AuthorMartin Hladík

Full article here.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) strongly condemns a sharp escalation of intimidation tactics by Russian authorities, which saw state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor overnight threaten to block eight RFE/RL websites serving audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia unless they pulled down articles tied to corruption investigations by jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team.

RFE/RL will not comply with these demands. Said President and CEO Jamie Fly, “RFE/RL will not allow the Kremlin to dictate our editorial decisions. This is a blatant act of political censorship by a government apparently threatened by journalists who are merely reporting the truth.”

Roskomnadzor sent more than 60 e-mail notifications giving RFE/RL 24 hours to remove content related to Navalny investigations from its two largest websites for Russian audiences – Radio Liberty and Current Time – as well as RFE/RL’s Russian-language sites for Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, and local sites for Russia’s Siberian, Volga-Ural, and Northwestern regions.

More than a dozen Russian publications, including the newspaper Novaya gazeta, as well as Dozhd television channel and Ekho Moskvy radio station, have received similar notices in recent days. Several decided to comply with the demands and removed the content. The move is the latest in a series of attacks against RFE/RL and other independent media and comes as RFE/RL has been extensively covering the unprecedented Russian military buildup for its audiences in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, rebutting Kremlin disinformation and exposing malign Russian activities.

In the past year, Roskomnadzor has issued 1,040 violations against RFE/RL that will result in fines of more than $13.4 million for its refusal to submit to the unjust and invasive content labeling provisions of Russia’s “foreign agent” law. RFE/RL continues to fight these fines in Russian court and has also filed suit with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the law. In addition, 18 RFE/RL journalists have been designated as individual “foreign agents.”

On January 26, RFE/RL’s Russian Service was fined 3 million rubles ($39,000) for the alleged “public distribution of knowingly false information about the activities of the U.S.S.R. during World War II.” In fact, the existence of the published material is backed by documents from Russian archives – and RFE/RL is being held liable for actions that are not punishable under Russian law. RFE/RL is appealing the fine, not least to help defend Russia’s shrinking space for press freedom.

In a sign that the crackdown on press freedom may yet intensify, President Putin in late January issued an order calling for the creation of a new “register of toxic content.”

About RFE/RL

RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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 J Scott Younger is a President Commissioner at Glendale Partners and member of IFIMES Advisory Board. In his text entitled “IFIMES II: Population and pollution and urbanisation” he is highlighting a number of very important issues as a result of significantly increased population.

IFIMES II: Population and pollution and urbanisation

This article looks at the population growth with time and how this has impacted on man’s endeavours. The population numbers grew slowly but steadily from many centuries before the 1960s, when it took a sudden acceleration from 3 billion over the next 50 years to today’s level of over 8+ billion. The reason is twofold; people living longer, due to advances in medical science, as well as having more children. It is expected to rise further to approximately 10.5 billion by mid-century and slowly decline thereafter to be about 9 billion by the turn of the century.

An interesting example in population growth comes from Indonesia where the population doubled in the 30 years from 100 million in 1970 to 200 million in 2000, and the average age of the population was dramatically raised from 40 to 70 years. Along with sensible government handling of the basics, food, water and education, looking after the physical and mental well-being of the people, the economy not surprisingly grew in parallel. The World Bank congratulated the country on the way the economy was being handled in 1989.

The notable increase in population along with the change in the age mix, i. e. the ratio of those elderly to those younger has changed, and ratio will vary in location and in ethnicity. Against this trend, however, it is notable that the indigenous population of highly developed countries, such as Japan, have been in decline for some time. In addition, these factors will be affected by the relative wealth or poverty of individuals and nations, and on which continent they are situated and by which climate they are affected.

The Years Ahead

Today the younger generation, except those in poverty, are the drivers of new inventions, building on what has gone before wherever and whoever they are. They are stimulated and see the opportunities. These youngsters, from a very young age, accept, as a matter of fact, miniature computers which have the power to process in a fraction of the time, what a new mainframe of 60 years ago could do, taking up a large room. At the age of 3, youngsters can today play simple computer games. Computerisation was just appearing at university courses in the early 1960s. I know because I was there! And today, we can reach for the stars, literally.

But at the other end of the scale, we still have very large numbers in poverty, approximately I billion, for a variety of reasons – fighting, war, corruption, changing climate, lack of opportunity, incompetent government, and so on – and this is a blight on us all. We have the knowledge and tools to provide the opportunity for people to be lifted out of poverty and most people in poverty respond well given the chance and encouragement. What we now call Sustainable (Humanitarian) Development should take place.

A dedicated example of this has been undertaken for 22 years for 17,000 people in northeast Bali, Indonesia living in a number of villages. At the start, among the villagers there was 85% illiteracy, the infant mortality was well over standard levels and life expectancy was well below the national average. There was too much dependence on cassava, which led to goitres; the diet was well below international norms.

The first thing that had to be done was to address the health problems, for which there needed to be greatly improved road access and easier access to clean water. The initial funding was largely by David Booth MBE, the founder, and the project is and has been entirely privately financed. The location was considered too remote to prioritise by government. It was acknowledged that education was paramount and the first school was started in 2000 with not much more than a floor and the first children given paper and pencils. The eagerness on their faces was a joy to behold. For adults they did not need much persuasion to make simple concrete roads and erect big rainwater tanks to store water. The communities were all involved in preparing the soil for agricultural beds and growing vegetables; the edges of the beds stabilised in difficult mountainous terrain by fast-growing deep-rooted vetiver grass.

After some 13 years of steady development work, the project had 4 schools with classrooms, desks and support appurtenances, libraries, teachers, key simple road links had been built, water was either on tap or no more than an hour away, people were healthier and the first stages of a basic sanitation system was underway. This for an expenditure of US$ 450,000 – private sector. The first school leavers after 20 years had graduated from the local university[2].

This is a single simple example, although involves many interrelated, sometimes complex, disciplines with understanding and we need to duplicate, with dedicated people, something similar but only about thousands of times! It is time to raise the profile of Sustainable Development to a higher level as the UN has recognised.

One can see that there are many and complex issues to raise in answer to the question as to why things develop the way they do. It is thought that the increased inequality is the main reason for the issue but it is a fact that poorer people tend to have more children and thus the divide increases, until the total population numbers level out. We are gradually approaching that position but we need to plan that we have a quite different distribution of population and some of the locations are different from those of 60 years ago. This also affects the expanding urbanisation issue which looks very different than it did 30 years ago in terms of how structures should be built to take account of new or adaptable available energy sources and insulation, for example.

Pollution

Another factor of concern is pollution which will increase to an unsustainable level unless it is tackled vigorously from now on. This is of growing concern or should be. We have not taken adequate care of waste which has been augmenting at an alarming rate as population increased.

An example is taken from England (not the other parts of UK which are not so densely populated) which is a sophisticated developed country. There has come to light that many, if not all, of the main rivers are heavily polluted by overflow from sewage plants, which suggests that these have no longer have adequate capacity and need to be reviewed or upgraded, or totally new plants built. In addition, there is a dangerous level of agricultural pesticides in stormwater run-off, which is more difficult to tackle and, thirdly, there is an unacceptable level of plastics. Altogether, this has gradually been emerging; an all-embracing environment report is eagerly awaited There has to be an all-round master plan that cleans up groundwater, as the situation cannot continue or we risk poisoning ourselves and, heaven forbid, another pandemic. Where possible, more attention has to be paid to recyclable or reusable water before discharging, which is perfectly possible in the case of sewage works.

The other big pollutant that has been gathering attention is non-biodegradable plastics in the sea, probably because they are increasingly washed up on beaches across the world, sometimes travelling thousands of miles from the source. Occasionally, members of concerned communities act as beachcombers to clean up nearby beaches and they have to be applauded for their awareness. But the problem of plastic waste in the sea has to be measured in the billions of tonnes to take in the oceans which cover 70% of the world’s surface and the millions of sea-going journeys and the waste from these, often due to lack of care, that has occurred over the past many decades. Some scientists have been studying sea creatures and are coming up with alarming damaging facts which cannot be ignored. For instance, plastics which are ingested and get into the food chain.

A principal health hazard concerns the quality of air we breathe, particularly in big city environments because of fossil fuel vehicles. This is particularly bad in several parts of Asia with many cities of the Indian sub-continent and China being badly affected. Delhi is often quoted, because of polluting vehicles, but also it is badly affected being downstream from the prevailing wind which carries the smoke from land-clearing and burning of undergrowth, crop stubble, in preparation of the following year’s harvest. Indonesia has a similar problem in mid-year when the ground is prepared by burning the residue from last year’s palm oil crop and the smoke is carried on the prevailing anti-monsoon wind to Singapore and Malaysia

All these and other polluting issues are as important as those to do with climate change. What’s more there are solutions to hand to deal with all of them; in some cases, e.g. clean air, the climate is also being tackled. It is important that this is addressed right away.

Urbanisation in the years ahead

In 2011, Jakarta hosted the World Delta Summit, in which I was quite involved. It was realised that by mid – century 70% of the then population would be urban, some 6 billion people. In comparison, at the time of the Summit the world urban population was less than 3 billion. It meant that about 3 billion people would have to be accommodated in many places, usually at lower levels, which could be subject to sea level rise with climate change, wherever this takes place, which is one of the factors which concerns civil /environmental engineers.

This is a major topic beyond the scope of this article, which could, however, be said for most of the topics covered. Architects and planners are going to have to think about climate and how (renewable) energy can be used more efficiently for buildings more than they had to in the past, depending on region. A study[3] of the main materials used in construction – concrete steel, timber – indicated that timber was the only material that could be affected by a changing climate in any significant way. Since it is being looked at increasingly for construction the temperature has to be factored into design, The next 30 + years should see an increasing amount of building whatever the material used and techniques and systems that provide quick and economic answers will be favoured. There is a backlog of buildings to be erected across the world.

Final comments

The above has highlighted a number of issues that are viewed as very important today and in the years ahead, partly as a result of significantly increased population in a short time span. In most of the cases we have the knowledge and tools now to deal with them and, for the others; it is a question of studying them with knowledge, which can increasingly be brought to the fore by the younger generations.

It does not mean that they should not watch out for the world’s climate. They should, but that still contains many scientific factors that are as yet unknown, albeit that allows other complex lines of study. After all it is their future, but don’t forget our fellow human beings looking for a way out of poverty.

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 Thailand from 1978 to 1983 and visited Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal for projects.

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

Ljubljana/Glasgow, 29 January 2022

[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.

Younger J S, Booth D J, Parry D E and Kurniawan K. (2017). Sustainable humanitarian development: the East Bali Poverty Project. Jour MUEN, Proc Inst of Civil Engineers.

Media freedom and responsibility should become one of the themes highlighted during the forthcoming Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the Slovak Presidency of the Visegrad Group (V4), the Czech Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek, said on a visit to neighbouring Slovakia on Monday.

He said the issue is one that resonates around Europe and has been very much in the spotlight both in Slovakia, where the murder of a journalist brought down the government, and the Czech Republic where the former prime minister’s ownership of media outlets initiated a drawn-out debate about the control of public media and the influence of private companies on the media market.

During talks with Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok, Mr. Bek also indicated that a strong Czech-Slovak tandem was emerging within the V4 as a counterweight to the views of Poland  and Hungary on issues such as the rule of law.

Source: radio.cz

Author: Daniela Lazarová

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 “Lebanon 2022: The Geopolitics of Water Series, Part Three: Water: a commodity or a human right?” in which he analyses the issue of water. Due to depleting supply of clean water and the population growth, water has become a source of conflict that threatens the future of Earth’s population.

Lebanon 2022:

The Geopolitics of Water Series, Part Three: Water: a commodity or a human right?

The issue of water is the top priority for people’s concerns, “How can water be provided in quantity and quality to the world’s growing population, and at the same time, ensuring the disposal of water left over from all human activities without harming the environment?!”

More than a billion people in the world do not have access to pure water, and about two billion people lack these health facilities. In the future, the amount of water will remain the same every year while the number of people in the world increases, so the amount of water per person decreases, because the demand for water resources increases, which experts expect to decline by 20% by 2030, as well as the predictions of the Arab Council for Human Rights which is described as “the situation of water poverty”.

Historically, cities were developed and prospered around areas where water was available. Nowadays, water is increasingly a concern. Population growth and the depleting supply of clean water have become a source of conflict that threatens the future of Earth’s population.

In addition to direct human consumption, water plays a vital role in the issue of food security, as all crops need regular water in order to grow and provide food for the world.

The indiscriminate use of fertilizers and chemicals and the wasteful consumption of fresh water sources, by withdrawing groundwater very quickly, contribute to water pollution, which means a decrease in potable water.

There is general agreement that the water problem appears when the average per capita share of water is less than two thousand cubic meters per year.

Reports published on the occasion of the “World Water Day” on March 22, 2001 confirmed that many water-related border incidents may turn into open wars due to the increasing shortage of this vital natural wealth.

The most prominent goals of this event were to draw the attention of the world and its governments to the fact that the entire earth will be threatened by thirst in the middle of this century, around the year 2050. The report warns that the misuse of rivers and groundwater, pollution, waste, population growth and the chaotic growth of cities, all of this will make the current scarcity (Less than 1,000 cubic meters annually per capita), which affects 250 million people in 26 countries, turns into a “massive thirst” that affects two-thirds of the Earth’s population by 2050. The world’s six billion people currently use only one in a hundred thousand of the planet’s water, which represents salt water or the inaccessible to 98 percent of them.

In order for the world to be able to feed eight billion people and improve their social and health conditions by the year 2050, it must invest 180 billion dollars annually, compared to 70 to 80 billion dollars currently being invested.

A French government memorandum indicates that “a billion people in the world lack safe drinking water, while 4.2 billion people do not have the structures that can be relied upon to purify water.” The memorandum adds to that that water is “the number one cause of death and disease” in the world “directly or indirectly” and that three million children die annually due to a shortage of drinking water.

In a report prepared for this occasion, the World Health Organization drew attention to tropical diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and flies in wet areas, diseases that are directly or indirectly related to the consumption of polluted water.

To the social and health problems of water, it is necessary to add food problems, as irrigated agriculture constitutes 40 percent of the world’s food, as well as climatic problems, where floods and torrential rains constitute, for example, a third of natural disasters.

There are also geopolitical problems, as two-thirds of the major rivers and lakes in the world are shared by more than one country, as well as environmental problems, as half of the rivers and water bodies are polluted. This water is distributed in an absolutely unequal way, with 23 countries sharing two-thirds of the water resources, while the remaining third is distributed unevenly for the rest of the countries.

Statistics alarming imminent danger

We are now facing a global emergency in which more than a billion people lack a basic supply of clean water and more than 2 billion people lack adequate sanitation, which is the leading cause of water-related diseases.

On the other hand, lakes, rivers and glaciers all over the world are constantly shrinking, and the growing pressures of population, economic growth, urbanization, climate change and deforestation are weakening water sources and thus causing social and economic uprisings, but this is not an inevitable result.

In fact, if we look at the world map, we find that the seas and oceans cover 70.8% of the total surface area of ​​the planet, with an average depth of 3.73 km. 35% of its total surface area.

Although water covers 70% of the globe, the proportion of fresh water does not exceed 2.5%, and the proportion of salt water reaches 97.5%, and caps and glaciers constitute about 70% of the total volume of fresh water, where many factors lead to water scarcity such as population rise, global temperature and other emerging factors that make water a profitable commodity that many private sectors are rushing to exploit. Another advocate of the right to water argues that the legal obligation stemming from right to water decisions would motivate both developing and donor country governments to make effective changes in domestic and aid policies and resource allocation, and give citizen groups a more solid ground on which to apply pressure on governments.

According to the 2012 United Nations report on the Millennium Development Goals and to give a clearer picture of the impact of water on human life, 783 million people (i.e. 11% of the world’s population) do not have access to improved drinking water sources, as a child dies every 21 seconds as a result of this cause and 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.

Unfortunately, all of this is concentrated in areas where there is no water, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where 40% of the population lives without potable water. Currently, the water crises are not only in its scarcity, but in access to its sources.

Water pollution problem

Every year 200 million tons of human waste is poured into rivers. 1.2 billion people have no other choice but to defecate in nature, and 2.5 billion people, more than a third of humanity, use toilets that do not provide safeguards against outbreaks of faecal-related disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of deaths from diarrheal diseases are the result of poor sanitation and access to safe sanitation. And things are moving slowly in the face of an invisible scale of the problem.

In 2050, the world’s population is expected to reach ten billion people sharing the same amount of water available today. The result will be that 40% of the world’s population will suffer from a water shortage in one way or another and armed conflicts will be the way to obtain water.

The Arab world

A study conducted by the Arab Center for Studies of Arid Zones and Arid Lands says that 13 Arab countries fall within the water danger, where the average annual per capita share is less than 2000/1000 mm3.

According to the United Nations Water Program, by 2025, two thirds of the world’s population will suffer from water distress, including all Arab countries, and eight of the countries in the region will have the lowest availability of water per capita in the world.

This comes at a time when the Arab world does not use more than 5% of its water reserves and desalinates 10.9 mm 3 of which 4.5 mm 3 are desalinated, and 6.4 mm 3 is sewage, agricultural and industrial water, instead of the presence of 60% of Arab waters under the control of non-Arab countries, including Israel.

One of the most important challenges that Arab countries face and affect their security system is the issue of the water threat, as the Arab world is characterized by the scarcity of its water resources, as the bulk of it is located in dry areas, which are characterized by irregular and unpredictable rainfall rates.

The volume of the total water resources in the Arab countries is estimated at about 238 billion m 3 / year, which represents about 0.8% of the total renewable water resources around the world. Agriculture is at the top of the list of water consuming sectors in the Arab world and is estimated at about 88.8% of the total water uses; this percentage is more than 90% in Syria, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco and Mauritania.

Mauritania is considered one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of water. Since the country’s independence, comprehensive access to water has been impossible, as it is an integral part of the arid and hot Sahel region. Studies completed in this regard indicated that Mauritania is the most fragile in the field of water and its water sources are the least stable in the world. The countries of the Middle East do not suffer from large and direct water shortages. Therefore, violent conflicts will arise because of the dispute over issues related to borders or internal affairs.

In Lebanon

In Lebanon, access to water is one of the life problems that Lebanese face on a daily basis. The Lebanese state is considered one of the richest countries in the region in terms of natural water resources, but the management of wealth remains the main dispute that the Lebanese republic suffers from, as is the case with other sectors.

The Ministry of Energy and Water in Lebanon had previously determined the need for irrigation water, including waste in the traction networks, at 8000 m3 in the year 2015, compared to 10,000 m in the year 2000, and it is expected that irrigation consumption will reach 6000 m3 in 2030. Based on the same data from the Ministry, the water balance in Lebanon and demand management for the year 2005 came as follows: 900 million m 3 for irrigation, 150 million m 3 for industry, 501 million m 3 potable, a total of 1.55 billion m 3 per year.

The ministry’s expectations indicated a doubling of these numbers by the year 2030. From this premise, future projects were launched in this context, the most important of which is the Blue Gold project with the concept of the inclusive economy, which will provide 500 million cubic meters in 2020 through the construction of dams, water refining, quality control and water collection Rain, afforestation, and the adoption of drip irrigation. As 87% of the Lebanese state’s financial resources are wasted, such as salaries, wages, and benefits without real investments.

Water related deals

Competition exists in the short term, since one person’s use of water deprives another person from benefiting from it. At the international level, the issue is not related to the difference between supply and demand, but to the difference between demand and the rate of renewal of water resources. Here, competition between countries emerges and intensifies due to the pressure of population growth.

In this context, bilateral relations between countries witnessed the conclusion of bilateral water sales deals in recent years as follows:

• Between Turkey and Israel: On March 25, 2004, 50 million cubic meters of purified water will be sold in Turkey annually for twenty years. The water will be taken from the Manavgat River in Turkey, and then transported in oil tankers to Ashkelon in Israel. Jonathan Peled, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented at the time that this historic agreement would turn water into an internationally accepted commodity, adding that this indicates that the idea of ​​importing fresh water is not one of the academic ideas of the future.
• Another deal was made between Lesotho and South Africa to sell water as a commodity from Lesotho to South Africa at a rate of 88 cubic meters per second.
• A deal between Iran and Kuwait worth $2 billion was made (June 2001), which crossed water pipelines from northern Iran to Kuwait.
• There are also tankers transporting water in the Caribbean and the Philippines.

A sharp controversy erupted in Canada over the export of large quantities of water when the Global Water Corporation of Canada contracted to ship 58 billion litters annually of glacial water in Alaska using huge tankers to be filled in bottles in the free trade zone in China. It is considered that this project would benefit from cheap labour in China and achieve significant gains as a result.

But as Canada is a member of the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) bloc that includes the United States, Canada and Mexico, it has had to abide by the same trade liberalization rules for international organizations to make water a tradable good like any other.

Traditional solutions

The United Nations report for the year 2012 confirms that the situation can improve radically and by simple means even in the poorest countries, such as water sterilization (by chlorine or exposing it in bottles to sunlight for hours) and personal hygiene without waiting for the construction of advanced networks in distribution, irrigation, treatment and purification so that this water is not contaminated and to be potable.

Various reports stress the need for the private sector to assume additional responsibility in financing operations, at a time when this sector does not currently contribute more than a quarter of these operations. In order to achieve greater efficiency in the framework of water investments in the long term, and to avoid the shortage of equipment, the reports recommend the establishment of an “international water bank” that takes care, finances and guides water projects in the world.

Unlike other resources, water is a very important and very cheap resource in order to expose it to the random and costly wars of appropriation and occupation. Transporting water from long distances is hard work and puts the buyer in a position of weakness, and therefore it is considered a local solution that is used after all solutions are exhausted.

But even if water consumption is rationalized, and we change our habits in consuming and producing it, this is not considered sufficient to meet the increasing demand for water. The desalination process of sea water has made important achievements, which bode well for encouraging future results for the human race, whose population is increasing in coastal areas. This process has flourished since the price of desalinated water became competitive (about half a dollar per cubic meter at best). Perhaps ‘supposed real’ water markets, that is, water saved by importing a product rather than growing it in the country, are worth pursuing, even if countries in the region are reluctant to give up their food independence.

Between these solutions and measures to save water, which we still need, governments are adopting a number of reform policies related to water, which vary from one society to another, and are affected by several other factors related to the geological and environmental situation, the current wealth on the ground, the difficulty of accessing it, its cost, and its quality; as well as the financial situation of governments and their technical and social capabilities to accept change, its limits, and its impact on all components of the state and the nation.

Water Reform Policies

Water is perhaps the most universal commodity and the essential ingredient for the creation of any civilization.

Historically, cities were developed and prospered around areas where water was available. Nowadays, water is increasingly a concern. Population growth and the depleting supply of clean water have become a source of conflict that threatens the future of the Earth’s population.

There is still an urgent need for long-term solutions to this problem, as countries and private companies spend billions in oil and gas pipelines that extend across countries to provide these valuable commodities, but there seems to be no economic or commercial incentive to provide similar projects to save water, despite the fact that Its importance to life.

Water pumps can access groundwater, and sea and ocean water can be desalinated and delivered from areas of plenty to areas where water is scarce. These solutions are expensive, but they are possible as a way to provide clean water that increases water reserves and eliminates its scarcity.

The resources allocated to water are insignificant compared to the financial resources. Water should be the basis for agricultural, energy, health and education policies. The problem now is that whoever uses the water doesn’t pay for it, like the farming industry. They don’t pay the real cost. If they had to bear the cost, they would have used it more effectively. The water managers are not the ones who make the decisions. Rather, it belongs to the heads of states and governments the duty to take the matter upon themselves, and all of this is conditional on ensuring that this issue is managed efficiently and conscientiously or not.

Who should manage the water; the government, the market or an active group of citizens?

Public utilities are a good example of fair resource management. Non-governmental bodies work outside the government and the market, but they have relationships with both, so they can activate public morals, hold politicians responsible and highlight weak policies.” Water is a complex problem that represents different issues in different countries, so each country has to prepare its own plans to do what is Right. We must pay for it. When it is scarce, we will pay more. We must educate more people to protect water.

The water reform policy should be based on basic concepts, the most important of which are:

A – Finding the best ways to benefit from the available water resources, before contemplating the establishment of new water fetching projects, and this includes activating all mechanisms to preserve the current resources.

B – That the water sector enjoys a policy that provides encouraging conditions, motivating action, motivating factors for reform, and the ability to directly intervene in the face of the water crisis.

C – That the local and regional initiative be given an opportunity to deal with the water crisis, with institutions and administrative bodies becoming more flexible and quicker to respond, provided that market mechanisms are given an appropriate space in these efforts.

D – To listen to the advocates of the call to collect real compensation equivalent to the value of water as a rare economic commodity, as they see that the behaviour of water consumption, up to the present time, lacks, in its entirety, rationalization, and the consequent waste of a tangible aspect of human water wealth.

Signs of change

Finally, and perhaps it is not too late, that human beings are beginning to turn to the water, they have discovered that their watery future is more or less threatened, and that most of the world’s problems are floating on the surface of the water. Water is more important to us than anything else, yet it is still one of our lowest national priorities, and we do not mention it in our economic plans except sparingly, even though water comes at the forefront of natural resources, the focus of attention and ambition, in a world whose climate is turbulent, and the areas of drought are expanding in its dry land year after a year.

Some phenomena indicating the growing trend towards considering water as a commodity have been observed.

The debate on water as a commodity has started since the issuance of the Dublin Declaration of 1992, and the Declaration stipulated in its third paragraph that “water has an economic value in all its competing uses, and it should be recognized that it is an economic commodity.” This is in addition to the text in the Declaration on the pivotal role of women, in her home and in raising her children and guiding them to provide, manage and maintain water, protect the environment and all life resources, emphasizing that fresh water is a limited and necessary resource for the continuation of life, development and the environment.

Then this trend started to continue and escalate in dealing with water as an economic commodity that is bought and sold in water markets, with the exchange of the value of water rights between users. Indeed, “water rights” are applied in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States as leading examples in this field.

Despite the great importance of water as a vital thing for life and for all societies, the news has recurred with the advent of the twenty-first century, and repeatedly in recent years, to confirm new trends of change in the methodology of dealing with water as a tradable commodity, anything for sale. The privatization of water services in light of the globalization currently taking place on a global scale has opened the door to the concept of water as a service and as a commodity, and thus water is no longer seen as a gift from God (or the state), but as an essential commodity for which one has to pay.

Some academic circles and intellectual forums in international conferences also tried to promote the idea that water during this century will become a commodity to be bought and sold, and it has water markets or its own stock exchange in which water instruments are traded and speculation on their current and future prices, similar to dealing with a strategic commodity such as oil. This idea was highlighted in more than one event, in relations between countries, and in international forums and conferences.

This transformation introduces water into the broad economic market forces that touch the strategic policies of countries. The issue of water in particular has taken centre stage on the international scene due to its closeness to the line of danger, as well as its strategic importance and its important role on the geopolitical map.

This phenomenon has grown dramatically during the twentieth century with the growing fears of water scarcity and pollution and environmental degradation resulting from the misuse of water and the policies of governments destructive to the environment.

The commodification of water, although not a new phenomenon, is part of a more modern market-based approach to water management and elicits different attitudes of approval and rejection by stakeholders.

The predominant pattern of water consumers, international organizations and civil society institutions in the world meets with great dissatisfaction the idea of ​​viewing water as an economic resource.

Is it permissible for water to become a commodity?

There is no doubt that water was originally a resource of life that has existed on earth since its creation, and it has found many resources with different faces and uses. Man has invested and developed these resources according to his life needs. Then he proceeded to improve, tame and coordinate them in order to conform to his requirements, taste, and yearning for luxury, and to meet his knowledge of different sciences and to develop his knowledge that he used to improve his quality of life and standard of living, including food, drink, clothing and a ride, and even his wealth and social status.

The most prominent feature of the contemporary lifestyle today is the large number of studies that focus on health and food, with a special focus on the importance of water in the diets that we follow, and more than that, the types of water, its quality and its special composition for each type of diet, which would support this diet or those in achieving its goals. This trend has created a new concept for dealing with water and how to consume it, which is the concept of transforming water from a raw resource into an economically tradable commodity. This process was considered as “commodification”, the commodification of water.

Moreover, the contemporary civilized development, the volume of pollution caused by humans, the tight control of water flow, and the rise in the standard of living as a result of economic development, necessitated the treatment, purification and bottling of water for drinking or health uses, which made its circulation as a commodity possible, to cover the additional costs required by preparing water with the desired formula, but without transforming water into a commodity that can be bought and sold in its natural form.

While world leaders have recognized that access to drinking water is a fundamental human right, they have also recognized that the principle of cost recovery should apply to water use beyond those needs. The systems will not become sustainable unless there is investment to maintain and expand the systems to meet the needs of development and the growing population.

Different positions on the issue of water commodification

Those who wanted water as a preserved human right argued that if it were treated as an economic good, the poor could not afford it. It is not permissible for anyone to make a profit from something that we cannot live without.

Economists have argued that water is a commodity.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the right to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation, as a fundamental human right. (between 50-100 litters of water per person per day) provided that it is safe and acceptable, at a reasonable price (the cost of water should not exceed 3% of the household income), and that it is actually accessible (the water source should not be located within 1000 meters of home, and the time to obtain it does not exceed 30 minutes).

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed that water is one of the basic human rights, a right guaranteed by international laws. This was explicitly stated in the 1999 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights (November 2002) referred to the right to water as being inherent, and that everyone has adequate, inexpensive, physically accessible, safe and acceptable water for personal and domestic purposes. The Committee’s general observations No. 15 issued under the title “The Right to Water,” Articles 11 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights mentioned the concept of water management in that it is not limited to the economic dimension only. It should be enforceable and feasible, given that all States exercise control over a wide range of resources, including water, technology, financial resources and international assistance, as all other rights in the Covenant.

The resolution also makes clear that adequacy of water availability should not be interpreted narrowly, meaning only volume and technologies. Water should be treated as a social and cultural good, not primarily an economic good. This signals a shift towards market-based policies that show the true cost of water, reduce subsidies, and have the potential to involve the private sector in water supply services.

Regardless of the mandatory United Nations resolutions on emphasizing the right to drinking water and sanitation, as confirmed by the competent authorities in July 2010, this resolution, which was ratified by about 178 countries from all over the world, is still a matter of controversy and widespread disagreement between the countries ratifying it and the countries opposing it, amid a state of mutual justifications for those countries separately.

The debate and controversy on this subject intensified in the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul (Turkey) in March 2009, which represents the largest gathering (2300 individuals) and is a kind of diplomatic conference that brings together intergovernmental groups at the top, ministers level, and parliamentarians, as well as NGOs. It is held every three years.

The heated debate on this topic at the Fifth World Water Forum thwarted the adoption of its Final Declaration. It was unable to reach the final declaration issued by the ministers because of the attempt by France, Spain and many Latin American countries to amend the declaration by adding the sentence: “Access to safe drinking water” as a right human instead of the word “water need”; to no avail, to the point that twenty countries signed a statement of protest, including France, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa and Bangladesh.

The announcement criticized the French environment minister, who declared and described this as a lack of political will, which is necessary to ensure adequate drinking water, at a time when about 80% in developing countries suffer from all diseases due to polluted water.

Analysis

The problem of water is closely related to the rest of the problems of our stressful world, all of which are mainly caused by the rapid increase in its population. More population means the need to provide more food and more energy, and these two end up with the need for more water resources.

In view of this complex web of intertwined problems, the solution will only come through a general framework of a global policy that works to intensify investments and technical data, and to coordinate local and regional efforts.

The direct reason why most of the inhabitants of this world are accustomed to wasteful behaviour in water is that water comes to them in their homes almost for free. There is therefore a need to involve the citizens and put them in the real picture of the water situation.

In fact, this vital service has a cost that includes:

(1) Environmental cost.

(ii) Cost of water supply.

(3) Cost of water use.

(4) The cost due for the depletion or near depletion of a water resource that is being utilized.

Is water right or good?

Historically, water is a human right, and in the past people used to live next to water sources, and time evolved to transfer water from one place to another to population centres, so that the right has the cost of delivery, instead of going to the water source and taking your needs yourself. The state has the right to collect the cost of delivering water to citizens. The citizen pays the water bill, not as a price for water, but as part of the cost of delivering water to citizens, in which the government takes over the bulk.

The human relationship with water since the beginning of creation did not consider or treat water as a commodity like other natural resources such as minerals, oil, stones and others, but rather considered it a natural resource available to humanity, like air, meaning that it gives life and creates conditions for its prosperity.

But the contemporary civilized development, the volume of pollution caused by humans, the tight control over the flow of water, and the rise in the standard of living as a result of economic development, necessitated the treatment, purification and bottling of water for drinking or health uses, which made its circulation as a commodity possible, to cover the additional costs required by preparing water in the formula desirable, but without transforming water into a commodity that can be bought and sold in its natural form.

The truth collides with the available quantities of water. The scarcity of water dropped the concept of “water as a right” and turned it into a valuable commodity to be sold and bought. We live in an era in which it is no longer possible to obtain water from circulating water springs. Rather, it must be sterilized and pumped into water networks, or withdrawn from underground wells, treated and distributed. The government usually bears the bulk of the costs of providing citizens with water, and the rest must be borne by the citizen. The concerned authorities spare no effort to provide water, but the lack of available water distorts the service provided, transforming the citizen’s view of water as a commodity.

Also, when the scarcity drives the citizen to buy water for daily household uses, the right may go away and the water will turn into a commodity. Describing water as an economic good lead to a shift in market-based policies that show the true cost of water, reduce subsidies, and have the potential to involve the private sector in water supply services.

Therefore, water is viewed in various parts of the world on the basis that it is a human right and a renewable natural resource. However, this concept is declining in light of the population growth and the increase in demand for water for various purposes, and the prevailing concept has become focused on the natural right of man to have water in order to meet his basic needs and maintain health in general, except for that, the disposal of water requires taking into account the economic costs of its supplies and the benefits resulting from it to the community.

Within the framework of this principle, water economics is one of the important aspects in managing water affairs, and making decisions related to investing in water and determining policies related to the use of water for various purposes requires that water be considered a rare economic commodity that must be dealt with according to policies and procedures that ensure the achievement of the desired benefits, with taking into account that the benefits of water are not limited to the quantities used, but also to its quality. It is necessary to consider water an economic good, taking into account its characteristics and distinguishing features. Among these characteristics:

1. Water differs from other commodities as it is necessary and vital for human life and important for achieving sustainable development in all its economic, social and environmental aspects.
2. Natural renewable water differs from many other commodities in that it is replenished annually in limited quantities characterized by sharp fluctuations at times, leading to drought or floods, and in both cases consequent losses and damages according to the severity of each.
3. Water is distinguished in that it is a heterogeneous commodity due to the different technical specifications that are required to be available for different uses, such as potable water whose specifications differ from those required for agriculture or industry, and there is no alternative to its uses, whether for drinking or for agricultural and industrial purposes, in addition to being a commodity for final consumption. This is the case for drinking water, in addition to being an intermediate commodity for the production of other commodities, as is the case for its use in agriculture or in industry.

In conclusion, it can be said that water is an economic commodity when it exceeds the necessary needs of the human being, and it can be dealt with on this basis.

The pros and cons of commodifying water

As a result of policies aimed at controlling waste and preserving existing water supplies, and thus ensuring a secure future for humans, water has become a commodity in many parts of the world. The application of this policy varies from one society to another and from one state to another. There must be controls that preserve the rights of all groups that make up a particular society with its own structure. The standards applied to affluent societies cannot be applied the same to poor or middle societies. Rather, the core of the principle is taken and rotated to fit this or that society, while also being careful to meet the demands and needs of each class of this society.

If water is to be priced, the water pricing structure must be organized in a way that ensures that the twin goals are met: economic efficiency and social justice in areas with a multi-category social structure, so that it is accessible to the lower classes, without being completely eliminated. The individual’s contribution to this low price is necessary to develop a sense of the value of this product, whether it is for buying the product in the market or for domestic water. It must also have a share in the established tariff of water for domestic use, which plays a very important role in reducing waste in the use of water designated for all daily needs.

There are two misconceptions, namely:

• The first belief is free water, which raises the entire social and environmental responsibility from the consumer, so it serves as a veiled encouragement to disregard all social, cultural and environmental values ​​that also take into account the rights of others, since waste deprives others of a resource that would have been available without this irresponsible approach.
• The second belief is to pay the consumer to participate in full, which burdens him and makes him feel unequal and in the absence of the responsibility of the sponsoring state towards him, so he seeks in various ways to evade this weight and circumvent this responsibility.

As for the best way to implement this policy, it is by adopting a compromise solution in the reasonable contribution of the consumer to the subscription tariff, of which the state undertakes the bulk of it. The meter represents the fairest solution in determining the responsibility of each consumer individually according to his lump-sum, which he has control over according to his needs and ability, in accordance with the splits that determine the fee on the percentage of consumption in an ascending manner according to its gradual necessity, from urgent to least urgent and then in excess of the acceptable limit. Each consumer considers what suits him. Thus, he enjoys this right without taking his share and the share of others, and without depriving subsequent generations of a resource that is crucial to their survival.

And this step cannot be accepted basically without it being accompanied by a wide and effective media awareness that is studied to hit the target by specialized means, showing its importance and inevitability for a better life at all levels, provided that it is coupled with an encouraging government policy and at the same time restraining and punitive, giving it its official force to oblige the citizen to what is already proving his existence and developing his citizenship through his respect for his environment and his rights as well as the rights of others, and his respect first for his own citizenship, which he contributes to building with the sweat of his brow without favour from anyone, and through which he imposes his rights on his state as he contributes to building and developing it, with a profit in the end.

As for the positives that result from converting water into a commodity, the most important of which is the material technical process that is at its core, and it cannot be without it. In practice, the commodification of water requires first collecting it, then purifying it from impurities, then supplying it with the necessary mineral salts and minerals in accordance with international standards, and then packing it, then transporting and selling it. As for the most important part here, humanely, we purify it to make it drinkable, thus keeping the spectre of pollution and diseases away from this basic product, even at a price. In addition, taking into account the quality with regard to the composition, which is legally subject to international standards, thus gaining this water undoubted credibility and, consequently, greater confidence and more conviction in the entitlement of its value.

This is for the financial aspect, especially health, which is an indisputable priority. As for socially, it is worth noting that the global rate of water consumption at the present time is 917 cubic meters per capita annually, that is, four times more than it was in 1950. Therefore, giving water a material value prevents its misuse and enhances the social responsibility of the individual as well as enhances environmental awareness, not only towards water, but towards all sources of energy and production, not only because water is included in all of their production, but also because it becomes an approach that unconsciously adopts in the entirety of social life and dealings with others, including individuals, bounties and all components of life.

It remains that commodification is of inevitable economic benefit in the short and long term. It enhances the status of the state and supports it both internally and externally, thus earning it a role on the national arenas in terms of securing all the requirements of its citizens and thus gaining their respect and loyalty, and the international one in terms of its ability to undertake the management of its affairs in modern and advanced ways, which earns it an international economic and therefore political status because it puts it on the path of self-sufficiency, which is the basis of the independence of contemporary international entities.

Finally, it must be said that the commodification of water is one of the modern trends that has proven its presence in the contemporary world, and it is one of the aspects of urbanization that combined the primary need for a safe and clean resource, with a sophisticated, improved and practical product available in all conditions and climates, while remaining a relatively accessible commodity. It gave man an added value in terms of his individual possession of it unchallenged, as well as its survival as a general right with an expressive price, and thus it also acquired an economic, social and human value at the global level.

About author:

Dr. Mohamad Zreik has PhD of International Relations, he is independent researcher, his area of research interest is related to Chinese Foreign Policy, Belt and Road Initiative, Middle Eastern Studies, China-Arab relations. Author has numerous studies published in high ranked journals and international newspapers.

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

Ljubljana/Beirut, 21 January 2022

[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.

Original source

As Russian military forces and equipment continue to flood into Russian and Belarusian territories adjacent to those countries’ borders with Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Ukrainian, Russian and Belarus services and Current Time digital network are reporting the facts on the ground on either side of the Ukrainian frontier.

On January 19, RFE/RL’s Russian Service, in collaboration with the Conflict Intelligence Team, published the results of a joint investigation that exposes the scale and nature of Moscow’s military mobilization along Ukraine’s borders. Using Russian-language social media posts, the investigators traced the movement since January 7 of Russian soldiers based in far-Eastern Russia towards Belarus. In about half of the posts, the investigation notes, the friends and relatives of Russian contract soldiers write about the soldiers’ dispatch “for assignment” or “for training.”

These posts and others offer further evidence of Russia’s massive concentration of troops and equipment from throughout Russia near Ukraine. RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported on January 21, citing a Telegram post by Belarusian railway workers, that 33 of 200 Russian military trains, each averaging 50 cars bearing passengers, munitions, and other equipment had already arrived in Belarus for joint military exercises near the borders of Ukraine. The service supported this information with audience reports about Russian troop and equipment movements in Gomel region, only 150 miles north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

To track the Russian military buildup, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service has created an up-to-date interactive map (in Ukrainian) that provides new information on troop deployments and equipment stockpiles along Ukraine’s border in Russia and Belarus, and within the territory held by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

RFE/RL has also sent reporters to Ukraine’s borders with Russia and Belarus, as well as the eastern Ukraine conflict zone, to learn more about the views of Ukrainian soldiers and local residents about the looming threat.

To provide insight on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself in the face of the military threat from Russia, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service aired an exclusive interview on January 23 with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and the day before its Crimea Realities unit posted an exclusive with Ukrainian naval forces chief Rear Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa. RFE/RL and its services have also interviewed numerous other foreign officials, including Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks, Polish Member of the European Parliament and former foreign minister Radek Sikorski and Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, as well as U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R) and Chris Murphy (D), who visited Ukraine on January 17 as members of a bipartisan delegation.

RFE/RL has also provided audiences in-depth reporting and analysis on the summit discussions in December between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin; the January 10 U.S.-Russia talks, January 12 NATO-Russia meeting, and January 13 OSCE Permanent Council session; and the January 21 discussions in Geneva between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with a monthly average of over 8 million visits and 11 million page views to its websites as well as nearly 600 million video views on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram in 2021, sets a standard in the Ukrainian media market for independence, professionalism, and innovation. Its comprehensive coverage includes the award-winning reporting of its Donbas Realities and Crimea Realities websites and “Schemes” investigative reporting team.

Labeled an “extremist organization” by the Belarus government, RFE/RL’s Belarus Service provides independent news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language, relying on social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as mirror sites and an updated news app to circumvent pervasive Internet blockages and access disruptions.

RFE/RL’s Russian Service is a multiplatform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion. Despite being labeled by the Russian government as a “foreign agent,” The Russian Service’s websites, including its regional reporting units Siberia.Realities and Northern.Realities, earned a monthly average of 12.7 million visits and 20.6 million page views in 2021, while 297 million Russian Service videos were viewed on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, which has labeled the network a media “foreign agent,” Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, regularly analyzes developments in the Middle East, the Balkans and around the world. In the context of the current developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the increasing likelihood of armed conflicts, IFIMES made an analysis of the current situation in the country. We bring the most important and interesting parts of the extensive analysis titled “2022 Bosnia and Herzegovina: From ‘non-paper’ to a crawling war.”

2022 Bosnia and Herzegovina:

From “non-paper” to crawling war

The political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a consequence of the decision[2] by the then High Representative in BiH (OHR) Valentin Inzko on amendments to the BiH Criminal Law criminalizing and sanctioning negation of genocide but a result of carefully and long planned activities primarily by the Serb Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik (SNSD) and the President of the Croatian Democratic Union Dragan Čović (HDZBiH), aimed at dissolution of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For the purposes of fulfillment of their goal, through the European People’s Party (EPP) and radical right-wing political circles in Europe and by using substantial funds originating from crime and corruption, they established contacts and ensured support and assistance of neighboring countries. It is expected that the current High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt will adopt a decision banning persons convicted for war crimes and crime of genocide to engage in public life and stripping them of their civic rights (ban to run and vote in elections) which would prevent from holding a public office and being present in public life. Such a decision would lower the tensions in BiH and stop further humiliation and insults of the victims of war.

Russian military threats to Russia, which can escalate into a military conflict, are a reflection of the current political situation in the EU, where under the patronage of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Fidesz) and with the assistance of Russia, we witness gathering of political-criminal structures (predominantly) of right-wing political orientation, including pro-fascist groups from Austria, Italy, Spain, Poland, France, Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, which are in the function of Russian interests and act as a politico-criminal L’Internationale movement.

The aim of the listed political circles is establishment of a new world order that is to their measure. They call themselves the “sovereigntists”, who are allegedly opposing the “globalists”. Essentially, these are politico-criminal structures that abuse ethnic, religious, religious, civilization and other sentiments of citizens in pursuit of their goals and interests. The arrival of the new US President Joseph Biden (D) and the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to power inflicted a serious blow to the listed political circles, their intentions and interests.

The finale of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina – last chance for retailoring of borders

Although the architecture of borders in the region was completed with the declaration of independence of Kosovo, the final phase of the dialogue between the official Belgrade and Pristina is the last chance for a part of political circles who advocate retailoring of borders in the region. In fact, for that purpose the “non-papers”, attributable to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša (SDS/EPP), were released to public with a specific goal. In the region, the attacks are directed at Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia. In North Macedonia, intelligence operation “Rösselsprung”/Knight’s move/is underway. The aim of the operation is to topple the legal government headed by Zoran Zaev (SDSM) and bring to power Nikola Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE), who enjoys the protection of Viktor Orban and has found refuge in Budapest.

The “Rösselsprung” intelligence operation was thwarted and prevent at the last moment by an adroitly implemented maneuver by Macedonian patriotic forces, as after the resignation by Zoran Zaev a new government, also headed by the SDSM, was established and is led by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski. In Bosnia and Herzegovina an intelligence operation code-named “Kula” is currently underway. This operation is also coordinated from Budapest.

Federation of BiH – backbone of the economic system of the state

The Federation of BiH (51% of the territory of BiH) is where ¾ of economic transactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina takes place. Therefore, the Federation of BiH is the backbone of the economic system in the state of BiH. In fact, last year, in the period of the Corona crisis, the FBiH recorded a surplus of 120 million BAM (60 million EUR). Through the criminal and illegal distribution of revenues in the Indirect Taxation Authority, which is managed by HDZBiH on behalf of the FBiH and the state, more than 800 million BAM (400 million EUR) are unfoundedly and illegally paid annually to the entity of Republika Srpska, to the detriment of the Federation of BiH. A part of this amount is used, inter alia, for corrupting foreign officials, who act against BiH and its citizens (and business entities), which as taxpayers and other payers are the ones that pay for this. Research had shown that 95% of EU officials working in relation with BiH are exposed to corruption, as well as that US diplomats are also not immune to it. Dragan Čović and the HDZBiH are blocking establishment of the new FBiH Government, that is implementation of the results from 2018 elections. Specifically, they condition establishment of the new FBiH Government with adoption of a new election law that is to their liking and in line with their wishes. This is a typical deliberate obstruction and destabilization (participation in the “Kula” intelligence operation), because it is clear to Čović that an election law to his liking and measure, which would guarantee his reelection as the Croat member of the BiH Presidency, cannot be adopted. Namely, constitutional changes would firstly need to be adopted, and they require not just the political will but also a period of at least a year. Prior to adoption of the agreed proposal of constitutional changes in the BiH Parliament it is necessary to obtain the opinion of the Venice Commission. Furthermore, an appeal can be filed with the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg regarding the offered constitutional solutions. Only once the constitutional changes are made, the new election law can be adopted. The OSCE advices the states not to modify their election legislation in an election year. According to the existing election law, Bosnia and Herzegovina is to announce the general elections by no later than the first half of May 2022. Namely, high risks of corruption have been detected in the actions by special envoys Matthew Palmer and Angelina Eichhorst, who are trying in the current atmosphere of war in BiH to achieve the goals and interests of Dragan Čović and the HDZBiH and adopt a new election law “overnight.” However, the patriotic political forces and professional public have opposed adoption of constitutional changes “overnight.”

Blocking of appointment of new judges of the FBiH Constitutional Court

According to the FBiH Constitution, the Constitutional Court is composed of nine judges. Currently, four positions of judges of the FBiH Constitutional Court are vacant. More than two years ago, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) had completed the hiring procedure for the four judges and now everything depends on the President and two Vice Presidents of the FBiH. However, FBiH President Marinko Čavara (HDZBiH) is obstructing the process using the same HDZBiH matrix as in other cases. Specifically, he refuses to sign the letters of appointment, despite the insisting by the two FBiH Vice Presidents (Melika Mahmutbegović and Milan Dunović). As a result, the FBiH Constitutional Court barely meets the quorum requirements.

At the same time, the FBiH Council for the Protection of National Vital Interest, whose members are elected among the appointed judges of the FBiH Constitutional Court, is incomplete and cannot function. This means that whenever two thirds of a caucus in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament invoke protection of vital national interest and when the Council has to take a stance, in the regular procedure (when the Council was functioning) the respective law would be withdrawn from the agenda until the Council renders its decision on it.

Therefore, as long as the Council is not functioning, because of the deliberate obstruction by FBiH President Čavara, who is following HDZBiH’s instructions, any law for which the vital national interests is invoked cannot be returned on the agenda.

Analysts believe that in such a way the HDZBiH controls all the processes in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament. One of the main goals of the HDZBiH and Dragan Čović is to prevent adoption of the legal framework for taxation of betting shops, which results in damages to the budget caused by such non-taxation. Prevention of appointment of judges is an integral part of the strategy of the HDZBiH for blocking of adoption of any law that they do not want to be adopted. Namely, that is why there is the “vital national interest of ‘bookies’.” The goal of the HDZ BiH is to damage the budget, that is avoid payments that should be paid to the FBiH budget, and not to HDZBiH leaders and their oligarchy.

“Kula” intelligence operation aims to destroy the state of BiH through “ventilators”

The staged “Ventilators” affair, which is a part of the “Kula” intelligence operation, has no true connection with the procurement of ventilators and is not the reason but the cause to process the FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, further weaken the FBiH Government and diminish the results it has achieved. The ultimate goal is toppling of the economic system of the FBiH, as a phase in the destruction of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, Novalić’s closest associates are being attacked, illegal tapped, threatened and pressured by prosecutors. Threats to employees in the cabinet of Prime Minister Novalić and similar activities constitute illegal actions by prosecutors and obstruction of justice. Intimidation and pressuring of his closest associates are of no surprise. Everything is being done deliberately with the aim of further weakening and isolating Prime Minister Novalić with the ultimate goal of his complete destruction. So far, they have not been successful in their aim.

One of the keys to destruction of BiH are also the attacks on the economic/monetary system of BiH. In example, the intelligence model used against Prime Minister Fadil Novalić is similar to the one that was used against Ante Marković, President of the Federal Executive Council (Government) of the SFRY or in the early stages with the creation of the Agrokomerc affair for the purposes of undermining the economic system of a state. BiH is a blocked state, whereas the executive, legislative and judicial branches of its government are in the hands of the negators of holocaust and genocide. Under such circumstances the FBiH Government is managing to keep BiH “alive”. Internet news portals are also being used within the framework of the “Kula” intelligence operation. In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are around 600 news portals. One third of them produces “fake news” and has dubious and untransparent founders and funding. The “Kula” operation is envisaged to cause inter-Bosniak conflict, as a prelude to an armed conflict in BiH.

Systemic obstruction of justice by prosecutors in BiH

The principle of a fair trial in criminal cases, which is guaranteed by the European Convention, is one of the fundamental principles of democratic societies based on the rule of law.

This principle is systemically abused by the prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The public is familiar with the disciplinary proceedings initiated against chief prosecutors Gordana Tadić, Mahmut Švraka and Mirsad Bilajac, in relation to abuse of the automated assignment of cases to prosecutors (TCMS).

Systemic obstruction of justice by prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina is implemented in at least two ways:

– The first way is that chief prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina abuse the TCMS and instead of using the system for automated assignment of cases to prosecutors, they personally assign cases to the prosecutors that they deem “suitable” and obedient prosecutors.

– The second way of systemic obstruction of justice is that there is no electronic record of prosecution files.

If there was an electronic record of prosecution files, then the defense would be able right after the completion of investigation to learn from the list of documents what evidence had been obtained in the investigation. As a result, the prosecutors would not be able to withhold evidence from the defense.

In a situation in which there is no record of prosecution files, the prosecutors can disregard or even hide evidence that is in favor of the defense. This results in obstruction of justice, that is prevents establishment of truth before the court.

These two methods of abuse by prosecutors create an unlimited opportunity for staging of indictments, persecution on political basis, persecution on the basis of personal animosities towards the indicted, etc. All this can prevent establishment of the truth before court and lead to conviction of the innocent. The systemic obstruction of justice became apparent also in the case of the FBiH Prime Minister, “Fadil Novalić et al.”

The professional legal community has been aware for a long time already of the systemic obstruction of justice by prosecutors in BiH using, inter alia, the two above defined methods.

The obstruction of justice takes place almost on daily basis, because prosecutors hide or disregard evidence that is in favor of the defense.

Such systemic obstruction of justice takes place far away from the public eye. However, as the public is following developments in the “Novalić et al.” case, the obstruction of justice has come to light.

This imposes the question whether there is a legal basis for such obstruction of justice. Of course, there is not.

The principles of criminal procedure codes regulate that the prosecutor is obligated to provide evidence to the defense. Specifically, the evidence that is in favor of the defendant as well as the one that is to the detriment of the defendant. The criminal code defines also the criminal offense of obstruction of justice, that is criminal offense of “preventing presentation of evidence.”

If the criminal procedure and criminal codes protect against obstruction of justice, why do we then have systemic obstruction of justice. So far, in BiH, there has not been a single case in the judicial practice of a prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina being held accountable for the criminal offense of preventing presentation of evidence.

There are several reasons for that. The justice is obstructed by prosecutors who withhold evidence. Of course, they will not investigate or prosecute themselves for obstruction of justice. The public is familiar with the report filed by witness Edita Kalajdžić regarding abuse of her seized mobile phone, which the prosecutors are trying to coverup by denying such activities.

Disciplinary Prosecutor of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) almost regularly rejects reports regarding obstructions of justice under the pretext that it would violate independence of prosecutors. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the assigned judges regularly ignore obstructions of justice that take place in their courtroom. The judge has a duty to professionally file a criminal report for obstruction of justice against respective prosecutors. As a result of the above, we have impunity regarding obstruction of justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

What is the solution?

In the opinion of experts, there is no other solution but to note that the judicial reform based on Anglo-Saxon principles had failed. It is necessary to return to the principles on continental law in the criminal procedure legislation, as in Italy, France, etc.

If the continental criminal procedure legislation would be reintroduced, then there would be an investigating judge as an “impartial referee.”

The investigating judge would make a list of files and all the evidence collected in the course of the investigation that would be available to defense as well. This would further mean that it would be easier to establish the material truth in the trial, as well as that withholding of evidence and obstruction of justice would be rendered impossible.

In the current situation in courts in BiH, absence of fair trial has been recorded. Namely, the truth established in the criminal court is “dosed” by prosecutors, as they present in the courtroom only what suits them.

A specific problem in the obstruction of justice is the almost regular intimidation of witnesses during the investigation. An investigating judge as the “impartial referee” would definitely not engage in intimidation of witnesses.

All this can have far-reaching and serious consequences to the rule of law and democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the “dosing” of truth or withholding of evidence by prosecutors can lead to conviction of the innocent.

Analysts warn that the OSCE Mission in BIH, which monitors the trials, has not detected this as a problem for the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and undertaken appropriate actions.

Modification of “Kula” operation – causing inter-Bosniak conflict

In a charged atmosphere in BiH, in early December 2021 the miners took to the streets and the population always responds emotionally to such developments. The intent was to start a wave of violence for which the Bosniak political factor would be accused and initiate a conflict in such a way. A part of the actors in Sarajevo were unwittingly drawn into the “Kula” intelligence operation, while another part, which includes individuals from the judicial system, and particularly the prosecutors, wittingly got involved and was awarded for their contribution.

As this part of the “Kula” intelligence operation was exposed, the “Kula” intelligence operation had to be modified. Namely, in the coming period there will be an emergence of conflicts on the territory of the Una-Sana Canton (USK), which is a predominantly Bosniak canton. The situation is already being destabilized through initiation of strikes, political instability in cantonal authorities, strengthening of Fikret Abdić’s “autonomists.” Such activities will intensify in the coming period. In fact, the planned directing of migrants from the Middle East to this canton is a part of these activities. The goal is to start again an armed conflict among Bosniaks in the area, which dates back from 1993, so that the Bosniak political factor (and not Serb and/or Croat political factor) could be accused for the beginning of armed conflict. In such a way, Bosnia and Herzegovina would be presented as unsustainable, as such a development would show that in BiH even the Bosniaks are in conflict among themselves.

Analysts believe that the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federation of BiH, as well as international military forces, have to instensify their presence and engagement on the territory of the Una- Sana Canton in order to act preemptively to prevent an inter-Bosniak (armed) conflict.

Brčko District neuralgic spot for conflicts in BiH

Security threats have been detected in the demilitarized area of the BiH Brčko District, a self-governing administrative unit under the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The threats are related to disrespect of Article 7, Statute of the BiH Brčko District, Article 1 in reference to Article 77, Statute of the BiH Brčko District, and Item 13, Final Arbitration Award for the BiH Brčko District BiH, specifically the Annex of 18 August 1999. Brčko District Supervisor Michael Scanlan and OHR representatives have also been informed about the transit of armored vehicles, special purpose vehicles and police officers of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUPRS) carrying long guns and ammunition without previous announcement of transit through the territory of the District. Furthermore, an unannounced transport of weapons across the territory of the District was also recorded, as well as illegal arming of citizens and presence of paramilitary units. Supervisor Scanlan is responsible also for the military aspect of implementation of the Final Arbitration Award, but has not responded with removal of the head of the Police of the District Goran Pisić, who had covered up both the military transport and the arming of Serbs in Brčko. The Mayor of the Brčko District Esed Kadrić also made a number of omissions, as he had failed to undertake appropriate measures, as well as did not remove the head of the Police Pisić. Supervisor Scanlan sends reports about the situation in the Brčko District that are not credible and do not reflect the true situation on the ground. In such a way he prevents arrival and deployment of US military forces as a form of preemptive action on prevention of an armed conflict. Furthermore, Mayor Kadrić’s statements create a false image about the satisfactory security situation in the Brčko District, which has become the most neuralgic spot for the outbreak of an armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Article 1, paragraph 4 of the Statute of the Brčko District regulates “The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as relevant laws and decisions of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are directly applicable throughout the territory of the District. The laws and decisions of all District authorities must be in conformity with the relevant laws and decisions of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3]” Hence, the judgement by the BiH Constitutional Court that the marking of 9 January as the Republika Srpska Day was not in line with the constitution, must be respected in the District. Therefore, Supervisor Scanlan is responsible for allowing the marking of the unconstitutional Republika Srpska Day in the District, that is for not taking appropriate measures that he as the Supervisor has at his disposal.

Such incidents and practices have to be stopped, and the responsible have to be sanctioned. The Protocol on transit of military and police formations and assets through the demilitarized territory of the District has not been applied, nor had the Final Arbitration Award for BiH Brčko District and its annexes.

Analysts believe that Republika Srpska intends to send to the BiH Brčko District a light police brigade with around 1,000 special police officers, which would hermetically close the territory and provide for establishment of a corridor between the eastern and western part of Republika Srpska. Supervisor Scanlan acts as a lobbyist of Milorad Dodik and the SNSD. Hence, it is required to introduce supervision over the work of Supervisor Scanlan. Instead of removing the Head of the District Police Goran Pisić, “Supervisor commended the work of the Brčko police the past few months as an example of professionalism and commitment to serve the community that all officials in the District should emulate.[4]”

Elimination of US and its influence in resolution of the situation in BiH

Serb member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik stated: “The future of BiH is in a dialogue among local politician in the Erdogan, Vučić and Milanović constellation.” The unvoiced part of the statement that this is to be done “in cooperation with Russia” is implied. Dodik supports the initiative of the Turkish and Serbian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Aleksandar Vučić, which was earlier presented also by the Croatian President Zoran Milanović, according to which they should mediate the resolution of the existing situation in BiH among Bosniaks; Serbs and Croats. Dodik believes that any other interference in developments in BiH would not yield anything good.

Analysts believe that the initiative to have Serbia, Croatia and Turkey, in coordination with Russia, resolve the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an attempt to eliminate the influence of the US as the key country for ensuring peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. This is a perfidious attempt to institutionally bring Russia and Turkey with a bang to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. Turkey is a member of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) and it should coordinate its activities with other PIC members. Without such coordination Turkey risks of being pulled into very dangerous activities on retailoring of borders on the Balkans. The intentions of this initiative were immediately thwarted, while the President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Bakir Izetbegović made a strategic mistake when he recently met with the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković (HDZ) and thus legitimated him as an actor in the process of resolution of the situation in BiH. What would happen if Bosnia and Herzegovina would get involved in the process of adoption of an election law in Croatia, as Croatia has gotten actively involved in the adoption of the election law in BiH and alarmed the EU and international community about this internal political issue of BiH.

The “Kula” intelligence operation has been exposed and it has become clear who is behind it. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban did not cancel his announced visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina because of the pandemic of the coronavirus but because of the exposure of the “Kula” intelligence operation and his role in it, as well as because of the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had opened a case on BiH and is working on prevention of conflict and recording of all those who through their actions instigate a possible armed conflict in BiH and new sufferings that could result from it. The ICC had sent a clear warning to all working on dissolution of BiH, from distribution of various “non-papers” to instigating of an armed conflict, that they could share the fate of Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić and others who have been processed and convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The BiH Office of the Prosecutor has an obligation to initiate proceedings ex officio against local and foreign officials who work on dissolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and who through their actions instigate armed conflict and undermine peace and stability, that is act in an unconstitutional and illegal manner.

Analysts warn of the difficult security and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fact that the key security threats to Bosnia and Herzegovina are not coming just from Russia but also from EU and NATO members, such as Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland and some other countries. These facts are a serious issue for EU and NATO leadership about the role of their members in instigation of a war conflict in BiH. The fact that the situation in Europe is complex and intertwined with polycentric interests and centers of powers implies that a possible war conflict in BiH would not be a local or regional conflict but would affect a large part of Europe. As history is the teacher of life, it should not be forgotten that World War I actually started in the capital of BiH, Sarajevo. If the destructive activities are not stopped, BiH will quickly move from “non-papers” to a “crawling war “, and all the involved, if their responsibility is established, could be sanctioned. Bosnia and Herzegovina would not have been brought to the current situation had the judicial institutions responded in an appropriate and timely manner against all those who violate the constitution and the law, that is undermine peace and stability in the country.

Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington, 24 January 2022

[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: DW, Inzko imposes law banning genocide negation https://www.dw.com/hr/inzko-nametnuo-zakon-o-negiranju-genocida/a-58612728

[3] Source OHR: Statute of the BiH Brčko District, link: http://www.ohr.int/ohr_archive/statut-brko-distrikta-bosne-i-hercegovine-2/

[4] Source OHR: Brčko: Major reform results to be seen this spring, Brčko: Major reform results to be seen this spring | Office of the High Representative (ohr.int)

UNYP is one of the consortium partners having been recently awarded an Erasmus+ cooperation partnership grant entitled Empowering Adult Survivors of domestic violence through Entrepreneurship (EASE).

The goal of the project is to develop a training program designed to facilitate the adoption of entrepreneurial identity in individuals after surviving domestic violence across Europe. Its goals include a co-creation of a tailored program to answer the specific training needs of adult survivors of domestic violence in three European countries, designing a high-quality entrepreneurship training accessible for adults outside of the mainstream academic system of higher education, empowering survivors of domestic violence and facilitating their entrepreneurial endeavors through tailored training and mentoring for incubation.

The project consortium partners include Munich Business School GmbH (Germany), Institute de Preparation a l’Administration et a la Gestion (France), University of New York in Prague, s.r.o. (Czech Republic), ThinkYoung (Belgium), Led by HER (France) and Fondatsiya Bulgarski Tsentar za Gender Izvedvaniya (Bulgaria). The projected end of the cooperation partnership is in 2024; yet, the implementation of the training program is envisioned to reach beyond the partnership countries and target population.

More on Erasmus Plus Cooperation Partnership Grants:
https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/erasmusplus-programme-guide

The project summary as per the official document

Almost one in three women (30 % of women aged 15 and older) in the world has experienced physical and/or sexual violence (WHO, 2013). One of the side-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and its related state-at-home orders is a global rise in intra-family and domestic violence. A 60% increase in emergency calls from women subjected to violence by their intimate partner has been reported in Europe (BMJ 2020;369:m1872). Career development and career planning, daily work activities, career advancement, career identity, professional reputation, and opportunities for career advancement are affected during abusive relationships. Survivors of domestic violence are employed in higher numbers in casual and part-time work, and their earnings are up to 60 per cent lower, compared to women who do not experience such violence (UN Women, 2016b; Vyas, 2013). This abuse also continues to affect victim’s physical and mental health, financial stability, and support network, affecting their career trajectory over time.

EASE explicitly recognizes that situations of violence and abuse may be suffered by men as well as by women, and may be suffered inside or outside the home, but focuses on women survivors of domestic abuse. Gaining financial independence is one of the most effective ways for abused people to break the long-term hold of domestic abuse and violence on their lives. When they control their access to fundamentals like food, clothing and shelter, and feel valued by their income and autonomy, they can contemplate their future with a renewed vision. They are more able to leave and stay out of abusive relationships.

Less recognised, however, is the role entrepreneurship can play in gaining that financial freedom. While entrepreneurship requires material resources, mental strength and even physical stamina, in most cases, domestically abused people desperately lack one of these assets if not all because the domination they have endured. Nevertheless, business ownership can be a more viable path than conventional employment. Years of domestic violence leave abused people with spotty employment records that can get in the way of landing a job. Entrepreneurship can allow these people to sidestep some of these barriers. Learning to become an entrepreneur can also offer opportunities to restore a sense of self and mend broken self-confidence (Byrne, Shantz & Bullough, 2018).

The EASE project represents an opportunity to assist survivors of domestic violence in their recovery and professional reintegration. Furthermore, it is an opportunity for some of the participating higher education institutions (MBS, IPAG and UNYP) to enrich their curricula and offer new education pathways for adults that have left school. Designing a new curriculum for the EASE project will allow them to question and improve their existing curricula on entrepreneurship and/or offer a new tailored programme to adults from vulnerable groups in their region.

The NGO and think tank TY has already acquired extensive experience with teaching entrepreneurship to various groups with different challenges and cultural backgrounds, but has not adopted the tailored approach that EASE will allow them to test. EASE will also represent an opportunity to discover the needs, challenges and wishes of this specific target group. The remaining NGOs of the project aim to offer new opportunities to survivors of domestic violence, to assist them in their recovery and empower them through entrepreneurship. For BGRF, EASE is a new opportunity to assist survivors through entrepreneurship, while for LBH it is the opportunity to test their existing entrepreneurship training approach on an international scale.

Source

Article by Patricia Doherty

These are the best places to visit in March in the United States and around the world.

Many of us have postponed international travel for a while, and we’re looking forward to being in far away places. Perhaps — depending on health requirements for travel — it’s time for a trip to somewhere warm, exotic, or new. Festivals and events may be another reason to travel, so we’ve listed several, from music to fashion, baseball, sailing, and Mardi Gras. We hope our suggestions will inspire some trip ideas, even if it’s just for daydreaming or future planning. Here are 12 of the best places to travel in March.

Ireland

A visit to Ireland in March is perfectly timed for spring, St. Patrick’s Day, and the centennial anniversary of the first Irish Constitution that was signed at The Shelbourne in Dublin. You can stay in the historic hotel today, located on St. Stephen’s Green. After exploring Dublin, head to County Limerick for a stay at the plush Adare Manor, set on 840 countryside acres with a Michelin-starred restaurant, golf course, spa, and magnificent grounds. In County Clare, Dromoland Castle is another magical place, with a history dating to the 16th century, lavish décor, world-class golf, and superb cuisine. Ballyfin, a luxurious and intimate country house hotel with twenty bedrooms, is set in the center of Ireland at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

Bogotá, Colombia

Comfortable temperatures in the high 60s and dry March weather make this an ideal time to visit Bogotá. Estéreo Picnic from March 25-27, a mega music festival with popular alternative performers, is another reason to head to South America. The Ibero-American Theater Festival from March 16-April 1 is one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world, with international theater companies and celebrations throughout the city. Even if you don’t travel to Bogotá for a festival, you’ll find plenty to do exploring street art, strolling through the historic downtown La Candelaria section, and visiting the capital city’s museums. One of the best known is the Museo del Oro, with a huge collection of gold from Colombia’s pre-Hispanic era.

Seychelles

Located in the western Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of Kenya, the Seychelles, an independent republic and a member of the British Commonwealth, consists of 115 islands. Known for beautiful beaches, world-class diving and snorkeling, water sports, fishing, and marine life, the islands offer nature reserves, museums, marine national parks, and luxurious hotels. Mango House Seychelles, set in a historic home, recently opened with accommodations that include guest rooms, suites, and three-bedroom villas, all with views of the clear waters of Anse Aux Poules Bleues.

Read more here.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of the 2022 World Amateur Tour.

This year we will take you from Quinta do Lago, Portugal to Rome where we will discover the 2023 Ryder Cup venue, we will then flying to Scandinavian number one golf course Bro Hof Slott in Stockholm.

In september First ever PGA Tour and DP World Tour venue Renaissance Club will host our Links Championship just a few weeks before playing another Tour venue Real Club Valderrama. The Final tournament of the the Race to La Reserva will take you to Dubai Creek and Els Club in december where our new 2023 World Amateur Tour Champion will crowned.

Want to experience all the excitement, adrenaline and professionalism of life on a professional golf tour?

Join us and experience golf like a pro! www.worldamateurtour.com

We look forward to welcoming you soon to our first event in Portugal.

Best regards

Jean-Charles Cambon

Original article.

Even as U.S., NATO, and OSCE representatives meet with Russian diplomats this week to discuss Russia’s aggressive military posture along Ukraine’s borders and simultaneous demands for security guarantees, Russia’s campaign to silence independent media and drive Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) out of the country has continued unabated. With the designation of six more journalists as “foreign agents” and a growing number of fines under the “foreign agent” law, RFE/RL enters 2022 with eighteen Russian-national journalists on the government’s “foreign agents” list, and facing over $13 million in assessed fines.

Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “In concert with the threat posed by the 100,000 soldiers Russia has deployed along Ukraine’s borders, Russia’s bullying actions against independent journalism have also intensified. RFE/RL will continue to provide the Russian people with the news and information they need to hold their government accountable.

On December 30, Russia named two RFE/RL journalists, Yelena Vladykina and Ivan Belyaev, as individual media “foreign agents,” along with six other prominent Russian voices including Pussy Riot group members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Veronika Nikulshina, well-known satirist Victor Shenderovich, and former Channel One Deputy Director Marat Gelman. The designation makes them subject to onerous and invasive financial reporting requirements and forces them to add lengthy, legally mandated labels of their “foreign agent” status to all electronic communications or posted content. Four weeks earlier, on December 3, four other current and former RFE/RL journalists were named “foreign agents” — Alina Grigoryeva, Andrei Grigoryev, Regina Khisamova, and former contributor Regina Gimalova.

These latest additions increased the total number of individuals named to the Justice Ministry’s media “foreign agent” list to 75; another 36 media organizations are also labeled as “foreign agents.” In addition to nine RFE/RL services and RFE/RL’s Russian subsidiary, prominent media organizations registered as “foreign agents” include Voice of America, Meduza, VTimes.io, The Insider, TV Dozhd, iStories, Zona Prava, Mediazona and the investigative outlet Bellingcat, as well as the protest monitoring group OVD-Info and the election monitoring project Golos.

Due to its refusal to submit to the unjust and invasive content labeling provisions of the “foreign agent” law, Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor has also issued another series of violation protocols against RFE/RL – the eighth since the beginning of 2021. RFE/RL now faces a total of $13.4 million in fines, which it continues to fight in Russian court; it has also filed suit with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the law.

About RFE/RL

RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

The Czech minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, expressed that the country will seek to build closer ties with states beyond the Visegrad Four this year when it will take over the presidency of the European Union. While speaking at the European Commission in Brussels, Mr. Bek also said that France could be a new partner for the Czech Republic, with both countries having lobbied for support for investment in nuclear power.

The previous Czech government was a big supporter of the Visegrad Four group and former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, was close to Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.

The 9th annual LensCulture Portrait Awards aim to discover and reward more than 35 photographers around the globe who are making exceptional photographic portraits today.

These awards are open to photographers at all levels of experience, and all genres of portraiture are welcome — from professional studio shoots, to detailed environmental portraits, to casual candids. We’re open to all types of artistic approaches, too, including staged, fiction, fashion, metaphoric, self-portrait and conceptual work.

Winners will enjoy career-changing opportunities including exhibition in Paris, extensive media coverage, cash prizes and more. Scroll down to meet our expert international jury and read about our free entry option for single image submissions.

Challenge and delight us! Send in your best work today.

ENTER TODAY

FREE ENTRY OPTION

Deadline for Entries: Wednesday 23 February, 2022

LJUBLJANA/SKOPJE, 12 January 2022 – Director of the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES[1]) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zijad Bećirović today exchanged views with the President of the Republic of Albania Ilir Meta about current events in Albania, the region and the world.

Photo IFIMES: Ilir Meta (left), Zijad Bećirović (right)

The President of Albania Ilir Meta presented the current events in Albania, the role of Albania in international relations, and he stressed the importance of regional cooperation. In his opinion, the start of negotiations between Albania and North Macedonia and the EU is especially important. He called for both countries to start EU membership negotiations at the same time. President Meta emphasized the importance of ensuring lasting peace and long-term stability, which is crucial for the prosperty of individual countries and the region as a whole.

IFIMES Director Bećirović thanked President Meta for presenting the current situation in Albania and for insight into Albania’s position in international relations. According to him, it is especially important that we make additional efforts to ensure that the Western Balkans region does not lag behind the modern and developed world, and that many reforms are needed to achieve this. In the coming period, the IFIMES International Institute will strengthen its activities in Albania in support of that country on its European path.

At the end of the conversation, IFIMES Director Bećirović invited President Meta to give a lecture at the institute on current events in Albania and the need to reposition Albania in international relations, which President Meta gladly accepted. He also emphasized the possibility of organizing joint activities of the institute in Albania.

Ljubljana/Skopje, 12 January 2022

[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

Hydrostor’s Goderich storage facility, Image: Hydrostor

The investment is planned to support development and construction of Hydrostor’s 1.1 GW, 8.7 GWh of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage projects that are well underway in California and Australia, and help expand Hydrostor’s project development pipeline globally.

Hydrostor Inc. today announced a preferred equity financing commitment of US$250 million from the Private Equity and Sustainable Investing businesses within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Hydrostor, a Canadian company with patented advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) technology designed to provide long-duration energy storage, uses proven components from mining and gas operations to create a scalable energy storage system that can store energy from 5 hours up to multi-day storage where it is needed. Hydrostor has projects worldwide in various development stages for providing capacity of over 200 MW each.

Read the rest here.

By: ANNE FISCHER

18. 1. 2022 – 19:30 The Church of St. Simon and St. Jude

Link: https://www.fok.cz/en/julie-svecena-violin-recital-0

Since winning the International Radio Competition ‘Concertino Praga’ in 2010, Julie Svěcená has been performing extensively throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Her orchestra experiences include the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra. In 2013, Julie graduated from the Prague Conservatoire, she continued her studies in London, graduating with a Master of Arts degree and Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music, in the class of Mr. Rodney Friend, MBE. In her upcoming Prague recital, organized by the Prague Symphony Orchestra, she will play pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck as well as Czech composers Leoš Janáček and Petr Eben.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly criticized the targeting of Kazakh journalists covering fuel price protests that have spiraled beyond the government’s control.

Said Fly, “Reports of gunfire and other violence directed at those reporting on these protests, are deeply concerning—as are attempts to limit the flow of information within and out of the country, by targeting the internet and social media and blocking media websites, including that of our Kazakh Service. At such an unstable time, journalists must be allowed to report the facts as they unfold.”

Today, while covering protests in the central square of Almaty, individuals in a security forces vehicle opened fire indiscriminately at protesters and journalists who were wearing their legally-mandated “Press” vests—including those reporting for RFE/RL. Yesterday, two RFE/RL journalists were detained by police while reporting on the protests in Almaty and Nur-Sultan—Darkhan Umirbekov, an editor in Nur-Sultan who was detained and held for 4.5 hours for questioning, and acting Almaty bureau chief Kasym Amanzhol, who was held for 2 hours of questioning after being picked up as he filmed protests earlier in the day.

RFE/RL President Jamie Fly criticized the targeting of Kazakh journalists covering fuel price protests that have spiraled beyond the government’s control.

Said Fly, “Reports of gunfire and other violence directed at those reporting on these protests, are deeply concerning—as are attempts to limit the flow of information within and out of the country, by targeting the internet and social media and blocking media websites, including that of our Kazakh Service. At such an unstable time, journalists must be allowed to report the facts as they unfold.”

Today, while covering protests in the central square of Almaty, individuals in a security forces vehicle opened fire indiscriminately at protesters and journalists who were wearing their legally-mandated “Press” vests—including those reporting for RFE/RL. Yesterday, two RFE/RL journalists were detained by police while reporting on the protests in Almaty and Nur-Sultan—Darkhan Umirbekov, an editor in Nur-Sultan who was detained and held for 4.5 hours for questioning, and acting Almaty bureau chief Kasym Amanzhol, who was held for 2 hours of questioning after being picked up as he filmed protests earlier in the day.

RFE/RL journalists have been providing on-the-ground coverage of the recent wave of nationwide protests sparked by a sharp, unexpected doubling of retail prices for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used in vehicles, which amplified worries among Kazakhs of knock-on effects to the prices of other daily commodities such as food. The protests, which started in Kazakhstan’s long-restive western Mangystau region, quickly expanded to urban centers throughout the country, including the capital, Nur-Sultan and commercial hub of Almaty, where protesters stormed city hall, set fire to a presidential residence, and seized control of the airport. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared.

Access to the website of RE/RL’s Kazakh Service was blocked within Kazakhstan today, along with those of several other independent media outlets including Orda.kz and KazTAG. Mobile Internet communications were down for much of the day; access remains blocked to popular social media platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.

RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, known locally as Radio Azattyq, reports accurate news and informed analysis in both the Kazakh and Russian languages that state-controlled media is often unable or unwilling to provide, while serving as a platform for the free exchange of ideas. In FY 2021, the service’s azattyq.org website logged 50 million visits and 69.7 million page views. More than 1.23 million people subscribe to its YouTube feed, and 612,000 follow its Instagram page.

Current Time is a 24/7 Russian-language digital and TV network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. In addition to reporting uncensored news, it is the largest provider of independent, Russian-language films to its audiences. Despite rising pressure on Current Time from the Russian government, which has designated the network a media “foreign agent,” Current Time videos were viewed over 1.3 billion times on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021.

About RFE/RL
RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Article source.

In 2018, an estimated 1.4 billion people took an international vacation. In the same year, some 4.3 billion scheduled flights took off to destinations around the globe. These numbers make it hard to believe that travelers have left any stone unturned in finding all the hidden gem destinations. But, dear reader, I’m here to tell you such treasures do still exist. And we’re here to share one with you: the Dutch island of St. Eustatius.

Situated in the Caribbean, tucked between Anguilla and St. Kitts, sits the island of St. Eustatius, otherwise known as Statia. The island is dominated by an active volcano and encompasses just 13 square miles. It’s also inhabited by 32 native bird species and more protected historical monuments per square mile than any other Caribbean Island, as well as just 3,000 residents, making it an absolute dream getaway for those looking for peace and solitude. And now, there’s a new hotel looking to cater to guests who want to do just that.

See the rest here.

Suu Kyi, Yemen and Afghanistan in the Forefront

This year has been a stark reminder that, as an erstwhile scientist put it, the virus is the insidious enemy of man. It is one hundred years since the deadly (Spanish) flu virus ran rampant and killed 20 million, to really put a stamp to the end of the first World War. The Black Death, originating in China, circa 1350, killed an estimated 75-200 million. Fortunately, we have made huge strides in medical science in the last 100 years, without which today’s number of 2+ million in the current pandemic would be many times greater. In 1920, the world population that succumbed was about 1%. Six centuries earlier it was about +/- 15%. If 1% were laid low today it would be about 90 million would die – unthinkable.

Early in the year, the military in Myanmar swooped, snatched the people’s choice as their leader – Aung San Suu Kyi – and spirited her away as well as other key civilians, and installed themselves as the government. They wrongly charged Suu Kyi’s NLD (National League of Democracy) government with fraud at the recently won elections, but ‘promised’ to hold another ‘free’ election under their control after one year, that is February 2022, two months from now. We do not have long to wait! In the meantime, they are going round murdering villagers in Chin state, as recent filmed events have uncovered. Sections of the populace are forming armed resistance groups, beyond those of the previous long-term guerrillas, not trusting the Burmese Army, who have been using the same tactics of rape, pillage and killing for many decades.

Meanwhile, the lady, as Suu Kyi is known, has been given a 2-year reduced sentence on trumped up charges but they have not finished yet in the courts, but taking a break for the end of the year. However, by putting the lady in jail she will not be able to stand in the forthcoming election – if it goes ahead! Debatable.

Not given much in the way of headlines is the tragic situation in Yemen, where many thousands of children are dying each month. The terrible plight of the people was once more aired by the UN on world news. The civil war, which has been going on for too long, is between the Houti rebels, backed by Iran, who espouse the Shi’ite version of Islam, and Yemeni government forces, backed by the Saudis and allies, who espouse the Sunni version. In turn, they are backed by the west, principally the US, how can the war be stopped without intervention? Stopping arms supply? Only part of the answer.

The main focus of attention in mid-year was on Afghanistan when the Taliban, realizing that it was a matter of time before the US withdrew totally, made a push and started gaining a foothold in the country. This followed on from President Trump’s rather vainglorious attempt to meet the Taliban on a head-to-head basis in 2018 with no Afghan government in attendance. President Joseph Biden, against a lot of advice, followed this up by announcing a complete withdrawal of American troops and citizens by 30th August, a matter of a few short weeks to unwind 20 years of recovery work towards sustainable development.

The result was the Taliban accelerated their advance and shock-surprised the Afghan government and departing parties such that they had to negotiate free passage over the last week of August for a number of key people, including Afghanis. Many of the Afghanis had helped the US and allies for years and would be targeted by the Taliban if they stayed. The short time left meant that many, perhaps most, had to be left behind, justifiably in fear for their lives. The situation is still not resolved as the Taliban have an archaic view of life, especially towards women, no funds, and have no skills by which to run a complex country with many centuries of unsettled history.

Putin and Xi Jinping cementing positions

There have been other difficult spots in the world. Belarus with its troublesome president, Alexander Lukashenko, who stole the last election to stay in office, and has upset the EU on several occasions and the West generally. Lukashenko knows he has the backing of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and does things to irritate, the latest being to encourage Middle East refugees to cross into Poland. His behaviour is totally dictatorial and against most of his people’s wishes, but Putin encourages him so that it keeps a buffer, a country in the Russian communist sphere of influence.

In his 17th annual long Christmas message to the Russian people, Putin showed his thinking. He wishes to maintain Ukraine and Belarus and any other snippets of territory he can get within the Russian hegemony. He greatly regrets the loss of the Russian ‘Empire’, the huge swathes of land, individual countries, that they took over at the end of WWII. He forgets why he lost them. The Russian economy had performed poorly, year on year, during the years of Stalin and could not keep up with the democratic way of the west with whom they competed, especially the US. At the end of the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev, last General Secretary of the Communist government of the USSR and in post from 1985, then the first President of Russia, 1990-91, bowed to the inevitable. If the Russian economy was to recover, it had to release all of the countries of eastern Europe which they held in their hegemony. Continuing to take hold of those countries was no longer feasible, a terrible strain on the economy. One notable action was the demolition of the Berlin wall, which allowed the reunification of Germany to take place.

President Putin sees the expansion of EU with the previous Soviet satellite countries of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania etc., with the boundaries of NATO thereby expanding eastwards, as a potential threat to Russia. Therefore, he is stepping up the pressure on Ukraine from which he has stolen back Crimea and effectively controls the eastern border of the country. But Europe, especially Germany, needs Russian gas, of which they have plenty, so sensibly the EU and Russia are going to have a high-level meeting in early 2022 to try to iron out various points of difference. It is of benefit to both sides and further afield. Historically, up to almost a century ago European Russia, where most of the Russian decisions are made, had links with several European powers.

Other ongoing struggles are in the Middle East, which involves several adjoining countries but is largely focused on Syria, which has highlighted the refugee issue in Europe for more than a decade, and Ethiopia. In China, there is the plight of the Uighurs, who are being tortured and ‘re-educated’ to give up their Islamic beliefs and follow the central communist government party line. Xi Jinping, the President of the People’s Republic of China, since 2013, has made belligerent noises aimed at the US and west not to interfere on China’s policy of creeping land take. They have also made noises about taking Taiwan back, which is a potentially very dangerous.

From COP26 to Omicron

The much-anticipated COP26, to show case the latest thinking from the IPCC and their scientific community was held in Glasgow towards the end of the year in November, and attracted top government representation from most countries in the world and notable figures concerned with the climate issue. It also brought many of the pressure groups who made their voices heard; all told some 40,000 attending in one way or another. CO2 was the focus, the culprit fossil fuels, and human activities leading to the Increase in it. The resolution was tabled that countries should all sign an agreement to target a reduction in use of fossil fuels to reach a position of net zero by mid-century.

At the last-minute China and India demurred and would not sign unless the final resolution document exchanged the word ‘eliminate’ use of fossil fuels to the watered-down word ‘reduce’ use of fossil fuels. India, whose economy very largely depends on coal, said they would not be ready until 2070. China’s industry and domestic needs produces, by a significant amount, the largest quantity of greenhouse gases of any nation. It also invests, however, in renewables. Each made the case that any faster rate of reduction would have a very harmful effect on their respective economies. The COP were dismayed but reluctantly agreed so that the document should be signed as a final memento of the Glasgow meeting.

Since then, the covid virus has taken centre stage once again with a new fast-moving variant, omicron, discovered in S. Africa, and supplanting the previous delta variant as the dominant strain. While the delta variant is still with us, the omicron, is worrying medical scientists more at the astonishing speed of its spread, and its potential to overwhelm a countries health service.

However, a former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is saying as others say “no country is safe until all countries are safe’’. He is dismayed, and rightly so, at the slow distribution of vaccines to and among poorer countries and criticizes the efforts made by wealthier nations although these poor countries are faced with badly developed communications networks, mainly roads, which just adds to the problem.

As we near the year end the virus is raising its profile instead of going gradually away. Omicron taking over from Delta, which has been the dominant strain throughout the year. There is concern at the speed at which the variant is spreading, albeit its potency seems to be less. Whatever the first two months ahead would appear to be dominated by the virus. Something like this deadly virus lasts for 3+years. We can but hope that this one can show signs of petering out in 2022. Nowadays we have a population of 8+ billion, much more than we have been before, but fortunately we know much more and are constantly updating the medical science, sometimes daily. There are other issues which are coming up and which will challenge us in the years ahead. But that is another story.

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 Thailand from 1978 to 1983 and visited Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal for projects.

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

Ljubljana/Glasgow, 3 January 2022

Dear friends of the Prague City Gallery,

to celebrate the New Year, we invite you to a joint global event: on 21 January 2022 at 9 PM, embrace physically or virtually one or more persons and express your wishes, verbally or otherwise. This day is International Hugging Day. We’d love you to post about this event on our social networks!

Thank you in advance and we wish you all the best for 2022.

Prague City Gallery

Figure 1 Jiří Kovanda, Polibek / Kiss, 1976, akvizice GHMP z roku 2007 / acquisition of Prague City Gallery from 2007

These are 15 of the best places to spend Christmas this year.

Editor’s Note: 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.

The “most wonderful time of the year” is quickly approaching, and even though holiday celebrations might look different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, you can still find the festive spirit in destinations across the United States and the world. The best Christmas vacations offer cheerful decorations and festive events that capture the holiday spirit, all set against the backdrop of a beautiful destination. And with many ideal holiday destinations located across the country, you’re never further than a road trip from a perfect December vacation.

Wondering where you can actually travel for Christmas in 2021? From sunny shores to winter wonderland ski resorts, these are the best places to spend Christmas this year. While some destinations and hotels have released their holiday plans, these are subject to change due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, so be sure to check before planning your trip.

See the list here.

Forty years have passed this fall since my first travel to Lebanon and it happened ever since to return there many times and to spend more than four years in the beautiful Cedars country; I had during the time the opportunity of meeting relevant Lebanese personalities such as the late prime minister Rafik Hariri, the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, president Michel Aoun (before being elected) and many others.

Lebanon is an iconic country for the Middle East and could be considered a true barometer of the regional geopolitical situation and also for the fact that what happened in Lebanon during the last decades until now is absolutely true for numerous countries of the world, countries with no resources of their own, withstanding multiple foreign influences that are confronted with a massive emigration, have on their territories numerous refugees and are overcome by corruption.

Even if on October 31st, 2016, the Lebanese parliament brought to an end the longest period of the country’s history without a president (29 months since the end of president Michel Suleiman’s mandate – May 2014) by electing – after 45 parliamentary sessions in which no candidate could obtain the legal quorum – General Michel Aoun, the following period witnessed many political and social convulsions, numerous demonstrations and popular protests and a continuous deterioration of the economic situation. The August 4th, 2020 explosion in the Port of Beirut (the biggest explosion of the last decades in an urban area in the world) aggravated the economic crisis Lebanon is witnessing and provoked a new political crisis. It was only in September 2021 when a new government was formed under the leadership of Najib Mikati (prime minister for the third time).

Lebanon is the prisoner of a sectarian political system whereby the power is shared by the three main religious communities: the Maronites Christians, the Sunnis and the Shia; nevertheless the political system reached its limits and the present Lebanese political class proved it is not able and ready to find an alternate solution.

New parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 27th, 2022 and in the autumn of the same year the parliament is to elect a new president. It would be no surprise if the parliamentary elections are postponed and a new political crisis emerges. In fact, the politicians’ hesitations to reform the present political system are emphasized by the initial promise of granting six seats in the parliament to the diaspora (out of the more than 8 million Lebanese ex-pats, only 1.2 million have the right to vote and a record number of more than 200,000 voters registered for the 2022 elections), a promise nowhere to be found in the final form of the electoral law.

It is worth mentioning that the last official census in Lebanon took place in 1932 while the unofficial estimates of 2020 indicate a population of 6.8 million inhabitants and a research of a Lebanese consultancy of 2016, quoted by the US Department of State, shows that the Lebanese population was made up of 45% Christians, 48% Muslims and 5.2% Druze. According to some official data, almost a million Syrian refugees (944,613) and almost 200,000 registered Palestinian refugees are to be added up to the said population. Most probably, the real figures of the refugee are much bigger, at least double in what the Palestinian refugee are concerned.

From an economic standpoint, Lebanon is witnessing the most severe crisis of the last 150 years as the GDP shrunk from $ 55 billion in 2018 to $ 33 billion in 2020 and a further decrease to $ 20.5 billion is expected in 2021 (World Bank estimates, October 2021) and the per capita GDP decreased by around 40%. The unemployment increased from 28% in February, 2020, to 40% by the end of the same year. According to UN data, 78% of the Lebanese live under the poverty threshold and 36% in extreme poverty.

According to a Reuter’s research, the food index price increased in September 2021 by 557% as compared to October 2019 and the economy contracted by 30% as compared to 2017. The Lebanese Pound lost around 90% of its value as compared to October 2019.

As far as corruption is concerned, the latest data published by Pandora Papers mention the name of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, of the Governor of the Central Bank Riad Salameh and that of the former prime minister and minister of Education, Hassan Diab. The clientelistic political system and the way the public contracts are assigned domestically may be the subject of an extensive debate.

Under such circumstances, from 2019 until now only, 300,000 Lebanese citizens who lost any hope that the domestic situation could improve emigrated and were looking for a solution outside the country. Unfortunately, those who left the country and those who will, have a good professional training and a financial status that can assure them a new beginning in a new country. Such events will further diminish the possibilities of Lebanon’s recovery. A people who, for a long period of time went through serious crises and had its stamina diminished by numerous emigration waves, subjected, at the same time, to the immigrationist pressures and foreign interests is not an inexcusable reservoir and might be seriously affected by such events.

The sectarian and group interests are overwhelming and are used by foreign influences (France, Iran, Israel, Turkey, USA, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf countries, China, Russia) for attaining their own goals and for testing solutions for the area’s related issues. Such circumstances made the Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Al-Rai to declare on August 15th, 2020 that: “We will not allow for Lebanon to become a compromise card between nations that want to rebuild ties amongst themselves”.

I consider that on a short run, the economic situation in Lebanon will continue to deteriorate – if that is still possible without a further dissolution of the state. On a longer run, the forecasts of the evolutions in the Middle East and especially in Lebanon are extremely indefensible. Yet the country of the Cedars fully deserves the characterisation of a barometer of the geopolitical developments in the area. Unfortunately, the Lebanese brought the country where it is now with help of course by foreign interests. The 2022 elections do not seem to bring in optimism and, in the spirit of the Lebanese tradition, they are to be postponed without a clear time horizon. Timing is not the issue but finding a viable solution for replacing the present sectarian political system yet I do not see a firm political will in this respect.

An improvement of the general situation in the Middle East could have a favourable influence on Lebanon but I believe it depends first and foremost on the Lebanese. Is it possible that the diaspora come with a political solution that can be successfully implemented? Does the rich Lebanese emigration want to have a country where to return fondly and with nostalgia? Or will Lebanon continue to sink itself into the conflicts without a foreseeable end of the Middle East? To use the title of today’s webinar, I do not see a change for a new beginning in Lebanon. The answer should come from the Lebanese themselves!

The text was at the Presentation in Webinar on December 2nd, 2021 “Middle East and North Africa: the Changes for a New Beginning” event organized by Bucharest-based think-tanks MEPEI (Middle East Political and Economic Institute) and EuroDefense Romania in partnership with IPIS (the Institute for Political and International Studies), Tehran.

The webinar invited speakers are experts from Afghanistan, Austria, China, Hungary, Lebanon, Iran, Italy, Malaysia, Palestine, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Syria, Turkey, UK, USA.The webinar brings together more than 200 diplomats, officials, academics, business leaders, politicians, as well as independent researchers, think-thank representatives, journalists, and other civil society representatives.

About the author:

Corneliu Pivariu is a highly decorated two-star general of the Romanian army (Rtd). He has founded and led one of the most influential magazines on geopolitics and international relations in Eastern Europe, the bilingual journal Geostrategic Pulse, for two decades. General Pivariu is a member of IFIMES Advisory Board.

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

Ljubljana/Bucharest, 14 December 2021

Original article

WASHINGTON—Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) condemned today’s guilty verdict and 15-year prison sentence by a Belarus court against prominent blogger and RFE/RL Belarus Service journalist Ihar Losik.

Said RFE/RL President Jamie Fly, “The Lukashenka regime’s treatment of Ihar Losik has been reprehensible. The closed-door trial he and his co-defendants have endured for the past five months has been an outrageous travesty of justice. We again call on the Lukashenka regime to stop their assault on news organizations and journalists and bloggers like Ihar and let him return to his wife and daughter.”

Losik was arrested by Belarusian agents on June 25, 2020, in advance of the rigged presidential election in August that returned six-term incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the presidency. He was tried on charges widely considered to have been fabricated by Belarusian authorities, including “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and “preparation for participation in riots.” The trial lasted five months and took place behind closed doors at the prison where Losik was being held with his five co-defendants, who included video blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski, the husband of presidential candidate and opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and prominent opposition activist and former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich.

Since his arrest, Losik has faced severe physical and psychological pressures, to include two debilitating hunger strikes. He has only been allowed to see his wife once throughout his ordeal, and been denied any visits at all with his parents or his young daughter. Prison authorities have also sought to affect Losik’s mental state while in detention with frequent transfers to different cells and by denying mail privileges for extended periods of time.

Losik’s wife, Darya, spoke by phone on October 20 with U.S. Special Envoy to Belarus Julie Fisher, and met the previous day with European Union representatives, the latest signs that Losik’s plight remains a priority for the U.S. and European governments. Losik’s unjust detention was prominently noted during a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on June 9, in legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 20, in a statement by CSCE Chairman Sen. Ben Cardin and commission leaders Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) on April 13, and by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his statement supporting the April 19 reimposition of sanctions on nine state-owned Belarusian companies. U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Helsinki Commission, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, among others, have called for Losik’s release.

RFE/RL journalists in Belarus have spent a cumulative 688 days behind bars since Losik was arrested in June 2020; RFE/RL freelancer Andrei Kuznechyk is still in jail, serving a second 10-day sentence for “hooliganism” in what RFE/RL’s Jamie Fly described as a “state-sponsored kidnapping.” A Belarusian court on December 3 designated the Telegram and YouTube channels of RFE/RL’s Belarus Service as “extremist”. In addition, RFE/RL’s bureau in Minsk was raided and sealed by Belarusian security forces on July 16, and numerous other RFE/RL journalists on assignment to report on the election and its aftermath have been harassed, detained, and stripped of their accreditations.

About RFE/RL’s Belarus Service Despite working in what Reporters Without Borders calls “the most dangerous country in Europe for media personnel,” RFE/RL’s Belarus Service continues to provide independent news and analysis of the fast-moving events to Belarusian audiences in their own language, relying on social media platforms such as Telegram, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as mirror sites and an updated news app to circumvent pervasive Internet blockages and access disruptions.

About RFE/RL RFE/RL relies on its networks of local reporters to provide accurate news and information to more than 37 million people every week in 27 languages and 23 countries where media freedom is restricted, or where a professional press has not fully developed. Its videos were viewed 7 billion times on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram/IGTV in FY2021. RFE/RL is an editorially independent media company funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Original article

WASHINGTON—Reporters from across RFE/RL’s services were awarded top honors this week for their work uncovering corruption in their home countries.

On December 7th, Natalie Sedletska, a journalist for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was recognized for her reporting for the program Schemes: Corruption in Details, receiving DC-based think tank Transatlantic Leadership Network’s inaugural “Freedom of the Media” award. Schemes, an RFE/RL program dedicated to investigating and exposing high-level corruption that was created in the wake of the 2014 Maidan Revolution, was previously awarded the top prize in Ukraine’s National Investigative Journalism Competition this past September. Sedletska dedicated her award to her team of investigators at Schemes, additionally bringing attention to the case of RFE/RL journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, jailed since March 2021 in Russia-occupied Crimea:

“This award is an accomplishment that would not be possible without my colleagues from the Schemes investigative team, supported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Also I want to use this opportunity to remember my colleague Vladyslav Yesypenko, RFERL contributor, and another dozen reporters who are currently in jail in Crimea, occupied by Russia. Journalism is not a crime.”

Bulgaria’s Anti-Corruption Fund honored the work of three investigative journalists from RFE/RL’s Bulgarian Service at its annual Red Line ceremony dedicated to recognizing journalism exposing corruption in Bulgaria on December 9 – International Anti-Corruption Day. Boris Mitov’s “in-depth and consistent efforts to uncover the dependencies of judiciary, executive and legislative power,” were recognized with the Supreme Court Award. Earlier this year, Mitov investigated the rapid rise in wealth of former Bulgarian politician Delyan Peevski, amid allegations of corruption and money laundering. The Fund also awarded Genka Shikerova a Special Award for Investigative Journalism, for her reporting in February on the systematic deforestation of Bulgarian forests, while Damyana Veleva was honored in the young journalist category for her work in revealing that more than 400 villages in Bulgaria have not had regulated water supplies since the 1950s,. The ceremony can be re-watched on Facebook Live.

Also on December 9, Moldova’s National Agency for Integrity (ANI) awarded RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service a “Diploma of Gratitude” for supporting the fight against corruption through clear and thorough reporting. Part of Moldova’s renewed efforts to tackle corruption, the ANI was recently revamped to act as a check on the wealth of top public servants and politicians. The agency applauded the service for “the clarity of its reports on the changes made to the laws regarding the National Agency of Integrity, conflict of interest, and integrity [of public officials].”

— Erica Stefano

Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Just like any other industry, human resources are evolving and advancing day by day. We’re more than ready to leave the old practices behind and indulge in new activities and methods that will improve the recruiting process, employee satisfaction, and many more. Each year talented HR specialists and generalists come together to come up with improved techniques that will not only help them but candidates as well.

Are you an expert working in the field of human resources? Then you mustn’t miss these 5 trends in the industry that are coming our way in less than a month! These trends are ready to be implemented and used to improve the company’s performance. So, where do we begin?

1. Talent wars will become a thing

Every company wants to attract top talent to work for them. However, the number of needed experts and top talents exceeds the amount of really talented individuals. Since not every company is competent enough to “fight” for top talents, they have to settle for average employees and get left behind. So, how can you ensure the company you work for wins the talent war?

You have to offer value no other company does. For instance, if you’re not able to provide employees with higher pay, offering work on interesting projects, more vacation days, a hybrid workplace, and free parking and gym pass can be more than enough to satisfy the talented.

2. Upskilling will be essential

As you’ve probably noticed, most companies are searching for experts who are immediately ready to jump to work. However, this is not such an easy task. Big companies rarely give a chance to beginners which leaves a lot of young, motivated individuals full of potential jobless! Well, this is about to change.

Besides experience, soft skills are some things to consider before hiring a new employee. If a candidate is motivated to learn, ready to try out something new, why not give them a chance? 2022 will be all about creating the ideal employee rather than finding one.

3. Increased use of data

Did you know that only a small percentage of HR experts rely on data when working? We can agree that statistics and numbers can be boring, but they are extremely useful in human resource associate’s life! Numbers, percentages, graphs, and stats can be of huge value to the company.

So, instead of avoiding this part of your job, find interest in it and make it your new year’s resolution! Besides measuring the performance, satisfaction, and similar constructs, you can include AI chatbots and digitalized recruitment process which creates a more engaging experience for both the HR and the candidate.

4. Make employees feel heard

A lot of companies try to care about their employees, but how many of them actually succeed? Making your employees feel heard and understood is part of a bigger picture called retention. If your employees are satisfied with the job, culture, and attention they’ve been getting from HR, they are less likely to leave the company.

So, instead of risking it all, work on the employee communication strategies that will help you increase satisfaction and minimize fluctuation. Adequate and honest communication with employees will also make organization and delegation much easier. So, try to engage with employees more often and focus on their needs.

5. Mental health finally gets the deserved attention

In the past couple of years, a lot of firms started talking about the importance of mental health. At the same time, they cease to notice that their employees are unwell, burnout, stressed, and depressed. Such a contradictory state only makes the company seem superficial and half-hearted. How can you prevent that?

To keep your employees happy, work on their mental well-being for real. Offer them counseling or try to educate them on the importance of mental health. Always look for warning signs and truly care for the way your employees feel. Most importantly, encourage work-life balance to keep your employees mentally and physically healthy at all times.

Final thoughts

Even though trends come and go, HR techniques are usually here to stay! HR practices upgrade and change over time, that’s why it’s important to follow new trends and keep up to date with them. So, before you start a new year, don’t forget to check out the new trends in the human resources industry!

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.

There are hundreds of variations of Czech pastries, and sometimes it is hard to choose which one to try this time. In fact, some pastries are better to eat at breakfast, others at dinner. That is why we created our list with the best sweets that you can find in the Czech Republic.

See the article here on Prague Life

Jaroslav Seifert was born and raised in Prague, a part of Austria-Hungary at that time, to a work-class family. During his time at secondary school, the future poet developed an interest in writing poetry and journalism. That was the primary reason why Jaroslav left school and started working on the communist newspaper Rudé Pravo. The publication embraced socialist ideas to the citizens.

During the 1920s, he became a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) that impacted his life position and values. He became the editor of famous Czech newspapers and magazines, including Rovnost, Sršatec, and Reflector. His early poetry was mainly focused on the expectations for the future of communism and the Soviet Union. At the same time, he was working at the communist publishing house and a bookstore. In 1929, he and his fellow collegues, writers, have to left the party. The reason for this was the signing of a manifesto protesting against Bolshevik Stalinist tendencies.

Jaroslav was one of the leading participants of the avant-garde movement in Czechoslovakia. He established the journal Devětsil and continued working as a journalist during the 1930s – 1940s. In the publication, he was a critical editorial person, and he was focusing on the translation from the French language publication. He was contributing his writings in the social democratic press, such as Pestré kvety and Ranní noviny.

Source: Prague Life

In the early 1970s, I watched a British TV programme which featured the late well- known presenter, Magnus Magnusson, and which was concerned with global cooling and what actions we should take, mainly with the negative impact cooling would have on food production. We had just come off 3 decades of relatively cool weather following on from the warmest decade of the 20th century. We were not aware of population growth yet and the potential challenges that a faster increase in growth rate would mean. Perhaps China picked it up first, becoming alarmed at their own population growth which had doubled in the 30-year period from 1940 and was set to grow at an accelerating rate. Their government instituted a one child policy in 1979 to bring it under control. Notwithstanding this, the Chinese population today stands at 1.4 billion.

The population of the world is expected to top approximately 10 billion by mid-century and slowly decrease thereafter. It will reflect changes in ethnic mix, as Asia rises and the developed world declines in number, albeit this has led in part to the current concern over migration. The ‘comforting’ point is that world population is now approaching its zenith and we can plan accordingly, and not like we have done, or not done, as in the past 60 years. We seem to have been caught nodding off or even sleeping!

From the COP26 meeting there seem to be broadly two areas of concern which we can best describe by illustration. The tropical/equatorial island of Madagascar, off the southeast coast of South Africa, had a population of 5.1 million 60 years ago. Today It stands at nearly 28 million, or more than 5 times the 1960 population. The forest/jungle, which covered most of the country, has been decimated in the last period essentially to grow crops to feed the burgeoning population. The cloud cover over the forest, which provided rain, has gone, the soil has lost nutrients. And now there is a severe drought and people are starving and famine conditions loom. This is a human induced climate change, much like happened to the Easter Islanders in centuries past when they cut down all their trees and their impressive culture significantly declined from a peak population of 7,000 to just a few hundred today, which scratches a living. Madagascar is, however, a human disaster in the making, which requires immediate attention, but a broad education component must be included with the aid. We have to educate the young.

Towards the poles, the climate is much colder and much fewer people choose to live there. There is noticeable change taking place with the ice/glaciers retreating and a change to warmer conditions. This leads to an alteration in habitat and changes to the offshore and marine life that inhabit it. The sea level is rising there, as it did during the Mediaeval Warm Period (850 -1250 CE) when the global temperature rose 1.40C max. The population of the world was circa 350 million or less than 5% of that today

After the Warm Period, there was the Little Ice Age for some 500 years. During the Warm Period one could travel round the top of Canada or Russia, as Admiral Ye of China is reputed to have done. The big difference is in population and we are still learning about the impact this has on our planet on top of what the sun and other space radiation forces have done for millions of millennia.

The IPCC have taken as the culprit, the rise in CO2, and worked on an average global temperature and quite large areas of the earth’s surface, simply because anything smaller would involve an enormous amount of computer time. A criticism of their approach is that the models that they use don’t take clouds/humidity, i.e. water, properly into account and this is the most important element of the greenhouse effect. In addition, they parade a consensus view and science only deals in facts. NASA and others work to observation and they say that the IPCC forecast is overstated by a noticeable amount. They have determined the figure should be less, like 10C warmer and, if increasing, it is gradually. Besides, the Earth was a few degrees hotter in the distant past.

The COP26 conference, which was well attended by country representatives, has now wrapped up with an agreement, inevitably slightly watered down considering the very wide range of interests to be satisfied. The two most populous countries of the world, China and India, one – third of the total, insisted that the agreement document be altered from ‘phasing out’ to ‘phasing down’ the use of coal, because the growth in their economies would otherwise decline.

The COP26 as the final awakening?

Notwithstanding, whether one agrees wholeheartedly with the IPCC or not, there is a great deal to be done and the world is gradually awakening to that fact. In reality, the world doesn’t live in an average global climate. We live in regions of quite different climate as the findings of Koppen-Geiger found (Beck[2],2018). They divided the world according to regions with 5 main types of climates given– Tropical/ Equatorial, Arid, Temperate, Continental and Polar, and 32 sub-regions on the basis of seasonal rainfall, temperature patterns and altitude.

People will have gone away from COP26 slightly bemused. At its peak the crowd, outside and inside, was about 40,000, with every party wanting to be heard. Largely the demonstrators outside were good – humoured and very little trouble occurred, in view of the seriousness of the issue that was being discussed. Naturally, considering the occasion and the large number of opinions and axes to grind by inside and outside parties, not everyone was happy with the outcome. But it is an outcome and there is plenty of groundwork to do.

The very large countries and major polluters have largely signed up to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, albeit at different dates. The smaller nations, which make up most of the number may still be left wondering about what they should do to avoid disaster, for example islanders, small nations, who are witnessing sea level rise. They must, of course, first make sure that their land is not sinking as a result of land movements, tectonic plate shifts, or do they sit on atolls? They should also take note of where they are placed in the regions of the world and what sort of climate should be expected and any changes that have taken place and how their landscape would be affected by a warming world. Britain itself is tilting on a north-west to south-east axis, the latter gradually sinking, which is why the River Thames barrier was built a few years ago to protect the city of London and its invaluable infrastructure.

Two millennia ago, at the time of Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain, crossing the Channel which was easier than today, having sorted out Gaul (France), omnia gallia in tres partes divisa est, there was a large piece of land to the north, once linking up the east of England with Denmark, the Dogger Bank, the home of the Dogger people. Now that land has gradually sunk under the sea permanently, part of the land movements of this area, and a sign that the surface of the earth, the crust, is rarely still. Today Dogger Bank supports the largest offshore windfarm run by Danish company Danske, part of Britain’s and Europe’s commitments towards renewables.

Then there are the issues that we all have to face, to a greater or lesser extent; sea or land pollution, water supply, sanitation hazards, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions – if pertinent, deforestation, urbanisation, and so on. Many of these are important civil engineering/ environmental matters.

Pollution can be insidious, depending on the waste materials to be dealt with. There is a growing awareness that most waste has to be treated appropriately and some of it may be recycled. This is extremely important as the volume of waste has escalated with population growth. Landfills should be minimised, many of them are dangerous eyesores. The issue of plastics and the harm they can do, we know about now. For the oceans also, plastic pollution is dangerous as it does not dissolve and some of it breaks down to miniscule size and fish unwittingly swallow it and we, in turn, can eat the fish. This and the next generation must have cleaner habits. If anything, COP26 raised awareness of this issue.

Clean water forms part of the UN Millennium Sustainable Development Goals but despite the 1980s being the Decade to solve the water issue it is still with us. They did not know the scale of the problem then. There are today still more than one million people without access to clean water worldwide and undoubtedly more where the supply is less than acceptable. Sometimes, an aquifer is asked to support more population than it was originally designed for, as cities multiplied and grew faster in the last period than expected. With changes in weather patterns, the issue is probably going to get worse, and forecasting the future demands is going to be a challenge, but one which will have to be met.

Sanitation is a subject that most people would prefer didn’t exist. It is a major problem in large cities and solutions become more difficult as the cities expand. The tendency by government is to delay! I have personally observed this going round Asian cities. There just needs to be a deadly outbreak in one urban environment from a new strain of disease that was thought to be conquered, and we shall have a disaster on our hands.

Severe storms cause much havoc on landfall as has been witnessed, more to property than life, sometimes devastating. In fact, the number of Caribbean hurricanes per year has not escalated over the past two decades, but the intensity may have done. The coastal population has increased with building to match, and therefore more are now affected.

Urbanisation is set to increase in the years ahead. Once the current pandemic is over, there will be a large number of new cities built in Asia, particularly in China and South East Asia. Indonesia has some 20 more urban centres planned and is eyeing more. It has to happen although the timescale will be extended, and start dates have had to be delayed largely because of the pandemic. In Indonesia’s case, the private sector is going to have to be a significant partner in building the new towns and cities the country needs. There will need to be more contractors to realise the work which has to be done. But this will be an opportunity to put some of the new ideas into the designs using ‘smart’ principles and make the new urban areas with 21st century thinking and energy efficient buildings with electric power having low to nil production of greenhouse gases.

It would be quite an exciting challenge to take part in the design of a future city, particularly if one had a green field site and strict environmental parameters to meet. Existing cities, and particularly some Asian ones, are hotspots, putting out significant amounts of greenhouse gases. These urban centres pose another level of challenge. Infrastructure exists and more people, apart from politicians, will want to have a say in decisions.

Transport is an area where there is quite an understanding of using less polluting modes. Several manufacturers have already switched to electric vehicles and we can expect to see more on the road and the majority of cars in ten years’ time. What will happen to battery charging places if there is a power cut? For heavy transport, such as large trucks, construction plant it will probably not be efficient to change to electric – battery. Still, cars are the majority of vehicles on the road.

The Amazon area has been called the ‘lungs of the world’. The rate of deforestation in the past few years has been alarming. It would seem that a ‘rogue’ politician stands in the way of doing the right thing and this has to be put right. Regreening the land rightly was prominent in some discussions at COP26. Trees require CO2, the greenhouse gas with which the IPCC were most concerned.

Something old, something new: think global, act local

In the few paragraphs above, the apparent things that we can do to the planet that will make it a better and cleaner place have been aired. These are not ‘pie in the sky’ and are all achievable. For any country in the world, they should look at their relative location, as per Koppen-Geiger, and see which of the items highlighted above they should tackle, and which prioritise for their area.

One would like to think that in two years the IPCC would have collected all the nations’ plans and to agree them or advise on alternatives. They could then have an idea on what each country needs financially to aid them in the monumental task on top of what they can spend themselves. It is appreciated that this a Level 1 look at things and there is an enormous amount of detail to follow. But one has to start! In addition, it would be easier if the nations were divided into small, medium and large because it is likely that the scale of problems will be different. It would be good to see the world unite on an issue where everyone should and could be involved in real matters.

As I sign off, the Covid pandemic has just added another twist – a new variant, the omicron. Further delay?

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 Thailand from 1978 to 1983 and visited Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal for projects.

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

Ljubljana/Glasgow, 5 December 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] Beck, H E, Zimmerman, N E, and Wood, E (2018). Present and future Koppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1 km resolution. Scientific Data 5, number 180214 (2018)

New Year is just around the corner, and so are some fresh developments in the business arena. In addition to an increased focus on remote work, 2022 will bring a few new trends such as a continued rise of e-commerce sector, cashless payments, communication through apps and social media, and a growing importance of virtual events. Here’s a quick peek at the news that will make headlines in the business waters in the year to come.

Continued rise of remote work

With the onset of COVID-19, remote work made a huge entrance in the business arena and next year will only see a growth therein. According to recent figures, almost 50% of employees worked remotely in 2021, and the popularity of this mode of operation will remain just as high in the coming year. The advantages of remote work speak in favor of this trend, and they include increased productivity, easier access to talent, and better work-life balance. On top of that, working remotely allows brands to pick and choose staff from a much wider pool of candidates which will emphasize the trend of virtual over in-person onboarding.

Persistent boom of e-commerce

As an increasing number of customers shift to online shopping, e-commerce will continue to thrive in the year to come, and more and more brands will be going digital with their stores. The gains behind the rise of e-commerce for businesses are considerable since the need for brick-and-mortar space will further drop and customers would be able to shop at any given moment, spending more time in virtual stores. On top of that, this will slice overhead costs and facilitate marketing by means of safe SEO practices, both of which will further fuel the rise of e-commerce in the years to come.

Growth of cashless payments

Cash is no longer king in financial transactions and e-commerce is the future of shopping, which entails a shift to trade finance and cashless payments. The new shopping trend will also bring about a rise of diversified payment methods, including credit and debit cards, payment apps, and digital wallets. For this reason, if you want your brand to stay up to date with payment terms, you will need to offer your audience a wider range of options to choose from, and you should also consider granting discounts for payments conducted online.

Communication through apps

With customers switching to online shopping, communication will also take a turn for the digital, and we will be seeing more and more brands embracing smart apps for sales and customer care purposes. On top of that, a growing number of companies will be shifting to the online workplace and ushering online platforms for communication purposes, which will further facilitate operation and cut running costs. In 2022, smart messaging platforms and apps will become a must-have across industries, so if you want to remain productive and increase availability to both your team and customers, you should consider introducing new digital communication channels.

Virtual events are all the rage

Together with the transition to remote work and cashless payments, virtual events will take front and center in the year to come. Conferences, meetings, interviews, and even trade shows will be transitioning to online platforms as people remain wary of COVID-19 risks. The change will bring quite a few benefits to all the parties involved as virtual events will beat their real life counterparts as regards online versus in-person attendance. An added bonus, organizing educational or promotional activities online would slice the costs of running a successful business, so if you are looking to stay in the top tiers of your industry, you should brace your brand for some online meeting fun.

The year to come will see a continuation of the popularity of remote work and a further growth in cashless payments and e-commerce, and it will also mark a new era of virtual events and digital communication with customers and team members. Judging by the looks, 2022 will truly be a year of change so if you want to stay successful in your industry or become even more so, it is the perfect moment to make some adjustments in the way you do business. Good luck!

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.

There are thousands of ski resorts around the world, but it takes a lot to stand out from the pack. Certain spots make a name for themselves thanks to their nonexistent lift lines or inordinate amounts of snow. Others thrive because they’ve fine-tuned the on-mountain experience to the point that it’s no longer associated with squished PB&Js and cold fingers, but with flutes of Champagne and cozy chalets.

To come up with a list of the world’s most luxurious ski resorts, Oxford Ski Company, a travel agency specializing in tailor-made ski holidays, reviewed the gross revenue of each resort in their portfolio to determine where skiers and snowboarders are spending big and living large.

See the list here.

In November, the world’s attention will be focused on the proceedings and outcomes of the United Nations COP26 International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting in Glasgow. We will be told, as we have been repeatedly by the IPCC, that this is the last-ditch attempt to save the planet and perhaps humanity from the catastrophic consequences of global warming and climate change (GW&CC) through the increasing accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in our atmosphere. Alok Sharma, the British cabinet minister currently serving as president of COP 26 calls it a “turning point” point for humanity.

To that end, the world will be encouraged to abandon all fossil fuel-based energy generation, which for years has represented more that 80 percent of global energy consumption. The gathering in Glasgow will also enthusiastically and appropriately, welcome the increases of alternative energy sources in many countries, especially wind and solar, which currently provide about four percent of global energy consumption. Unfortunately, such alternative sources of energy are projected to remain modest compared to coal, natural gas and oil. This trend is compounded by rising energy demands in developing countries where fossil fuels remain a dependency.

Even developed countries such as Canada will not be able to meet the targets voluntarily set at COP21 in Paris. On October 6th the Globe and Mail reported: “Canada is on pace to fall well short of its emissions goals, according to a new government-funded report that says the country’s current strategies will reduce its greenhouse gas output by only 16 percent, relative to 2005 levels, by 2030 — a far cry from the 40-percent cut that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised.”

Ironically, the UK government (host of COP26) is permitting the first deep coal mine in 30 years to be created in Cumbria with most of the extracted coal to be exported to Europe. This underlines another misunderstanding perhaps widely held, namely, the atmosphere pays no attention to the source of GHG emissions. A ton of carbon absorbed in the atmosphere from Beijing has the same global impact as one emitted from Montreal.

The gap between climate diplomacy at COP meetings and the national energy policy decisions implemented between them has fostered cynicism about the value of targets that are undermined as much by hypocrisy as by chemistry.

Columbia Professor James Hansen, known as the “father of climate change awareness”, told the Guardian in 2015 that the talks that culminated in a deal at COP21 were just “worthless words”. Speaking as the final draft of the deal was published, Hansen said: “It’s just b******t for them to say: ‘We’ll have a 2C warming target and then try to do a little better every five years.’ It’s just worthless words. There is no action, just promises. As long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest fuels out there, they will be continued to be burned.” Hansen has never been an irrational alarmist and his record of climate change prediction to date has been remarkably good.

With no sanctions and no carbon pricing agreed upon in Paris, is it realistic to assume that the world, with total primary energy consumption more than 80 percent dependent on fossil fuels in 2020, will restructure our societies and infrastructures in time to prevent CO2 atmospheric concentrations from passing the possible “tipping point” of 450 parts per million (ppm)? At the time of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, concentrations were about 367 ppm. They have now passed 400 ppm and continue to rise.

As the Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), I introduced Sustainable Development (SD) to the group’s work program in 1997 and created the OECD Round Table on SD that same year. While SD embraces a wide range of environmental, social and governance objectives (often referred to as Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG), all SD is only possible within a healthy biosphere that enhances and protects the world’s natural capital composed of the air, the water, the soil and the biodiversity of our millions of viable cohabitants. I did so because the 1972 UN meeting in Stockholm, the Brundtland UN report “Our Common Future”, the RIO Earth Summit in 1992 where the UNFCCC was created, plus the regular IPCC reports pointed to a climate change crisis in the near future.

Many argue that it is still not too late to embark upon ambitious environmental programs to ensure that GHGs decline before CO2 accumulations in the atmosphere exceed 450 ppm. This is the level the scientific consensus tells us will keep global mean temperatures from increasing above pre-industrial levels by more than 2° C with concomitant disastrous climate change far outstripping our global capacity to reduce fossil fuel emissions or adapt to a very different world. It is too late unless COP26 is courageous enough to introduce new technologies with have yet to be rigorously tested.

No alternative – no Plan B

Where is Plan B? There is none. We are simply re-embarking on the well-trodden path of consistent failure. Perhaps as a last resort, atmospheric geoengineering known as Solar Radiation Management (SRM) will be considered, at least at an experimental level to determine whether we might have a useful fire extinguisher at hand when there is a consensus that rising above 2 degrees C is inevitable.

The challenge is that, based on the last few decades of trying to come to grips with GW&CC by a few brave countries (e.g. consider Germany’s extraordinary increase to 44 percent wind- and solar-generated renewable electricity-generating capacity by the end of 2015, that still only provides about 8 percent of Germany’s total primary energy consumption), none of our alternative solution technologies, as presently configured, is capable of being scaled-up to make a significant dent in the overwhelming use of inexpensive and very convenient fossil fuels (gas, oil and coal). As strongly emphasized by the US-EIA in its May 2016 report, the massive growth of population in the developing countries, and their fast-rising standards of living and expectations are forecast to sustain the use of fossil fuels globally at very high levels for decades.

As these projections were made since the Paris COP21 targets, how can one not be skeptical about keeping CO2 accumulations below 450 ppm? In the absence of herculean efforts of unprecedented research and development to find “breakthrough” solutions/alternatives, and extraordinary global cooperation and coordination, it is too late. The process under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has delivered agreements, but only minimal results. COP21 in Paris has maintained that dismal record of underachievement.

John Maynard Keynes suggested that the master economist should examine the present in light of the past for the purposes of the future. So should we in looking at our history of fighting climate change. Some engaged in the climate change debate are surprised to learn that science has known of the characteristics of CO2 and its greenhouse effect on our planet for more than a century. What have we done about it?

As early as 1896, a Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius (Nobel Prize for chemistry, 1903) identified the warming effects of the CO2 emitted by burning coal. Alarm bells rang at the Stockholm UN Environmental Conference in 1972 — more than 40 years ago. Concern was expressed about emissions, but their measurement and impact were not yet broadly understood until the UN creation of the IPCC in 1988.

Those alarm bells grew louder after the UN Brundtland Report Our Common Future in 1987, helped to spur action with the Montreal Protocol on GHGs reached in 1987 and implemented in 1989, and mobilized political will at the UN Rio Earth Conference in 1992, where the climate change convention was adopted.

The UN General Assembly in Special Session met in New York in 1997, where we listened to statements from world leaders and others (including me) about the importance of reducing emissions. That meeting was followed by the UN Kyoto conference, where the Kyoto Protocol was adopted.

It was agreed that Annex 1 countries (37 developed) would reduce their emissions during two commitment periods on average by 5.2 per cent below their respective 1990 levels. Canada’s commitment was a six percent decrease by 2012 compared to 1990. By 2008, Canada’s emissions had increased by 24.1 per cent over 1990 and Canada withdrew from the protocol.

We have witnessed governments across the globe tailor their policies to their short-term political imperatives rather than to long-term challenges such as climate change.

For many years, we witnessed a parade of alternative energy advocates producing “possible” scenarios for reducing GHG emissions. Wind, solar, energy efficiency, tidal, geothermal and others make up that list. All great ideas, but they ignored the technical, political and economic challenges of their effective integration and weaning ourselves and our economies away from fossil fuels while meeting the world’s energy requirements in light of the short time for action. To say those challenges are daunting would be a great understatement. In 2020, total world wind and solar energy consumption amounted to less than four percent of global primary energy consumption.

The present policy paralysis illustrates our incapacity to come to grips with global warming and its impact on climate change despite the human and economic toll of the weather aberrations we witness on a daily basis.

Hopefully, as the realization takes hold that the 450 ppm threshold will be passed, an international consensus will emerge and adaptation measures will be brought forward to address some of the most damaging early consequences. If nuclear continues to be rejected as a global solution, then in the absence of some yet to be discovered “breakthrough” technological developments, a Plan B must also examine solar radiation management (SRM or atmospheric geoengineering) and perhaps a broader utilization of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

There are now calls from serious sources to a least engage in testing SRM to determine whether it could serve as a lifeboat of last resort. Serious environmentalists like Bill Gates and Richard Branson are apparently interested in climate engineering, or geoengineering. Some experts, such as Canadian Professor David Keith at Harvard, Granger Morgan and Ken Caldeira at Carnegie Mellon and others are striving to determine whether SRM could be a potential lifeboat should the failure to arrest and reduce CO2 emissions continue, as it has for decades.

A non-technical explanation SRM might be simply the following. By spreading aerosols with reflective particles in the atmosphere one could alter the albedo, i.e. the reflective capacity of the earth, thereby lessening the amount of radiation that penetrates to the earth’s surface, and as a result, lessen the heat that is trapped under the CO2 blanket. The measured reduction in the earth’s temperature resulting from the spread of volcanic ash after eruptions suggests that this would be effective and relatively inexpensive. It would not be a permanent answer and would have to be renewed periodically. The concept is well explained in a recent book by David Keith, A Case for Climate Engineering, published by MIT.

Unfortunately, there is considerable resistance to the concept, which seems to find two areas of opposition. First, we see the dedicated environmentalists who believe that exploring this technology may detract from mitigation efforts of those seeking to arrest and reduce GHG emissions, especially CO2. Second, there are some fearful of even limited testing, which they claim could result in unintended consequences, and who remain convinced that there will be technological breakthroughs that will make geoengineering of the atmosphere unnecessary. Surely it is irresponsible for this generation not to have a Plan B.

Note this comment from Gates on Keith’s book:

“The negative effects of climate change will disproportionately impact the world’s poor. David Keith’s candid and thoughtful book lays out a compelling argument about the need for serious research on geoengineering and for a robust policy discussion on its possible use”

What better place to have such a robust discussion amongst experts than at COP 26 in Glasgow?

About the author

Honorable Donald J. Johnston is former Secretary General of the OECD; senior minister in several Canadian governments; founding Director and former Chair of the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) and Chair Emeritus of the McCall MacBain Foundation, Geneva. He was a honorable gust of the IFIMES International Institute in 2020.

Under the title “COP26 Glasgow and the Lack of a Plan B” the early version of this text appeared in the Canadian Policy Magazine (www.policymagazine.ca). Courtesy of the author and publisher.

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

Ljubljana/Ottawa/Vienna, 4 November 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 travel this December in the United States and around the world.

There’s something magical about big cities during the holiday season. Lights strung across wide streets, store windows dressed up in colorful displays, and Christmas trees in all shapes and sizes create a festive atmosphere. Ice skating rinks pop up in parks, and in some cities like New York, Chicago, London, and Washington D.C., the weather is seasonally cold, and snow flurries might add a final touch to the scene.

Since not everyone appreciates cold weather (or needs it to get into the holiday mood), we’ve included some sunny destinations on our list of the best places to visit in December. In south Florida, Miami and Fort Lauderdale ring in the holidays in their own style, with glittering boat parades, light-strewn palm trees, and outdoor shopping. In tropical Belize, St. Lucia, and Los Cabos, travelers can stay warm and cozy in December.

See the list here.

As soon as the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, China and the Middle East faced a series of challenges. In recent years, China’s influence in the region has expanded due to its economic interests in energy, trade, infrastructure construction, and diplomatic contacts with the region’s countries. This is linked to President Xi Jinping’s Belt-Road Initiative (BRI), which was announced in 2013 in response to the increasing middle class’s needs for infrastructure and economic exchanges. As the world’s largest consumer of oil, China’s relations with major oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Iran are frequently scrutinized. However, part of the BRI involves the construction of new channels to promote trade through the expansion of existing infrastructures.

It is predicted that the Middle East will become a major region for industrial upgrading in the near future. Chinese economic interests and influence may be threatened by the region’s instability. With its dynamic structure, Iraq has been noted by Keskin and Braun (2016) as an intriguing country with implications for China’s engagement in the area. Lebanon is sometimes neglected because of its complicated political situation and the presence of international influence. As it turns out, Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, as well as Christians, and Kurds, find themselves at odds with each other.

The security situation is another stumbling block in the face of the Sino-Lebanese partnership. Foreign interventions, extremist groups, and the complexities of the Syrian crisis have all been faced by Lebanon and Syria. For the BRI, Lebanon is strategically located in the Levant region and has direct access to the Mediterranean Sea, making it ideal location for the Chinese project.

Through a literature review of academic papers, government documents, and news-paper articles, this paper aims to examine China’s diplomatic approach and interests toward Lebanon. An in-depth look at China’s relationship with Lebanon and Syria since it was established as the People’s Republic of China is presented here. It covers the period from 1949 to the present to give a greater sense of how ties and problems have evolved through time. Additionally, the non-intervention policy and the sway of other important countries are considered in Lebanon.

A Review of Bilateral Relations for the Era (1949-2000)

During the second half of the 20th century, China’s connections with Lebanon are described here. The People’s Republic of China was created in 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party seized control of Beijing and became the country’s most powerful government. China is pursuing a peaceful diplomatic strategy and openness towards Lebanon. China has always been a friend of Lebanon at all stages, despite Beijing’s little interest in the region during this time. Shichor’s works are the primary source of information on China’s early contacts with Lebanon, as he has been a pioneer in the field of Chinese relations in the Middle East.

In 1949, Lebanon did not recognize the Communist Party as the central authority of China, following the founding of the PRC. China contributed troops to the Korean War to defend North Korea and fight against US forces, prompting Lebanon to label China an aggressor in the conflict in 1951. The United States had advised Lebanon to delay a vote on a resolution that would have excluded Taiwan as representative of the Republic of China (ROC). Both the parliament and the government were divided on Lebanon’s position, which sparked a lot of discussion in both. In the early 1950s, Lebanon’s attitude toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was hostile, Lebanon was Western-oriented, and the Lebanese government extended alliances with the West, led by the United States.

Following the Bandung Conference in 1955, China negotiated ten trade agreements, including one with Lebanon, which sparked a positive shift in China’s outlook. China’s Islamic Association’s head met with the leaders of Lebanon back in 1956. In the early 1950s, Lebanon had stronger links with Taiwan than it has now. So for many years after this event, the interests of the Chinese Communist Party (PRC) in Lebanon remained low-key. There was a lack of trust between the PRC and Lebanon due to a series of incidents. China and extreme groups in Lebanon had been suspected of colluding at the time, but there was no proof to back this up.

China, on the other hand, objected to Lebanon’s 1969 measures against the Palestinians. Reactionary authorities in Lebanon were accused of collaborating with Israeli aggressors to target Palestinian guerrillas. The two countries continued to work together on trade deals despite these issues. When China surpassed Taiwan in commerce in the late 1960s, the two countries formed a tighter relationship. For a long time, diplomatic contacts between Lebanon and China were limited because of the on-going civil war and political killings in the country. During that time, the relationship was mostly founded on economic considerations.

Beijing viewed Lebanon as an export partner for Chinese commodities when diplomatic relations were established, but they also saw Beirut as the Middle East’s banking and commercial capital. In Beirut, China opened a branch of the National Bank of China in 1972; as a result of the first visit by Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Khalil Abu Hamad to China later that year, the two countries signed a new trade deal for reciprocal most-favoured nation treatment, mutual transit facilities, and an expansion of mutual commerce in the following year. However, the civil war in Lebanon delayed Beijing’s intentions in 1976. Russia has been blamed for aggravating, perpetuating and stoking conflict. China viewed the issue as one that should be settled by the people of the region, and not by outsiders. During that time, few efforts have been made to deepen ties with Beirut.

Relations between China and Lebanon have been characterized by ups and downs throughout the 20th century, but overall it has been restricted. Economic connections between Beijing and Beirut grew in the 1970s, but the country’s internal instability prevented it from expanding its cooperation with Lebanon. Although China has a long history of supporting its neighbouring countries, its policy of non-interference in foreign disputes began early on. In uncertain domestic conditions, China has not been afraid to stand aside while staying supportive.

The Post-2000 Era: Emerging Bilateral Relations

This section illustrates the increased development of relations between China and Lebanon from 2000. It emphasizes on collaboration in trade, cultural exchange, and agreements struck in recent years.

The Chinese government began to expand relations with Beirut after 2000. During a visit of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beijing to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji in 2002, both countries expressed their determination to intensify cooperation on joint projects. It has led to an extended collaboration in numerous sectors.

In 2005, China and Lebanon signed a tourism cooperation deal. This deal was intended to stimulate investments in reciprocal tourism sectors and boost communication between tourist enterprises through the sharing of professional talents. The relationship also evolved to include academic and cultural exchanges, as Mandarin language courses are given at the American University of Beirut. There is also a Confucius Institute in Beirut at Saint-Joseph University.

However, exchanges in culture, tourism, and education are not the sole markers of closer diplomatic relations between both countries. In 2009, China welcomed more than 150 Lebanese professionals to attend seminars and symposiums in diverse disciplines including as business, finance, agriculture, press, and education. The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China depicts 2014 as a year during which the relations with Lebanon advanced, resulting in stronger collaboration.

That year, the CPPCC Vice Chairman Luo Fuhe attended a reception marking the 70th anniversary of Independence Day of Lebanon. In 2015, Prime Minister Tammam Salam indicated that Lebanon aspired to be a trusted partner to China during the Arab- Chinese Businessmen Conference. Both sides consider the bilateral collaboration in culture, education, press, arts, and military as a method to extend the friendly interactions. It is important to note that the extended cooperation indicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came not long after the launch of the BRI.

The major interest of the bilateral connections appears to be closely connected to economic goals. A rise of economic linkages has been noted in recent years. In 2013, China became the primary trading partner of Lebanon. Beirut did making efforts to bring more Chinese investment with its participation at the Shanghai Expo in 2010. China helped Lebanon establish a mobile telecommunications network, solar heating systems, and monetary aid programs to Palestinian refugee camps.

However, efforts to boost further trades between the two nations have been hindered by the Syrian crisis, as the land routes for Lebanese exports were closed. Alternatives to establish secure and safe avenues for Lebanese exports had limited success. Out of total imports from Beijing, 73 per cent came through Beirut Port, limiting options to boost trades. The largest export product from Lebanon to China is steel. China exports to Lebanon electrical equipment, textiles, plastic items, and machinery. Lebanon imports $1.89 billion from China, representing 9.1 per cent of its total imports, while it exports to China $24.1 million, which is a little percentage of their overall exports of roughly 0.62 per cent. Even if the economic links are likely to develop in the future with the BRI, it is feasible to identify an important trade deficit between both countries.

Over the past few years, China and the United States have expanded their commercial ties. Beijing’s heightened interest in Arab countries in terms of commerce has included Lebanon. However, the BRI has the potential to exacerbate existing trade imbalances.

China in Lebanon: A Peaceful Partner

China’s policy of non-interference helped to promote peaceful development and conflict resolution at home. Beijing’s stance in bilateral conflicts is reflected in this section. Humanitarian aid and a push for quick domestic resolution were key factors in its success.

In 2006, China became entangled in an Israeli–Lebanese conflict initiated by Hezbollah. Both an Israeli anti-aircraft warship and an Egyptian merchant ship were hit by two Chinese-made C-802 missiles launched from the Lebanese coast by Hezbollah back in 2006. Hezbollah may have obtained the missiles from another source, but there is no evidence that China sent them.

A number of reasons were given by Shichor (2006) for China’s lack of interest in partnering with Hezbollah. First and foremost, it is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. As part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), China has deployed more than 1,000 peacekeepers to Lebanon, which was announced by Wen Jiabao. Beijing has been alerted to the fact that Chinese peacekeepers have been injured or killed during this operation.

Chinese Deputy Representative to the United Nations Lui Zhenmin criticized Israel’s actions in 2006 because they were violating Lebanon’s sovereignty. Force should be used less frequently and the armed blockade should be lifted, Zhenmin said. Hezbollah’s military actions of crossing the Israeli-Lebanese border and launching missile attacks on Israeli cities were also opposed by China. Hezbollah’s acts were openly blasted for the first time in China’s history. They further accused the United States of manipulating the conflict to exert pressure on Iran and Syria and to spread democracy around the world. For China’s economic benefit, the crisis has been resolved quickly by words rather than deeds. Through its involvement in the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), China was able to play an indirect role in the Lebanon mediations. During Lebanon’s civil war, China has also provided financial assistance.

Both China’s role as a UN Security Council member and its involvement in the Syrian war had a significant impact on diplomatic ties. China has long advocated non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs and non-use of military force. When it comes to world peace and security, the United States’ vetoes on Syria resolutions are crystal apparent. In the past, Beijing rejected a resolution in Libya by exerting pressure on the Libyan government to ensure the safety of the populace. Responsibility to protect (R2P) was abstaining from voting on the resolution 1973, which triggered quick military action in Libya in 2011. The Chinese government remained, however, steadfast in its opposition to the use of force within the country. Beijing’s approach to R2P was informed by Libya. Multiple UNSC resolutions on Syria were vetoed by Beijing and Moscow together. Russia and China work together to avoid a military intervention that would topple the administration of Bashar al-Assad.

In 2011, when they rejected a resolution denouncing Syria, China and Russia exercised their first veto in their strategic collaboration on the Syrian conflict. President Bashar al- Assad’s resignation and cessation of violence against opponents were blocked by China and Russia in the UN Security Council (UNSC) in February 2012. Both countries voted against a UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Syrian regime crimes in March of that year. Indeed, it opposed the Assad regime’s collective punishment and chose a more cautious R2P policy. Through impartial mediation, China urged all Syrian sides to stop all violence, especially against civilians.

As far as Beijing and Moscow are concerned, this posture reflects their fears of a strong military response. It’s worth noting, though, that China hasn’t always complied with Russia’s veto decisions in the Syrian issue. To strengthen its political role, it abstained on several occasions to align itself with Russia on resolutions. As in 2012, Moscow vetoed seven UNSC resolutions, while Beijing did so only twice in 2013. For the third time in as many years, China exercised its veto power over a United Nations Security Council resolution in 2017. Strategic collaboration on sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security in the region is offered by both countries.

Foreign meddling in the internal affairs of states, the use of force, and a confrontational posture were all opposed by China’s diplomatic position; as part of a diplomatic effort to mediate between Syria and the various opposition organizations, Beijing volunteered to participate. Beijing encourages non-interference in foreign disputes and a rapid return to stability. According to Sun and Zoubir (2015), China’s constructive engagement, is characterized by political involvement rather than military intervention. It supports a peaceful conversation as a solution while respecting the legitimate aspirations of the people.

A regional consensus on regional development promotes peace in the Middle East, allowing for the expansion of diplomatic discourse in the region. Acting as an intermediary and proposing constructive ideas are two of the key roles of this process. The Assad regime has received help from China. China provided humanitarian assistance to Syrians. As of 2017, Syria has the most individuals forced to flee their homes, and it received the most humanitarian aid. During the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the Chinese government provided 1,000 tons of rice and signed three agreements totalling $40 million in humanitarian relief as part of an emergency food aid programme to support countries.

More than a dozen international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), the World Food Program (WFP), and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), have already provided aid to Syria. However, China did not make the top 10 list of humanitarian aid donors, while Turkey and the United States were the first two. Many countries have contributed to the World Bank’s Lebanon-Syria Crisis Trust Fund to help those affected by this conflict. Syria received more than $10 billion in development assistance and government aid in 2017, according to the World Bank. China’s assistance appears to be limited in comparison to that of other countries.

The contributions of China to Lebanon have been minimal until recently, compared to other countries. This policy of non-intervention has resulted in good relations with all the countries of the region as well as close cooperation with Russia on the Security Council.

Lebanon: China’s Strategic Partner in BRI

With the BRI, China’s ties with Lebanon have a bright future. CCPIT signed two Memorandums of Understanding in 2017 with the Arab Chambers of Commerce to help expand the BRI to include Lebanon. Beirut received aid packages totalling more than $100 million from China as part of the 2018 China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF). China’s future bilateral relations with Lebanon may revolve around the BRI. That’s why it’s crucial to keep an eye on how things can change.

Lebanon aims to be a major player in the effort. Investing in infrastructure in Tunisia makes sense because of its strategic location and easy access to the Mediterranean Sea. Beirut and Tripoli’s port facilities might be used as a regional hub for Mediterranean Sea trade. As a corollary to this reasoning, China has made significant investments in expanding the port’s infrastructure. That the Tripoli Municipalities Union is a member of China’s Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce is worth mentioning (SRCIC). SRCIC Chairman Adnan al Kassar said that the SRCIC is willing to lend Lebanon $2 billion at reasonable interest rates, according to Lebanese-Chinese relations. China’s ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian stated that his country was willing to assist Lebanon in developing its southern cities and communities. Chinese investment in the repair of Syrian infrastructure could be facilitated by the country’s proximity to Syrian territory.

Chinese officials have made it clear that they have no intention of undermining Moscow’s position in the region. With the BRI, Chinese interest in the Middle East has risen, which could lead to a more assertive diplomacy in the region, particularly in countries with sectarian differences and political crises. Syrian and Lebanese economic investments may be better protected as a result of this. However, it is possible that China and Syria’s diplomatic relations will be based on mutual economic interests. The prolonged conflict in Syria has limited China’s ability to assist in reconstruction efforts in Syria, as it has stated its willingness to do so.

Beijing held the First Trade Fair on Syrian Reconstruction Projects in July 2017 and announced a $2 billion investment in the country’s reconstruction efforts. As a result, it’s hard to tell exactly how much of that money has been received thus far. Russia, China, Iran, and Lebanon are participating in the trade fair. At the 60th Damascus International Trade Fair in 2018, more than 200 Chinese firms signed agreements to build steel facilities and power plants and to make Chinese-brand automobiles. Syria will welcome Chinese investment in its rehabilitation, President Assad said in an interview with Phoenix Television. In the future, he sees an increase in trade between the two countries. Syria’s acceptance of China’s invitation to join the BRI was widely applauded.

In 2018, China supplied to Syria’s main port 800 electrical power generators. China’s mega-projects are jeopardized by the Syrian crisis and international intervention. The stability of Syria will be a top priority for Beijing since economic links between the two countries are expected to grow significantly in the near future. An alternative route to the Suez Canal via China, Central Asia, and West Asia is provided by the Levant. The Levantine area is an important one for the BRI because of its importance.

President Michel Aoun and CCPIT Director Jiang Zengwei met in Beirut to discuss ways to improve bilateral relations. Among other things, the relationship intends to foster cooperation in the development of infrastructure, as well as investments in new energy and other key industries. Suleiman, a former Lebanese president, believes that the country needs more cooperation in the alternative energy sector. The Chinese government’s support for private investments in the Arab East could have a positive impact on Lebanon. Chinese enterprises are indeed being sought out for the expansion of its industrial market. Prime Minister Hariri cited China as an example of modernization to be emulated. This might make Beirut a logistics, economic, and business centre for China’s BRI in the region. He brought up the subject of Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and said that China, with its policy of opening up, might provide support in this area. Suleiman made an interesting observation about how the two countries can work together in the future.

Conclusion

As Lebanon situated in a dynamic and complex region, the importance of the Lebanese-Chinese relations is increasing. Beijing has avoided direct involvement in the Lebanese civil war and other internal conflicts; using a supportive attitude to the government and a one-distance approach from all political parties. With China’s BRI program, Lebanon can be geostrategic ally, allowing for greater economic ties. Lebanese officials expressed an interest in playing a key role in the project. Domestic factors, however, still impede trade cooperation. The BRI’s expansion of bilateral ties with Lebanon could be a good opportunity for Beijing to learn more about the region. Mutual understanding could be fostered by academic and professional interactions. For Beijing to change its approach if its economic interests are put at risk, this may be a sign that the region is in danger. A prudent loan and support strategy by China is likely to take advantage of the lack of infrastructure development in Lebanon. It seems unlikely that nations like Lebanon will push China to change its policy of non-interference in the foreseeable future, despite its strategic importance to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

About author:

Dr. Mohamad Zreik has PhD of International Relations, he is independent researcher, his area of research interest is related to Chinese Foreign Policy, Belt and Road Initiative, Middle Eastern Studies, China-Arab relations. Author has numerous studies published in high ranked journals and international newspapers.

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

Ljubljana, 22 November 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.

Babička & Kytice by Míla Fürstová

Míla Fürstová is best known for making Coldplay‘s art for their world-wide number one album, Ghost Stories, as well as the UK covers for the NY Times Best Selling series, Mortal Instruments.

Over the last 24 months, Míla illustrated two of the Czech Republic‘s most loved works of literature, Kytice (Bouquet) and Babička (Grandmother).

At this exhibition Mila‘s original artworks for Kytice, already in its fourth edition, will be shown alongside the original art for the newly released Babička, which is being exhibited in London for the first time.

The exhibition was inaugurated by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic in the UK, Mrs. Marie Chatardová.

“If you would not want to be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
– Benjamin Franklin

The legacy of Jan Jánský is a prime example of how certain inventions or findings of scientists from smaller nations got overlooked by history to make way for the findings of scientists from ‘more important nations’ in school textbooks. In 1930 Karl Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of human blood groups in his 1901 paper. He was an Austrian, living in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the most important countries in the world at that time. However, it seems like many omitted the fact that his findings were incomplete, describing only three out of the four blood groups. Furthermore, no one happened to think of a Prague-born scientist, who independently published the same discovery just 6 years later, and fully described all four groups: A,B,AB and 0. This is his story:

Jánský was born in 1873, in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, which was then a vassal of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the older of two sons of a soap maker. Despite his humble origins, he managed to successfully graduate at the Smíchov high school and continue his studies at the 1st Faculty of Medicine at the Charles University in Prague. There, he finished in 1898 and soon became and established psychiatrist who was well renowned both as a doctor and also an expert, providing courts with psychiatric analyses. In 1914, he even became a professor at the Czech part of the Charles University, and the deputy head of the psychiatric clinic in Prague. However, as the Great War struck, all specialisations went to the side and he was called to the front, where he served as a field medic until 1916, when he suffered a heart attack which rid him of his fighting responsibilities. However, these heart problems troubled him from then on, until his death in 1921, at the age of 48.

During his clinical work before the war, he focused heavily on the connection of blood agglutination, the ability of blood to clot, and psychiatric diseases. While we now know there is no such connection, he worked with the blood of 3 160 patients during his studies, during which he managed to stumble upon a ground-breaking discovery. In 1907, he published his finding that while psychiatric diseases can not be linked to blood agglutination, there are four distinct groups of blood in humans, which clot intensively when mixed with the wrong group, but are compatible with its own group and certain other groups. We now know this finding as the A,B,AB,0 blood system, unfortunately for Jánský, credited to someone else.

The crediting of this discovery was under scrutiny ever since then. The whole situation is a very interesting read, since Landsteiner got the Nobel Prize, but his incomplete findings led to clinical errors. The findings of Jánský were thus used clinically worldwide, despite the fact that someone else received the Nobel Prize for these findings. In the 1920’s, Jánský was widely recognized as the one who discovered blood groups throughout the United States, where his findings were built upon and a blood-group test was developed. Nevertheless, most google searches on this topic only mention Landsteiner, and medical textbooks also tend to favor the Austrian over the Czech. Thus, all that is left of Jánsky’s legacy is the medal awarded to frequent blood donors in the Czech Republic. Perhaps, it was his early death that contributed to him being almost forgotten.

Please, do not let him be forgotten.

Source

Nowadays, it really doesn’t matter at what point in your life you decide to start a business, as long as there is a need for it on a market or a strategy for generating demand. But at some point, maybe you felt like your business needs some change and that you’re falling behind your competitors.

There’s a chance that you are in a rut and you don’t notice that your company needs something new. Regardless of the industry you operate in, companies that are more agile and take smart risks can easily take your business off the market.

There are things you can improve within your business but expanding it is more complex and will demand more forward-thinking and innovation. Some of it you can do on your own but it is good to consider business consulting as well because a good consultant will first analyze your business and after that, give you proposals on what needs to be changed and optimized, and also tell you whether or not you should pivot.

Get out of your comfort zone and network

There is nothing worse for a business than the comfort zone. If you are only an administrative worker, you can stay for a long time in your comfort zone without bringing anything new to your work life but managing a business is completely different. Competitors on the market are like hungry wolves, doing everything they can to become number one. It all comes to a simple rule – eat or be eaten. Expand your connections during conferences as you can meet a lot of inspiring people there. Mingle to see how other businesses are doing and what plans they have for the future.

Invest in branding

Branding is one of the basics of any business strategy, and having that in mind, the appearance and messaging that you set is important. A strong brand can be the most valuable differentiator. It is the cornerstone of how you present your products or services to both clients and potential investors. With the help of good marketers, PR professionals, and designers, you can assess whether or not rebranding might be a smart choice for your organization.

Hire professional staff and consultants

You need modern technology, smart systems and, of course, experienced people in order to ensure your business flourishes. If you are a service-based business, having professionals on your team is important. Establish a corporate culture where sharing in-house knowledge is an integral part of it. Providing training to your staff will also help them expand their knowledge, get new ideas, and stay inspired and motivated. Having a loyal worker in your team that is going to learn and grow into a professional will pay off. Seek professionals who will offer business consulting for your company because the right advice at the right time can literally save your organization. Professionals can point out weaknesses that you might not be aware of, give you solutions, and propose a cost-efficient strategy for your business.

Pay more attention to analytics

Many software solutions can provide you with great insights into how your business is doing online. In this day and age, online presence is important, which is why relying on analytics to see how much time people spend on your website and what brought them there is essential for nurturing the data-driven business approach. Understanding how your content performs and where the most conversions drop is how you can fix things and drive more customers.

Find out what truly works

If your business has been on the market for a while, you have probably tested different tactics to achieve sustainable growth. Also, make sure to document what works and what doesn’t. Repeating the same mistakes can only harm your business or keep you stagnant. Some tactics that are used need more time to show results, so don’t neglect them only because you don’t see any quick changes. Long-term outcomes are what matter, so don’t give up.

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.

Dear ladies, Join us on Monday, 22nd November, 2021 at 5.30 PM to take part in our first open discussion meet-up on harassment of women in Prague’s public transport.

Unfortunately, there have been too many stories from women around Prague telling of their experiences of unwanted touching, grabbing or even of attempted rape.

Other examples of sexual misconduct mentioned are staring, standing too close on purpose, inappropriate comments and suggestions, sexual gestures and movements, blocking of movement, forced personal contact and indecent exposure.

According to an article published in expats.cz, a third of women (and 10% of men) experience sexual harassment in Czech public transport. Basically, 35 percent of women have recently experienced sexual misconduct. The statistics gathered from a poll by the Focus agency for the Czech government, state that nearly three out of five women mentioned instances of people staring or standing too close, while a quarter of the respondents had experienced someone masturbating in front of them and 7 percent had faced attempted rape.

In light of all this, we would love to have you join us and hear about your thoughts and/or experiences on this issue.

Venue: Kavarna co Hleda Jimeno
Time: 22. 11. 2021, at 5.30 PM

Our speakers will provide you with information regarding your rights as an expat in Czechia, where to find support and strategies on self-defence and building empowerment.

Speakers and moderators:

Amanda Mataija (CEO & Founder Prague Integration)
Paula Costa (Coach, Soul Searching)
Karolina Nyitray(Mental health counsellor, Prague Integration)
Linda Štucbartová (Self-defense and women empowerment coach)

Please note:
1.This event is free of charge, but recommended donation in order to support our speakers and organise more events in this nature is 100 CZK
2. Drinks and other options can be purchased separately at the bar. We will be sharing menu shortly.
3. To ensure your participation due to limited number of participants it is necessary to fill out our form:
4. Please make sure you come on time and respect each other’s privacy and participation.
5. In order to participate at this event you will need to show vaccination proof or PCR test.
6. There will be coffee and tea prepared for you

REGISTER HERE

Looking forward seeing you there

Prague Integration

Russia establishes its modus operandi in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The latest session of the UN Security Council only reaffirmed once again the crisis caused in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the actions of the Serb Member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik (SNSD) with the assistance of the Russian Federation. At the same time, no concrete solutions and conclusions were offered nor attempts made to prevent separatist actions aimed to annul the Dayton[2] peace agreement and destroy the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is a silent generally accepted opinion that “an armed conflict of low intensity is possible in BiH”, which is an indication that the strongest global powers have already developed their military plans as well. Once again, aconflict in BiH would be an international conflict- this time with the assistance of NATO and the Russian Federation. In fact, the prolongation of introduction of concrete measures that would provide for political elimination and criminal processing of Milorad Dodik and several of his “executors” is a proof of the seriousness of the situation. Bosnia and Herzegovina could become a new hotspot, which could endanger the security of entire Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) used the last US Presidential elections and introduced the “gas-dependence” of the EU from Russia, initiated an agreement with China and sent Christian Schmidt (CSU) to the position of the High Representative in BiH, knowing that he will not get the support of the sides with which she had just previously made a deal.

Why would the US now directly engage in “unraveling“ of the position of the High Representative in BiH with Russia, when it had yielded this issue to Germany, supported it, to even sacrifice Ukraine, and gave it supremacy in the management of the West Balkans. “Thanks to” Merkel, the Balkans has been or will be handed over to Russia. Now, it is a major unknown what the US negotiators sent by the US Administration can do in BiH. The “Western powers” and NATO still have a qualified supremacy over Russia with respect to the West Balkans, and particularly in BiH. Direct negotiations taking place in Moscow between Russia and the US, including their intelligence communities, could give in the future the answers for the West Balkans as well.

Russia is establishing its modus operandi in Bosnia and Herzegovina

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia is using Milorad Dodik to lay the basis for its future operations in BiH. In fact, it is currently accelerating its respective efforts being aware that removal of Dodik by the EU and US would mean suspension of such activities for a period of time. The “Russian Humanitarian Center” from Niš (Serbia) has been moved to Republika Srpska (BiH), because Russia has obtained its military representative office within the framework of the Serbian Ministry of Defense. Therefore, the initiated infrastructure construction projects in Republika Srpska for the requirements of Russia are now being intensified. Namely, there are several infrastructure construction projects underway for which it is believe that they could be used in the future as the basis for establishment of a Russian military base in Republika Srpska. On a number of locations in Republika Srpska, the Russian Orthodox Church is establishing its infrastructure, which in many segments reminds of military infrastructure. The respective works are directly managed by the Russian Ambassador in BiH Igor Kalabuhov.

Analysts believe that with the arrival of the new Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porfirije the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church has increased. The “visits” and travels by Patriarch Porfirije all over the territory of the independent and sovereign state of BiH are brought into connection with the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Milorad Dodik’s activities on dissolution of BiH. In BiH, Patriarch Porfirije acts as a host and does not show respect for the legal institutions of BiH and other religious communities, particularly the BiH Islamic Community. It is astonishing that Patriarch Porfirije had organized a reception in the Congregational Church in Sarajevo without having previously met with the local church/religious dignitaries in BiH, Archbishop of Vrhbosna Cardinal Vinko Puljić and the Head of the BiH Islamic Community Reis-ul-ulema Husein Kavazović and established mutual relations with them. The question to be asked is how would the Republic of Serbia respond if the Archbishop of Zagreb Cardinal Josip Bozanić and Reis-ul-ulema of the BiH Islamic Community would frequently visit Serbia without communicating with the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia and official Serbian authorities. The silence of the BiH Islamic Community is also surprising.

For quite some time already, Russia has also been using Dodik to establish an intelligence structure independent of Serbia. The presence of Russian intelligence officers in Republika Srpska has been noted and monitored. Their task is to prepare the ground for separation of Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The apparatus that has been established is focused, inter alia, on the defense industry in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) – specifically, the research into whether the FBiH has hidden military reserves to be used in case of a conflict. The only unknown for Russia is how NATO would respond, because the Dayton Constitution gives NATO the option to intervene. While Russia can stop EU and the US in the United Nations, as well as make gas-related conditions with respect to BiH and West Balkans, it remains a major unknown for Russia what would be NATO’s immediate response in case of attempt of secession by Republika Srpska, which is the most important assessment for the Russian policy.

Annexes 1A and 1B to the Dayton peace accords are very clear. Annex 1A, Article I, Item b) reads that it is understood and agreed that NATO may establish a military force, which will operate under the authority and subject to the direction and political control of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) through the NATO chain of command. They undertake to facilitate its operations. The Parties, therefore, hereby agree and freely undertake to fully comply with all obligations set forth in this Annex.

The termination of relations between Russia and NATO further opened the possibility for a military engagement of NATO in BiH in case of implementation of the actions that Milorad Dodik is conducting in accordance with the instructions from Russia. Russia risks disappearance of Republika Srpska not just through a military intervention by NATO, but also a return to the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is envisaged by the Dayton peace agreement. The sale of the Russian national Sberbank in the region should be viewed in the context of current developments.

Strategic move by Serbia in UN

Serbia drew a strategic move through its Ambassador to the UN Nemanja Stevanović, who at the session of the UN Security Council called on Milorad Dodik to return to the institutions of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik is drawing Serbia into major uncertainty and positions it as the exclusive player of Russia.

Analysts believe that in case of a conflict in BiH, Serbia would suffer the biggest damage, because it would be exposed to western sanctions. NATO would deploy its troops to the Drina River and Serbia would not be able to provide any support to Republika Srpska. However, at the same time it would be under pressure, both internally and externally, to get militarily involved in the armed conflict, which would lead to internal unrests and possible conflicts within Serbia, as well as opening of the issue of Sandžak and the Preševo Valley. The most probable option that could occur this time is that the armed conflict spills over to the territory of Serbia.

Croatia a Russian hostage

President of the Croatian Democratic Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZBiH) Dragan Čović, as well as the official Croatian policy are hostages of Russia, which masterfully uses Croatian financial dependence on Russia.

Analysts believe that the Republic of Croatia is politically closer to Russia than to the US. The Republic of Croatia currently has the strongest connections with France through which it ensures its position within the EU. It is through France that Croatia distributes its (dis)information against Bosnia and Herzegovina and scares EU members with the alleged “Islamic terrorism”, which is purportedly present in BiH.

The agreement that Čović and Dodik signed under the patronage of Russia and in which they defined their orientation “against unitarization of BiH”, is actually an agreement that is based on the Karađorđevo agreement from 1991, which had been brokered by Slobodan Milošević (SPS) and Franjo Tuđman (HDZ). Regardless of the Russian arming of Serbia, analysts believe that the Republic of Croatia is more dependent on and has stronger connections with Russia that Serbia does.

The option of formal establishment of the so-called Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (HRHB) through the election law is a mission impossible for both Croatia and Russia. Any armed conflict in BiH would hamper tourism in Croatia, which amounts to more than 20% of the GDP of the country.

Turkish role in resolution of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is “unnecessary”

Calls by Serb and Croat politicians for Turkey to get involved in the resolution of the crisis in BiH should be observed in the context of the conflicts between Turkey and the US, that is Turkey and the EU. In fact, such an option would suit well the Serb, Croat and primarily the Russian policy. Specifically, to have BiH discussed outside the framework of the Dayton peace accords- without the US and EU. Such calls put Turkey in a position of a neutral observer when it comes to BiH. The goal of the Serb, Croat and Russian policy is actually to involve Turkey in the negotiations without the US and EU, and/or to euthanize the Turkish policy towards BiH with the aim of easier division of BiH. Bearing in mind the power that Turkey has in the current constellation of relations, for the designers of division of BiH a political engagement of Turkey exclusively on the side of “Bosnian forces” would be very dangerous. The so-called “pro-Bosnian force”, which are predominantly Bosniak, are with no idea, concept or a clear friend in the world. The support to BiH that is unambiguous and comes from the US, Great Britain and the strongest EU members is not directly linked to the so-called “pro-Bosnian” forces, but is a product of earlier relations and the current destructive approach by Russia to BiH. The support by the “West” does not mean also support to the pro-Bosnian forces, which do not have an answer for the crisis going on in BiH. The relation of the Islamic world towards BiH is of specific concern. However, the primary concern is the absence of direct communication of the “pro-Bosnian forces” with the strongest Western leaders, who would unambiguously and directly stand in defense of BiH, and not just through conclusions adopted through the UN system and within EU institutions, which essentially mean little other than declarative support.

According to analysts, in case of endangerment of BiH and the Bosniak-Muslim population in BiH, which includes around 2 million people on the EU territory with a population of almost 450 million, dozens of thousands of fighters- stationed in Turkey and coming from surrounding states- would come from Turkey. Hence, in the future, the barbed wire towards the EU would be crossed by armed “refugees” from BiH, and not economic refugees/migrants with mobile phones and some stashed money, who are beaten up at EU borders. Re-endangerment of BiH and Bosniaks-Muslims in the heart of Europe would once again galvanize parts of Muslim societies not just on the East, but also in EU countries.

Intensive activities in the background

According to verified information, the US will try to use the UN system for the prevention of genocide, including the International Criminal Court. (ICC).

Prevention of genocide implies military actions as well, which would be supported by international and UN courts. “Upstream prevention” will be used as an attempt to avoid the previous situation, such as the one with bombing of Serbia by NATO. Hence, other UN and international mechanisms will be used, including international criminal prosecution and limited military intervention. Specifically, the Dayton peace agreement and the above-mentioned annexes provide for a NATO military operation, which would be combined with actions conducted through the UN. Primarily the use of early warning mechanisms, but also the UN General Assembly -in order to avoid the Russian and Chinese veto in the UN Security Council. In this context, the engagement of the UN and US in the documentation process for the use of mechanisms for the prevention of genocide is now in an intensive research phase. In addition to Dodik, names of individuals known for their previous crime-related and criminal activities, such as Nenad Stevandić (US), as well as some names from the region and the EU, also feature on the lists of leading global powers. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Fidesz) is currently in the focus of the current US adminsitration.

Anticonstituional activities

Milorad Dodik violates the BIH Constitution and his current activities are anti- constitutional.

Article 3 of the BiH Constitution[3] reads “Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of the two Entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska”, which is not an independent country, nor had it legally existed prior to the Dayton peace agreement. As for the “transfer of competencies”, Article V, paragraph (4), related to the BiH Council of Ministers, deals with the appointment and competencies of the BiH Council of Ministers and stipulates that “the Chair shall nominate a Foreign Minister, a Minister for Foreign Trade, and other Ministers as may be appropriate,” which indicates that the number of ministries in the BiH Council of Ministers can be more than three.

Paragraph (1), Article III of the BiH Constitution lists the responsibilities of BiH institutions as follows:

a. Foreign policy.
b. Foreign trade policy.
c. Customs policy.
d. Monetary policy, as provided in Article VII.
e. Finances of the institutions and for the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
f. Immigration, refugee, and asylum policy and regulation.
g. International and inter-entity criminal law enforcement, including relations with Interpol.
h. Establishment and operation of common and international communications facilities.
i. Regulation of inter-entity transportation.
j. Air traffic control.

Article 3, paragraph (5) of the BiH Constitution, is related to additional competencies. It provides the basis for establishment of the existing ministries in the BiH Council of Ministers and agencies at the state level.

It lists the following additional competencies:

a. Bosnia and Herzegovina shall assume responsibility for such other matters as are agreed by the Entities; are provided for in Annexes 5 through 8 to the General Framework Agreement; or are necessary to preserve the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence, and international personality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the division of responsibilities between the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Additional institutions may be established as necessary to carry out such responsibilities.

b. Within six months of the entry into force of this Constitution, the Entities shall begin negotiations with a view to including in the responsibilities of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina other matters, including utilization of energy resources and cooperative economic projects.

Hence, the BiH Constitution is very clear. The US and EU should, with the assistance of the BiH Office of the Prosecutor and the opposition in Republika Srpska, which believes that an attempt needs to be made to return to the entity through the prescribed procedure the competencies that had been transferred to the state of BiH, criminally process Milorad Dodik and his cronies for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order of BiH. The empty and political stories by EUFOR Commander, Austrian Major General Alexander Platzer[4], that the Dayton agreement does not envisage the Armed Forces of BiH should be a sufficient cause for his prompt removal, as these are not just political statements, but also statements that undermine the constitutional-legal order of BiH. In the opinion of Russia and Milorad Dodik, at some point EUFOR could be deployed to the imaginary boundary line with the Federation of BiH.

Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington, 10 November 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: Dayton Peace Agreement, link: https://propisi.ks.gov.ba/sites/propisi.ks.gov.ba/files/opci_okvirni_sporazum_za_mir_u_bosni_i_hercegovini.pdf

[3] Source: Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, link: https://www.ustavnisud.ba/public/down/USTAV_BOSNE_I_HERCEGOVINE_bos.pdf

[4] Source: Der Standard »Eufor-Kommandeur Platzer sieht stabile Sicherheitslage in Bosnien-Herzegowina«, link: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000130860114/eufor-kommandeur-platzer-sieht-stabile-sicherheitslage-in-bosnien-herzegowina?ref=rss

Whether it’s making pasta, fermenting wine, or just enjoying life, the Italians seem to have it pretty much figured out. Granted, it’s taken a couple thousand years to get it right, but today, the culture that puts food first has a way of doing things that is the envy of the world.

Eating and drinking are not just pastimes for Italians, they are ingrained in every part of the day. From the first espresso to the final digestivo, the Italian day is infused with intricate rules around how, when, why, and with whom you share meals and imbibe with on fine wine.

It’s a way of life, and arguably, the best way. These are 10 rules that Italians live by and you might want to adopt for yourself.

1. Keep it fresh.

The farmer’s market is an Italian’s best friend because they know that fresh ingredients are the best ingredients. Sure, you’ll find supermarkets in Italy, but if you want the ripest tomatoes, the sharpest cheeses, and the silkiest olive oil, you go straight to the source, and that’s the daily and weekly outdoor markets all over the country.

2. Seasons for a reason.

While some fruits and vegetables are always in season (carrots and lemons!), most crops are seasonal. There are great times for certain foods, and not-so-great times for others. You want the best tomatoes? May through October is your window for the juiciest and most flavorful. The olive harvest? That’s late Autumn. Italians know this, and they grow their crops and buy their produce accordingly.

3. Coffee rules.

Italians don’t really dawdle over breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of popping into a bar (coffee shop), sidling up to the counter, ordering an espresso, and downing a croissant. But be mindful of how you order in Italian. A caffè does mean a coffee, but in Italy that’s a shot of espresso. If you want your Starbucks-equivalent latte, be careful, because if you order a latte at a coffee bar, you’re going to get a steaming cup of hot milk. Order a caffè latte and you’ll get the frothy, caffeinated beverage you were looking for.

4. Olive oil > all other oil.

If you’re cooking in Italy, it’s rare that you’ll find other cooking oils like canola, walnut, vegetable, etc. Cooking with olive oil is de rigueur (or di rigore) and can also take the place of butter. Try making cookies with olive oil next time instead of butter, they’re magical.

5. Courses matter and pasta isn’t a main course.

First, there’s lunch. A typical Italian lunch consists of a primo, usually a pasta dish; a secondo, which is usually a protein; and a contorno, which is a vegetable or salad dish. For dinner, there’s an antipasto, where you’ll find cured meats, olives, artichokes, and more followed by a pasta (primo), a protein (secondo), a side dish (contorno), and a dessert (dolce). Hungry yet?

6. Drinks are paired with food.

Italy’s drinking culture is just as structured as its eating culture, and the two are entirely intertwined. Italians look at drinking by how it can enhance the food that it comes with. You won’t usually find Italians pre-drinking their wine before a pasta dish is brought to the table as the wine is meant to complement the dish. In more romantic Italian terms, you could say they were meant for each other.

Read the rest here.

Are you interested in history? Do you like airplanes or historic vehicles? Would you like to know the secrets behind the taste of Czech beer, perhaps? Radio Prague International has selected 10 Czech museums that you may not necessarily find in your guidebooks.

See the tips here.

Europe is a forever-favorite destination of T+L readers, and they often turn to the continent’s picturesque islands when searching for their ideal getaways. Case in point: This year, eight of the continent’s islands have been voted not only the best in the region but the best in the entire world.

Every year for our World’s Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Readers rated islands according to their activities and sights, natural attractions and beaches, food, friendliness, and overall value.

Greece continued to take top honors, including Folegandros, which is No. 2 not only on this list but in top islands anywhere. Barely more than 12 square miles in size, the Cycladic paradise is only a ferry ride away from the bustling Santorini (No. 5) and Mykonos (No. 13). The same crowds have yet to discover Folegandros’s similar whitewashed architecture and aquamarine waters. One popular place to stay: the Anemomilos Boutique Hotel. An easy walk from the main village of Hora, it has 17 rooms and suites, with verandas overlooking the Aegean, perfect for basking in sunset views.

See the list here.

On Tuesday, November 2nd, the University of New York in Prague held its fourth public webinar. This time, UNYP has chosen a hybrid system, when there were guests physically at the seminar, as well as online on the ZOOM platform. The webinar focused on an important topic of Women in Business. This event was hosted by Dimana Mabhena, a Co-founder of GenWork. Our three special speakers were H.E. Ayesha Patricia Rekhi (the Ambassador of Canada to the Czech Republic), Martina Bacíková (Founder and CEO of INEV), and Linda Štucbartová (Founder of Diversio).

Over 100 people combined attended the event in person, on Zoom and on YouTube Live. Our special speakers described real-life issues that women have to deal with in the workplace and while building a business. They also proposed various ways how women can fight against this issue and how men can help with this problem.

In the end, our panelists answered dozens of intriguing questions from the audience online and in the room.

We are delighted that we were able to provide such an interesting event about a very important topic for the general public, and we plan to continue with this mission, as there are many issues and fields that we can potentially explore.

Source

On 17 October 2021, seventh local elections since its declaration of independence will be organized in North Macedonia. The second round of elections is scheduled to take place on 31 October 2021.

The National Election Commission (DIK) announced that 303 lists for mayors and 567 lists for municipal councillors had been verified.

The parties and independent candidates have 19 days for their campaigns and presentation of their programs.

North Macedonia has 1,824,864 citizens who are eligible to vote. In the first round of elections, they will elect mayors and municipal councillors in 80 municipalities and the capital of Skopje. Nineteen parties and coalitions filed their lists of candidates for mayor and municipal councillor positions, while citizen groups nominated and filed lists for 64 independent candidates. The local elections in North Macedonia will be organized at 3,480 polling stations and will be monitored by more than 300 observers from the OSCE/ODIHR.

Representatives of the political parties participating in the elections have signed a code of conduct undertaking to respect basic human rights and freedoms and thus allow for transparent, inclusive and fair elections.

A specificity of these elections is that for the first time there are two multi-ethnic pre-election coalitions featuring on the lists. On one side, there is the coalition of the ruling parties, headed by the Social-Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and three ethnic Albanian political parties – DUI/Democratic Union for Integration/, Besa and DPA/Democratic Party of Albanians/. On the other there is the coalition of opposition parties, headed by the conservative- right wing VMRO-DPMNE and the parties from the Albanian block- Alliance for Albanians and Alternative.

Country of peace and multiethnic harmony

The Republic of North Macedonia has managed to overcome a deep multi-year political crisis, caused by the illegal tapping of more than 20,000 citizens and an embezzlement of more than five billion Euros of public money by the regime, because it organized early parliamentary elections in December 2016.

Demographic transformation and consolidation of the country has occurred. The state fought for dominance of democracy over authoritarianism, that is civic over ethnic character of North Macedonia. The difficult legacy of the rule of Nikola Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE) left a deep mark and far-reaching consequences. The Gruevski-Mijalkov regime has not been completely dismantled, and is still present in a capillary manner in all segments of the Macedonian state. The remains of Gruevski’s regime constantly obstruct the processes and in such a way impede democratic changes and development of a functional state.

Macedonian statehood was complemented by membership in NATO. NATO guarantees sustainability and territorial integrity of the modern Macedonian state. Since it became a NATO member country, nobody can count any more on Macedonia in the context of various hegemonic projects, which is particularly important bearing in mind the turbulent regional environment and numerous threats. Democratic changes and the results achieved over the last four years have demonstrated that changes are possible and feasible, as well as that North Macedonia, and the entire West Balkans region, have the necessary potential for that. This sent a strong message and serves as an impetus to other countries in the region. It is also important to note that the official Brussels had recognized the trend of changes in North Macedonia but did not respond positively and constructively to it, although it had promised to do so. Without the democratic changes in Montenegro and Kosovo there would be no democratic changes in North Macedonia. It is expected that democratic changes will also happen in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place on 2 October 2022. Zoran Zaev (SDSM), together with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (SNS) and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (PS) launched the most important regional initiative called “Open Balkan,” which will yield many benefits to the citizens of North Macedonia and the region.

Analysts believe that North Macedonia is the most secure[2] country in the Western Balkans. Namely, not a single interethnic incident has been reported in the country since the establishment of the government headed by Zoran Zaev (SDSM), while during the rule of Nikola Gruevski interethnic incidents were a regular occurrence. The main credit for that goes to Minister of Internal Affairs Oliver Spasovski (SDSM), which is one of the reasons why he is constantly being attacked. Namely, in addition to the fight against crime and the preventive measures undertaken to increase safety in traffic, he also detected and dismantled networks of specific foreign intelligence services on the territory of North Macedonia, which is why the attacks on him are contrived as a kind of retribution for his successful work.

Local elections with historic consequences

The upcoming local elections are an opportunity for continuation of changes in the Republic of North Macedonia, which begun with the establishment of the coalition government of the Republic of North Macedonia headed by Zoran Zaev (SDSM) on 31 May 2017.

The local issues are least represented in the election campaign, although these are the issues that should be in the focus of the candidates for position of mayors, who as individuals are mainly not well known to the public at large. Leaders of political parties usually pursue approaches in which they speak about major national and strategic issues. As a result, at the local elections voters vote in favor of a political party, not the individual who is a candidate for a position at the local level. This anomaly has been present all the time in all countries in the region.

The most topical issues include the living standard of citizens, vaccination against Covid-19, ecology, urban development plan, infrastructure, average salary and economic policy, fight against crime and corruption, open issues with Bulgaria, European perspective, as well as the recent fire in Tetovo, in which 14 patients died in a temporary Covid hospital.

At the upcoming local elections, the votes of citizens will inform not just the election of mayors and councillors in municipal/city councils, but also the direction in which the Republic of North Macedonia will move. Specifically, will it continue to develop and reform into a prosperous and successful country with numerous friends at the international level or will it plunge back into the rule of Nikola Gruevski and VMRO-DPMNE, who played the card of bogus patriotism on the basis of which the country was robbed of more than five billion Euros and more than 20,000 citizens were illegally tapped. During its rule of 12 years the VMRO-DPMNE blocked the state, and now it wants to do that physically as well by organizing a number of manipulative protests against the current authorities.

Local elections- a new attempt at destabilization of North Macedonia

It is of specific importance for the Republic of North Macedonia that all those who obstruct and do not recognize the Prespa Agreement, which brought peace and stability, as well as gave Macedonia a chance to prosper, are sanctioned and “put on the blacklist” of the US Administration.

The three-year political asylum that Hungary gave to Nikola Gruevski expires in October 2021, and he had already approached Russia and Turkey to inquire about the possibility of getting political asylum in these two countries. He believes that the VMRO-DPNE could win the elections, and that then he would be able to return to North Macedonia after the local elections. They would then attempt to overthrow Zoran Zaev and his government. This scenario had already been considered within various “back-stage” activities, majority of which have been thwarted. For North Macedonia, such a scenario would mean going back to the beginning and a return to the old situation. Is that truly what citizens of North Macedonia want?

Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington/Skopje, 13 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] Source: 2021 Global peace index, link: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/GPI-2021-web.pdf

Kafka, Čapek, Kundera and Havel, these are all world renowned names, but what about all the others? How well are Czech authors actually known abroad? Can you find a bookshop in Berlin, Madrid, Moscow, Paris or New York that aside from classics such as The Good Soldier Švejk also sell the works of contemporary Czech authors?

See the list here.

Office design trends are changing every once in a while, and this year is no exception. Following the heels of the global call for sustainability, offices this year are characterized by more eco-friendly features, fluidity, modular elements, and increasingly smart features. If you are ready to remodel your workplace in line with the latest developments, here are a few trends which you should take into account when allocating the renovation budget.

Going paperless office-wise

Gone are the days when busy offices were piled with paper and plastic: with the increasing awareness of the importance of eco-friendly features, modern work areas boast a paperless design with dedicated recycling bins to match. To achieve the sleek, clutter-free look in your workplace, it might be a good idea to consider going digital with your important files and documents. This simple transition will also help you become more organized and it will slice the time which would otherwise be wasted looking for paper-based data and other relevant information. In addition to that, you can also replace paper by live plants as this is another hot trend on the office design market this year which aims to infuse the office with a dose of freshness and style.

A smarter than smart office

Smart offices made a big entrance a while ago, and as the time passes, they are becoming increasingly high-tech in terms of devices and equipment. In contemporary offices, one-touch, remote controlled and even voice-operated elements such as coffee machines and printers are a must-have. If you wish to achieve the smart office look, you need to allocate a significant segment of your remodel budget for the procurement of state-of-the-art devices, but the investment will definitely pay many times over down the road. For a neat bonus, the upgrade will also add a few points to your brand’s value in the eyes of existing and potential employees.

A touch of old-school warmth

Despite the fact that clean, clutter-free offices are here to stay, there is also a need for comfort, style, and old-school warmth which you will need to take into account when remodeling your work area. To achieve a sense of luxury and friendliness in conference rooms and other large areas in your company, you can take a look at the wide range of elegant, rich rugs in Honk Kong and choose a carpet with minimal yet suave design which will communicate the air of luxury to your associates and employees. On top of that, you should consider going carpetless in small areas in the company. Suave, barebones ambiance is always on trend, especially if coupled with sustainable, eco-friendly floor and furniture materials.

Human-centric is here to stay

With COVID-19 still in full blow, companies are rapidly becoming aware of the value of every single staff member and their safety and wellbeing. With maximum employee safety in mind, companies are now introducing features such as hand sanitizer points, handwashing stations, flow management, and built-in social distancing, as well as readily available PPE in order to keep workplace health in check and reduce absenteeism. In addition to that, the trend of ergonomic furniture and devices with wellbeing certifications such as WELL and Fitwel is still going strong, which is why you will need to put your staff’s safety wellbeing front and center when looking to remodel your office space this year.

Stylish offices in 2021 boast far more style and functionality than their last year’s counterparts. From paperless designs and sustainable materials down to increasingly smart technology features and health and wellness-centered features, head-turning offices nowadays are a testament to minimalism and comfort, with a dose of green touches and luxury details. If you are set on remodeling your workplace soon, watch out for the big trends listed above and top office style, safety, and comfort will always be guaranteed. You are welcome!

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.

Following the famous argument of prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic ‘No Asian century without pan-Asian multilateral settings’ which was prolifically published as policy paper and thoroughly debated among practitioners and academia in over 40 countries on all continents for the past 15 years, hereby the author is revisiting and rethinking this very argument, its validity and gravity.

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. Asia’s economic resurgence and cumulative financial strengths over the last two decades have largely contributed to the global shift of power to Asia [Medcalf, 2018]. However, the assertion about the beginning of the Asian century is still vague.

Considering the history of the region and its current geopolitical status-quo, one should remember that Asia flourished because the Pax Americana period after the end of World War II, which provided a favourable strategic context. But now the twists and turns of US – China relations are raising questions about the future of Asia and the structure of the emerging international order.

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, while currently they are increasingly taking advantage of the opportunities created by China’s rapid development.

Due to the new geopolitical situation, the countries of the East Asia region are concerned that, being at the intersection of the interests of major powers, they may find themselves between two fires and will be forced to make difficult choices [Rsis, 2021]. In this regard, countries understand that the status-quo in Asia must change. But whether the new configuration will further prosper or bring dangerous instability remains to be seen.

It is worth noting that Asian countries view the United States as a power present in the region and having vital interests there. At the same time, China and India are immediate and close reality. Asian countries don’t want to choose between them. And if they face this challenge – Washington will try to contain the growth of China or Beijing will make efforts to create an exclusive sphere of influence in Asia – they will embark on the path of confrontation that will drag on for decades and jeopardize the highly-discussed Asian century.

An important element that can resolve the issue of the status-quo in the region is the fact, that the largest world’s continent must consider creation of the comprehensive pan-Asian institution, as the other major theatres do have in place already for many decades (i.e., the Organization of American States – OAS (American continent), African Union – AU (Africa), Council of Europe and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – OSCE (Europe)).

The steps taken by the countries of the leading regions of the world to create a single market and a zone of co-prosperity in recent years have given rise to a desire for consolidation among the leaders of Asian countries [Frost, 2008]. Thus, today Asia is a place of concentration of the largest integration groupings, including the Asia – Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), its’ countries are members of large organizations: the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), BRICS, G-20, G-8, E-7. These integration groupings are closely interconnected, widely diversified (Commonwealth of Nations) or specialized (OPEC). Nevertheless, it is worth noting that in Asia there is still the absence of any pan-Asian security/ multilateral structure, which leaves many issues of cooperation between countries (especially in the field of security and interstate territorial disputes) unresolved [Kaisheng, 2015]. Thus, in Asia the presence of the multilateral regional settings is limited to a very few spots in the largest continent [Bajrektarevic, 2013], and even then, they are rarely mandated with security issues in their declared scope of work (see Map 3).

Underlining the importance of the creation on multilateral mechanism in Asia, one need to analyse in details the conflicts’ map of the region.

Dividing the region to subregional level Asia as a region includes Northern (Northeast) Asia, China & Far East (Eastern Asia), South – Eastern Asia, Western Asia, South Asia, and Central Asia (see Map 1).

 – Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan).

Two post-Soviet Caspian Sea sub-regions – Central Asia and the South Caucasus – have experienced different conflict scenarios. The South Caucasus has been embroiled in protracted, large-scale armed conflicts, while Central Asians have managed to avert a serious armed conflict, remaining largely peaceful despite local, short-term, small-scale clashes, and the existence of factors that may have led – and still may potentially lead – to a serious military conflict (i.e., Armenia – Azerbaijan conflict (The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict). Conflict map of Central Asia (see Map 2) mainly describes the issue of border settlement is the problem of ethnic enclaves, which is a constant factor of tension in relations between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

 – Western Asia (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, and Iran)

 – The situation in (South-) Western Asia, which covers most of the Near and Middle East, has remained very complex and explosive for half a century. This is largely due to the Palestine – Israeli confrontation in Palestine, which escalated in the early twentieth century after the proclamation of the doctrine of creating a “people’s land” for the Jews. The Arab – Israeli confrontation, which began in 1948 (the state of Israel was proclaimed), remains unresolved to this day and is a hotbed of armed conflicts in the region.

Among other main hotbed of instability in Southwest Asia for almost a quarter of a century are the forcibly divided Cyprus, disputed territories between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, dispute over Islands Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs (Iran and the United Arab Emirates), the issues of Iraq and Iran, the instability of the Caucasus (Abkhazia and South Ossetia), the Kurds conflicts.

The conflict potential of the region is aggravated by the numerous emigrations to Western Europe (Germany, France) and the United States, whose radical groups often resort to terrorist acts. Such approaches and fierce military operations complicate the overall political climate in such a volatile region (see Map 2).

– Southern Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives Bhutan, and Bangladesh)

– The area is often referred to geologically, as the Indian Subcontinent and appears to be the area with the highest conflict intensity index in the region. Thus, the biggest country of the region – India – faces territorial issues with many of its neighbours. Over the past 70 years, it has succeeded to resolve its boundary issues only with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The undemarcated boundaries with Myanmar, Bhutan and lately with China, Pakistan and Nepal have often flared up into tensions [Kapoor,2020].

The most problematic disputes of the region are between India and China along their disputed border in the Himalayan region (namely disputes over Aksai Chin, Depsang Plains, Demchok, Chumar, Kaurik, Shipki La, Barahoti, Nelang, Pulam Sumda, Sang, Jadhang and Lapthal, Trans – Karakoram Tract, Arunachal Pradesh), which have been worsening in recent years.

India – Pakistan borders disputes (namely disputes over Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen Glacier, Saltoro Ridge, Sir Creek) are the second largest in the region. With continued violence in Kashmir and a heightened threat of terrorist activity by Pakistan-based militant groups, tensions, and concerns over a serious military confrontation between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan remain high.

Third group of disputes, which is rising of the region’s conflict potential, are India – Nepal border’s disputes (namely disputes over: Kalapani, Susta, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand). It is worth noting that the redrawing of the map covers a relatively small region high in the Himalayas, but it has stirred simmering tensions between two of the world’s biggest powers, India, and China. Thus, involving of the third party (China) into the conflicts of India – Pakistan and India – Nepal is making the tension in the region even higher (See Map 2).

The problem of Afghanistan is also one of the most explosive in the region [Larson,2018]. The war has been going on here for the third decade, it has claimed millions of lives and has long ceased to be an internal affair of this state. Till August 2021 the troops of 14 NATO countries were in Afghanistan fighting the “Taliban” [USIP,2021]. Moreover, several million Afghan refugees settled in Pakistan, Iran and other countries of Asia and Europe, in the United States.

Due to high conflicts level and political regimes of some of the countries of the region, the Western world has identified South Asia as an epicentre of terrorism and religious extremism and therefore has an interest in ensuring regional stability, preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, and minimizing the potential of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan [Rosand et al.,2009].

–  Northern (Northeast)Asia (Russia and Mongolia)

In the Far East and North Asia, destabilizing factors remain the Russian – Japanese territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands (Northern Territory), the Korean – Japanese territorial dispute over the Dokdo Islands (Takeshima) (Liancourt Rocks dispute) and the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai) between Japan and China.

–  Eastern Asia (China & Far East) (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan)

Of all the disputed territories in the APR, a striking example of the high potential of a formally latent territorial dispute in NEA is the conflict over the Senkaku – Diaoyu Islands, in which Japan and China, the two largest economies and two leading foreign policy players in Northern and East Asia (NEA), are parties to the conflict. This conflict illustrates the essence of modern territorial disputes in the region and the essential information component of such processes.

However, other, equally intractable, disputes cannot be neglected. Among these cases are disputes between Japan and Korea over Dokdo/Takeshima Island and the Kuril Islands that are held by Russia but claimed by Japan. Further regional conflicts involve Korean Peninsula disputes, disputed fishing areas that frequently witness clashes between fishing boats and respective law enforcement agencies. No less important conflict areas of the region are Korean Peninsula and Chinese territories (namely China – Taiwan, the issue of Inner Mongolia, the issue of Tibet (Tibet Autonomous Region) and the issue of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) (see Map 2).

None of the above-mentioned disputes are likely to be resolved in the foreseeable future. The worst-case scenario is that they continue to plague Japan’s bilateral relations with China, South Korea, and Russia, isolating Japan in the region, and perhaps even resulting in militarized conflict. Though such conflict is unlikely in the disputes with Russia and South Korea, it remains a possibility in the dispute with China.

Both Northern and Eastern regions are the world’s most dynamic areas in terms of economic growth and significance for global trade. While China attracts most attention, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are all strong economies. Add Russia and the US in the mix and the importance of Northeast Asia cannot be overstated. These two regions are characterised by “strategic diversity” where several unresolved territorial disputes threaten to undermine the very source of regional prosperity: maritime trade.

–  South – Eastern Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and Vietnam)

In Southeast Asia (hereinafter SEA), compared to other regions, the numbers of unresolved territorial disputes are still considered small, and SEA is considered a relatively safe region with no significant violence going on [Jenne, 2017].

The territorial disputes in SEA consist of the following disputes: the Philippines’ Sabah Claim (The North Borneo), the Ligitan and Sipidan dispute, the Pedra Branca dispute and the South China Sea Conflict Zone also known as the Spratly Islands disputes and conflicts of East Timor and the divided island of New Guinea. Among them the last one (the Papua conflict) – land dispute in which 21 people died (last update as for April 2021[Fardah,2021]) is the latest brutal conflict exacerbated by high-powered weapons, weak governance, and erosion of traditional mores (See Map 2).

The territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea (the Spratly Islands disputes) are considered some of the most complex conflicts in the region if not worldwide. The disputed areas are abundant in natural resources such as gas and oil and carry strategic importance, as roughly half of the world’s commercial shipping passes through them. Their judicial resolution is usually unlikely, and the use of conciliation mechanisms is preferable. Despite this, there is little doubt that the conflicts in the South China Sea will dominate the region’s security agenda for years, if not decades, to come [Avis, 2020]. The intra-ASEAN disputes in the South China Sea will most likely remain dormant for a considerable time to come.

Given the growing number of military expenditures of Asian countries and the presence of many hotbeds of tension, territorial disputes of the entire region, are turning it into one of the most complex problems and potentially explosive challenges, indirectly affecting the interests of most of the states of the Eurasia.

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. 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.

Today, the diversity of the Asian sub-regions, the differences in the political and economic systems of the states, determine the specifics of the formation of integration structures in Asia [Ayson, 2009]. A characteristic feature of integration structures in Asia – in most cases, they are created to jointly solve economic problems, achieve economic integration in the region or sub-regions, but not to solve security issues:

–  the Asia – Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Being an organization with the largest Asian participation, the Asia – Pacific Economic Cooperation engulfing both sides of the Pacific. While created, this forum was planned to become a mechanism for developing global rules for economic and military-political interaction between countries of the APR, but eventually organization turned into a regional integration setting of the Asia – Pacific countries, mainly involved just in economically-related issues [APEC,2021]. Even considering the shifts of the APEC towards resolving political issues (response to security threats), so far this is a forum for member economies not of sovereign nations, a sort of a prep-com for the World Trade Organization – WTO, which is not involved into the solving of security issues of the region.

– the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, created in 2001, was formed based on the previously existing political association of the “Shanghai Five”: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan (See Map 3).

While it was mentioned that the main goals were strengthening trust between its participants in the military field, ensuring peace, security and stability in the region, criticism of the SCO largely concerns the failure of its activities, in the fight against terrorism and the protection of regional security [Weitz, 2014]. Some foreign analysts (i.e., Matthew Oresman of the American Centre for Strategic and International Studies) suggest that the SCO is nothing more than a discussion club, claiming something more [Oresman, 2005]. The same opinion is shared by the head of the Institute of Military History of the Russian Ministry of Defence A. A. Koltyukov, who claims that “the analysis of the results achieved by the SCO allows us to characterize it as a political club in which bilateral cooperation still prevails over the solution of regional and world problems. … there is no real cooperation in these areas in countering the threats of terrorism, separatism and the fight against drug trafficking at the regional level” [Kol’tyukov, 2008].

–  the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC – economic and political organization of eight countries in South Asia is the Indian sub-continent’s grouping, created in 1985.

The main goal of the SAARC is to develop interaction between the participating countries in the economic, socio-cultural, and scientific-technical fields, however, with the accession of Afghanistan (in 2007), the Association began to discuss issues of combating terrorism.

Being an organization, which helps the integrate the region and intensify mutual collaboration between countries-participants, the SAARC is practically a hostage of mega confrontation of its two largest members, both confirmed nuclear powers: India and Pakistan. Additionally, the SAARC although internally induced is an asymmetric organization, considering the size and position of India: centrality of that country makes SAARC practically impossible to operate in any field without the direct consent of India, which is not helping the organization to resolve important security-related issues of the region.

–  the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – OIC and Non-Aligned Movement – NAM

Another crosscutting integration settings of the region are the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – OIC and Non-Aligned Movement – NAM.

The development of NAM as a new trend in the system of international relations was laid by the Bandung Conference of 1955, which served as the beginning of the creation of an international organization uniting countries that proclaimed non-participation in military-political blocs and groupings as the basis of their foreign policy. The creation of the OIC in 1969 was facilitated by a series of events that shook the Islamic world, the main ones of which were the defeat in the Arab – Israeli war in 1967 and the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by Israeli extremists. Thus, initially the creation of these two settings had a security root.

However, as professor Anis H. Bajrektarevic elaborated in his work on “No Asian Century”, they are inadequate forums as neither of the two is strictly mandated with security issues [Bajrektarevic, 2015]. Although both trans-continental entities do have large memberships being the 2nd and 3rd largest multilateral systems, right after the UN, neither covers the entire Asian political landscape – having important Asian countries outside the system or opposing it.

– the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), which existed in 1995 – 2006, which main goal was to implement the 1994 Framework Agreement between the United States and North Korea and freeze the development of a local nuclear power plant in North Korea, as well as Group 5 + 1 (P5 + 1, E3 + 3) – a forum of six great powers that have united their efforts to prevent the use of the Iranian nuclear program for military purposes, were both dealing with indeed security related issues in Asia. Nevertheless, both settings were created to deter and contain a single country by the larger front of peripheral states that are opposing a particular security policy, in this case, of North Korea and of Iran.

– BRICS

The formation of global governance institutions began with the creation of the G7 in 1975. In 2008, the first G20 summit took place, and in 2009 – BRIC (BRICS since 2011). These informal forums, focused primarily on economic cooperation, do not fully fulfil their obligations to counter protectionism, environmental growth, food security and fairness in the labour market.

These problems exist due to the inability of both institutions to create a full-fledged accountability mechanism to ensure transparency of the processes of implementation of the decisions of the summits.

Also, the BRICS and G-20 are not providing the Asian participating states either with the more leverage in the Bretton Woods institutions or helping to tackle the indigenous Asian security problems.

– the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

This sub-regional political and economic organization was created in 1967, and included Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei. The main goals of this organization are the development of economic, social, cultural, and other types of cooperation between the member countries of the Association, the establishment of peace and stability in Southeast Asia (See Map 3).

This organization played an important role in the social and economic development of the Southeast Asian countries, contributed to the growth of their political influence in the region, however, regional cooperation in the field of defence and security within the framework of ASEAN has not yet been activated. Today, it can be assumed that ASEAN can evolve into a “security community” in the sense that none of its members seriously consider using force against another member to resolve contentious issues. But it will not become a “defensive community” because there is no common cultural, ideological, and historical experience. More importantly, there is no threat common to all members. The successes achieved by ASEAN – relative peace, stability, and security – still do not form the basis for broader military cooperation, but rather allow each state to develop on its own way.

Towards conclusions

The creation of sub-regional international organizations is a proof that currently Asian countries 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. From the Middle East, Caspian and Central Asia, Indian sub-continent, mainland Indo – China or Archipelago SEA, Tibet, South China Sea and the Far East, many countries are suffering numerous green and blue border disputes (See Map 2).

An equally important factor is the presence in Asia of strong global geopolitical players vying for spheres of influence in the region (China, India, Japan, Russia, and USA).

Currently the APR countries today do not want to choose between centres of power, willing to develop good relations with all partners and at the same time ensure their security. In this regard, the question of the creation of its own comprehensive pan-Asian multilateral mechanism, with the help of which countries will be able to take an active part in the formation of a new world order and take a worthy place in it, is becoming more and more urgent.

The foundation on which Asia – Pacific countries now support regional cooperation initiatives, such as the various Indo – Pacific concepts proposed by Japan, the United States and others, as well as China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, is built on a policy of peaceful coexistence and containment of the emergence of one strongest leader in the region (many Asian countries believe that promoting the “Belt and Road” is a constructive way to control China’s growing influence in the region [Smotrytska,2021]). Thus, today the behaviour of the countries of the APR region shows that the development of new regional mechanisms does not mean abandoning the existing multilateral structures. These hard-won agreements and institutions continue to provide all countries, especially small ones, a framework to work together and advance collective interests.

Besides the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), there have been other emerging features of security cooperation in Asia that are not necessarily based on geographical groupings but on security concerns and capability [Pejsova, 2014]. These multidimensional developments indicate that security cooperation in Asia is far more complex today than a traditional bi-multi nexus model. The “double-track” approach is now entering into the new phase especially in the wake of various forms of multilateral security mechanisms that have been revealing in recent years in Asia – Pacific.

An analysis of the emerging alignment of forces within the international community allows us to conclude that the very formulation of the question of the Asian century suffers from unacceptable simplification and schematization that does not consider new world realities and the geopolitical structure of the region, that cannot be explained in traditional concepts and categories. And the reality is that the East has already become the supporting structure of the world community, equal in size to the West, and its’ role in the coming century will increase. Moreover, in the East itself, several centres are ripening (China, Japan, India, and a numerically growing group of smaller, but very dynamic new industrial countries), capable of competing on an equal footing both with each other and with the West, if not as a whole, then with its leading powers. But to consolidate the total power of Asian countries the largest continent must consider the creation of its own comprehensive pan-Asian multilateral mechanism. Economic and demographic parts of Asia must be accorded by the new pan-continental setting. On the very institution setup, Asia can closely revisit the well-envisioned SAARC and ambitiously empowered ASEAN fora. By examining these two regional bodies, Asia will be able to find and calibrate the appropriate balance between widening and deeping of the security mandate of such future multilateral organization.

Maria Smotrytska is a senior research sinologist and International Politics specialist of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists. She currently serves as the Research Fellow at International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), Department for Strategic Studies on Asia (DeSSA). She holds a PhD in International politics, from the Central China Normal University (Wuhan, PR China).

Contact: dessa[at]ifimes.org

As a part of the celebrations surrounding the 103rd anniversary of the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia, the Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar distributed a number of awards between exceptional individuals who’s devotion furthered the success of the ministry. The highest award, the Cross of State Defence, was endowed upon the legionary and resistance member Josef Jirka, in memoriam. “After the occupation of the Czech lands, he was one of the most active and important members of the military resistance organization Defence of the Nation,” announced the Ministry of Defence. He was arrested by the Gestapo in February 1940 and executed in September 1942. Another highly esteemed award, the Golden Linden, was given to the legendary football player and coach Jaroslav Vejvoda, also posthumously. This might seem like an affair of a different ministry at first glance, but the Czech military and sport elite have a close connection in the Dukla team, which is technically a part of the Czech military. “He brought Masopust, Novák or Pluskal to perfection. He led Dukla to success in the 1960s, which was recognized by the whole world, and Ota Pavel wrote poems about these victories in his books,” wrote iDNES.cz. Another noteworthy honour was assigned to the name of the Military Police member Milan Štěrba. The Military Police Protection Service Headquarters will now hold the name of this fallen soldier from the war in Afghanistan.

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If you have big dreams of jetting off to Europe, but worry that your bank account isn’t quite ready, don’t worry. For every expensive city, there are dozens of charming — and surprisingly affordable — places that offer all the European charm for a fraction of the price. Ljubljana, Porto, Budapest, even Berlin — these cities have all the rich culture, stunning architecture, and delicious food that you’d find in pricey European capitals, but they’re perfect for budget travelers.

You can even travel to some of Europe’s best (and famously expensive) destinations without breaking the bank — you just have to know how to save money without sacrificing on experiences. Travelers can often score deals on flights from the United States to major cities like Paris or London, and upon arriving, transportation within Europe can be much more affordable (hello, budget airlines). Those large cities also offer a wide range of accommodations, so you can certainly find something in your budge. You can even save money on food by hitting the local markets. After all, a bottle of wine, fresh bread, and cheese from a Parisian market make for an unforgettable meal when picnicking under the Eiffel Tower.

And you might be surprised by how many museums, churches, and other attractions are free or inexpensive to visit, too. Be sure to keep an eye out for free entry days (often one day a month) or tourist cards that offer entry to multiple attractions for one flat fee. (Do the math ahead of time by calculating the cost of every included attraction that you want to visit to make sure it’s really worth the money.)

Trimming your budget doesn’t mean sacrificing the quality of your trip. In fact, the less you spend, the less insulated you are from the local culture. Staying in a thatched Irish farmhouse, perusing old masters in Rome, or snacking your way through Spanish specialties aren’t just tricks of the frugal traveler — they’re the stuff dream vacations are made of.

Here are some of the top destinations for an affordable European vacation (and tips for saving money once you arrive).

By Reid Bramblett and Elizabeth Rhodes

See the list here.

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.

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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.

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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.

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• 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.

References

• Aura Caramizaru, Andreas Uihlein, JRC Science For Policy Report, Energy Communities: an overview of energy and social innovation, (2020=.
• 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).
• 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 ( 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).
• 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).
• 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 ( März 2021).
• Stephan Cejka, Energiegemeinschaften im Clean Energy Package der EU, ecolex 2020, 338

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).
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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.

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