘the Russian President’s personal interest’ in this case[7]. And now this highly precious asset of CIA’s operative department could be exposed ‘due to the struggle between them and the US President Donald Trump.” The sources of such information, according to the authors of that article, were CIA former and current employees who provided this information under the terms of nondisclosure of their names (on condition of anonymity).

The fake news was beautiful in that it simultaneously hit two political figures: Donald Trumpу (who was US President at that time) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump in fact had a real threat of being accused of treason felony: Because of his express desire to find and expose the source of information about the Russian interference with the elections (and more precisely about his ties to Kremlin) the extremely important agent could be exposed (and murdered). Having done that Donald Trump would never be able to prove he did this favor to the Russian secret services out of his sincere and honest desire to get to the bottom of it (and not at Moscow’s instruction). On the contrary one would say that out of his personal vendetta and desire to settle accounts with his offenders from intelligence community he had intentionally disregarded the issues of national security of the United States. And the same thing would happen to him as it did to Hillary Clinton accused in 2016 by FBI of treason felony (for the handing over secret information about Moslem Brotherhood and ISIS[8]).

Fig. 1. Examples of fake news stories.

As to the Russian president the purposes of fake news in this case included:

– Provoking overall suspicion and ‘witch-hunting’ (compromising the ‘entourage’ of Vladimir Putin on whom a shadow was cast of collaboration with the US secret services);

– And, possibly, to distract from an actual and currently active precious CIA agents working close to a certain government official (in this case the fake news was to become a part of the agency cover-up operation).

The most interesting part of this story is not the dump itself: It is a meticulously engineered and executed cover-up legend devised by the perpetrators of the operative combination (legalization of a ‘controlled leak’) which explains the very fact of exposure by CIA former and current employees of facts constituting top-secret information: It was engineered and executed in such a great detail that one simply cannot but believe in it.

Structurally this legend consisted of two key assertions:

1) Donald Trump instructed William Barr to find the ‘key CIA informer pertaining to the case of Russian Federation meddling with the US presidential elections and to make his/her name public;

2) Donald Trump’s promise to declassify information regarding R. Mueller’s investigation threatens not only safety of the informer but other CIA agents working in Russia.

The illusion of reliability of this interpretation of events is shaped by the actions of the very anonymous sources within the intelligence community of the United States who disclosed this confidential information to reporters. The thing is that having publicly spoken about confirmation of the existence of an ‘extremely precious agent of American intelligence’ in the entourage of Vladimir Putin who was enlisted in the early 2010s they exposed the top secret (‘blew them over’) and thus they committed a grave criminal offense by putting that agent’s life at risk and, actually, by putting them on the trail of Russian counterintelligence. Committing this sort of a crime means to end one’s secret service career, and in case of identification of identity of the claimants – a long sentence and probably even an electric chair.

The informed sources of The New York Times from the intelligence community of the United States deliberately took this risk, scarifying themselves and committing the extremely serious crime for sake of saving their country and the secret service from yet more epic fail – exposure of the very precious agent of CIA in Vladimir Putin’s close circle, the identity of whom Donald Trump could disclose being blinded by the ‘appetite for revenge.’ I.e. they choose ‘lesser evil’ ‘honorably and sacrificially’ for sake of preventing the occurrence of an ‘absolute evil.’ One can’t but believe in sincerity of their words and confessions: When you’re wholeheartedly with them, ‘warriors scarifying themselves for the Great Nation’ (the United States of America).

Yet another illustrative example is a fake news story by The Wall Street Journal reporters (WSJ, Fig. 1): On June 3, 2019 they announced an ‘urgent’ recall from Venezuela of Russian specialists engaged in the training of Venezuelan military and the performance of weapon purchase contracts with Rostec[9] state corporate. The article published by WSJ often cited the number of ‘evacuated’ specialists – almost one thousand people – and it clarified that ‘out of one thousand only about twenty remained’ (apparently they failed to get their Aeroflot tickets). The article also mentioned the reason the Russian authorities made that decision: “Moscow is skeptical about changes of the Maduro regime to sustain political stability.” Those who ordered the article apparently sent the message that the Russian leadership no longer believed in loyalty and reliability of Nicolas Maduro: According to them Russia was ‘weighing political and economic sustainability’ of Nicolas Maduro’s regime ‘in the midst of the growing pressure on the part of the USA’[10]. The reason for this change of heart towards the chavist leader, according to WSJ, was the fact of exposure (in May 2019) of clandestine talks which had been in place since March 2019 between Maduro’s trusted representatives with Juan Guaido’s representatives (under the facilitation of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

These talks were accidentally exposed by Norwegian reporters (who spotted strange, suntanned persons moving around Oslo and who traced their itinerary) which became a total surprise for the Russian side: No one even suspected that Maduro’s ‘brother-in-arms’ had been conducting talks for two months with Guaido and the United States backing him. It became clear that US secret services were the ones that worked with Maduro under the guise of ‘Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’ They purpose being to force Maduro to ‘turn in’ Venezuela. This could induce the Russian government to quickly recall its people from the country which would be ‘invaded by the Americans any minute now.’

In order to enhance the impact of the fake news the organizers of that operative combination decided to involve the very US President Donald Trump in the GRU operation by convincing him on the night of June 4, 2019 (in was nighttime in Moscow then) to tweet that Moscow had allegedly informed Washington of the ‘recall of most of its people’ from Venezuela (Fig. 2).

Fig.2. Donald Trump’s Tweet dated June 4, 2019.

The purpose of the dump was simple:

– First, to provoke panic (‘Maduro is in talks with Guaido behind Moscow’s back, Russians are fleeing!’);

– Second, to ‘hook on’ any Russian official for a reaction; they would be caught off guard by the ‘leak’ and would be forced to strike back.

As to the panic, its elements were there indeed, especially in terms of behavior of certain Russian allies and partners; moreover this fake news story hooked up Dmitry Peskov [who stated that ‘the Russian Federation did not send any notifications and could not do it’[11]] and Sergey Lavrov [who stated that in return to Trump’s tweet we ‘did not inform anyone’ and that Donald Trump who confirmed in his Twitter WSJ’s information about ‘urgent evacuation’ had simply mechanically ‘reposted WSJ’[12]]). Thus, official reaction boiled down to a categorical denial of the very fact of ‘recall’ from Venezuela of Russian specialists and naïve explanation of the reasons that invoked Donald Trump to make that statement.

One can only guess as to the beginning of what operating game that fake news had to be: Giving in to emotions the two high ranking Russian officials close to the country’s president Vladimir Putin in unison announced that Russia ‘did not inform anyone’ – and hence Donald Trump, asserting the opposite was lying. Moreover, Sergey Lavrov added that Trump ‘simply read too much WSJ at night’ (or his ‘advisors’ let him down or both those things)[13], claiming the reporters’ conclusion were his own. Thus, Donald Trump was simultaneously accused of lying, incompetence, and plagiarism. Apparently this is what the fake news organizers were trying to achieve.

At the same time, it is very much possible that Donald Trump, who is indeed known for indulging in wishful thinking, made up this fact of ‘notification’; however, in reality this is hard to believe in considering the level, at which the statement was made. Thus, Dmitry Peskov and Sergey Lavrov who were quick to state that no notification existed possibly drove themselves into a trap: if indeed there was a talk with Moscow it would certainly be recorded. And the next step for Donald Trump and his secret services would be a public presentation of that recording together with accusations of Russian officials of lying (they would simply be caught lying). However, this did not take place: the American side did not respond to the smart rebuke by Sergey Lavrov and Dmitry Peskov; there was no extension to that operative combination. Probably there were reasons for that and they made the US intelligence shift its focus to other newsworthy events.

The key element of both examples was provocation – a method motivating the commitment of certain immediate reciprocation. In modern-day information wars provocations play one of the most important and determinant roles.

By taking the bait a person experiences an urge to immediately respond and it makes it very difficult to keep them from committing illogical, spontaneous, and simply dangerous actions. And provocation in information war (IW) operations also acts as an efficient tool of external control: Any provocation is engineered so as to ensure that its object predictably reacts to it, i.e. so that the object responds with either of the actions or deeds that the provocation organizers expected them to do. A provocation programs a person to commit certain counteraction, just like certain neurolinguistics programming technologies do. The main thing is to ‘hook’ a person; the person will figure out and do the rest.

Like any other method provocation is no 100% guarantee of end result: Some provocations are successful and some are not [15]. However, on average the percentage of successful provocations is far greater than that of failed provocations: In real life even very experienced and cautious people fall victim of provocations.

Operational Wargames

In turn, fake news is the key element of operative wargames which are a darling of all the secret services of the world. An operational wargame is a special type of operative combination conducted at a tactical level where specific goals and objectives at each stage of the game are defined at the very course of the game – they occur in the process of a game as new ways and methods of hooking up (using anything) or compromise the opponent, identify and expose its agents, damages its interests, intentions, and disrupt their agenda. At the same time, current goals and objectives are determined by emerging operative possibilities and mistakes made by the opponent, while the strategic goals (long-term ones) are either not set at all or generally outlined (for example, to hook up and compromise the opponent – however this happens). In this light, an operative wargame is something like a game of poker or preference where members of the game strive to gain advantage over their fellow players, yet due to the high level of uncertainty and incompleteness of information about possibilities of their competitors they are unable to assuredly predict the end result of the game (how exactly it ends).

Typical examples of operative wargames are the two events that took place in April 2020 and May 2020, correspondingly:

– An international scandal around the toppling of Marshal Konev monument in Prague and the ‘arrival of the Russian diplomat’ (as per the expression of Czech special services a ‘person with diplomatic passport’) with ricin, an extremely dangerous and virulent poison[14];

– A statement of former advisor to US President in national security issues Susan Rice that she made in a live CNN interview that ‘the riots caused by the killing of George Floyd could have been organized from outside and using ‘the Russian guidebook’’ (that she claimed she’d seen with her own eyes)[15] (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Operative wargame examples (2020).

The first operative wargame is a rather simple (and therefore effective) four-move combination. The essence of the wargame is as follows:

– At stage one a foreign secret service behind the wargame creates a high-profile event (subject), to which the Russian side (in their opinion) cannot be react: On April 3, 2020 Czech authorities toppled the Marshal Konev monument provoking the Russian authorities to respond immediately;

– In response there was an immediate reaction of the Russian authorities in the form of a number of public statements by Russian officials claiming that ‘they will not get away with it’ and that ‘it’s a crime… and it will not go unanswered’ (Maria Zakharova at al.[16]) which testifies that the Russian side had certain intentions and motifs; and since the Czech side perceived them as a direct threat they immediately responded that the Czech side was threatened with reprisal;

– This, in turn, enabled Czech authorities and special services to arrange an information wave in Czech print media claiming that the ‘Russian special services were preparing for retaliation against all those involved with toppling of the monument’ having sent their action agents to the Czech Republic (one thing that remains unclear is who these agents are);

– On April 28, 2020 Czech magazine Respekt referring to its own sources in Czech special services (who demanded to stay anonymous) published a sensational announcement that as it turned out back on March 14, 2020 a Russian diplomat arrived at Prague (‘the man with diplomatic passport’) to deliver ricin to the Russian embassy – an extremely dangerous and virulent poison.

This news became a culmination point of the entire plot played out by Czech (and possibly American) secret services: Here’s the man – a courier who delivered the assassination weapon that ‘GRU’s assassins’ would use to poison those involved in hostile acts against the Russian Federation – ‘like against the Skripals.’ Czech public was in panic: The forms and methods for elimination of political adversaries were an exact match. Exact same thing like in Salisbury, except one thing: There it was ‘Novichok’ and here – ricin. Finally, there’s the conclusion: If they delivered poison to the Russian embassy then the ‘murderers’ were already in Prague and they were waiting for the right moment to execute the orders.

And the operative wargame was fully played using a template developed and tried by the British secret services in 2018 in Salisbury (known as the so-called ‘Salisbury matrix’):

1) Poison: We have it (it was ‘Novichok’ in Salisbury, here we have ricin);

2) Assassin: We have him (there in Salisbury they were Petrov and Boshirov, while in Prague – A.V. Konchakov, deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo);

3) Cause for ‘revenge’: We have it: On April 3, 2020 Czech authorized toppled the Marshal Konev monument;

4) At finally there are direct threats on the part of Russian officials who promised retaliation to the guilty parties.

Another example of an operative wargame (right from the start) was a high profile statement by Susan Rice (in 2009-2017 she was national security adviser to Barack Obama) that she made on May 31, 2020 in a live CNN broadcasting. In that interview Ms. Rice announced that ‘the riots caused by the death of the African American George Floyd in Minneapolis could have been allegedly organized using the ‘Russian guidebook’[17], emphasizing that she was confident in the Russian connection in the US riots: ‘based on my experience I [can say that] this was also taken directly out of the Russian guidebook’; ‘their objective was not to simply put the United States at a shame but also to divide us, to make sure we fight each other’[18]. This scandalous statement by Susan Rice was referring to mass disorders and violence in the US in May 2020.

Fig. 4. Russian ‘guidebook’ for color revolutions in the US and Western European countries.

The statement by Susan Rice was apparently not an incidental improvisation; on the contrary it was an intentional act; at the peak of growth of pass protests in the USA which ensured that the statement enjoyed maximum effect. Now the Americans finally have found the guilty party that plunged the United States into the abyss of a color revolution: Russia turned out to be the enemy. All of this closely resembled the beginning of a new operative combination by American special services with the aim of hooking up with Rice’s revelations certain high ranking Russian officials (make them counteract) and thereby instill a thought in the American society that it was Russia that was chiefly liable for setting up the disorders and chaos after the murder of George Floyd. In this combination following portion of high profile accusations voiced by Susan Rice (the first fake news story) were supposed to be other accusations, at least as scathing, that were able not only to drive Russian authorities after several iterations to madness, making them ‘deny the truth’ and dodge and offer excuses. The final stage of that operation could be accusation of Russia of conscious disruption of national security of the United States and state-sponsored terrorism. The calculation behind was that the Russian side would never admit to the existence of such a guidebook and it would furiously deny everything while being dragged in the trap set up by the American intelligence.

However, these plans (if they even existed) by the American secret services were not destined to come true: Unexpectedly for Susan Rice Russian patriots managed to find the ‘Russian guidebook’ that Rice had seen while serving as national security advisor to President Obama and to which she referred in her interview with CNN. Such ‘guidebook’ was the monograph “Color Revolutions: Techniques in Breaking Down Modern Political Regimes” published by A. Manoilo and O. Karpovich in 2015 in the United States (Fig. 4)[19]. Apparently it was the book that Susan Rice saw at the Library of Congress of the United States (there is the corresponding mark in the library’s catalog) right at the time she served national security advisor to the President. As a result, the organizers of the operative wargame experienced a ‘game explosion’: They had counted on a completely different line of behavior on the Russian side. After the fact of ‘exposure’ of the ‘Russian guidebook’ was disclosed on June 7, 2020 during a live Zvezda TV show the US intelligence operation was put ‘on pause’; the story of accusations of Russia of plotting a color revolution in the USA ended without continuation.
Strategic Operations

Unlike operative wargames strategic operations of information wars normally have both a master plan and clearly designated targets for the near-term, mid-term, and long-term perspectives. The key criteria of their efficiency are their guaranteed achievement of strategically significant results, and not general ones (like in operative wargames) but results, for which the operations were initially engineered and planned. Classic examples of this type of operations are the Skripals poisoning case (started in 2018, Fig. 5) and Venezuela precedent (plotting of a coup d’état in Venezuela, its peak activity was in 2019-2020, See Fig. 8).

Fig. 5. The Skripals case (2018 – to date) is a classic example of a strategic type information operation.

The Skripals Case (2018-2020)

The operation by American and British special services in Salisbury (Great Britain), better known as The poisoning of Sergey and Julia Skripals case, is considered – to date – to be the most successful, technologically perfect, and meticulously performed information operation, which showed how exactly operations of this sort should be practically executed. This is the bets and practically reference example of conducting this type of operations of the strategic level. At the heart of all its cascade reactions was the one and only high profile incident: The attempt of poisoning former MI-6 agent Sergey Skripal (who perhaps was simultaneous former GRU officer) and his daughter Julia. No matter how we look at this case from the moral perspective, we must admit the first two stages of this operation (spring and autumn of 2018[20]) were meticulously executed: All the targets were hit by the perpetrators of this operation: all the ‘baits’ and ‘hooks’ were ‘swallowed’ by the adversary that did most of the job for the British spies, even without suspecting the same. Finally, the President of the Russian Federation was involved in the scandal: He personally vouched for Petrov and Boshirov (at the Eastern Economic Forum) which had become a big surprise for MI-6, as well as success, which they couldn’t have hoped for. Here is the detailed breakdown of the scheme and progress of this operation [6].

Reviewing this operation one can have an impression that the very operation started and was completed in 2018; at the same time, the Skripals themselves disappeared (according to some sources in 2020 they were dispatched to New Zealand). However, this impression is false: the operation by CIA and MI-6 was never stopped, even for a minute. In 2019 alone five episodes of this operation were executed by the British and American intelligence (in close cooperation with Der Spiegel):

– On February 8, 2019 the British tabloids Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph simultaneously announced that Petrov and Boshirov did not arrive in London alone; the third member of the ‘Salisbury group’ took the same flight – Fedotov;  a.k.a. Sergeev according to British reporters), a sworn GRU officer and, possibly, a superior of Petrov and Boshirov. After the ‘misfire’ with assassinating the Skripals Fedotov stayed in Salisbury to overlook the developments (although he was supposed to take the same Aeroflot flight back, just as his subordinates). According to sources of Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph the afterlife of Fedotov (Sergeev) varies: Daily Mail citing its sources in the British criminal police assets that Fedotov, having made sure the Skripals survived and now they are beyond his reach, left Great Britain; Daily Telegraph citing its sources from the national intelligence service (MI-6) on the contrary noted that the British intelligence had no reliable evidence of the fact that Fedotov even left the territory of United Kingdom. Thus, the two print media outlets made a ‘fork’ having published two almost identical versions which vary diametrically in their final part, and thereby they hinted that Fedotov could possibly be the senior echelons of GRU (who became a fugitive) and who advised MI-6 of lead information of the forthcoming visit by Petrov and Boshirov to Salisbury (in order to have a heart talk)[21];

– On November 8, 2019 The New York Times citing its sources in secret services of four Western countries published information about the existence in the structure of the Russian military spy agency (which they habitually keep calling ‘GRU’) of a super secretive military base No. 29155 that specializes in plotting coups d’état and ‘out-of-court liquidations’ (political assassinations); the article asserts that this is the very military base where Petrov and Boshirov serve and these are the guys who almost whacked Sergey Skripal; it disclosed the name of GRU general who was in charge of that military base[22]. It turned out to be Major General Averyanov, in relation to whom the ‘information partner’ of MI-6 – Der Spiegel – published full fundamental data which were supposedly received from trained intelligence officers of CIA/MI-6 and their agency network as part of identification of the ‘suspect’; concurrently other leads were offered alluding that there is a network of ‘liquidators’ in Europe and that it was operated and controlled from a single center and which functions using the same principle as the terrorist networks ISIS and al-Qaida which are banned in the Russian Federation)[23];

– On November 23, 2019 two print media outlets – Der Spiegel and The Insider – published personal data (fundamental data) of eight employees of that very ‘super-secret’ military baes of GRU No. 29155, of which the German newspaper wrote on November 8^th; personal data of each employee were shown in the form of a detailed check list and resembled the identification reports conducted by the British and American intelligence (it does not look like a journalist investigation) and legalized via its agency network surrounding Der Spiegel’ editor-in-chief (and possibly thanks to a direct arrangement with German intelligence that made the right phone call to the editorial staff of the German newspaper)[24]; and Der Spiegel and The Insider transparently hinted that they had fundamental data about all (or almost all) military servicemen of the military base, while publication of the eight forms was due to the fact that the newspaper simply could not fit greater number of exposures (physically); thus the British intelligence (and possibly the American intelligence) illustrated that it was able to identify each and every employee of the secret unit of GRU No. 29155, all the way down to an ordinary clerk;

– On August 24, 2019 Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, former Chechen guerilla fighter, was assassinated in Berlin by an unknown person. He was a former Chechen fighter who fought the Russian federal troops and who personally partook in setting up terrorist attacks; Western newspapers Bellingcat, The Insider, Dossier Center and Der Spiegel, without taking to each other, announce that the murder was a political one and that it was organized by the Russian military intelligence (and that it was not an assassination but a liquidation; and the liquidator was a GRU employee of military base No. 29155)[25]. German criminal police and counterintelligence took a cautious stance but by the end of November 2019 (almost concurrently with the sensational ‘exposure’ of military base No. 29155 by the investigative journalists of Der Spiegel) their stance changed to an accusation and as a result of the diplomatic scandal that broke out on December 4, 2019 two Russian diplomats were announced personae non gratae and were forced to leave the country[26];

– On December 5, 2019 the French newspaper Le Monde published the article stating that in the territory of France, in the French Alps a ‘secret base of GRU special force operatives[27] was discovered; and it read that the base was a place of assembly and recreation for GRU special force operatives who were inserted into various locations in Europe; and in that base Petrov and Boshirov would ‘rejuvenate’ (after successful operations) and that many of those employees of military base No. 29155, whose personal data were published by the investigators of Der Spiegel. The article by French reporters ended with the conclusion that in Europe GRU ‘terrorists apparently had resting bases and camps and the Alps base is most likely not the only one.

All the five episodes were developed independently and externally – independent from one another; so as to create the impression that the investigative journalists from the different newspapers almost simultaneously got on the track of GRU special forces operatives and they worked the ‘tracks’ perfectly having documentarily proven the assumptions that Western intelligence services cautiously voiced back in 2018 and in the beginning of 2019. Once the five episodes were leaked to mass media it had become clear that the plots had many crossing points and the only thing left to do was to connect the dots into one story, in which readers would be offered to adjudicate GRU as a terrorist organization, just like ISIS[28]. Hence the question: Where is the ‘point of assemblage’?

Such ‘point of assemblage’ at the very end of June 2020 was supposed to be the ‘sensational news’ published by The New York Times: On June 26 its observers citing their own sources from the US intelligence reported that the Russian military intelligence had been paying Taliban insurgents and their allies (in Afghanistan) to murder American soldiers. In the article “Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says” (“American] intelligence reports that Russia clandestinely paid Afghan fighters to kill US soldiers [in Afghanistan]”) it was asserted that in order to kill American soldiers the military servicemen of that same military base No. 29155 had contacted Taliban fighters. And Petrov and Boshirov served in that military base; the latter, in turn, had been killing American servicemen ‘for the money given to them by GRU agents[29]. The motive of the crime was reported to be the desire of retaliation for persecuting GRU employees for the Salisbury incident[30].

According to the article authors the operating scheme of the Russian intelligence was very simple: GRU residents allegedly via rogue firms transferred funds to the accounts of Afghan business people affiliated with Taliban fighters; the latter, in turn, reported on arrival of the advance payments to Afghan fighters from groups close to Taliban; having received the information Islamic fighters killed a certain number of American soldiers (strictly in accordance with the fee paid for the life of each GI), and they provided proof of their filling to a ‘GRU agent’ and via the same channels they received the balance payment. Traces of these transactions were discovered by CIA, presumably in February 2020 – right after the United States entered into the peace agreement with Taliban fighters[31] (which partially leads to the true source of information received by the Americans). According to NYT sources from the US intelligence community in 2019 around twenty American military servicemen fell prey to GRU agent organized killings (although the article authors mentioned that not all killings could be unambiguously related to the ‘doings of GRU’)[32].

The accusation by NYT was more than serious: One thing is to poison ‘Litvinenkos’ who ‘flooded’ the decent Great Britain; E. Gebrev with the citizenship of Bulgaria (apparently a European, albeit of the second or even third grade); the Skripals – some more ‘Russians’ who had not even naturalized in their new home country; it’s a completely different story to deliberately murder genuine American citizens. And for the money paid to criminal elements (including international terrorists) for each scalp of an American soldier. Extirpation of American citizens is called terrorist, and the organization behind the killings of American soldiers is an international terrorist organization, just like ISIS or al-Qaida[33]. And that organization, according to the NYT reporters and anonymous American intelligence agents behind their backs, is GRU (Central Administration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation). This organization:

– Has its staff of hired assassins, special forces operatives, and terrorists, some of whom have been publicly listed[34];

– Has a special center where all these terrorists serve: the super-secret (even by the standards of GRU) military base 29155, the existence of which was established in November 2019[35];

– There are clandestine resting bases and caches in the EU territory used by terrorists to commit their terrorist attacks and raids (as an example the French Alps based discovered in 2019);

– There are travel routes of terrorist groups that left the bases for the missions or who returned from such missions to rest (such as the raid of Petrov and Boshirov to Geneva where they worked the ‘trace’ of Rodchenkov, foot surveillance of Skripal in Czech Republic);

– There are specific episodes of terrorist operations and attacks (the ‘liquidation’ of Khangoshvili in Berlin, attempts of ‘liquidate’ Gebrev in Bulgaria and Skripal in Great Britain, the attempted coup d’état and the attempted murder of Prime Minister of Macedonia, etc).

And the availability of the staff of subverted terrorists, resting bases, and route maps (of movements) of special forces units gives the ground to assets that in EU countries and possibly in other countries of the ‘collective West’ there is a GRU clandestine diversional group which by nature and functionality is no different than the similarly organized underground terrorist rings of al-Qaida, ISIS and Moslem Brotherhood. And it has been in operation for quite some time. Its attempts to extend its influence in the United States were probably suspended after the Maria Butina scandal. She was arrested in 2018 in the USA on accusations of ‘devising an espionage network’ and involvement of high ranking American politicians and military in that network[36].

It becomes clear what that fake news story was all about. The scheme behind this combination is simple:

– After the ‘assembly’ of the entire ‘construct’ in one point GRU would be declared an international terrorist organization and included in the US list of terrorist organizations;

– Heads of GRU are acknowledged as terrorist leaders (heads of an international terrorist organization, the status of which is equaled to al-Qaida and ISIS);

– All direct superiors of GRU senior officials are also leaders of international terrorists, including the Minister of Defense, whose direct subordinate is the Head of the head office of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation;

– By way of unpretentious debates in Congress (‘could the President of the Russian Federation know about the wrongdoings that were taking place in GRU on his behalf’) the President of the Russian President could join the ranks of terrorist leaders and their allies;

– And then all these persons would be brought to the effect of the USA Freedom Act (2015) – the law which allows out-of-court liquidation of leaders of international terrorist groups that kill US citizens.

The consequences of this decision are clear. It is possible that under the auspices of the grand rehearsal on January 3, 2020 the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated. In the US he was considered to be the Middle East’s “Terrorist No. 1”; his murder was legitimized by the USA Freedom Act. At the moment of his death general Soleimani was on his way from Baghdad airport; he was not hiding from anyone as he’d arrived in Iraq with a diplomatic mission; he had his diplomatic passport in his pocket which granted diplomatic immunity. However, neither the diplomatic immunity nor the diplomatic passport enabled him to avoid a missile strike against the Iranian general’s cortege on Donald Trump’s orders; 11 people were killed along with Qasem Soleimani.

It is difficult to say as this plan, a very realistic and very well calculated, has never been executed: In the very last moment it was ‘put to a halt’ probably because they decided it was not yet the time. It could be that the US presidential campaign which was gathering pace had an impact on it by switching attention of Donald Trump to fighting internal adversaries and leaving him no time to meddle with intrigues against the Russian Federation. It is no coincidence that NYT sources from the US intelligence community noted that the information about GRU operations in Afghanistan was received in the beginning of February 2020, yet all this time it has been left ‘unmoved’ as the US President Donald Trump ‘did not know what to do with it’[37]. It is also possible that by the time NYT published the first fake news about who exactly was killing American soldiers in Afghanistan the US senior management had a new plan with Navalny poisoning – an operation which was more promising from the standpoint of provoking the Russian leadership and from the standpoint of involvement of Germany – former Putin’s advocate – in the anti-Russian operations. Germany has been against partaking in going after Russia together with the British and Americans. If this is the case it becomes clear why the Afghanistan case was paused: the operative combination with Navalny poisoning was engineered using exactly the same scheme of 2018 Salisbury incident; it had to lead to the same result sometime later, i.e. it would become the ‘assemblage point’for the entire Skripal case (where ‘Afghanistan’ would be yet another episode), only with a wider scale operative potential.

One of the content results of the Skripals poisoning case was blocking by the United States, Great Britain, and their coalition (and India which is a ‘friendly’ state of Russia was one of the coalition’s members) of nomination of the Russian candidate (A. Prokopchuk) for the post of Interpol’s chief in November 2018. The Russian candidate was supposed to take up the position automatically – by rotation (the voting procedure as stipulated was formal in nature as in 2018 it was Russia’s turn to ‘chair’ the Interpol) but he was not allowed to get elected: Russia was accused of the allegation that Vladimir Putin especially wanted to have ‘his man’ in charge of Interpol (super close confidant) in order to ‘gain access to secret Interpol database containing data about politicians from around the world (personal data of all the Western political elite) and then poison (‘Novichok’, ricin, and radioactive polonium) its political opponents and mere insulters the world over just ‘as Skripals[38] – wherever they were located[39]. As a result, a number of countries including the US, Great Britain, etc. stated that if the Russian candidate Alexander Prokopchuk[40] were to take on the position of Interpol director they would withdraw from that organization (terminate their membership, funding and any participation in its work). As a result, Russia being under unprecedented international pressure was forced to give in and waived its legitimate right to nominate its candidate for that position. The scheme of that operative combination is shown in Fig. 6.

In order to achieve that a large-scale defamation campaign was launched against А. Prokopchuk and it was targeted at two directions:

1. a) Direct defamation of А. Prokopchuk as a highly dangerous person: by way of labelling him (highly dangerous criminal who was potentially involved in ‘GRU’s operation’ in Salisbury; former KGB ‘spy’ and SVR ‘spy’; ‘Putin’s agent who spills to him information about the location of the Russian President’s ‘enemies’);
2. b) А. Prokopchuk’s defamation via demonstration of his close (‘family’) ties with the camarilla (‘acquainted with Petrov and Boshirov’) with the purpose of persuading everyone that Prokopchuk was also liable for the incident in Salisbury; it is not incidental that V. Cable, a leader of liberal democrats in Great Britain announced prior to Interpol chief’s elections that ‘his [Prokopchuk’s] election would be an absolute insult for the victims of Salisbury terrorist act[41]. This is how Prokopchuk in the view of western community became a person closed related to Petrov and Boshirov, and related to Putin in terms of their common past in the USSR’s KGB.

Fig. 6. Scheme of defamation of the Russian candidate during the 2018 Interpol chief elections.

The Prokopchuk defamation campaign culminated in the following slogan: “If you vote for Prokopchuk you will all be “… poisoned like the Skripals.” In fact it tipped the scales for the majority of voting countries in favor of the South Korean candidate.

Those who continued to dither were shown Donald Trump’s statement which he made approximately one month prior to the elections (October 15, 2018) in his interview with the 60 Minutes show[42].  He said he admitted that ‘Putin was likely involved with murders but not in the United States[43]. The set of slogans used in the defamation campaign is shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7. Set of slogans under which the 2018 A. Prokopchuk defamation campaign was conducted.

In the latest practice of information operations the Prokopchuk case is a great example of how a political myth shaped around the Salisbury incident can be used as a tool of information war against Russia – and to achieve specific goals. In fact, the anti-Russian ultimatum was triggered by one fake resonance phrase: If you vote for the Russian candidate you will all be “… poisoned like the Skripals.”
Venezuela Precedent

Yet another example of a strategic operation is the so-called Venezuela precedent – the operation of plotting a coup d’état in Venezuela (toppling of the regime of Nicolas Maduro), the peak activity of which was in 2019-2020 (See Fig. 8). In the core of this operation was the latest and revolutionary in its meaning and execution hybrid technology of plotting a top-down coup d’état which came to be known as Venezuela precedent. It was a coup d’état set up the political elite and it was extremely carefully and validly executed. The political elite had assets abroad; and this technology for the first time showed exactly how attempts to agree upon a transfer of power into the hands of a new leader with elite groups (a ‘top-down coup d’état’) can be coupled with technologies of setting up large-scale protests (‘color revolutions’) aimed to divert the attention of the country’s president (and all his resources)  to useless (in this case) search for a ‘single command center’ that controls the protest (which in reality did not exist in the implementation of that scenario of color revolution) [7]. Temporary thrashing of this technology in August 2019 (relating with a failure of the CIA agent penetration into the entourage of Nicolas Maduro [9]) did not result in the US refusing from further regime change operations in Venezuela; most likely one should say that it was ‘suspended.’ During this pause the American specialists developed their Plan B and Washington had the time to finally lay their hands on Bolivia (which was at the top of the stop list following Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua): In November 2019 a coup d’état took place there; in terms of its technical execution is was similar to the Venezuela precedent in the aftermath of which the nation’s legitimate president Evo Morales under duress of the army had to flee the country[44].

The attempt to revive this operation by announcing the bounty for Nicolas Maduro and his closest allies (the so-called Barr List – stage II of the US operation in Venezuela) and the call to the Venezuelans to hand over the ‘drug terrorists’ to the American righteous court (the new term for specially coined for that) were effectively canceled at the onset of the US presidential campaign; because of its intensity Donald Trump had no time to deal with the Chavists. The attempt to capture and deliver to the US as a result of debarkment of an armed group of special operatives (including two former bodyguards of Donald Trump – employees of the US Secret Service and one current agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration) on Macuto beach (the so-called Gideon Operation) ended when militia of the Bolivarian people’s police who patrolled the beachfront and special operations soldiers of Diosdado Cabello from the ambush shot away at point blanc the hapless special forces operatives right at the time of their debarkment: It later turned out the Chavists were aware of this operation ahead of time (either via Cuban intelligence that has its agency network in Miami where the very operation had been prepared in the headquarters of MPC Silvercorp. USA or the American intelligence intentionally leaked information to Diosdado Cabello with the purpose of his ‘rehabilitation’ in the eyes of Nicolas Maduro [11]). This diversion and police operation – the attempt of Silvercorp hired guns (the total count of 12 persons) to hurriedly capture and arrest Maduro – does not hold up to scrutiny. It looks absurd and ridiculous. That is how it is viewed by most military and civil experts. However, if one assumes that the genuine target of this operation was not to capture the Chavists (using Noriega’s example) and the agent cover-up operation, during which Diosdado Cabello who was incriminated in August 2019 of having close contacts with CIA operational director had the chance to ‘reinstate trust’ of Nicolas Maduro, having shot the special forces operatives with his own hands, and three of them were US citizens (then there would be no way back for him as he’d have ‘blood of American soldiers’on his hand) then in this light Gideon Operation, on the contrary looks like the pinnacle of operational art – a well-choreographed play, in which the fighters of PMC Silvercorp and their J. Gaudreau were utilized ‘in an unwitting fashion.’

Fig. 8. Venezuela precedent (2019-2020) as yet another example of the US strategic information operation.

Barr’s List and Gideon Operation, even though they did not change the destiny of Nicolas Maduro and his regime, still gave birth to a dangerous international precedent: For the first time since Noriega’s kidnapping (1989) the US announced the legitimately elected president of a country – UN member – an international terrorist and awarded a bounty on his head (Fig. 9). This incident was generally ‘swallowed’ by the international community, just as the statement by Donald Trump about the intention to apply direct terror measures against Venezuela – the start of an ‘anti-drug and terrorist operation’ which provided for a wide-range use of armed forces by the countries – members of the operation (the United States intended to forge an extensive international coalition ‘of will’, the same as they did back in the day for the invasion of Iraq), however, formally being a ‘police action’ (since there was no talk about a capture and occupation of the sovereign state, the purpose being only to ‘find and capture the drug traffickers.’).

Fig. 9. The US officially offered an award for the handover of Nicolas Maduro – live or dead.

From this moment on it became clear that direct intervention of the US in internal affairs of any sovereign state only required to announce an ‘international police operation,’ the object of which would be new-type criminals – ‘drug terrorists,’corrupt officials and their allies; including possibly alleged ‘poisoners’ of the Skripals and Navalny.
Venezuela Precedent (Continued): Belarus Spring as a point of assemblage of the latest practices for setting up new-type color revolutions

Belarus Spring 2000 (a color revolution in Belarus) is an attempt of a coup d’état featuring marked and well identifiable ‘color’ technologies subjected to hybridization. They have become a ‘point of assemblage’ of the ‘best practices’ for setting up color revolutions in the territory of ex-USSR countries. The organizational scheme is shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9. Belarus Spring 2020: The scheme for plotting a coup d’état – the exact copy of Venezuela Precedent 2019.

The overall scheme of setting up a color revolution in Belarus is a copy of the Kiev Maidan 2013-2014 yet there were certain modifications introduced in the baseline scheme. For instance, the technologies for communications and coordination of the protest groups (including those using WhatsApp and Telegram messengers) were borrowed from Hong Kong in 2019-2020. (Fig. 10, left section of the image); the technologies of conflict mobilization around a non-political agenda (more effective and succinct than direct political appeals) were borrowed from the Yerevan ‘electro-Maidan’ in 2015; the coup d’état scheme was exact copy of Venezuela Precedent 2019 (Fig. 10, right section of the image). In essence, this was an expertly crafted mixture (hybrid) of Hong Kong and Venezuela. And all this is happening at the background of certainly uneasy relations of Belarus authorities and the United States (Fig. 11). 
‘Swarm’ Tactics

The active stage of the Belarus protests began on August 9, 2020 – right after the vote count at the national presidential elections. As soon as the first vote count is out the opposition immediately claim the elections are not legitimate and call for their supporters to take it to the streets. Minsk and all the other large cities are engulfed with the wave of protest, the aggression of which begins to focus on the police who are in their way to express ‘popular will.’ In Minsk and other large cities the protests occur ‘cut and dry’ – with no preliminary ramp-up of society; the masses of people are taken to streets by specially trained opposition activists. In the cities where opposition political operatives were too slow to join the process (not enough activities) as, for instance, in Vitebsk the mobs that spontaneously took it to the streets began to lose temper and disperse; on the wane of activity they are taken over by activists and political operatives who are rushed to Belarus from Ukraine and Lithuania. And no Maidan (a permanent camp) a-la Kiev Maidan in 2013-2014 is constructed by the protesting masses: Everyone remembers the Cornflower blue Revolution of 2006 where Maidan was a ‘weak link’ of its organizers. Instead of one permanent camp that can be easily blocked and torn apart the organizers use the ‘swarm’ tactics (like bee swarms): They operate swarms of excited people directing them to various points of the city thereby creating a feeling of plurality of simultaneously occurring ‘outbreaks of fire’ (with no epicenter of the ‘fire’ itself) which are impossible to localize. And the swarms when confronted by the intercepting forces of law and order immediately draw back and are deployed in a new object (street, square); special police forces (OMON, etc.) that are trained in dispersing mobs in head-on frontal attack or dispersing a Maidan turn out to be completely unprepared for this new ‘maneuver war’ with the opposition; their forces are quickly scattered and there is a need to block several streets, squares, lanes, etc. at the same time where at any moment one of the ‘swarms’ of protesters can pop up. All of this saps the not so numerous forces of police and special police forces. As a consequence, a situation inevitably occurs where a handful of police is confronted by the aggressive mob that unexpectedly shows up in a new location, while their peers deployed elsewhere in the city are simply unable to come to rescue on time.

As a result of this mobile control and management of human flows that are already on the move the ‘swarm’ becomes denser and its certain flows shape an aggressive mob which is not different from the mob of Maidan (a permanent camp). This is exactly what happened in Belarus in 2020: the swarm quickly turned into the aggressive mob that began to transition from large-scale political protests to mass disorders, and importantly in accordance with the Ukraine scenario of 2013-2014: The Kiev Maidan scenario with its ‘unknown snipers,’ ‘the Heavenly Hundred,’ and Berkut special force operatives brought to their knees. A little more time and the point of no return would be crossed: On the video footage of the first clashes of the protesting masses with the police (militsia) one can see that the ‘activists of the new Belarusian Maidan’ carried metal bars; and where there are metal bars the next thing to expect is firearms. This means blood will be shed on both sides.

Fig. 10. Belarus Spring 2020: Scheme for coordination and control of the protesting masses that copies Hong Kong 2020.

Protest Coordination and Management System

Any ‘swarm’ requires operative control; network-type forms of communications based on WhatsApp and Telegram messengers increasingly played the role of operative control instruments, coordination, and communications in the Belarusian protests of 2020. And protest groups and communities were formed based on WhatsApp. They were afterwards transformed into tactical units; ‘Nekhta’ Telegram channel (‘someone’ – translation from Belarusian language) is used by the opposition leaders as a tool for direct operative management of certain specific protest groups (part of the ‘swarm’) as a channel of communications with onsite protest groups, as an aggregator of operative information and, at the same time, a megaphone of anti-government propaganda. The Central Group of Psychological Actions (Centralna Grupa Dzialan Psychologicznych) of Voisko Polskoye (Polish military intelligence) is the one in charge of the ‘swarm’ (and, to a lesser extent, DGB of Lithuania).

When the Internet is cut off the opposition activists deploy programs like FireChat (instant messaging systems operating without the Internet) and file sharing services like AirDrop that have become widely popular during mass protests in Hong Kong; videos from the sites of clashes of protesting masses with OMON filmed on mobile phones are delivered by couriers to the embassies and consulates of Poland and Lithuania equipped with satellite communications devices; hours later these materials are posted on ‘Nekhta’ Telegram channel whose editorial staff is headquartered in Poland (Fig. 10).

Fig. 11. Belarus Spring 2020 through the lens of relations with the US (reconstruction of events preceding the ‘Maidan’).

Forceful Suppression

In this situation Belarusian authorities take the course of hard-edged forceful suppression of the protests. Of course, this decision left room for doubts: But it was the right one. As a result of this hard-edged reaction the opposition changed its tactics: from aggressive assault of the police (with metal bars and other ancillary devices) to ‘peaceful’ (deliberately non-violent) protests which were easier to cope with. However, the ‘swarm’ that lost its aggression has gained immediately in the numbers: People who were scared by the uncontrolled aggression of both sides had been lured by the ‘peaceful’ protests. The pace of development of the ‘color revolution’ slowed down but the ‘revolutionary situation’ grew more dangerous.

Anti-campaign 

In response the protest organizers focused on setting up person-oriented terror against law enforcement officers and employees that participated in suppression of the protests and their family members: Following the example of their Ukrainian ‘mentors’ from the Right Sector»[45], Belarusian radical opposition members were posting personal data of OMON police recognized by opposition activists, including their current places of residence. The purpose of this was to make the law enforcement officers feel unprotected and vulnerable in relation to the radical opposition: Now their families were in ganger, not only them, and their families were basically taken hostage. At the same time, an ‘anti-campaign’ was launched in the trenches of police: They were demanded to stop resisting and to move over to the ‘side of the people’, otherwise ‘the same thing would happen to them as with the Ukrainian Berkut fighters’ who had been dumped: Also they are told that unlike their superiors who already have possible ‘refuge houses in Rostov’ ordinary fighters had nowhere to flee (Fig. 9).
Malicious Takeover

In the midst of large-scale protests that distracted authorities from processes taking place ‘in the back burner’ a network of the so-called ‘strike committees’ was being launched in Belarus by the opposition in order to coordinate the so-called ‘all-Belarus strike.’ These strike committees are becoming the tool for takeover of political power from the state: Those in charge of strike committees claim they are now the power (Fig. 9). As a result a parallel system of management is being built in the country: A legitimized duality of power; this system of ‘new authorities’ is a copycat of the councils (soviety) of peasant- and soldier deputies, which took over political power in Russia in the spring (March-April) of 1917.
Tsikhanouskaya Playing Guaido 2.0

Detailed matching of the scenario of a coup d’état in Belarus with the scheme employed in Venezuela Precedent demonstrate emergence of the opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya in the game played by Western special services; her role fully replicates the ‘path to power’ of her predecessor – the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. If one replaces Guaido with Tsikhanouskaya in Venezuela Precedent, and Venezuela with Tsikhanouskaya one would observe an almost exact match of both scenarios of plotting coups d’état, not just the story lines but specific details.

Thus, Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya proclaimed herself the leader of Belarus opposition after her husband – the blogger Tsikhanouskiy who claimed he had presidential ambitions (on May 7, 2020) had been put to jail. Unlike Guaido she is a random person: Tsikhanouskaya has no prior political experience and she has never been in politics before. However, her decision to become the new leader of the opposition and her presidential ambitions fully matches the opportunistic moves of Juan Guaido. Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya refused to recognize the results of 2020 elections where she had 3% votes; She calls for opposing the ‘usurper’ Alexandr Lukashenko and almost immediately (on the second day after the elections) apparently for fear of liability for her words she flees to Lithuania: On August 11, 2020 the head of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs L. Linkyavichus stated that ‘Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya was in a safe place’[46]. On this background Guaido looks more courageous: Despite a real threat of arrest he stayed in Venezuela for the entire 2019 which was a critical year for him.

Once in Lithuania Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya created the so-called ‘Coordination Committee to Organize the Process of Overcoming the Political Crisis’ – an authority to ensure the transfer of power. This is proclaimed in the statement of Tsikhanouskaya’s staff dated August 14, 2020.[47].  In terms of its structure and nature this ‘council’ very much resembles the Group of Friends of Syria’ or ‘Guaido Government’ with his ‘presidential appointees’ (‘ministers’). If necessary, the ‘council’ can be easily transformed into the ‘Government’ of Belarus (in exile) headed by Tsikhanouskaya (playing the role of the so-called ‘elected president’). There is however, a slight problem: For a complete match of the Belarussian and Venezuelan scenarios Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya had to proclaim herself the ‘elected president’ of Belarus (just like Juan Guaido did in 2019 n Venezuela). This is in fact was happened on August 27, 2020 (in the interview with Germany’s Bild)[48]. This statement by Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya was preceded by her recognition as ‘president elect’ by Lithuania’s Seim (On August 10, 2020)[49] and meetings at the ‘highest level’ (as per the presidential protocol) with the leadership of Germany (October 6, 2020) and France (September 29, 2020).

The continued story with Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya following ‘Venezuelan scenario’ provides for several key subject lines:

– Recognition of Tsikhanouskaya by the US and their military and political allies as their only legitimate President of Belarus (this has not yet happened); after this the United States and after the US its allies state that all foreign assets of Belarus belong to the ‘people of Belarus’ not the ‘Lukashenko regime’ and now the people have their legitimate president –Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya; after this all the state assets of the nation abroad (bank account, property, contracts) and privately-held assets of Belarusian elites are arrested and handed over to the ‘opposition’ that immediately turn into resource-backed politicians;

– Then Belarus politicians and officials would receive proposals ‘to hand over Alexandr Lukashenko’ in exchange for returning their arrested personal assets and – possibly – ‘security guarantees’ (like in Venezuela Precedent);

– The US would probably do the same as back in March 2020 in Venezuela and would offer a bounty for handing over Alexandr Lukashenko – in the same amount of USD 15 million (just like in the case of Maduro).

After that – just like in Venezuela in 2019.
The Use of Resources of International Organizations: Operative Combination in the United Nations

On September 4, 2020 at the initiative of Estonia the UN Security Council was convened for its ‘unofficial meeting’ in the online videoconference format. The agenda was Belarus; unfair elections, breach of human rights, prosecution of opposition. At the videoconference of the UN Security Council Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for the international community to impose sanctions against those involved in violation of human rights in Belarus and send a ‘monitoring mission’ to the country’[50]. Among the requests suggested by Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya were as follows: ‘hold fair presidential elections,’ ‘termination of repressions and bringing to liability their organizers,’ ‘release of political prisoners.’Concluding her speech, she demanded a ‘special meeting of the UN Security Council’ to discuss the situation in Belarus regarding ‘observance of human rights.’[51]

The last claim of Tsikhanouskaya (to convene an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council on the elections and observance of human rights in Belarus) is especially remarkable: This is a good reason for launching a new information operation (an operative combination).

Let’s suppose the US took a hard stance regarding the past elections in Belarus and it demands support of Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya and convening an extraordinary (special) meeting of the UN Security Council. At that meeting Tsikhanouskaya could demand the following:

– Cancel the elections and under international pressure demand that Alexandr Lukashenko announce the ‘third round’ of elections (just like in 2004 in Ukraine where Viktor Yushchenko won the ‘third round’ of elections);

– If the ‘third round’ of elections is pushed through at the UN Security Council demand official recognition of Alexandr Lukashenko as illegitimate (due to multiple falsifications), demand his ‘disqualification’ (‘remove from the race’) and give the ‘’victory’ to the candidate who ranked second following him; in this case victory in the elections is automatically granted to Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya who scored around 3% votes of Belarusian constituency – and she immediately becomes ‘president elect.’

However, this combination did not work – apparently the US presidential campaign stood in the way. Yet the US still have possibilities to execute this combination.
Belarus Spring as a consequence of failure of Wagner Operation

One of the reasons of the color revolution in Belarus is the uneasy nature of relations between Alexandr Lukashenko and the United States. At the beginning everything went quite harmoniously: On December 24, 2019 Alexandr Lukashenko stated that ‘the West and NATO would not let Russia breach the country’s sovereignty’[52]. Normally such statements are not spontaneous (and apparently this was no slip of the tongue a-la Dr. Freud) but only if all the support measures offered by the West and NATO are discussed in detail with their representatives, and only in case the West indeed provides guarantees of ‘protection’ of the Republic of Belarus from the Russian Federation[53].

Further reinforcement takes place on February 1, 2020 when the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flies to Minsk on a working visit. At the meeting with Alexandr Lukashenko he promises to support Belarus (the Republic of Belarus) in it strive to protect its sovereignty and independence of Russia (it is exactly when they were discussing the supplies of liquefied gas from the US – in case Russian begins to deploy its ‘pipeline diplomacy’[54]); in return it requests Belarusian authorities from time to time to provide ‘insignificant’ but valuable (for mutual relations of the parties) ‘services.’ One of the arrangements is presumably the promise upon signal from Washington to detain a group of ‘Russian mercenaries’ (from the so-called ‘Wagner Company’) and hand them over to the US (using the communications and transportation channels agreed upon in advance). This is in fact what happened on the night of July 29, 2020 when KGB of the Republic of Belarus (Group A) detained 32 Russian citizens (and one Belarusian citizen) – presumably the ‘Wagner PMC fighters’ who had arrived in the country prior to the presidential elections to plot ‘a coup d’état’[55] (like in Montenegro in 2016)[56] (See Fig. 11). Right after the detention Alexandr Lukashenko called an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus where he demanded that Moscow provide official explanation as to ‘the detained fighters.’

A few hours later (around 9 pm Moscow time) Belarusian mass media (Belarus-1 television channel) publish fake news from one of the employees of Group A of Belarusian KGB who took part in the capture of the Russian citizens. He asserts that at the time of detention the Russian fighters demanded that they are released citing ‘their past experience in the Russian securities and law enforcement agencies’: ‘at the time of detention certain figurants appealed to the Russian citizenship, as well as their service in various Russian law enforcement agencies in the past as grounds for their release from administrative and criminal liability’[57]. And the KGB officer of the Republic of Belarus wished to stay anonymous; on the photos his face was masked by a balaclava and his voice was changed[58].

According to the KGB officer of the Republic of Belarus ‘this operative and combat activity [capture by the Belarus KGB of 32 Russian citizens who were travelling by transit through the republic’s territory] was planned and conducted accounting for confirmed operative information about the experience the suspects had in local armed conflicts’; i.e. KGB of the Republic of Belarus knew about their arrival. The next day (July 30^th) the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Belarus stated that this group of fighters was not the only one and concurrently two more similar groups were being formed near Pskov and Nevel. These groups were designed for deployment in the territory of Belarus with the purpose of ‘destabilization of political situation in the country in the pre-election period[59].

KGB of Belarus of course knew about the channel of deployment of ‘the Wagner people’: a group of 32 Russians (and one Belarusian person) intercepted en route allegedly to one of the Middle Eastern countries, of course, is not the only one that lately used this route[60]; upon arrangement with Moscow this channel was spared[61]. However, after the meeting of Belarus leader with Mike Pompeo it was apparently decided to close this channel; and for nearly six months (from February 2020 until July 2020) they have been waiting for the time when there would be enough former Ukrainian citizens there (from Donetsk and Lugansk) who’d been fighting on the side of Donbass.

Presumably the US plan was as follows:

– Wait until group uses the channel when there are sufficient former Ukrainian citizens who’d fought in Donbass (all of them now have Russian passports but for most countries of the world – including Belarus – they are still considered Ukrainian citizens who have been fighting against this country with weapons in their hands); there were 9 such persons in the group (the total number of those who have been fighting in Donbass was 28);

– Capture the group using KGB of Belarus accusing them of mercenarism and plotting a coup d’état in Belarus;

– Claim the intention to turn in the ‘Ukrainian citizens’ (despite their Russian citizenship) to Ukrainian authorities (i.e. SBU where they would be gladly shown to FBI investigators) and thus present Russia with a hard challenge:

1. a) Either pretend these are not ‘Wagner fighters’ but ordinary tourists and leave things to chance, clearly understanding that handing over the 28 detainees to the Ukrainian side (of which 9 are former Ukrainian citizens) they would face reprisal[62];
2. b) Or try and release these people from the hands of KGB of the Republic of Belarus, at all costs, until they are turned in to SBU and provide exhaustive evidence of their alleged employer – ‘the Wagner Group’ – as well as about connections of that ‘employer’ with the Russian Federation.

Both these scenarios are bad:

– In the first one they would say that Russian leadership simply gave up on their citizens simply dumping them and proving that the ‘we never give up on our people’ motto is worthless; and FBI investigators would gain free access to the detained citizens and they would receive comprehensive testimony of the so-called Wagner Company; the next step for the United States is to officially accuse Russia of covering mercenaries based on specific witness statements;

– In the second one the detained Russian citizens bound for turning into Ukraine[63] would have to be forcibly returned which is a dangerous ‘excessive act’ or a direct trap which has apparently been already prepared by the US special services.

This operative combination is a classical zugzwang or ‘fork’ set up for the Russian side by the US secret services: It is not incidental that on July 30, 2020 the Federation Council of the Russian Federation compared the capture of the group of Russian citizens in the Republic of Belarus with the ‘Skripals poisoning case – the operation similarly executed by the American and British special forces[64]. This trap was supposed to be slammed right before the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus, which would apparently signal their recognition by the United States and other Western countries. But something went wrong.

Instead of turning in the detained ‘Wagner people’ to Ukraine Alexandr Lukashenko despite initial intentions[65] procrastinates with the move and, possibly, start negotiating: On August 6, 2020 he orders to ‘invite to the country Prosecutors General of the Russian Federation and Ukraine in order to ‘figure out the situation with the detained hired fighters’[66] (the Ukrainian side practically immediately states no invitation was received by it). And he angrily repels the assumption that American Special Forces are involved in his game: “Do not try to scare us with Americans or NATO. It were not the Americans and NATO people that sent 33 people here, at the very least.”[67]. And the elections are three days from now.

At this moment (and possibly a little earlier) the US apparently start losing patience and for the last time they hint at Alexandr Lukashenko about the ‘need to stick to the arrangements made’ and, probably signal the preparation of large-scale protest actions in the country – in order to launch color revolution (special services of a number of Western and Eastern European countries are activated, so is Belarusian opposition). In response to that, in the morning of August 9, 2020 Alexandr Lukashenko announces that he arranged everything together with Vladimir Putin: ‘He received from the Russian colleague a letter laying out all the facts regarding the detained fighters’, he read it several times and now he ‘did not exclude that the entire situation with the fighters could be potentially provoked by a third party[68]. I.e. the United States. This means a radical U turn in the stance of Belarusian authorities, which found themselves sin the situation of unfolding color revolution, back to Moscow.

On August 9, 2020 the presidential elections in Belarus take place; the United States did not recognize them, of which on August 11, 2020 the US Department of State made the corresponding official statement. Next in line was recognition of Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya ‘president elect’ of Belarus (the exact copy of the Venezuelan scenario).

In turn, Kiev on August 12, 2020 still officially requested Minsk to turn in 28 detained citizens of ‘Russia and Ukraine,’ 9 of them according to the Ukrainian side had Ukrainian citizenship[69]. In response to that the Russian mass media citing their own ‘informed sources’ reported that the handover of 32 Russian citizens detained by Belarusian authorities would possibly take place ‘before the end of the week’[70]. On August 14, 2020 the Russian citizens detained in Belarus were rushed back to their home country; no official excuses followed from Minsk before the return.

On August 15, 16, and 18, 2020 Alexandr Lukashenko held telephone negotiations with Vladimir Putin; they were talking about reinstatement of allied relations between the two countries and about military support of Belarus on the part of CSTO in case there is an attempt to overthrow the authorities of the country through violence. According to statements by the Belarusian side (press service of the President of the Republic of Belarus) Presidents of Russia and the Republic of Belarus agreed that ‘in case of escalation in the part of external threats the parties would react together in accordance with the provisions as stipulated for by the Collective Security Treaty’ and that ‘upon first request Russia would assist Belarus in terms of ensuring security in case of external military threats’[71]. This is how the ‘Wagner people’ story ends and another story – the color revolution – begins.

Technologically the Wagner operative combination is ‘bait hunting’: The ‘bait’ in this combination was the Russian citizens captured in Belarus and classified as the so-called ‘Wagner Company.’ It was apparently planned to use this ‘bait’ in order to catch certain officials or representatives of the Russian Federation; radical time shortage which makes the ‘manhunt object’ (Russia’s leadership) hurry and it ensured a threat of turning in the detained person to SBU – a threat that looked more than realistic. The start of operation was only 10 days prior to the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus (August 9, 2020) and this put the main perpetrator of the combination – Alexandr  Lukashenko – under time pressure: Initially by the start date of the operation he had an arrangement with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, the short time lag was supposed to remove Alexandr Lukashenko’s ability to maneuver between the two powerhouses (the US and Russia) and to try and change the rules of the game as it was progressing (the American intelligence made the right calculations but something went wrong in the real situation).
Strategic Directions 

The aforementioned examples of strategic information operations clearly demonstrate that information aggression against Russia is currently performed in a number of key (strategic) directions:

1. Political killings (out-of-court liquidations of political opponents, score settling with offenders who fled overseas);

– Chemical line: Accusations of the Russian Federation of out-of-court liquidations of political opponents with the help of chemical warfare gases (such as ‘Novichok’) classified as chemical weapons (including organization of the very poisonings: Gebrev in 2015, the Skripals in 2018, and Navalny in 2020);

– Biological line: Setting up large-scale vaccination of population of foreign countries with the Russian vaccine COVID-19 with ‘unclear and extremely dangerous side effects,’ which the Russian Federation intentionally conceals (with the potential of adjusting this accusation to the formula ‘application of mass biological weapon’ of new type – ‘biological terrorism’);

– Radioactive line: Poisonings of political opponents with polonium and other radioactive isotopes (with the potential of adjusting this accusation to the formula of Russia using ‘dirty nuclear weapons’); the West currently has only one example – ‘elimination’ of Litvinenko which is yet to be proved).

1. Drug trafficking:

– ‘Cocaine’ line: accusations of the RF authorities of involvement with the transit of drugs (cocaine) under the cover of public authorities (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc.):

1. a) Capture of a large drug lot (389 kg) in the territory of the Russian embassy in Argentine (2017);
2. b) Capture of a large lot of cocaine (2 tons) in Ghent (2018) marked with United Russia signage;
3. c) Capture of a large lot of cocaine (260 bags, 9.57 tons) in Cabo Verde  (Western Africa) on the Panama vessel Eser with Russian crew (2019);
4. d) ‘Friendship’ and collaboration with international drug cartels (Cartel de los Soles in Venezuela).

III. Mercenarism (one of the gravest military (war) crimes):

– Of the best known cases: Capture of 33 presumably ‘Wagner Company fighters’ in Belarus in July 2020.

1. Terrorism:

– Killings of American soldiers in Afghanistan (2018-2020);

– ‘Dirty’ radioactive (‘Litvinenko’), chemical (‘the Skripals-Navalny’), and biological (‘the vaccine’) terrorism;

– Deployment of an intelligence and sabotage network in the US territory (the Maria Butina case – 2018);

– Cyberterrorism (cyberattacks against the US Democratic Party servers in 2016 [17] against the Norwegian parliament in 2020, etc.).

1.  Defamation of Russian ‘soft power’:

– Russia deals in cocaine (Argentine-Belgium-Cabo Verde);

– Russia is involved in doping (the ‘doping scandal’ with WADA);

– Russia meddles in foreign elections (the US in 2016);

– Russia launders billions in offshore destinations (Panama Papers);

– Russia kills its political opponents (‘Litvinenko-Skripal-Navalny’);

– Russia approves and supports mercenaries (‘Wagner’);

– Russia is friends with the most rogue dictators and criminals (Venezuela, CAR, etc.).

Exactly how defamation of the Russian ‘soft power’ is performed is shown in Flowchart 12. The first scheme exposed on the systemic level was the one in S.B. Burtseva’s work (2020) [1].

Fig. 12. Scheme of defamation of Russian ‘soft power’.

The key strategies of information warfare against Russia

All the aforesaid lines are grouped into three key strategies: Consequential ‘suffocation,’ ‘drive hunting,’ and blackmailing.

1. Strategy of suffocation (the so-called ‘Anaconda loop’):The strategy of consequential (step by step) ‘suffocation’ of a specific political leader (normally, a country’s president) by way of setting up his/her hunting in various independent directions, which at a certain point of time converge in one focus and yield cumulative effect.

Such a focus is potentially a grave accusation of a country’s leader – for instance, in terrorism (radiation, chemical, bacteriological) and drug trafficking which at a certain point focuses on all these lines as developed by perpetrators of the persecution. The total (cumulative) effect of a sudden transformation of various versions into one ‘final’ and ‘binding’ verdict oftentimes leaves the victim of such persecution without ‘air’ (the victim begins to suffocate losing its will to resist) but also will to the very life and its continuation.

In this strategy each new stage of implementation of any of these manhunt directions (each new operation or operative combination) must fasten the garrot on the leader’s neck imploding his chest and lungs ‘during expiration’ – and at the very moment they react the next time to the next provocation and thus ‘open up’ to the enemy – put themselves under fire. If they ‘breathe out’ and try to ‘get some aid inside the lungs’ the leader will not be able to do that – the Anaconda loop will  be put onto their chest and neck and it would contract to the extent their chest plate contracts, so sometime later the victim simply dies of suffocation. This is exactly how anacondas hunt: ‘Contrary to a common understanding an anaconda, like other boas, does not crush her victim and break its bones – she simply strangles it and does not let the victim breathe, and the latter dies of suffocation’ [20].

Typical examples of the application of the ‘Anaconda loop’ at the operative level (as part of one strategic information warfare operation) are:

– The chain ‘Litvinenko-Skripal-Navalny’ where accusations of poisoning gain momentum on each stage and become more radical;

– The Butina (she was accused of creating an intelligence-sabotage an terrorist ring in the territory of the United States) – Averyanov chain (he was accused of creating a sabotage an terrorist ring in the territory of EU countries) – Navalny’s poisoners (accusation of creating a sabotage an terrorist ring in the territory of the Russian Federation; interestingly, the Antarctic was the only uncovered territory);

– ‘Poisons’ line (polonium-Novichok-vaccine);

– Line of creation of ‘terrorist networks and infrastructure (a standalone group of ‘Petrov-Boshirov’ in Salisbury – ‘military base No. 29155’ and a network of bases in Europe – the attempt to create a similar network in the United States);

– The clearly painted ‘cocaine’ supply chain: Argentine (2017, 0.4 tons) – Belgium (2018, 2 tons) – Cabo Verde (2019, 9.5 tons).

And the manhunt perpetrators cling to the following technological method: As an example if a country leader is confronted simultaneously with three defamation campaigns using three different ‘grounds’ – accusation of political assassinations (campaign No. 1), drug trafficking (No. 2) and patronage of mercenaries (No. 3), then the mistakes made by the victim trying to fend off the blow in the first line would be immediately applied to make another blow from another direction – the second line, and if the victim attempts to fend off that blow the new attack would come from direction No. 3. Thus, the victim of manhunt gets exhausted by ‘running around the circle’ and for sake of its salvation the victim chaotically tosses and turns from one source of threat to another, trying to neutralize them, at least for some time.

This is exactly how the ‘Anaconda loop’ strategy works in information warfare against Russia (See Fig. 13).

Fig. 13. ‘Anaconda loop’ in the information warfare against Russia.

Fig. 14. Chronological time scale of attacks against the Russian Federation and its leader.

To illustrate how the ‘Anaconda loop’ words in Fig. 14 there is a scale of information attacks against the Russian Federation and its leader, in chronological order.

2. ‘Drive hunting’ strategy:(Sticking the label ‘international criminal (terrorist) on the national leader and organization of his ‘international criminal prosecution’): The strategy implies imposition of direct accusations of terrorism and bringing certain Russian senior officials to liability under Freedom Act USA which allows for the liquidation of ‘chieftains of terrorist groups and their allies’ or awarding a specific bounty for their head (like in the case of Nicolas Maduro and his allies in 2020).

As part of this strategy the converging lines could be for example ‘accusations of Russia in the killings of American soldiers’ or ‘the Navalny case’ (which is in line with the general direction set by the ‘Skripals case’). These are the latest cases of 2020.

3. Direct blackmail strategy. 

‘Venezuela Precedent’ (2019) and the hybrid color revolution in Belarus (2020) showed that at a certain stage of the strategic operation a country’s leader – the target – can be asked a direct question: To what length are you going to go to save your assets abroad (if available) and even your life?

And if that country leader does not understand the hint they may be subjected to Freedom Act USA and then liquidated without charge or trial (like Qasem Soleimani in on 3.01.2020) or a bounty can be awarded once the leader is pronounced an extremely dangerous international criminal (military criminal or even a ‘drug terrorist’) as was the case of Nicolas Maduro and his closest allies in 2020.

The following are typical example of such blackmailing:

– On May 13, 2018 Theresa May issued an ultimatum against Russia, in accordance with which Russian within 24 hours had to ‘plausibly explain itself’ regarding the Salisbury incident (i.e. publicly admit its guilt in the poisoning of Sergey and Julia Skripals) otherwise Great Britain would consider the ‘chemical attack in Salisbury’as a military aggression act[72];

– Capture of 32 Russian citizens (and one Belarusian citizen) in Belarus on the changes of participation of the so-called ‘Wagner PMC’ in the ‘plotting of terrorist acts’ and a threat of turning these people in to SBU operatives;

– Ultimatum issued by the United States and a group of countries in connection with possible election of A. Prokopchuk as Interpol chief (2018).

As the information warfare against the Russian Federation intensifies the blackmailing effort on the part of the United States and their military and political allies in their relations with the Russian Federation becomes more blatant and more often used.
Forms and Methods of Countering Information Warfare Operations

Currently there is extensive experience in successful countering of information warfare by the United States and its allies. They include active forms of activity (information counteroperations). They can be generally divided into five main types:

1. Information agenda takeover.

A typical example of this type of operations are the so-called Skripal Readings that for 48 hours took over the information agenda from Western (mainly British, American, and German) and Russian mass media on March 3-4, 2019 – on the first anniversary of the Salisbury incident.

2. Operational initiative takeover or direct-action operations.

Typical examples of this type of operations include:

– The so-called ‘Diosdado Cabello case’ (August 2019) – the operation of exposure of CIA agent in the entourage of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro;

– The ‘Russian CIA informer’ or the operative wargame of searching for the ‘mole’with Robert O’Brien, national security advisor to the US President (October 2019);

– The ‘Russian guidebook’ of Susan Rice (2020) – the statement by Susan Rice on Russians using a special ‘guidebook’ in order to destabilize political situation in the United States.

3. Shifting focus on a worthless object.

An example of such an operation was the so-called ‘arrival of Surkov and Manoilo in Donetsk’ (October 2019) – a very good example of how one fake news story is able to launch an ‘information tsunami.’

4. Information vaccination– operations designed for production of collective immunity within target audiences to any negative influence (anticipated content).
5. ‘Return-type’ operationsor ‘boomerang’ grade operations – information counteroperations designed for the use of inertia accumulated as a result of the adversary’s operations (like in aikido or taekwondo).

A typical example of such operation is the operative combination engineered and played by the US in March 2020 – right after Donald Trump’ announcement of the start of an ‘anti-drug and terrorist operation’ in Venezuela. This operation was dubbed “Warning to Donald Trump: The key thing is not to lose one’s control.”

As of now Skripal Readings (Fig. 15) have been described and reviewed in detail both in mass media publications[73] and in various academic sources [10][74].

Fig. 15. Skripal Readings (March 3-4, 2019): Headings of Russian and international media.

This operative combination that took place in Moscow on March 3-4, 2019 remains one of the most effective (and perhaps the most effective one) in terms of taking over the information agenda – thanks to the masterful triple ‘viral effect’ (See Fig. 16).

Fig. 16. Skripal Readings (March 3-4, 2019): ‘Viral effect.’

Statistical data testify to its efficiency: During the operation (March 3, 2019 – March 4, 2019) the newsworthy event captured Telegram audience of one million and three hundred thousand people (1,304,640) people. The total coverage in mass media during the operation exceeded 50 million people (101 material. See. Fig. 17).

Fig. 17. Skripal Readings (March 3-4, 2019): The scheme and results of the operation.

The operational agenda takeover activity (‘direct action operation’) unlike other types of information counteroperations are always aimed at incurring direct losses to the enemy. The results are identified and exposed clandestine operations by secret services, exposure of their agency network, purging (after failures) leading to loss of qualified staff, and loss of faith by foreign intelligence in the impeccability of their senior management and their own survivability and exclusiveness. While operations of types 1, 3, 4, and 5 only create the conditions for intelligence impact (they intercept the information agenda, shift focus of the adversary to a worthless object, etc.) direct action operations have the reconnaissance effect. The key effect of this type of operations is the takeover of operational initiative of the enemy and the ability to enforce your own rules of the game.

The main principle of direct-action operations is the following: The adversary must be stimulated only once; they will do the rest themselves, without coercion and unnecessary reminders:

• Flunk own clandestine operation with their own hands;
• Turn in their own agency network, scheme and communication channels;
• Expose the spies taking part in the operation.

And at the same time the enemy is 100% sure they have no other way out.

One of the best – even exemplary – direct action operations in this regard was the operation of exposure of CIA agent in the entourage of Nicolas Maduro – the so-called ‘Diosdado Cabello case’ in Venezuela in August 2019 [9]. This operation consisting of a single fake news story published in Venezuelan edition of Medium on August 17, 2019 caused sheer panic in CIA and, as a consequence, resulted in the failure of one of the most meticulous and clandestine operations. Perhaps due to the failure of that operation and exposure of their agent of influence in the entourage of Nicolas Maduro the United States suspended their Venezuelan direction (‘paused’ it all the way until the development of Plan B) until March 26, 2020 – by almost seven months. The scheme and chronology of the operation has been described here in detail [10][75]; This is the very rare case where the fake news story dated August 17, 2019 ‘killed’ the US President Donald Trump making him get personally involved on August 21^st in the cover-up operation of his agent having publicly admitted the very fact of clandestine talks with a ‘man from the entourage of Venezuela’s President’ (behind the back of Nicolas Maduro).

Another example of a direct-action operation is the operative game initiated by the new national security advisor to the US President – Robert O’Brien – who replaced John Bolton in September 2019 (Bolton was fired on September 10, 2019 by President Donald Trump for the US policy failure in Venezuela – right after completion of the operation ‘Diosdado Cabello case’) [10][76]. Former deputy CIA Director Robert O’Brien, as soon as he took the post in the White House, immediately began inquiring how ‘the Russians’ could learn about the contacts of Diosdado Cabello with CIA. O’Brien had reasons to decide that the Russians could learn about the operation only if they had a source inside the US intelligence community; this means there had to be a ‘mole’ somewhere there. The search for the ‘mole’ brought O’Brien’s people to Medium reporters involved in publication of the fake news about Cobello’s contacts with him. There were several attempts to figure out whether it was the ‘Russian intelligence’ that paid for the publication.

On October 7, 2019 the following article was published on Medium website: “Andrei Manoilo: No es cierto que los rusos tengamos informantes internos en la CIA, al menos no por ahora» (Andrey Manoilo: It is not true that Russians have their informers in CIA, at least right now’[77], in which Manoilo answering a direct question about sources of information about Diosdado Cabello’s connections with the US intelligence categorially dismissed the version that Cabello had received all the materials from ‘his own informer in the entourage of CIA Director or the director of national intelligence.’ Manoilo’s response was a headline of the interview; when Latin American reporters and observers saw the article, they had reposted it as a first-person sensational confession and dropped the prefix ‘No’ [78] (at the very beginning of the heading which starts with ‘No es cierto…’). As a result, the categorical negation turned into admission ‘the Russians have their source in CIA’which apparently ultimately persuades the US intelligence agents that the Russian ‘mole’ was no fake and that he really exists.

Fig. 18. In search for the Russian mole in October 2019.

Citing this ‘information’ Robert O’Brien conducted large-scale ‘cleaning’ in NSC of the United States and as a result several dozen employees left including the national intelligence director and CIA operational director: they were mostly Latin America experts and Slavic experts (See Fig. 18). No one knows whether the Russian ‘mole’ was among them.

Yet another example of direct-action operation is the operative combination regarding the find of the ‘Russian guidebook’, of which Susan Rice spoke on May 31, 2020 in a CNN live broadcast[79].

In turn, a good example of an operation of shifting focus on a ‘worthless object’ is the information operation conducted on October 23-25, 2019 in Donetsk. It is described in detail here [8]. This operation is interesting in that the initial fake news story (to distract attention from the genuine purpose of the visit) spawned four waves of fake news, in which the ‘possible associativity of the missions’ by Vladislav Surkov and Andrey Manoilo (who simultaneously arrived in Donetsk on October 23, 2019) every time unfolded with yet more details. The key result of the operation was as follows: While Ukrainian reporters and special services were busy conspiring and guesses what could make Surkov and Manoilo ‘work together’ both visitors quickly performed the tasks they had been commissioned with, and without arranging things they left the territory of Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). Albeit Vladislav Surkov was deposed soon after that visit, but that’s a different story.

A typical example of ‘boomerang’ grade operations (‘return-type’ operations) is the operative combination called ‘the last warning of Donald Trump’; as part of the operation the national security advisor to the US President Robert O’Brien received a warning ‘from reliable sources’ that if he and his boss continued to unfold the operation of toppling the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela (under the cover of a police ‘anti-drug and terrorist operation’ against Cartel de los Soles as proclaimed by them on March 26, 2020 they would face every chance of ‘catching themselves’ as a result of that ‘investigation.’ Thus, during the operation of exposure of the US intelligence agent in the entourage of Nicolas Maduro in 2019 (the Cabello case) we got ahold of information that Cartel de los Soles was close to government officials of certain southern states when they were setting up deliveries of cocaine to the US, and via these officials – with top level federal officials, possibly even those close to the then US President Donald Trump. This information was gained as part of the operation of studying Cabello’s contacts (according to the US he heads de los Soles cartel) and at that time it was left as is (as part of the main operation it posed no interest), however, in light of the new events it pointed to the truly vulnerable place in Donald Trump’s ‘team’: If Donald Trump was to really get his hand on the cartel he would surely be able to close in on one of his confidants involved with the transit of cocaine from Columbia to Miami, which could end up catastrophically for the President himself (See Fig. 19).

Fig. 19. Boomerang operation scheme.

They say that Robert O’Brien, having received this information from US reporters working in Venezuela, had become sullen for a while. No one know for sure how his depression ended but the ‘anti-drug and terrorist operation’ declared by Donald Trump against Nicolas Maduro in March 2020 had not started at all (this is a fact).

Yet another method actively used for countering information operations and attacks is the so-called ‘information vaccination’ – a technology for neutralization of the effectiveness of impact by the perpetrators of psychological operations on specific target groups and shaping distrust of information contained in such impact (Fig. 20).

The purpose of this method is to produce initial immunity within the target audience to fake news.

Here’s how it works.

1. Let’s assume that we know the topic of an information attack of the opponent; possibly they made the first ‘information shot.’
2. In response we bring to the same target audience of the opponent information that the latter launches a defamation campaign against us: We say that today our opponent said this and tomorrow they will – most likely – say that and the opponent will be accusing us of this and that.

Fig. 20. ‘Information vaccine: The key principles and implementation scheme.

3. … and we bring our opponent’s accusations of us to complete absurdity.

As soon as the opponent launces the second stage of their information attack a ‘switched flips’ in the subconsciousness of the target audience: The person says to themselves – ‘I already know this from the one who is accused here..’

4. As a result, what is activated is the principle of consciousness and subconsciousness capture with the latest, brightest, and most absurd information.

If everything goes well then the trust to information sent by the opponent is disrupted – the ‘vaccine’ worked.

A good example of the application of this method (‘vaccination’) in a specific, real life situation used by Russia’s opponent to launch their information attach is a lampoon published in response to the statement by The Wall Street Journal that ‘Russian flee Venezuela’ (published on 3.06.2019)[80]. The contents of the lampoon (in the form of a ‘made-up dialog’ in the name of ‘made-up personas’) with breakdown of the methods of psychological influence ‘programmed’ in each phrase that consequentially change (modify) the attitude of readers to the incident described in WSJ is shown in Fig. 21.

Fig. 21. ‘Information vaccination’:

Unfortunately, all the above examples of information counteroperations, despite their effectiveness, are sporadic in the Russian practice and they are unable to replace the system of information countering (that the United States has and that we don’t have). Unfortunately, Russia responds to US actions with its lagged improvisations.[81]
Potential future cases and methods

On October 13, 2020 the Russian print media outlet Nation News published a message that ‘the spouse of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny – Julia – could have been recruited by the US and British intelligence as ‘yet another person controlling Navalny’s work.’ This is what Andrey Manoilo asserted in his interview with the media outlet[82]. The also mentioned that Julia Navalnaya could be ‘yet another source of information about what Navalny does and how he executes tasks commissioned by the secret services[83].

Two days after this fake news story – on October 15^th – Alexey Navalny reacted as follows: In his Facebook account he stated: ‘I knew that. The first time, by the way, I suspected something wrong when Julia came home wearing a CIA baseball cap with a parachute dragging behind her, a radio set, and two big packs of Donald Duck chewing gum (with inserts)” (See Fig. 22)[84].

Fig. 22. Alexey Navalny about recruitment of his wife Julia by foreign secret services: “I knew that.”

Based on the ‘playful’ comment it is apparent that Alexey Navalny was ‘hooked’ by the fake news (although it shouldn’t have – he has a lot of publicity anyway; National News does not enjoy the biggest readership). Still, he responded and he chose sarcasm as a countering method. And he got himself into to trap: As the story with 2 tons of cocaine with United Russia signage and a ‘follow-up’ comment by observer E. Revenko showed, sarcasm and trolling are not the best ways to fend off an attack since emotions are lost once the statement text is put on paper (and emphasizing how exactly it must be treated). Indeed, one can’t use computer ‘smiles’ to render the sarcastic mood of E. Revenko. As a result, the playful admission by the ‘troll’ of his ‘guilt’ turns into a real confession of guilt. This is what happened with Navalny: The audience decided ‘he confessed it all.’ So instead of salvaging the situation he finally flanked it (just as E. Revenko who ‘jokingly’ admitted that the signage of United Russia on cocaine seized in Ghent was a ‘brush with fame’).

Fig. 23. A meme from the Internet reflecting the response by online audience to Alexey Navalny’s ‘playful’ confession.

The proof that Alexey Navalny’s playful admission was perceived by majority of the audience was that a lot of memes had been created based on the ‘I knew that’ phrase. One of such memes is shown in Fig. 23: It had over 28 thousand views in the course of one day.

Alexey Navalny should have been taken up on his words and an information wave should have been launched with headings of this sort: ‘Navalny admitted that his wife was wondering around the house with a parachute’ (and never takes it off) – let him find his excuses.
Discussions (In lieu of Conclusion)

Despite the rather extensive experience with information warfare the research community continues to consider the notion of information warfare as polemical.

One of the key items of this discussion is recognition (or irrecognition) of information warfare as one of the types of modern-day warfare.

One the one hand, there is an understanding that information warfare is certainly a dangerous thing [5]; international crises and scandals caused by it may lead to fundamental shifts in political lives of states (take the ‘Skripals case’ for example). As a consequence, military departments and intelligence services of many countries race each other to create their ‘information operation troops’; Our ministry of defence has such a department.

On the other hand, a war is normally waged with plentitude of victims and substantial destruction (real one) [3]; the purpose of any war is military defeat of the adversary, which is achieved among other measures by its physical annihilation. Information warfare provides for its own weaponry – information weapons which supposedly should also kill (exterminate enemy fighters) and on an ‘industrial scale’; otherwise this is not an armed conflict.

However, this is where the first problem occurs: In modern-day warfare suspiciously small amounts of people get killed. For instance, in Panama Papers and WADA Doping Scandal nobody was killed; while in the most ‘horrible’ (in the entire history of information wars) ‘Skripals poisoning case’ both Skripals survived at the end of the day; but even if they died failing the test of their sufferings, their death would come from the poison, not ‘destructive information influence.’ In other words, the attempt was made to murder them using a conventional means of assassination attempt, not with a word. Hence the question: If no one gets killed in the course of information standoff what kind of a war is it?

In this light, only cyber operations are able to cause damage to the opponent: They can make missiles fly in the wrong direction, they are able to spawn blackouts or even a man-made catastrophe with real casualties; and in this context the question of existence of cyber weapons (sabotage malware) does not cause as many emotions and critique as the question of information weapons. Moreover, the concepts of national security of the United States and the Russian Federation stipulate that a surprise cyber assault may be equaled to the declaration of war fraught with consequence (i.e. cyberattacks are able to provoke a direct armed conflict even between nuclear powers, which makes them extremely dangerous, even in peaceful times). Yet cyberattacks that primarily target technical system do not aim to control human psyche (our consciousness and subconsciousness) and that takes them to the periphery of evolution of means to control of highly developed biological entities.

Another question is the efficacy of information warfare as a tool of forceful submission of the enemy: For instance, no country of the world has yet been conquered or at least put on its knees exclusively by way of application of information warfare technologies and information weapons. Granted, no other alternative of forceful suppression can do quite that: ‘soft power,’ ‘smart power,’ and ‘rational power’ [19]. As an example of dismissing this hypothesis one can cite the Trojan horse (you guessed it right, the one glorified by Homer), while other recall the mass psychosis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which to a large extent was enhanced by mass media as they made a sensation out of the new virus modification. However, it is not compelling enough.

A major problem is that many Russian researchers are ‘stuck’ on various levels of understanding this phenomenon (information warfare), without the intention of delving deeper; this, in turn, results in that in their discussions they stand their grounds which was formed years ago, they have strong convictions about information warfare, albeit vague and superficial understanding since they are mostly engaged in obscurantism. Yet only a handful researchers work with (the latest) practice of information operations, even despite the fact that it is practice which is the main criterion of confirmation of any theory; most of them prefer to ‘learn’ the essence of information wars by making up new ‘meanings’ for their ‘understanding.’ This is how ‘conceptual wars’[85] of all sorts come to reality, ‘mental wars,’ ‘memory wars’ etc. Their inventors are normally very proud of (the invented terminology) and of themselves (of course). Obviously this type of creative activity does not harm science too much (although any practical person will make a ‘cuckoo’ sign if they are told about ‘conceptual weapons’) but there is no use either: According to Francis Bacon multiplication of essences is always an attribute of one thing: complete incomprehension of all that’s happening. The only thing left to add is that ‘military meanings’ can move in one substance only – ‘world ether’ and that would be the end of it.

The gap between the theory and practice of information wars is especially striking these days. Moreover, there is a strong impression that theory lives in its world and practice lives in another world (in the form of the ‘Skripals’, ‘Argentine cocaine case’, ‘Panama Papers’) – separate from each other and they do not clash with each other as they never cross each other. This is the main reason for a slowdown in the development of the domestic school of information war studies: New ideas, even those supported by specific practice, are tightly blocked by oftentimes ludicrous dogmas and understandings that ‘live’ in the Russian (and pseudoscientific) world only because their authors have never been ‘in the trenches’ (to check how well their speculations are confirmed in a real combat situation).

In our view, it is only possible to remove diffusion in the interpretation of the term ‘information warfare’ if we agree that an information warfare should be construed as a special type of armed conflict with two distinctive attributes: Information operations as a special form of warfighting and the use of information weapons. This clearly specifies the subject of studies (the information warfare itself) and leaves essences like ‘wars of meanings,’ ‘wars of memory,’ and ‘wars of mentality’ beyond the framework of a purely scientific review. However, this would only become possible if we are able to remove a number of the aforementioned contradictions (including the very fact of existence of ‘information’ weapons) which only conventionally provide for the classification of information warfare as modern-day warfare, and with certain assumptions.

References:

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References:

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3. Kokoshin A.A. Questions of the applied theory of war. 2nd edition. – M .: Publishing House of the Higher School of Economics, 2019, 227 p.
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5. Liddle Garth B. Strategy for indirect actions. Per. from English – M .: Astrel, 2012, 508 p.
6. Manoilo A.V. The Skripals case as an information war operation // Bulletin of the Moscow State Regional University. – 2019. – No. 1. DOI: 10.18384 / 2224-0209-2019-1-939
7. Manoilo A.V. Fake news as a threat to national security and an information management tool // Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 12: Political Sciences. – 2019. – No. 2. – P. 41–42.
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10. Manoilo A. V., Petrenko A. I., Frolov D. B. State information policy in the context of information and psychological war. 4th ed., Rev. and add. – Hotline-Telecom Moscow, 2020– 636 p.
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12. Slipchenko V. Wars of the sixth generation. Weapons and martial arts of the future. M .: Veche, 2002.384 p.
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14. Haas R. World disorder. American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order. ” Per. from English – M. Publishing house AST, 2019, 320 p.
15. Schelling T. Strategy of the conflict. Per. from English 2nd edition, rev. – M .: IRISEN, Socium, 2014, 367 p.
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20. Rivas, Jesús Antonio (2000). The life history of the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), with emphasis on its reproductive Biology. 2000.155 p.
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The views expressed in this explanatory note are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect IFIMES official position.

Ljubljana/Moscow, 27 June 2021

[1] IFIMES – International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has Special Consultative status at ECOSOC/UN, New York, since 2018.

[2] “No time for ramping up” is one of the most famous quotes by Vladimir Putin.

[3] al-Qaida and ISIS are terrorist organizations prohibited in the Russian Federation.

[4] State-sponsored terrorism (legal) is a form of violence whereby one state applies the methods of terror against another state. The only object of state-sponsored terrorism is the state as a whole.

[5] Banned in the Russian Federation.

[6] ‘Marriage’ of fake news and viral technologies took place in 2016 during the US presidential election campaign. See [7].

[7] «The attorney general’s ability to declassify intelligence could put at risk a C.I.A. informant close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia». См.: Potential Clash Over Secrets Looms Between Justice Dept. and C.I.A. By Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger. // NYT May 24, 2019. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/us/politics/trump-barr-declassify-intelligence.html?searchResultPosition=2

[8] International terrorist organizations prohibited in the Russian Federation.

[9] See: In a Blow to Maduro, Russia Withdraws Key Defense Support to Venezuela. Russia has been one of Maduro’s major supporters in its standoff with the U.S. // The Wall Street Journal. 2020, Jun. 3. URL: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-a-blow-to-maduro-russia-withdraws-key-defense-support-to-venezuela-11559486826 (Date of access: 20/12/2020)

[10] WSJ: Russia substantially reduced the number of its military advisors in Venezuela. [Electronic document] / Kommersant 2019, July 2.   URL: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3990284 (Reference date: June 3, 2019)

[11] See: Kremlin commented on Trump’s words on recalling Russians from Venezuela. [Electronic document] / RIA Novosti 2019, June 4. URL: https://ria.ru/20190604/1555241032.html (Reference date: June 5, 2019)

[12] See: Lavrov responded to Trump’s words about recalling Russians from Venezuela. [Electronic document] / RIA Novosti 2019, June 4.  URL: https://ria.ru/20190604/1555252532.html (Reference date: June 5, 2019)

[13] Quotation: ‘We did not notify anyone; he [Trump] apparently read the Wall Street Journal article. See: Lavrov responded to Trump’s words about recalling Russians from Venezuela. [Electronic document] / RIA Novosti. 2019, June 4.  URL: https://ria.ru/20190604/1555252532.html (Reference date: June 5, 2019)

[14] See: Respekt (Czech Republic): A man with ricin. // InoSMI. 2020, 28.04. URL: https://inosmi.ru/politic/20200428/247346755.html

[15] See: Obama ex councilor believes the US protests were organized using the “Russian guidebook” [Electronic document] / TASS. Official website 2020, June 1. URL: https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/8612639 (Reference date: June 1, 2020)

[16] See: This will not go unanswered // Interfax. 2020, April 10. URL: https://www.interfax-russia.ru/view/ne-ostanetsya-bez-otveta

[17] Obama’s former advisor believes the US protests were organized as per the ‘Russian guidebook’ [Electronic document] / TASS. Official website 2020, June 1. URL: https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/8612639 (Reference date: June 1, 2020)

[18] Ibid.

[19] The abstract to this revision reads as follows: “The monograph is devoted to the analysis of the problems associated with the dismantling of the political regimes in modern states (both authoritarian and democratic type) and with the role of technology in the process of color revolutions».”

[20] March 4-15 and September 5 – October 8, 2018, correspondingly.

[21] See: The Skripal Poisoning: Scenario for the third stage of information operation run by the British intelligence // Express Gazeta. 2019, February 11, URL: https://www.eg.ru/politics/700190-otravlenie-skripaley-scenariy-tretego-etapa-informacionnoy-operacii-britanskoy-razvedki-079957/

[22] See: Schwirtz, Michael. Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say. [Electronic document] // New York Times. 2019, 8 oct. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/europe/unit-29155-russia-gru.html (Reference date: November 15, 2019)

[23] See: The unit responsible for destabilization of Europe unmasked. // Express Gazeta. 2019, Nov. 18. URL: https://www.eg.ru/politics/806825-rassekrecheno-podrazdelenie-kotoroe-otvechaet-za-destabilizaciyu-evropy-079957/

[24] See: Bulgarien – Geheimdienstanschlag in Sofia: GRU-Killerteam aus Russland. [Electronic document] // Der Spiegel. 2019, November 23. URL: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/bulgarien-geheimdienstanschlag-in-sofia-gru-killerteam-aus-russland-a-1297753.html (Reference date: January 4, 2020)

[25] See: Russischer Geheimdienst womöglich in Mord an Exil-Georgier verwickelt. [Electronic document] // Der Spiegel. 2019, Aug. 30. URL: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/berlin-mord-in-moabit-hinweis-auf-russischen-geheimdienst-a-1284400.html  (Reference date: January 4, 2020)

[26] See: Germany deports two employees of Russian embassy due to Berlin murder. [Electronic document] //DW. 2019, Dec. 4. URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B2%D1%8B%D1%81%D1%8B%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B5%D1%82-%D0%B4%D0%B2%D1%83%D1%85-%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D1%80%D1%84-%D0%B8%D0%B7-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%B2-%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5/a-51527357 (Reference date: January 4, 2020)

[27] See: Russian spies used French Alps as ‘base camp’ for hits on Britain and other countries. [Electronic document] // The Telegraph. 2019, Dec. 5. URL: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/05/russian-spies-used-french-alps-base-camp-hits-britain-countries/ (Reference date: January 04, 2020)

[28] Banned in the Russian Federation.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says. By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz. [Electronic document] // The New York Times. 2020. June 26. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html

[31] See: How Much is a US Soldier’s Scalp. [Electronic document] // Express Gazeta. 2020, July 3. URL: https://www.eg.ru/politics/914277-skolko-stoit-skalp-amerikanskogo-soldata/

[32] «Twenty Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2019, but it was not clear which killings were under suspicion». See: Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says. By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz. [Electronic document] // The New York Times. 2020. June 26. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html

[33] International Terrorist Organizations Banned in the Russian Federation.

[34] Bulgarien – Geheimdienstanschlag in Sofia: GRU-Killerteam aus Russland. [Electronic document] // Der Spiegel. 2019, November 23. URL: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/bulgarien-geheimdienstanschlag-in-sofia-gru-killerteam-aus-russland-a-1297753.html (Reference date: January 4, 2020)

[35] See: Schwirtz, Michael. Top Secret Russian Unit Seeks to Destabilize Europe, Security Officials Say. [Electronic document] // New York Times. 2019, 8 oct. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/europe/unit-29155-russia-gru.html (Reference date: November 15, 2019)

[36] See: Woman Spy Case – Maria Butina. // Express Gazeta. 2018, August 21. URL: https://www.eg.ru/politics/602225-kazus-shpionki-marii-butinoy/

[37] «The Trump administration has been deliberating for months about what to do about a stunning intelligence assessment». See: Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says. By Charlie Savage, Eric Schmitt and Michael Schwirtz. [Electronic document] // The New York Times. 2020. June 26. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/russia-afghanistan-bounties.html

[38] Thus former US ambassador to the Russian Federation Michael McFaul stated: “The meaning of nomination of the candidature of Prokopchuk is obvious: Russia would gain new possibilities to pursue Putin’s enemies.” See: Putin critics rejoice at Russia’s defeat in Interpol presidency bid. Analysis by Nathan Hodge, CNN. [Electronic document] // CNN. 2018, 21 nov.  URL: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/21/europe/interpol-russia-intl/index.html (Reference date: January 20, 2020)

[39] See: A.V. Manoilo. How Sergey Skripal influenced the Interpol chief elections. [Electronic document] // Express Gazeta 2020, August 14. URL: https://www.eg.ru/politics/935122-kak-sergey-skripal-povliyal-na-vybory-glavy-interpola/

[40] A per CNN data the American senator Marco Rubio tried to pressure member states via the Ministry of Justice and the Department of State so they voted against the Russian. See: Elections of Interpol chief take place in the midst of intrigues and provocations against Russia’s candidate. [Electronic document] // Official website of Channel 1. 2018, November 21. URL: https://www.1tv.ru/news/2018-11-21/356005-vybory_glavy_interpola_prohodyat_na_fone_intrig_i_provokatsiy_protiv_kandidata_iz_rossii (Reference date: January 12, 2021)

[41] «I strongly oppose the possible election of Russian Alexander Prokopchuk as the next Interpol President. He has a reported history of serving in Russian President Putin’s dubious security services and reportedly attempting to abuse Interpol to pursue Russia’s political enemies». See: Twit by Senator Dick Durbin. [Electronic document] // Twitter. 2018, 21 nov. URL: https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1064998334715346945 (Reference date: January 20, 2021)

[42] «Lesley Stahl: Do you agree that Vladimir Putin is involved in assassinations? In poisonings? President Donald Trump: Probably he is, yeah. Probably. I mean, I don’t–Lesley Stahl: Probably? President Donald Trump: But I rely on them, it’s not in our country.  Lesley Stahl: Why not– they shouldn’t do it. This is a terrible thing. President Donald Trump: Of course, they shouldn’t do it-Lesley Stahl: Instead do you believe». See: Trump Talks Saudi ‘Murder,’ Putin and World War III: Full CBS Transcript. [Electronic document] // Haaretz. 2018, Oct. 15. URL: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-talks-saudi-murder-putin-and-world-war-iii-full-cbs-transcript-1.6555786 (Reference date: August 12, 2020)

[43] «In an interview with ’60 Minutes,’ President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is probably involved in assassinations, but not in the United States». See: Putin ‘probably’ involved in assassinations: Trump. [Electronic document] // Reuters. 2018, Oct. 15. URL: https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/putin-probably-involved-in-assassination-id473633369 (Reference date: January 12, 2021)

[44] See: A.V. Manoilo, Evo Morales was ‘asked’ by Washington: Bolivian military delivered CIA message to the President. // Military and Industrial Courier 2019, February 19. URL: https://www.vpk-news.ru/articles/53730

[45] Terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.

[46] See: Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya left Belarus for Lithuania. // DW. 2020, Aug 11. URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/mid-litvy-soobshhil-o-pribytii-tihanovskoj-v-stranu/a-54522300

[47] See: Tsikhanouskaya initiated the establishment of a Coordination Center for the transfer of poewr. // DW. 2020, Aug 14. URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/tihanovskaja-iniciirovala-sozdanie-coveta-po-transferu-vlacti/a-54570929

[48] «Tichanowskaja: „Entschuldigung, aber ich bin nicht die Oppositionsführerin, ich bin die Anführerin der Mehrheit! Wir sind nicht mehr die Opposition. Aber alles ist derzeit schwierig. Ich müsste mehr Zeit mit meinen Kindern verbringen, ich bin derzeit keine richtige Ehefrau, da mein Mann im Gefängnis ist. Und dann habe ich Verantwortung als Anführerin, von hier aus alles zu tun, damit sich die Lage in Weißrussland verändert…»». See: „Ich bin die Anführerin der Mehrheit!“. Warum sie weiter an ein freies Weißrussland glaubt. // Bild. 2020, 27.08. URL: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/bild-trifft-lukaschenko-gegnerin-swetlana-tichanowskaja-ich-bin-die-anfuehrerin-72592504.bild.html#fromWal

Tsikhanouskaya named herself elected president of Belarus. // Lenta.ru. 2020, Aug. 27 URL: https://lenta.ru/news/2020/08/27/izbr/

[49] “Any actions by the illegitimate Belarus leader Alexandr Lukashenko in domestic and foreign policy aimed to legitimize his rule and enter into new international agreements with Russia which restrict the sovereignty of the people of Belarus will be adjudicated by the international community as a crime against his people, null and void, and a de facto annexation. See: Seimas ragina tarptautinę bendruomenę įvertinti Rusijos primetamą sąjungą Baltarusijai. 2020 m. rugsėjo 10 d. pranešimas žiniasklaidai. Naujausi pakeitimai – 2020-09-10 13:37. URL: https://www.lrs.lt/sip/portal.show?p_r=35403&p_k=1&p_t=272425

[50] Tsikhanouskaya call on the UN to send its monitoring mission to Belarus // DW. 2020, Sep 4. URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/tihanovskaja-prizvala-oon-napravit-v-belarus-monitoringovuju-missiju/a-54820551

[51] Ibid.

[52] “If Russia tries to breach our sovereignty we know how the global community is going to react to, they will find them drawn into war. The West and NATO will not take it [assumed offence against sovereignty] because they will consider this to be a threat against them. And they [the West] will be somewhat right.” See: Lukashenko stated Russia uses pressure against Belarus every year and it ‘clamps it down.’ // TASS 2019, Dec 24. URL: https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/7412939

[53] For instance, in August 2019 John Bolton was in Minsk while in the position of national security advisor to the US President; in September 2019 David Hale, US Deputy Secretary of State for political issues visited Belarus.

[54] See: Pompeo in Minsk: The US offers Belarus oil but they won’t lift sanctions quite yet. // DW. 2020, Feb 1. URL: https://www.dw.com/ru/%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%BE-%D0%B2-%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B5-%D1%81%D1%88%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%8E%D1%82-%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%83%D1%81%D0%B8-%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%84%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BD%D0%BE-%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D1%83%D1%82/a-52228225

[55] Alexandr Lukashenko spoke about this directly on August 4, 2020: “These people witnesses that they were on purpose sent to Belarus. The orders were to wait’; ‘today we received information about another force that had been redeployed in the South’. See: Lukashenko said the Russians were send to Belarus with the orders to ‘wait’ // Interfax 2020, Aug 4. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/720223

[56] See: BelTA announced the arrest of 32 PMC fighters near Minsk // Interfax 2020, July 29. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/719423

[57] See: Russians detained near Minsk mentioned their service in the RF defense and law enforcement agencies // Interfax. 2020, Jul 29. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/719522

[58] Ibid.

[59] See: The Central Electoral Commission of Belarus stated the RF was preparing new fighter groups // Interfax. 2020, Jul 30. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/719567

[60] Zakhar Prilepin indirectly admitted he had taken part in the ideological ‘polishing’ of that incident. “There were several groups, you can call them a private security company, they were transited via Belarus to a third country. One group that was supposed to fly last was detained by Belarusian authorities. These groups had to relation to Belarus and they had no activity there, Belarus was just a transit location.” See: Prilepin spoke about the transit via Belarus of 170 ‘private security officers’ // Interfax. 2020, Aug 4. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/russia/720205

[61] Indirectly this is supported by Alexandr Lukashenko’s statement dated August 1, 2020: “Great that they figured out it was the first group. I realize this was only the first group of 180 or 200 people, which was planned for deployment in Belarus. And when I say this (I read the report) these are exact figures today. And the attempt to hide Russia’s ‘tail’ there and to say that it was them who approved the arrival of this group, well that’s hogwash.’ It’s evident we’re dealing with a slip of the tongue a-la Dr. Freud. See: Lukashenko stated there was an attempt to deploy 200 fighters in Belarus. // Interfax 2020, Aug 1. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/719932

[62] “SBU right from the beginning (30.07.2020) stated that ‘they gather enough evidence of military crimes of the Wagner Group (PMC) in the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions uncontrolled by Kiev. “These people, like anyone else who took part in the annexation of Ukrainian territories and other war crimes had to face trial and receive their punishment as provided for by Ukrainian legislation.” See: Kiev demands criminal extradition of the Wagner people detained in Belarus.”// Interfax 2020, July 30. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/719616

[63] On July 31, 2020 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus provided Ukrainian authorities with the list of RF citizens detained near Minsk who were presumably contract fighters of a private military company.

[64] See: In the Federation Council the arrest of the ‘Wagner people’ was compared to the Skripals story // Interfax 2020, Jul 30. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/russia/719570

[65] On August 6, 2020 this possibility was discussed over the phone by Presidents Alexandr Lukashenko and Volodimir Zelensky; moreover “Belarusian authorities showed greater confidence in that they intended to hand over some of the Russians detained in a sanatorium near Minsk on July 29^th to Ukraine.” See: The Wagner people’s future will be decided by the three parties or unilaterally. // Kommersant 2020, Aug 6. URL: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4443421; besides, “The dialog of Ukraine’s President with his Belarusian colleague about handing over the 33 Russian PMC fighters detained in August in Minsk has been developing very constructively until recently, and Alexandr Lukashenko was ready to turn in the Russians to Kiev. … These were the words of Dmitry Kuleba, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to him Minsk’s refusal left the Ukrainian senior authorities in shock as all the details had been meticulously discussed by Zelensky and Lukashenko in person, and Kiev was ready to arrest the Russians.” See: Lukashenko promised Zelensky without qualification to turn in the ‘Wagner Russians to Kiev’ – head of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. // Novy Den’ 2020, Aug 12. URL: https://newdaynews.ru/crimea/712683.html

[66] See: Lukashenko invited Prosecutors General of Russia and Ukraine to Minsk. // Interfax. 2020, Aug 6. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/720533

[67] Ibid.

[68] See: Lukashenko stated he cut a deal with Putin regarding the Russian detained. // Interfax. 2020, Aug 9. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/chronicle/zaderzhanie-vagnerovczev-v-belorussii.html

[69] Kiev officially requested Minsk to turn in 28 ‘Wagner people’ // Interfax 2020, Aug 12. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/721466

[70] Source reported possible handover of ‘Wagner people’ to the Russian Federation by end of the week. // Interfax 2020, Aug 12. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/721513

[71] See: Lukashenko and Putin held new telephone talks. // RT. 2020, Aug 16. URL: https://russian.rt.com/ussr/news/774372-lukashenko-putin-razgovor

[72] Theresa May delivered ultimatum to Moscow, according to which within 24 hours the Russian side had to plausibly explain itself regarding the incident. The ultimatum expired at 03:00 Moscow time on March 14, 2018. See: London officially accused Russia of the Skripals poisoning // Lenta.ru/ 2018, Mar 13. URL: https://lenta.ru/news/2018/03/14/skripal/

[73] See: Skripal Readings as an Example of a Special Operation to Intercept the Information Agenda. The Latest Practice of Modern Information Warfare and Psychological Operations. // Medium. 2020, Mar. 8. URL: https://medium.com/@andreimanoilo

[74] See: Item 5.1. Skripal Readings as an Example of a Special Operation to Intercept the Information Agenda. In book: [10].

[75] See: Item 5.2. Viral technologies and cascade type ‘pandemics’ using the example of exposing the CIA agent of influence, former Vice President of Venezuela Diosdado Cabello 17-21/08/2019. In book: [10].

[76] See: Item 5.3. Continuation of the Diosdado Cabello case: Looking of the mole. In book: [10].

[77] See: Andrei Manoilo (Andrey Manoylo): No es cierto que los rusos tengamos informantes internos en la CIA, al menos no por ahora. // Medium. 2019, Oct. 7 URL: https://vicentequintero.medium.com/andrei-manoilo-no-es-cierto-que-los-rusos-tengamos-informantes-internos-en-la-cia-y-la-casa-blanca-8b6c6b78bc85

[78] Logical operator does ‘not’ (logical negation) exist only in a person’s mind; when information is transmitted from consciousness to subconsciousness of the operator the ‘not’ is scrapped, and negation turns into acknowledgement.

[79] See: Obama’s ex advisor believes the US protests were organized as per the ‘Russian guidebook’ [Electronic document] / TASS. Official website 2020, June 1. URL: https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/8612639 (Reference date: June 1, 2020)

[80] See: In a Blow to Maduro, Russia Withdraws Key Defense Support to Venezuela. Russia has been one of Maduro’s major supporters in its standoff with the U.S. // The Wall Street Journal. 2020, Jun. 3. URL: https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-a-blow-to-maduro-russia-withdraws-key-defense-support-to-venezuela-11559486826 (Date of access: 20/11/2020)

[81] See: Triggers of the information struggle. // Independent Military Review 2020, Nov 12. URL: https://nvo.ng.ru/nvo/2020-11-12/1_1117_triggers.html

[82] See: Ex secret service employee of the Russian Federation Manoilo: The West could recruit Navalny’s wife. // Nation News. 2020, Oct 13. URL: https://nation-news.ru/563995-eks-sotrudnik-specsluzhb-rf-manoilo-zapad-mog-zaverbovat-zhenu-navalnogo

[83] Ibid.

[84] See: “I knew that”. Navalny commented on the statement that his wife was an agent of Western special services. // Gordon 2020, October 15.
URL: https://gordonua.com/news/worldnews/ya-tak-i-znal-navalnyy-prokommentiroval-zayavlenie-o-tom-chto-ego-zhena-agent-zapadnyh-specsluzhb-1523071.html

[85] See: Conceptual wars of the 21^st Century. Interview with G. Pocheptsov. // Independent Military Review 2013, Sep 24. URL: https://www.ng.ru/scenario/2013-09-24/9_wars_xxi.html

Editor’s Note: Travel might be complicated right now, but use our inspirational trip ideas to plan ahead for your next bucket list adventure. Those who choose to travel are strongly encouraged to check local government restrictions, rules, and safety measures related to COVID-19 and take personal comfort levels and health conditions into consideration before departure. Images may depict pre-pandemic travel conditions.

When defining anything as “the best,” retirement destinations included, it’s necessary to understand the criteria along with considerations of personal needs and tastes. To some, the best is the most luxurious and indulgent regardless of price. To others, the best means value — where you get the most for the cost. The best climate, scenery, location, health care, and things to do also come into the picture.

Many international islands offer incentives to retirees and welcome them as long as they can prove a minimum amount of income or savings. Both local and U.S. taxes are a consideration, and American citizens should be sure to understand the IRS requirements. The U.S. Department of State offers a checklist on retiring abroad as well as access to visa requirements and specific information for other countries. The U.S. State Department travel advisories page is another useful resource, as is STEP (the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program). Since Medicare does not apply overseas, retirees living abroad must think about arrangements for health coverage, prescriptions, and availability of medical care.

It’s a good idea to take a lengthy vacation on any of the islands to get a feel for housing and daily living costs, social life, quality of medical care, language, infrastructure, transportation, and safety. Issues such as unreliable Wi-Fi, electrical blackouts, traffic, and unavailability of familiar products are minor inconveniences to some and game changers to others.

For the adventurous or retirees seeking a change of scenery, lifestyle, or a more economical place to settle, we have rounded up some ideas. More research is recommended, of course, before you start packing up and planning your farewell parties, but these islands may get you thinking about your future home.

See the article here.

Author: PATRICIA DOHERTY

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed one of the major deficiencies in Czech employment legislation: the almost non-existent regulation of home working. Due to this absence in legislation, employees working from home are theoretically subject to the same rules as if they were working at their employer’s workplace, while the actual circumstances are significantly different. As a result, employers must in particular obtain their employees’ consents to work from home, reimburse the employees for the costs incurred, and ensure compliance with occupational health and safety regulations. To be on the safe side, employers should substitute the missing home office regulation at the national level with appropriate internal measures and policies. That said, it seems that many Czech employers still do not reflect home working in their employment documentation.

In this article, we provide a brief summary of the key issues and risks that employers should take into consideration when allowing home working and recommend how employers can comply with their legal obligations.

Mandatory agreement on working from home

Employers must bear in mind that they cannot order employees to work from home and employees cannot demand to do so. Therefore, the employer and the employee must conclude an agreement in which they not only agree not only on home working as such but also specify their mutual rights and obligations during the home working period. Employers should be also mindful of setting objective and fair eligibility criteria for home working to avoid potential unequal treatment claims.

Change of the place of work

If the place of work agreed in the employment contract does not cover the employee’s home address, it is necessary to amend the employment contract by a written amendment. To avoid the necessity to change the employment contract for the return of the employees to their original workplaces, the employer should agree with the employee on an alternative workplace, thereby covering both the employer’s workplace as well as the employee’s home.

Reimbursement of costs

The employer must create the conditions for its employees to perform work. Regarding employees working from home, this means that the employer should, among others, cover the costs related to performing work from home. In other words, the employer must reimburse all costs which the employee would not incur if they worked at the employer’s workplace (including internet connection, water, electricity, heating and wear and tear of employee’s own equipment and furniture). As it may be particularly difficult to determine the actual costs related to the performance of work at home, employers often pay employees a flat weekly/monthly reimbursement. The reimbursement of costs inevitably triggers tax consequences, therefore we strongly recommend that employers seek tax advice before they implement any cost reimbursement mechanisms.

Read the rest here.

Designer Zuzana Osako scoured the folk traditions of her country and Japan’s for a common thread to weave into the Czech Republic’s Olympic team outfits for the Tokyo Games opening ceremony in July, turning heads but also drawing criticism.

Czech Olympic team outfits tend to grab attention. In 2012, athletes stood out with electric blue Wellington boots at the London Games’ opening ceremony.

They followed that with white-and-black-striped sport coats for the 2016 Rio Games that reminded many fans of the attire of actor Michael Keaton’s iconic “Beetlejuice” character.

Osako, who had visited Japan as a model and met her husband there, opted this time for inspiration from the hand-dyed indigo and block printing technique known in the Czech Republic as blueprint.

“The first thought was how to reflect the culture of Japan,” she said at her studio in Prague. “So I looked for something that connected both cultures.”

Read the rest here.

Author: Jiří Skácel

13 týdnů studia v programu Arizonské státní univerzity, 39 studentek a jejich projektů, 7 finalistek v závěrečné soutěži AWE a 1 vítězka. Takový byl 1.ročník společného vzdělávacího projektu neziskové organizace Business & Professional Women CR a Velvyslanectví USA v ČR. Předávání certifikátů úspěšným absolventkám a vyhlášení výsledků soutěže o Nejlepší projekt AWE se uskutečnilo v prostorách Rezidence Velvyslance USA.

Zájem o účast v Akademii byl ze strany začínajících podnikatelek opravdu velký. Původně byl projekt AWE naplánován pro 30 českých podnikatelek, vysoký počet přihlášek, kterých dorazilo 193, vyústil v jeho rozšíření. Aktivně se tak do studia nakonec zapojilo 39 studentek. „Je velmi povzbudivé vidět, že i přes překážky, které jsme my ženy musely během měsíců lockdownu překonat, se našla skupina aktivních žen, které se nevzdaly svých snů a pustily se aktivně do jejich plnění. A jsem velmi ráda, že jsme s naší organizací mohly být u toho. Také mě těší, že se kolem projektu spontánně vytvořila komunita aktivních podnikavých žen, mezi něž se mohou přidat i další, například připojením se k naší FB skupině. Inspiraci a motivaci tam najdou jak začínající, tak i již aktivní podnikatelky. Pro některé z nich to možná bude impuls pro přihlášení se do dalšího ročníku, který již dnes začínáme pomalu plánovat,“ říká Lenka Šťastná, prezidentka Business & Professional Women CR.

V průběhu celého programu studentky „provázela“ trojice facilitátorek – Bohdana Goliášová, Lenka Daňková a Ingrid Šůrová. Byly jim motivací i oporou. I díky nim se studentkám dařilo posouvat své projekty správným směrem. Během 3 měsíců online studia v rámci programu DreamBuilder vyvinutém prestižní Thunderbird School of Global Management Arizonské státní univerzity absolvovaly studentky 13 „workshopů, během nichž pracovaly na rozvoji projektů, se kterými se do Akademie přihlásily.

Celkem 13 studentek pak svůj projekt představilo odborné porotě, ve které zasedla prezidentka Business & Professional Women CR Lenka Šťastná, byznys mentorka Margareta Křížová a podnikatelka Jana Matoušková, vybrala nejlepší projekt. Jako nehlasující člen poroty byl přítomen i kulturní attaché Velvyslanectví USA Erik Black, který projekt do České republiky přivedl. Projekty, které se dostaly do finále byly z nejrůznějších oborů. Jedno však měly společné – chuť jejich autorek realizovat svůj sen o vlastním novém podnikání a pracovat na svém i jeho dalším rozvoji.

Cena za 1. místo a šek na 50 tisíc Kč, který jeho majitelce pomůže v dalším rozvoji jejího byznysu, patří Heleně Bartošové, která se do AWE přihlásila s projektem Filharmoniště. Projekt Filharmoniště přináší vážnou hudbu od profesionálů všem divákům už od nejútlejšího věku. Na koncertu pro rodiče s dětmi od 0 do 3 let se posluchači uvelebí na dece, mohou si kreslit, nebo dát svačinu a poslechnout si třeba Mozarta nebo Vivaldiho. Kromě toho Helena získala také příležitost využít 5 hodin mentoringu dle vlastního výběru. Ten je připraven i pro další finalistky, které se se svými projekty umístily na 2. a 3. příčce.

Na 2. místě skončila Barbora Kudelová se svým projektem CTRLBK. CTRLBK je značka českého minimalistické udržitelného oblečení. Stojí na základech lokálnosti a vynositelnosti. Snaží se najít výjimečné střihy a vyrábět z kvalitních materiálů. Mimo to se věnuje osvětě v oblasti pomalé módy, udržitelnosti a obecného přístupu k oblečení. Třetí příčku se svým projektem 7 míčů obsadila Kateřina Šorfová. Projekt 7 míčů přináší hravé a zdravé sezení vhodné do dětských pokojů, školek či kanceláří. Autorka projektu se rozhodla známé gymnastické míče schovat do hravého a veselého obalu z kvalitní potahové látky. Děti si s ním mohou hrát, ale je určen také k sezení u stolu a je velmi vyhledávanou pomůckou pro děti s ADHD.

„První ročník AWE v České republice byl jednoznačným úspěchem! Zaznamenali jsme obrovský zájem podnikatelek z celého Česka o připojení se k prvnímu ročníku, že bylo těžké vybrat mezi nimi jména těch, které se do programu dostanou. Je to důkaz toho, že existuje mnoho českých žen, které by si chtěly splnit své sny vlastnit a provozovat vlastní byznys. Náš implementační partner, BPWCR, dále koordinoval nábor, registraci a usnadnění 13týdenního online kurzu s velkou profesionalitou a odhodláním, což umožnilo hladký a efektivní běh programu. Pak tu byly samy vynikající facilitátorky AWE, ženy, které vedly týdenní diskuse o kurzech – každá z nich také úspěšná podnikatelka! Poskytly studentkám AWE okamžitou a užitečnou zpětnou vazbu a perspektivu, která pomohla povzbudit všechny k dokončení kurzu a plnění jejich obchodních snů. Jako bývalý manažer jsem neuvěřitelně hrdý na to, že jsme mohli uspořádat první AWE v Česku, a těším se na další,“ hodnotí 1. ročník Akademie pro začínající podnikatelky Erik Black, kulturní atašé Velvyslanectví USA v České republice.

Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)

Vznik AWE před třemi lety iniciovala americká vláda. V roce 2021 se studijní programy AWE objeví ve více než 75 zemích světa a otevřou tak cestu k podnikání pro 70 000 žen! Business & Professional Women CR byla vybrána jako partnerská organizace, která tento projekt realizuje v České republice za podpory Velvyslanectví USA v ČR. #AWEnergized #AWEinCzechia

Veřejně prospěšná organizace BPWCR propojuje aktivní ženy s cílem podpořit ekonomickou nezávislost žen. Členkám a členům umožňuje zapojit se a přispět k pozitivní změně ve společnosti. Celoročně vede kampaň za #rovnéplaty, medializuje ženské vzory, organizuje odbornou konferenci Equal Pay Day, mentoringové programy, podporuje téma postavení a vlivu žen ve společnosti. Tvoří a realizuje projekty na podporu rozvoje žen a využití jejich potenciálu. Aktuálně jde o Women in the Media (WOMED), Anchors for the future pro dívky a nejnověji Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) – vzdělávací projekt, který BPWCR realizuje jako první v Česku ve spolupráci s Velvyslanectvím USA v ČR.

Profily finalistek 1. ročníku Akademie pro začínající podnikatelky (AWE)

Růžena Jeleneková – Pražské zkratky

Projekt Pražské zkratky pomáhá zjednodušit plánování výletů do Prahy. Prostřednictvím webových stránek www.prazskezkratky.cz přináší pro rodiny s dětmi ověřené tipy, jak projít centrem Prahy svým vlastním tempem, bez průvodce a zároveň děti seznámit s její historií. V e-shopu nabízí ty nejkrásnější knihy a hry o Praze pro děti. V nabídce je také sestavení itineráře na míru – podrobný program v Praze přizpůsobený roční době, věku dětí, zájmům a preferencím.

Barbora Kudelová – CTRLBK

CTRLBK je značka českého minimalistické udržitelného oblečení. Stojí na základech lokálnosti a vynositelnosti. Snaží se najít výjimečné střihy a vyrábět z kvalitních materiálů. Mimo to se věnuje osvětě v oblasti pomalé módy, udržitelnosti a obecného přístupu k oblečení.

Jana Dušátková – Češtinářské špeky

Češtinářské špeky jsou kartičky, které zábavnou, stručnou a přehlednou formou ukazují nejčastější chyby, které v češtině děláme. A to nejen žáci ve školách, ale velmi často i dospělí. Nejsou to jenom chytáky a výjimky, ale i pravidla, o kterých často ani nevíme, že existují, nebo mylně zažité jevy, které jsou ale chybné. Kartičky jsou vhodné pro učitele jako doplněk do výuky češtiny, pro cizince, kteří se učí česky nebo pro kohokoliv, koho čeština baví nebo se v ní chce zlepšit. Jako bonus jsou v kartičkách kromě pravopisných a gramatických jevů také jazykové zajímavosti, etymologie běžně používaných slov či význam slov ve známých rčeních.

Katarína Balcová – Hayee

Hayee, to je značka unikátních dětských matrací určených primárně do cestovních postýlek, ale lze je využít i jako samostatnou dětskou matraci či hrací podložku. Jsou vhodné již od narozeného miminka, z odolného a omyvatelného materiálu. Hlavní výhodou matrací je jejich malý rozměr pro přepravu, rychlá příprava ke spaní na samonafukovacím principu a zejména možnost regulovat tvrdost matrace dle potřeby.

Jana Kopáčiková – STYLE MANAGER

Služba STYLE MANAGER se specializuje na vytížené ženy, které chtějí vypadat a cítit se skvěle. Poskytuje jim módní poradenství. Zaměřuje se především na manažerky z korporací a byznysmenky, které nemají čas chodit po obchodech nebo nevědí, kde sehnat ty správné kousky. Pracujeme zejména s tím, v čem se žena cítí dobře. To obohatíme o věci, které budou korespondovat s jejím životním stylem. Mimo služby stylistů, kteří ženám pomohou vyčistit a vytvořit nadčasový šatník, je služba doplněna o stylingovou appku STYLE MANAGER, kde mohou najít inspiraci pro každodenní oblékání a vytvořit si vlastní virtuální šatník, který tak mají po ruce kdykoli, když budou přemýšlet, co si vzít na sebe. STYLE MANAGER navíc pomáhá i matkám samoživitelkám. Vytříděné kousky ze šatníků klientek vždy putují do Klubu svobodných matek, který věci dále prodává nebo daruje maminkám.

Helena Bartošová – Filharmoniště

Projekt Filharmoniště přináší vážnou hudbu od profesionálů všem divákům už od nejútlejšího věku. Na koncertu pro rodiče s dětmi od 0 do 3 let se posluchači uvelebí na dece, mohou si kreslit, nebo dát svačinu a poslechnout si třeba Mozarta nebo Vivaldiho. Pro starší děti od 3 do 7 let nabízí kromě koncertů vážné hudby i hudební pohádky, hrané profesionálními muzikanty, a interaktivní hudební workshopy.

Kateřina Šorfová – 7 míčů

Projekt 7 míčů přináší hravé a zdravé sezení vhodné do dětských pokojů, školek či kanceláří. Autorka projektu se rozhodla známé gymnastické míče schovat do hravého a veselého obalu z kvalitní potahové látky. Děti si s ním mohou hrát, ale je určen také k sezení u stolu a je velmi vyhledávanou pomůckou pro děti s ADHD. Svůj míči si však mohou pořídit i dospělí, kteří si díky sezení na nich mohou také posilovat své svalstvo.

International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES)[1] from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyses developments in the Middle East, Balkans and also around the world. Ambassador Arben Cici is diplomat, researcher, professor and currently the diplomatic advisor to the President of Albania. In his text entitled “Biden-Putin summit, surprising or long-awaited/Samiti Biden-Putin, befasues apo i shumëpritur” he is writing about the state of play in U.S.-Russia relations before Biden’s first meeting with Putin since taking the office.

Biden-Putin summit, surprising or long-awaited

The White House has prepared for President Joe Biden’s first international trip since he was elected the 47th President of the United States. He started his first visit in Europe, where the welcoming climate seems, for many reasons, more positive than that to his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, but also more challenging, despite rising expectations. Anyway, this agenda will be not only busy, but also heated, like a geopolitical clash of Summits in Europe. It began with the G-7 Summit, continues on June 11-13 in the United Kingdom, then with the NATO Summit in Belgium, on June 14, and culminates and come to the end with the high-stake meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia is not attending either the G-7 or NATO meetings. It was suspended from, in 2014, what was then the G-8 in response to its annexation of Crimea, and similarly, NATO suspended all cooperation with Russia for its ‘aggressive actions’ in Ukraine.

The first high-level meeting between the US President and the Russian President, which will take place on June 16 in Geneva, was confirmed simultaneously by both, the White House and the Kremlin. They issued brief statements, without demonstrating a high expectation of this event, somewhat unexpected, due to the strained relations between these two nuclear powers.

“…The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the U.S.-Russia relationship,” said the White House in a brief statement or the organization of this summit.

Just weeks after being elected President (February 4th), Biden stated in his address to State Department officials, called ‘America is back’ that he would have a very different manner to Russia than his predecessor, Trump.

‘We intend to discuss the state and prospects of further development of Russian-American relations, problems of strategic stability, as well as topical issues on the international agenda, including interaction in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the settlement of regional conflicts’, simultaneously said officially the Kremlin.

The context of the visit:

It will be Biden’s first meeting with Putin since taking office but not the very first one between them, including that of 2011, which is remembered for exchanging not at all friendly jokes between them.

This summit comes almost three years after Putin’s meeting with Trump (and the only one between them) and today’s U.S. officials claim that the Russian President’s meeting with Biden will have to be different from the one in July 2018, during which Trump appeared on Putin’s side and openly denied US revelation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Russia, as the ‘biggest threat’ to U.S. security and its alliances, and former President Trump’s cozy relationship with Putin, were one of Biden’s battle horse weapons during Biden campaign for the White House, no further than last November.

Last month, the U.S. administration announced that 10 Russian diplomats were expelled and dozens of Russian companies and individuals were sanctioned in response to allegations in the SolarWinds hack and Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

The relations between the two powers are more turbulent than ever. The interviews of the two leaders in recent months, accompanied by accusations against each other, have strained even more these relations, consequence of which, for the first time in 20 years, Russia recalled on Moscow the Russian ambassador to Washington.

However, the today major global issues and the deep-seated disputes which call, of course, for immediate solutions between the U.S. and Russia, and not only, forced these two leaders to throw back the past of not very friendly relations and of bitter media darts between them, until a few weeks ago.

‘…We don’t only meet with people only when we agree. It’s important to meet with leaders when we have a range of disagreements, as we do with the Russian leaders’, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, thus responding to the critics of the organization of this important summit.

Possible talking points:

The agenda has not been made public yet but, according to occasional statements by the White House and the Kremlin, a number of acute issues, which can change radically overnight, will be raised for discussion during this important summit.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev are in charge of preparing the agenda, the pillars and spirit of which were based at the May 19 meeting of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The readiness to put on the table all the possible issues for discussion, regardless of whether or not an agreement is reached, was publicly expressed.

‘I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner, very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions — interfering with our election, cyber-attacks, poisoning its citizens — are over’, said Biden, who on April 13th had his first telephone conversation with Putin, called ‘a tense first exchange’ by some comments and diplomatic corridors.

However, the statement of the White House means that the topics that can be discussed are acute, hot, the solution of which requires effort, attention, determination, responsibility, wisdom and the spirit of compromise, for the good and interests of both countries and the worldwide.

Therefore, when President Joe Biden will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on June 16, it will be one of the most watched summits of this year.

‘… They discussed a number of regional and global issues, including the intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues building on the extension of the “New START Treaty”. President Biden made it clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to such Russia’s actions as cyber intrusions and election interference. President Biden emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The President voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine’s borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions. President Biden reaffirmed his intention to restore a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, in line with U.S. interests, and proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months, to discuss the full range of issues facing the United States and Russia’, the White House said in a statement on April 13th.

In 2014, Russia unliterally annexed Crimea, an important peninsula in the Black Sea that is home to a Russian navy base, resulting in international condemnation and sanctions. Despite this, Russia maintained its position by warning the United States against sending warships to the Black Sea urging U.S. forces to stay away ‘for their own good’.

U.S. Intelligence Agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and that the country was behind recent cyber-attacks (last year) on U.S. companies and software systems.

The White House officially announced that last year Russian spies sabotaged a tiny piece of computer code buried in a popular piece of software called ‘Solar Winds’, which spread to 18.000 government and private computer networks. The hackers accessed the digital files of the U.S. departments of Justice, State, Treasury, Energy, Commerce and were able to pry into top-level communications, court documents and nuclear information.

The Biden administration announced sanctions in March against several senior Russian middle-ranking officials, along with more than a dozen other businesses and entities, even for the nearly fatal attack of the Russian Opposition Leader, Alexey Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok and his prisoning, in August 2020. According to the U.K. government, the Russian Secret Service used the same nerve agent for the poisoning of former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury, in 2018.

Suspicions have been publicly raised that Russian agents were offering bounties to Taliban to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan, which are in the process of returning home, and President Biden has a high sensitivity for the safety and lives of American troops.

Russia has consistently denied all these allegations, so it looks like it will not be an easy summit. The numerous issues on which these two powers have been debated and clashed with each other for a long time are part of not only bilateral concern, but also of global concern.

The result of the successful cooperation between these two countries, taking mutually coordinated measures in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic and the devastating economic, health and social consequences, as well as the substantial debate on climate change, are welcomed by the entire international community. Despite the complexity of the issues and extremely controversial attitudes, areas of cooperation such as the battle against Covid-19, climate change, setting ‘the rules of the game’ for cyber espionage, and minimizing the destabilizing of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, offer hope and opportunity for agreement and cooperation.

What will most likely be discussed in this summit, will be the controversial issue of the construction of the Nord Stream 2, which caused a conflict up to proposals for sanctions against Germany, one of the most important American allies in Europe. Senior U.S. officials insist that the pipeline threatens European energy security, heightens Russia’s influence and poses risks to Ukraine and Poland in bypassing both countries.

On the other hand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the news of the summit commenting: ‘Diplomacy has a chance only if you speak to each other’.

Why Geneva?

It is no coincidence that this particular place was chosen for this important summit. President Biden has proposed the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to take place in a third country, so that the two can discuss ‘a full range of issues’. Geneva, this rich and very quiet city, on the shores of the lake of Geneva, offers stunning views of the Mont-Blanc peak, the highest peak in Western Europe, is an intriguing background for the summit.

Geneva is an important center of institutions and multinational international organizations, and the heart of Swiss neutrality.

This city became the main crossroad of diplomacy and intrigue in the post-Cold War years during the Cold War, and the crossroad where Soviet dominated Eastern bloc diplomacy met freely with the Western Capitalism of the American style.

Especially on November 19-20, 1985, Geneva made history when U.S. President Ronald Reagan first met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, a summit which was considered very important for breaking the ice between East and West and fostering more friendly relations between the two leaders throughout their presidential term.

Recently, this finding of the Biden administration seeks to revitalize the city’s reputation as a center of international diplomacy, distancing itself from the Trump administration, which mainly avoided its globalist institutions like the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization, organizations in which the Biden administration has seriously re-engaged.

The importance of the Summit:

Given the recent tensions, the far-flung attitudes of the parties and the general skeptical bilateral climate, there is little confidence that the summit can achieve stunning results.

But trying to restore dialogue and communication in order to achieve ‘predictability and stability’ in relations with Russia is an ambitious and bold goal of the Biden administration.

Even if no significant progress is made in agreeing on the hot issues that can be discussed, both parties will legitimately claim that they have attempted in good faith, efforts to improve relations between them and consequently establish a different climate in international relations.

This meeting will give an important message in the general conflict situation, will contribute to de-escalate the tensions through the establishment of open lines of communication between Washington and Moscow on important global security issues of interest to Russia and the United States, especially in the debate over the control of nuclear weapons.

Nevertheless, everyone agrees that: surprising or long-awaited, this summit will be the most globally attended diplomatic event.

About the author:

Ambassador Arben Cici has a long diplomatic carrier; he isresearcher and analyst in the field of international relations especially the issues of the region, author of books and many articles published in Albania and abroad. He is teaching at the University of Tirana and at the Mediterranean University as chair of international relations and diplomacy. He is diplomatic advisor to the President of the Republic of Albania.

Ljubljana/Tirana, 12 June 2021

[1] IFIMES – International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has Special Consultative status at ECOSOC/UN, New York, since 2018.

These are the best places to live in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index.

Auckland, New Zealand is the most livable city in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2021 Global Liveability Index. Each year, this report analyzes 140 cities around the world and rates them on a scale from one to 100, looking at over 30 factors in five major categories – stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure – to determine the most (and least) livable destinations. Cities in Australia and New Zealand dominate six of the top 10 spots this year, thanks in part to their pandemic response, and several of these places have made the list year after year with consistently high ratings.

So, what do these ratings signify? A score of 100 conveys that the city has ideal livability, while one means that the city’s livability is intolerable. The categories are weighted differently, too; stability accounts for 25% of the total and considers the prevalence of petty and violent crime, the threat of terror, military conflict, and civil unrest, while health care, which accounts for 20% of the total, assesses the availability and quality of private and public health care and access to over-the-counter drugs. Education counts for the least amount – just 10% – and factors in the availability and quality of private as well as public education indicators.

Infrastructure accounts for 20% of the total, taking into consideration things like public transport, housing, energy and water provisions, and more. Finally, culture and environment, which makes up 25% of the total rating, covers a wide range of factors, including level of corruption, humidity and temperature, censorship, food and drink, and more.

The latest report indicates the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on some countries, while also identifying cities that were able to contain the virus faster and allow their residents to live relatively normal lives. (Data for this survey was collected from Feb. 22 to March 21, 2021.)

In a statement shared with Travel + Leisure, Upasana Dutt, head of global liveability at The Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on global liveability. Cities across the world are now much less liveable than they were before the pandemic began. However, despite the challenges, American cities have risen in the rankings as a result of a reduced strain on the healthcare system, with the rolling out of the vaccination program and better management of cases by the state governments. The cities that have risen to the top of the rankings this year are largely the ones that have taken stringent measures to contain the pandemic.”

For a full breakdown of the categories and rankings, visit The Economist Intelligence Unit website.

These are the best places to live in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2021 Global Liveability Index. Did your favorite city make the top 10?

See the list here.

The economic innovation driven by the 27 member states of the European Union has helped advance previously tarnished economies, and help build the platform for solvent democracies. In the last few years, economic changes regarding corporation tax have shown both the good and the ugly side of EU leaders, as the European Commission battles with tax talks between EU member nations and OECD operatives.

Some countries in the EU have been decreasing their corporate tax rates in recent years. These decreases are becoming more and more attractive for various large tech giants. Countries such as Irelands, Malta, Hungary, and Luxembourg have been battling vetoes brought forth from the EU Commission housed in Brussels.

While these countries are remaining complacent with their decision to keep corporate taxes low, for both domestic and international corporations; a push from Washington, OECD, and the EU Commission can still take a while before a universal average comes into effect.

So which EU countries have the lowest corporate taxes, and how are they keeping percentages low to attract larger international corporations to set up shop? Here’s a look at the EU States with the lowest corporate tax.

Hungary

Among all 27 member states, Hungary has the lowest corporate tax rate at 9%. This is a sharp decline from its previous 19% a decade or so ago. These changes came into effect in early 2017, and low tax rates apply for large corporations, medium and small-sized businesses.

Reports on Hungary’s low corporate tax rates have proven largely successful, especially for domestic and international companies making more than €2 million in revenue. Although these attractive tax rates may seem beneficial for foreign investment, Hungary still had to raise some other taxes in 2010 to ensure they remain compliant with EU regulations.

Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has stood strong against the OECD and other EU nations pushing for a minimum average corporate tax rate. Earlier in 2021, Paschal Donohoe, the Irish Finance Minister claimed that if an average universal tax rate is introduced for the EU and other wealthy nations, Irelands may lose nearly 20% of its current tax revenues.

Against the 19% headline tax in the United Kingdom which is set to rise to 25%, Ireland has a mere 12.5% corporate headline tax. Donohoe is pushing for the corporate tax to remain low, as these figures are helping to boost the economy via multinational investments.

Lithuania

The small Baltic nation tucked between Poland and Latvia has a mere 15% corporate tax rate. The Republic of Lithuania has created a well-rounded taxation profile for itself in recent years. The tax profile is a statement, claiming that any person, foreign and local will pay a levy of 15% corporate tax for many services and goods sold and rendered within the Republic.

The Lithuanian government has also introduced more attractive tax rates for personal income and small businesses. Currently, a 0% tax rate applies to businesses that employ less than 10 staff members, and revenue/profit does not exceed €300,000 for the first tax year. Thereafter, the tax rate will increase to 5%. These changes to their taxation system have proven to be successful in the long run, inviting foreign investors to boost the local economy and create employment.

Read the rest here.

Author: NOR EASTER

Facing Covid-19 pandemic – mission of saving human lives

In its response to the Covid-19 pandemic the Republic of Serbia introduced state of emergency on 15 March 2020 and then terminated it on 6 May 2020. From the start of 2020 until the declaration of state of emergency around 400,000 persons entered Serbia, of which around 40,000 persons in the week before the introduction of state of emergency. Majority of them came from high-risk countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as Italy. This required quick decisions of the authorities with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to prevent a collapse of the health care system and a health disaster like the one in Bergamo, Italy.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world in many aspects. As the pandemic gained pace, Serbia modified its response and calibrated itself to the newly emerged circumstances. The key actors on the international stage used soft power to pursue their foreign policy and geopolitical interests and goals. During the pandemic the European Union was slow and cumbersome, as a result of what other countries tried to seize and fill the created gap. Serbia managed to turn the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic into success. In addition to the assistance it provided to other countries at the outbreak of the pandemic, particularly Italy, Serbia also led the mission of saving of human lives in the region. It assisted all the countries in the region, and later embarked on production of vaccines.

Analysts believe that Serbia had responded correctly, bearing in mind that when it comes to combating the pandemic it is necessary to demonstrate solidarity, because nobody can fight against the Covid-19 pandemic alone. During the pandemic, Serbia and its President Aleksandar Vučić (SNS) reaffirmed their position of leaders in the region. Namely, while the key countries were competing for his favor, through timely and decisive measures he managed to prevent a healthcare disaster of enormous proportions. The success of Serbia in the region must not be perceived as a failure of others.

Negotiations between ruling and opposition parties regarding conditions for holding next elections

Regular parliamentary, provincial and local elections were held in Serbia on 21 June 2020. At the elections, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and its candidates in the local communities scored a convincing victory.

Although prior to the announcement of elections the election threshold was reduced from 5% to 3%, a part of opposition parties boycotted the elections stating that there were no conditions in place to hold honest and fair elections.

Negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties continued also after the elections, under EU mediation. Some progress has been made, which could ultimately lead to brokering of a final agreement between the ruling and opposition parties. The next parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in the spring of 2022. It is important that representatives of political parties also engage in dialogue without the presence of international representatives in order to strengthen their mutual trust and ensure democratic capacity for the election process.

According to analysts, the opposition should regroup its ranks, that is find new leaders and supplement its political program to be able to oppose the ruling parties. So far the opposition’s modus operandi has not yielded effective results. The heterogeneous structure of the opposition requires a “multi-echelon” approach at the upcoming elections, because an associated heterogeneous opposition would not achieve synergic effect on the electorate. The opposition predominantly makes complaints regarding its representation in the media. However, there are numerous examples from other countries in which opposition parties had won the elections although they did not have significant representation in the media. Participants of the election process have to be equally represented in the media during the election campaign. The opposition had made a major mistake by boycotting the last parliamentary elections, as in such a way the opposition parties eliminated themselves from the political process and essentially reduced their impact and actions to the level of nongovernmental organizations (NGO). The boycott by the opposition parties is a loser option. The current opposition representatives cannot confront Vučić- unless maybe if a figure would emerge that would be perceived by the citizens as an indisputable authority, like Zdravko Krivokapić in Montenegro. Former Serbian President Boris Tadić did not exclude the possibility of running again at the presidential elections, which at the very start is a wrong and detrimental move for the opposition. The opposition predominantly directs all its actions and activities against Aleksandar Vučić, instead of towards the citizens/voters.

Internal “cleansing” of SNS

It is assessed that the Serb Progressive Party has around 800,000 members. It is one of the most organized political parties in Europe. As a majority of political parties in power, the SNS as well has experienced frequent political turmoil over the past years, as a result of internal conflicts, traditional “long-time-in-power diseases”, turbulent environment, as well as the influence of the foreign factor, which is counting on the already tested recipe for toppling a party from within.

As the Serbian President and SNSD President Aleksandar Vučić is in focus again, the information on secret wiretapping of President Vučić is of no surprise. Such information should upset the public and alarm the security-intelligence apparatus, but also draw attention to the possible ultimate goal of such activities. As in the recent history, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country, Zoran Đinđić, was assassinated there is justified fear regarding the threats made to the current Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The intensified activities of foreign-security agencies in Serbia are a testimony that these activities are planned and synchronized.

Analysts believe it is of exceptional importance that the processes of differentiation within the SNS have been initiated, as they will lead to political “recovery” of the party and a showdown with deviant occurrences and individuals. The SNS has to introduce monitoring over its numerous members and representatives in the government in order to prevent or minimize negative occurrences. Not many political parties that have the political courage and readiness to “cleanse” its own ranks, because majority of political parties resort to methods for concealing negative occurrences and pushing the problems “under the rug”. Similar processes are recommended to opposition parties, as that is the only way in which they can consolidate the situation in their own ranks and adequately prepare for the upcoming elections. Serbia is facing new internal and external challenges, which require inventive and appropriate solutions.

Halt in dialogue between official Belgrade and Pristina

After the signing of the Washington agreement on “economic normalization“ between Belgrade and Pristina of 4 September 2020 and establishment of stronger relations between Serbia and the USA, activities on destabilization of Serbia intensified. Finalization of the dialogue does not suit specific political forces. Namely, it primarily does not suit a part of the internal factor in Serbia, who in conjunction with the international factor is attempting to destabilize Serbia.

Although the Brussels agreement between the official Belgrade and Pristina was signed in 2013, it has still not been completely implemented, predominantly because of the obstructions by Kosovo authorities in the implementation of the Brussels agreement and particularly the part of the agreement related to missing persons (Kosovo Liberation Army archives) and establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

The issue of property is one of the key disputes between the official Belgrade and Pristina. The Washington Agreement envisages resolution of the issue of use and management of the Gazivoda /Liqeni i Ujmanit/ Lake, on which a feasibility study is to be made.

There is also a dispute related to other property on Kosovo. The most frequently mentioned properties include: Mining- Metallurgical and Chemical Combine Trepča and the property in the energy sector, appraised to over 3 billion Euros.

The constant initiatives aimed to make the dialogue more inclusive also contributed to the halt in the dialogue between the official Belgrade and Pristina. There is also an initiative to include in the dialogue the issue of the so-called Preševo valley (municipalities of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac) and have their respective representatives participate in the dialogue. This reminds of the situation at the Conference on former Yugoslavia in Geneva at which political representatives of Sandžak requested to participate, but their request was rejected.

Analysts hold that it is necessary to continue the dialogue between the official Belgrade and Pristina and find a compromise solution without including new representatives, but also simultaneously work on the implementation of the already signed agreements- the Brussels and Washington agreements.

Does Serbia have a right to its foreign policy like Germany- EU double standards

Serbia is still under strong pressure. The objections are mainly coming from the EU and are related to the integration of the country into the EU. They most frequently emphasize the lack of harmonization of the Serbia foreign policy, particularly after the introduction of sanctions by the EU against Russia. The foreign policy of Serbia, which is positioned in a “quadrangle” consisting of EU – US – China – Russia + the Nonalignment Movement, is not welcomed by the EU, which requests from Serbia to follow the EU policy, that is to subject the Serbian foreign policy and political decisions to EU policies, although it is still not known when (and if) Serbia will become an EU member. The West still expresses its reservations regarding the geopolitical orientation of Serbia and some other countries in the region, for which it suspects that they could change their geopolitical orientation. That is why it is important to work in the coming period to enhance and develop trust between Serbia and the West.

On the other side, Germany is pursuing a different, rather intransparent and solo foreign policy with respect to EU in its relations with Russia. The President of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the candidate for the next federal chancellor Armin Laschet[2] believes that Germany should develop relations in multiple directions. He supports the foreign policy that promotes development of relations in multiple directions and, at the same time, warns of the threats of termination of dialogue with Russia and China. Laschet holds that “Foreign policy has always been geared to the search [for ways of interaction], including cooperation with countries having different social models. This concerns China, Russia and the Arab world countries”.

Disputed privatizations still disputable?

The disputable privatization processes are listed in the resolutions of the European Parliament (EP)[3] on Serbia and particularly the European Parliament Resolution no. 2011/2886(RSP), adopted at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 29 March 2019.

After the arrival of Vojislav Koštunica (DSS) to power, Serbia experienced an enormous increase in crime and corruption (24 disputable privatization processes, Report[4] of the Council for Fight against Corruption and its Chair Verica Barać), as well as unfree media.

The European Union intensified its requests for processing of those responsible for the committed organized crime and corruption in Serbia after the opening of the investigation in Austria in September 2011 into the procurement of mobile operators in the region, particularly Mobtel, by the Austrian Telekom company and the resolution of the European Parliament (EP) of 29 March 2012, which requests from Serbia to review the disputed privatizations. It was particularly underlined that the Mobtel Company, which was forcibly and illegally seized from Bogoljub Karić, owner of the BK Group, sold to controversial Austrian businessman Martin Schlaff, and subsequently to Norwegian Telenor for EUR 1.513 billion.

The then Serbian President and President of the Democratic Party (DS) Boris Tadić (DS) did not respond adequately, that is did not deal with all these negative occurrences and lost the elections in 2012, although majority of the media was under the control of his close associates or was directly subordinate to (or favored) him. The influence of the media on the outcome of elections is often overestimated. In 2012, although the media in Serbia were under the control of Boris Tadić’s regime, Tomislav Nikolić (SNS) won in an unequal competition and became the next Serbian President. In democratic countries, one comes to power through elections, not through protests or by boycotting elections.

The European Parliament requested from authorities in Serbia to conduct thorough investigations and review of disputable privatization processes in 24 companies and sanction those responsible. The investigation was superficial, although it was expected that someone serious who had investigated 24 disputable privatization processes would come up with a clear analysis and state what were the mistakes in the privatization process. It is symptomatic that no element of criminal offense had been discovered in the privatization processes, although there probably were some. Specific individuals were evidently spared or protected, because the review of disputable privatization processes was obviously done selectively. Apart from several sentences in the report stipulating that the review has been finalized, this work is ended. Everyone who participated in the review of the privatization processes was well-paid, while the citizens of Serbia did not have the right to be informed what organized crime and corruption looked like during the Vojislav Koštunica and Boris Tadić’s regime and what all needs to be changed so that it does not happen again.

Rectify the consequences of Koštunica’s regime – seizure and plunder of private property

In paragraph 18 of the European Parliament Resolution no. 2011/2886(RSP) of 29 March 2012, the European Parliament expressed its concerns regarding the repetition of charges based on Article 359, Serbian Criminal Code, related to abuse of office in private companies, which led to unjustified freezing of assets of numerous companies and individuals. The EP underscored that such accusations had undermined the trust in the rule of law in the country. Therefore, in the Resolution the European Parliament called on the then authorities in Serbia to swiftly proceed with a revision of the Criminal Code and ensure that it is in line with European standards, as well as to immediately put an end to the bringing of charges of abuse of office in private companies and companies with majority private ownership and to discontinue the pending criminal proceedings. Furthermore, the European Parliament also emphasized that where people have been charged under Article 359 and there is a suspicion that the period for which they have been detained or their assets frozen is disproportionate to their alleged offence, they should be entitled to an immediate suspension of the proceedings against them and the right to reclaim private property and fair compensation.

The most illustrative are the cases of companies Mobtel, BK Televizija and Astra Bank. Namely, under the blessing of the then Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, special units of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose members wore balaclavas, forcibly raided these companies, seized all the equipment, tore the cables, liquidated the company and the bank. The damage caused to Bogoljub Karić is enormous and according to some independent appraisals amounts to 3.3 billion Euros. The EP resolutions have to be respected and executed. The C Market company was also illegally seized by specific centers of power at the time, which were led by the then Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica and the owner of the Delta company Miroslav Mišković, which resulted in persecution and issuing of arrest warrant against C Market’s owner Slobodan Radulović. Namely, C Market was the largest trade-chain in Yugoslavia. Radulović’s subsequent death was believed to be a result of the listed developments. Such cases have to get their epilogue in court. In other words, it is necessary to establish the responsibility of individuals who had participated in these illegal actions. After all, that is also required by the European Parliament resolution. What is needed is compensation, both moral and material satisfaction- so that there is no need to wait for judgments of European courts. It is necessary to establish the required level of compensation and that national authorities resolve this issue in order to avoid lawsuits before European courts – bearing in mind the fact that private property is inviolable. This would further strengthen legal security, protection of investments and trust of investors.

While the restitution of property rights stripped from owners after World War II is mainly completed, this issue is still not being addressed, although human rights and private property are the foundations on which the EU legal order is established. Due to the forcible seizure of his private property, Bogoljub Karić’s case was considered a Serb version of the Mikhail Khodorkovski case, while Vojislav Koštunica and Boris Tadić have still not been held accountable before justice. In the period of rule of the Koštunica-Tadić duo more than 6,300 criminal charges were filed against owners of capital for alleged abuse of office from Article 359, Serbian Criminal Code- abuse of office in private companies. This was a “heritage” from the old communist-period law, which Koštunica’s regime had evidently abused to “discipline” private businessmen. Later, the new government in Serbia, headed by the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) abolished Article 359 of the Criminal Code, just as all other countries of former SFRY had done previously, because the article had been used for “racketeering” of owners of capital and private companies.

Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington/Belgrade, 2 June 2021

[1] IFIMES – The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, has a special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)/UN since 2018.

[2] Source: Handelsblatt https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/interview-armin-laschet-wir-brauchen-einen-hoeheren-co2-preis/27153014.html

[3] Source: European Parliament https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-7-2012-0188_EN.html

[4] Source: Council for fight against corruption http://www.antikorupcija-savet.gov.rs/izvestaji/cid1028-1309/izvestaj-o-mobtelu

With the reality of growing inflation increasingly on our minds, making small investments in things like whiskey and watches is becoming more and more common.

Novinky reports that some Czechs are deciding that rather than dumping millions of crowns into an apartment, taking risks on renovations and uncertainties with the rental market, a better idea is to buy rare whiskey.

“I look at it a bit like a game. Just last week I bought a bottle of whiskey from a gentleman for 5,000 crowns, and I can see that it can actually be sold for 10,000. I’ll save it though. This is how I gradually ended up putting about 200,000 crowns into just whiskey. I think this way I have a part of my savings preserved better than in a simple savings account,” says 40-year-old marketing specialist Robert H.

Bořivoj Líbal, a lawyer from the law firm Noerr, can confirm that whiskey can actually bring amazing returns long term.

“If you bought whiskey in bulk ten or fifteen years ago, the appreciation would have been unbelievable. Collectible whiskeys have appreciated by 564% over the last ten years. Collectors and investors are especially thirsty for bottles from well-known distilleries in Scotland and Ireland, as well as from distilleries that haven’t produced anything for thirty years or so.”

Líbal also feels the same way about watches. According to him, plenty of watches have easily doubled in price from the time they were first sold on the retail market.

“As far as watches are concerned, for some models the price on the secondary market has already doubled since the time of purchase due to the limited products and the limited nature of some editions.”

For example, he says the Patek Phillippe 5711/1A010 is probably the most popular among watch investors that he knows. According to the lawyer, these watches originally sold for around 750,000 crowns, but now go for somewhere around 2.5 million.

Source: https://praguemonitor.com/life/07/06/2021/investing-in-whiskey-and-watches-soars-in-popularity/

BY: ALEX RICHARDSON

In the second half of 2022, the Czech Republic will hold the Presidency to the Council of the EU and to some extent, it will set the agenda for negotiations in this key institution. The founders of CEBRE prepared recommendations for the government of the Czech Republic on how to approach some important topics that will come up during the second half of next year. Although the key player during the presidency is the government and the individual ministries, the European Parliament and its members will often negotiate with the presidency. Therefore, on 16th April, CEBRE founders held an online discussion with Czech MEPs to inform them about their priorities for the Czech Presidency.

During the Presidency, dealing with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic will undoubtedly still be one of the key topics. In addition, the EU will intensively negotiate initiatives that will affect the competitiveness of European companies, such as the transition to a digital and climate-neutral economy. Companies will play a key role in the process of economic recovery and the EU must create an environment in which businesses thrive. It must be based on a strong industrial strategy that will support the growth of the competitiveness of European companies of all sizes, both in the internal market and globally. The digital area also offers great potential. “The EU must create conditions for the development of digital infrastructure, including a legal framework that will enable digital transformation and support the development of technologies, e.g. in the field of artificial intelligence,” said Jaroslav Hanák, President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic.

The transition to a climate-neutral economy through the implementation of the Green Deal for Europe is and will be another key topic in the EU. However, according to CEBRE founders, this process must not jeopardize the competitiveness of the industry. The EU’s climate goals will require significant investment in technology. “The EU must therefore provide a sufficient number of support programs that will take into account the costs of the transition to a climateneutral economy,” stressed Vladimír Dlouhý, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Given the current crisis, many important topics are about to be discussed in the social area, where the EU should aim to promote employment, increase the skills of employees and overcome other shortcomings in the labour market. Discussions are also expected on the recently presented proposal for a directive on the minimum wage. “We are not in principle against the minimum wage, but the EU should only provide recommendations to the Member States, not impose obligations,” said Jan Zikeš, Secretary General of the Confederation of Employers’ and Entrepreneurs’ Associations of the Czech Republic.

CEBRE founders consider the single market to be one of the biggest benefits of EU membership. The Czech Republic should promote measures that support the functioning of the internal market and reject protectionist solutions hindering the free movement of goods, persons, services, capital and data.

Industrial strategy must INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS of European companies

On 5th May, the European Commission updated the 2020 industrial strategy in the light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of European industry in being dependent on global value chains as well as a strongly interconnected single market. Strategic dependence is evident especially in energy-intensive industries (raw materials), health ecosystems (pharmaceutical ingredients), but also with respect to other products important to support green and digital transformation (hydrogen, semiconductors, processors). The updated industrial strategy aims to support European industry in developing strategic capacity needs, finding alternative solutions for dependencies of supplies, but also tackling unfair practices and foreign subsidies that distort the level playing field in the single market. The updated industrial strategy was discussed by representatives of EU institutions, Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade and employers’ organizations at an online debate co-organized by CEBRE on 25th May.

Speakers agreed that the EU must stay an open market because that is one of the biggest competitive advantages of the single market, and needs to focus on creating high value-added products. There needs to be a level playing field for all companies regardless of whether they are European or not. The European Parliament welcomed the updated version of the strategy and stressed that businesses will play a crucial role in the two main policies of the European Commission, which are green and digital transition. A special attention needs to be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises that were hit hard by the current crisis, and provide them with instruments to grow without overloading them with administrative burdens.

Representatives of the Ministry od Industry and Trade and the Confederation of Industry agreed that there are huge opportunities for Czech companies to get involved in the industrial alliances, for example in the area of batteries or cloud computing. Especially small and medium-sized companies should participate in the alliances in order to support their growth. The concept of the open strategic autonomy that the European Commission presented in the updated strategy will be an important one not only from the point of view of the internal market, but it will have an impact on the EU trade policy as well. Last but not least, speakers agreed that skilled workforce is an essential prerequisite for the industrial strategy to be a success.

Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed to have won 95.1% of the vote in elections held last month, as a joint statement from France, Italy, the US and Britain branded the electoral process “illegitimate”.

One nation not to comment on the election was the Czech Republic, which is the only EU nation to have kept open its embassy in Damascus since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, which has killed almost half a million people and driven 11 million from their homes.

Whereas other Western states shut their embassies in Damascus in 2012 – most sending their staff to Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon – Prague decided to maintain diplomatic relations, a decision that has benefited both pro-US and pro-Russian voices within the Czech Republic.

It also appears to have sparked little controversy amongst the Czech public.

What’s behind the Czech decision to stay in Syria?

Although good Czech-Syrian relations date back decades, the supposed driving force behind the decision was Eva Filipi, an experienced Czech diplomat in the Middle East who became ambassador to Syria in 2010.

Source: https://www.euronews.com/2021/06/09/will-the-czech-embassy-remain-an-eu-outlier-in-syria

By David Hutt

Did you know that?

Commission intensifies fight against disinformation

The European Commission issued guidelines on a code of practice to fight against disinformation, which should help Member States make effective use of this tool. E… specially, the Commission calls for greater involvement with tailored commitments, in particular from platforms, messaging services or online advertising ecosystems. Furthermore, the Commission calls for the demonetisation of misinformation, in particular through the cooperation of platforms that should pay greater attention to disinformation ads and increase the transparency of advertising. Last but not least, the Commission calls for an increase in the scope of fact-checking, ensuring greater integrity of services and better detection of manipulative behaviour that leads to the spread of misinformation, such as the use of internet bots, the creation of fake accounts or theft of accounts.

New platform on digital skills and jobs launched

The European Commission, together with a number of partners in the Member States, launched a platform for digital skills and jobs. It will act as a single information point for digital skills news and initiatives. The platform should help increase basic digital skills that 42% of Europeans lack. In addition to best practices in enhancing digital skills, the platform will also include an overview of resources and national initiatives to support both basic and advanced skills. The platform is funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

New plan to fight air, water and soil pollution

In mid-May, the European Commission adopted one of the key initiatives of the Green Deal for Europe, which is the Action Plan called Towards zero pollution for air, water and soil. It sets targets for 2050, according to which pollution should be reduced to such a level that it will not be harmful to humans or natural ecosystems. One of the steps of the plan includes aligning air quality standards with current World Health Organization guidelines, reviewing water quality standards, reducing soil pollution, revising EU waste legislation, promoting zero pollution from production and consumption, and reducing health inequalities. The Commission wants to make greater use of digital tools for these purposes. The action plan also sets targets for 2030, such as a 55% reduction in premature air pollution deaths, a 50% reduction in plastic waste at sea, a 30% reduction in microplastics in nature, a 50% reduction in pesticide use, or reduction of waste production and residual municipal waste.

Updated industrial strategy focuses on recovery and resilience

The European Commission issued a new industrial strategy, building on last year’s strategy and updating it in the light of the coronavirus pandemic. The priorities of the strategy remain the same, i.e. supporting the transition to a more sustainable, more digital, resilient and globally competitive economy. However, the update adds some aspects that only became important in the current crisis. These are, above all, supporting economic recovery and strengthening the resilience of the single market. The strategy contains new measures that should speed up digital and green transition, as well as a clear emphasis on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. As for the single market, the Commission proposes to introduce a single market emergency instrument to ensure its functioning in the event of further crises. The strategy also proposes solutions to EU’s strategic dependencies, especially in the areas of raw materials, health ecosystems and advanced technologies. Last but not least, the Commission wants to create a regulatory framework to meet the digital targets for 2030, the Fit for 55 initiative, strengthen services for SMEs and invest in skills and retraining.

Commission wants to create better legislation

The European Commission adopted a Communication on Better Regulation, which proposes several ways to improve the process of creating new EU legislation. In particular, the Commission proposed removing obstacles, especially bureaucratic ones, which slow down investment and infrastructure construction, simplifying public consultations, introducing a “one in, one out” approach when drafting new legislation, promoting sustainability and digital transformation and integrating strategic planning into the legislative process. Some elements set out in the Communication are already operational, such as the Fit for Future platform, others are planned to be launched by the Commission this year. These include the publication of an Annual Burden Survey and the revised Better Regulation guidelines and toolbox.

Let ́stalknumbers!

Council can start borrowing capital for recovery

The Council announced that it has received formal notifications from all Member States approving its own resources decision, which means that the EU can now start providing funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. In total, the instrument will have a budget of EUR 672.5 billion and is a central element of the Next Generation EU instrument to support economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic. Member States’ decisions will allow the EU to borrow up to EUR 750 billion on the capital markets, and the EU will then offer these funds to Member States on favourable terms. Lending should start as early as June this year, and once Member States have approved national recovery plans, they will be able to request up to 13% of the total amount made available to each Member State.

Highest ever support to the euro

The European Commission published the results of a Eurobarometer survey, which shows that the single European currency has the highest support in history right now. A record 80% of respondents think that the euro is good for the EU and 70% believe that it is also beneficial for their country. The survey was conducted in March this year and involved 17,700 people from 19 euro area countries. 67% of respondents would also agree to the abolition of one-cent and two-cent coins.

April unemployment levels stable in month-on-month comparison

The European statistical office Eurostat stated that unemployment reached 8.0% in the euro area and 7.3% in the EU27 in April this year. As for the euro area, it is a slight decrease compared to 7.4% in March, while in the EU27 the unemployment rate is at the same level as the previous month. Of the countries for which data were available, Spain (15.4%), Italy (10.7%) and Cyprus (9.4%) registered the highest unemployment levels, while Poland (3.1%), the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (both countries 3.4%) recorded the lowest rates. In April last year, unemployment in the euro area was 7.3% and 6.7% in the whole EU.

New plan on business taxation

The European Commission issued a Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st Century, which sets out both a short- term and a long-term vision of how public revenues will help the European economy recover. The Commission is setting several priorities, including presenting a proposal for a framework for corporate taxation in the EU by 2023, which should reduce administrative burdens, remove tax obstacles and simplify business in the internal market. In addition, the communication contains tax plans for the next two years. In particular, the Commission plans to issue proposals to ensure that some large companies active in the EU publish their tax rates and to encourage tax avoidance.

Spring Economic Forecast expects GDP growth above 4%

The European Commission published its Spring Economic Forecast 2021, which assumes that the EU economy will grow by 4.2% this year and 4.4% next year. According to the Commission forecast, euro area GDP is expected to increase by 4.3% this year and 4.4% next year. As for unemployment, the Commission expects the rate to be 7.6% this year and 7.0% next year in the EU27, while in the euro area it should reach 8.4% this year and 7.8% in 2022. The EU27 inflation rate is projected to reach 1.9% this year and 1.5% next year, while the euro area inflation should reach 1.7% in 2021 and 1.3% in 2022.

In the world!

EU and Japan created Green Alliance

During the 27th EU-Japan Summit, EU and Japanese leaders signed an agreement to create a so-called Green Alliance. It is the first bilateral initiative of this type that aims to accelerate activities to protect the environment, mitigate climate change and promote sustainable and secure energy supplies. The Alliance will be built on three main pillars, namely global affairs, bilateral relations, and foreign and security policy. In addition, the leaders discussed digital transition, global economic issues and the implementation of the Strategic Partnership Agreement.

European Parliament condemns Chinese sanctions

The European Parliament adopted a resolution strongly condemning China’s unjustified sanctions recently imposed on several European citizens and entities. These also apply to 5 members of the European Parliament and, according to the resolution, are Beijing’s attack on fundamental freedoms. According to MEPs, it is not possible to continue negotiations on completing the ratification of the comprehensive investment agreement between the EU and China, which was in principle concluded in December last year. In order for the ratification to continue, the Parliament calls for immediate lifting of sanctions by China.

EU and India agreed on Connectivity Partnership

During the meeting between EU and Indian leaders in Porto, representatives of both parties agreed on a comprehensive Connectivity Partnership focusing on several key areas. These include cooperation in the digital, energy, transport, and people- to-people sectors. With regard to the environment, the partnership will focus on promoting clean energy production, for example through regulatory support for the construction of floating solar, wind and offshore power plants, or on energy storage. In the digital field, both parties want to work together to ensure protection of personal data and privacy, increase security of cross-border data flows and support development of 5G networks. In the transport sector, cooperation will focus in particular on standardization and certification, dialogue on decarbonisation and digitalisation of transport, and development of sustainable mobility.

Commission wants to address distortions caused by foreign subsidies

The European Commission issued a proposal for a new instrument aimed at addressing the possible negative effects of foreign subsidies on the EU internal market. The proposal aims to level out market conditions where subsidies to companies within the EU are strictly controlled, while subsidies to third country companies operating in the single market are not subject to control. The instrument should therefore create a level playing field for all companies and effectively address the issue of foreign subsidies that distort the functioning of the internal market. Specifically, the Commission proposes 3 measures to investigate mergers involving financial contributions from non- EU governments, to investigate public procurement tenders involving a financial contribution from non-EU governments, and to investigate all other market situations, including smaller acquisitions and public procurement.

Blue Card will help bring skilled workers to the EU

The representatives of the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a proposal setting down the conditions for the entry and residence of highly qualified third-country nationals coming to the EU for the purpose of residence and work. The so-called Blue Card Directive aims to attract highly qualified workers from third countries to the EU, especially in sectors where the EU is suffering from shortages of employees. The EU Blue Card sets uniform criteria for admission, facilitates job mobility within the EU and simplifies recruitment procedures in general. The preliminary agreement has yet to be formally confirmed by the Parliament and the Council.

This article is a second part of the previous issue’s edition. The first part of the article described in detail the risks you will experience while implementing LinkedIn (LI) sales in large sales departments. This second part is about exact solutions and ideas on how to overcome the obstacles. I will very simply focus on 33 points solutions using the knowledge of change management, which I consider crucial for such a larger project. This does not mean that every point mentioned has to take place, but most have to. Also, and that’s important, it’s always necessary to adapt appropriately to your specific situation.

ADVISED SOLUTIONS IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGE

1. Change must be first communicated internally from the sponsor (the one who orders the project). The consultant shouldn’t communicate the change. That would increase the resistance.

2. Don’t start with LI training but start with a kick-off.

3. Kick-off is an opportunity for the consultant to show examples from other companies, his/her own experiences, etc. The goal is for sellers to capture the added value and most importantly increase their participation.

4. Kick-off should be facilitated more or less as a discussion. Many points can be by the consultant or management supposed, but they can be distorted. We need to know: a) What are the sellers’ concerns? b) What would help them to overcome them? This information might be crucial for the following implementation. You need to verify, record, and work with the concerns.

5. Different emotions are likely to come up in the kick-off. Focus on them and watch from who they are coming from. They suggest a lot. E.g. questioning, silence, asking the same question, and other signs provide us with useful instructions on how to proceed.

6. Negative emotions are good. It would be much worse if people were just quiet. That’s a pretty bad sign.

7. Let the negative emotions be processed. It’s not good to argue, explain, and persuade immediately. Even a few minutes in the state of negative emotions helps to handle them. The role of a consultant is not to argue or to win, but to inspire. That’s important.

8. The kick-off should be led by a consultant, but the sponsor can also have his inputs. He can provide additional support and above all, help to explain them. The consultant does not have yet all the internal information to understand the whole company context and help from the sponsor is welcomed.

9. I believe people should be told the truth about all the risks and problems that await them along the way. Why? I saw the initial enthusiasm and the subsequent failure to overcome obstacles. Such cases are a great pity and lost opportunities. From the company’s point of view, you lost the additional profit that would follow.

10. Understanding the change curve. Even if people seem to agree, resistance will often surprise you at later stages. This is often forgotten. Don’t just give to a first impression, because it will probably be distorted.

11.The ideal way to eliminate many risks is to start working only with the so-called supporters. According to some change management theories: a) 20% – 30% of people support the change, b) 20% – 30% are in strong opposition, c) the rest is deciding, which side to join.

12.Use the change ambassadors. Look for internal allies. The manager or consultant only creates the conditions for the change, but the change has to take place in the team dynamics.

13. Classify at least important influencers, where they are on the change acceptance scale. The worst alternative is if a strong influencer is in strong opposition. In that case, it’s necessary to work with him/her individually. Such a person can completely sabotage the whole management effort. But be careful, that influencer can also be from management. Managers due to various reasons can also sabotage this change.

14. Training is necessary but be careful of the following. It is not enough just to explain and show how and what to do. That’s insufficient. People need to try it out for themselves. Therefore, if we talk about training for 3-4 hours, then it will not work effectively enough. It does not provide time even for basic testing.

15.The training must be adapted to the industry and the client’s segment. If the information is identical for each company, it is a clear sign of poor consulting quality. The financial segment is different from IT. CEO’s or sales director’s LI presence should be different from the sellers, etc. Correct adaptation is the key to success.

16. The consultant should understand the broader context as well as the various hidden patterns of sales that may not be visible on the LI, e.g. the importance of the so-called “LI ghosts” (senior managers, directors, and owners who regularly read LI content but rarely engage), LI sales synergies with other sales activities, or understanding the principles of acquisition emails, private messages, and appropriate follow-ups. Etc.

17. Regular and consistent consultant’s work with the involved sellers in agreed cycles. This is an essential point. By completing the training, the change will not happen. That’s just an introduction. Group consultations address issues, successes, other perspectives, inspirations, sharing information within the group, etc. For a consultant preparation for each meeting is quite easy because, in contrast with other sales activities, the vast majority of the activities at LI are publicly visible.

18.Setting-up cooperation between the sales and marketing departments. The marketing department, or an outsourced external agency, is in charge of managing the company’s website, the so-called company page. It is important to look for synergies to support each other. If everyone goes for themselves, the possible positive impact is reduced. Still, it’s a standard feature in almost every company. This is often difficult, because usually a sales director is the one who orders the solution, and the marketing department might not be willing to fully cooperate. You know the world of big companies and inner politics.

19. Throughout the implementation process, it is important to set-up an information-sharing system. Simply a platform with discussion and information accessible for everyone. E.g. case studies of what succeeded (posts, reactions, private messages, activities, cooperations…). It should be a Sharepoint but not with given examples from a consultant or someone else, but cases from the sellers involved in the project. The reasoning behind is simple. We want to encourage a strong tendency of us people to learn and be influenced by others from the same group. Also, this helps partially to save the company’s investment into this activity. It’s understandable for a company not willing to pay for a consultant to the extent, that he/she works individually with each seller.

20. Small rituals celebrating success and spreading awareness across the group, detractors, and other departments are also highly welcomed in the change management process. E.g. first new customers’ meetings through LinkedIn, first closed deals… On the other hand, it is important that people do not feel embarrassed, which is often the case. Therefore, I recommend that you carefully consider whether, with any success, it is necessary, for example. ringing the bell, which may have the opposite effect we originally wanted to achieve. Choosing the right rituals and awards is best to be decided by the sellers itself. The consultant can’t know in advance about what is suitable for your company, your department, your people. I saw wine bottles, vouchers for restaurants, a photo of the seller with a CEO sent per email with some nice words to everyone in the company, etc.

21. The introduction of change indicators for management is another good idea. If I exaggerate a bit: “What in business is not measured, does not exist.” E.g.: a) How many people handle the new skill already? b) What is the produced quality? c) How much it’s really used?…

22. If possible, defining what is success, is best to be done together with all participating sellers. I strongly advise you, to resist the urge to set the expectations only by management. That will bring more resistance. After that, from the defined success, which the manager or management can influence, use metrics that are tracked, and make sense for a particular company and its culture. Of course, the main goal is additional revenue, but with LI this metric can’t be measured accurately. Therefore, other metrics are more important.

23. Understand that many metrics can be easily “cheated”. E.g. creating a certain number of connections. In one month, I can easily add 1000 relevant contacts without the slightest problem, but I still might ignore to do any meaningful work connected with LI sales. And other examples.

24. Use the OKRIs system (Objective – Key Results – Initiatives) for assigning longer-term objectives. It’s significantly more efficient compared to standard KPIs.

25. Consider carefully, what is the goal in the first phase? It’s easy to add revenue to the targets, but that’s a huge mistake. Of course, additional revenue is the main reason for the change, but it can be easily fooled. You can’t credibly verify it. Therefore, other truly measurable metrics are important. I know it’s annoying because as a sales director, you want clear, measurable results. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Remember that LI is accompanied by a “snowball effect”. If sales starts, it will increase. Therefore, it is good to look into the future and understand what will come later.

26. Throughout the process, the consultant and the sponsor purposefully look for problems. They should be searching for problems. That’s the essence of change management. There will be enough issues and only if hidden problems are revealed, we can respond to them. There’s always something new coming up.

27. When the consultant is not in the company, which is essential all the time, management and senior management must manage and support the change themselves. Meetings, communication, information sharing, tracking metrics, rituals, etc.

28. Patience is important because LI sales results will only become apparent over a longer period. Nevertheless, a person who knows how it works can see if it is going in the right direction. There are clear indicators

29.Sellers may give the impression, that they are applying the knowledge, but don’t be fooled. LI sales is specific. If the work is not regular and consistent, the result won’t come. Simply said, e.g. publishing something, of no added value to your target group, on LI twice a month, is a clear indication of a future failure. However, it depends on how LI is used for sales. There are several ways. Each suitable for a different strategy. We’re coming back again to a proper adaption to your specific situation.

30. It’s good to understand what are the psychological indications that the seller’s activity will increase on LI. If I generalize, we humans need interaction. If we do something, we want to see the result. But the business results will take a while. If sellers do not interact with others for a long time and the required discussions on LI don’t come up, it’s an indication that the seller will quit with the activity. First comes the psychological involvement through increased views, interactions, likes, comments, private messages, and then gradually the real business. An exception is when LI is used primarily for direct acquisition with direct private messages. That might be appropriate in some segments, or when the seller supports several countries with different languages. Interactions with this different strategy work on different principles.

31. If you use LI for proactive acquisition and directly contact customers, the results will come sooner, but this method also has significant shortcomings. It’s necessary to correctly adapt to the situation. For some companies and segments, this makes sense, but for others, it doesn’t.

32. Ideal sellers for LI sales are people with the so-called “hunter” mindset. Those who enjoy the acquisition are usually better than the so-called “farmers”, who are ideal as key account managers. Of course, this knowledge must be taken with a grain of salt. It also depends on how LI is used. Some affinity for digital technologies is also important. If someone refuses to install the application on a mobile phone, it might be a sign he/she won’t be probably as good.

33. If you have chosen an easier way to implement the change, with only promoters in the first phase, gradually the time will come to spread the change to others as well. Don’t rush it. Positive examples must start to spread with your help too, in the sales department, and only then is the ideal time to move on to others. I will not discuss this phase in detail, but several common things can be used. On the other hand, you can’t avoid a new cycle of training, consultations, etc. Positive is that it should be easier because you already have the experience, on the other hand, don’t forget that the next phase involves sellers who were in opposition at the beginning.

Conclusion:

More and more people and companies understand that LI sales works. Still, you need to consider whether it makes sense to you. There are several sales streams and time is limited. In my opinion, the mastery is to adapt to a specific situation, industry, segment, and use those business streams that synergistically bring the best results. I know that in most industries and companies, LI sales is a suitable complementing strategy, but everyone has to come to that decision on their own. The fact is, however, that the development of LI sales is unstoppable. A comparison with the recent past, when people often did not even have an LI account, LI was considered just a digital resume and the term LI consultant did not exist yet, and the current situation, where LI can easily bring additional revenue is significant. Over time, this skill will become increasingly important and quite easy to verify. All you have to do is to check the profile and activity of any seller and it will immediately be known whether he or she masters this new skill or not. An interview for this is not required. This trend will gain momentum and those who adapt to it will gain the necessary competitive advantage. At the very end of the article, I can’t forget to mention what I consider to be the main idea.

Delivering high-quality training or consultations that engage people and add value to them, is the easier part. Of course, it is necessary to have the experience, to be able to present, to be able to work effectively with the group, and so on. However, it is much more difficult to achieve that the change is successful across the department. Of course, we make changes mainly to increase revenue and the long-term competitiveness of the company. But training is just the beginning of the whole process. Implementing a change in a company, that eventually gets canceled, is an unfortunate result. Not just in terms of what the company lost. In this case, it is a clear financial loss, but also in terms of what’s the impact on the peoples’ feelings in the company. The loss of sellers’ trust can’t be easily changed.

I wish you success and successful change implementation.

Viktor Kosticky

Viktor Kosticky specializes in Sales & Leadership topics. You can find more information on his website http://www.viktorkosticky.com or his LinkedIn page. In case of any questions please send your email to viktor@viktorkosticky.com