“If we summarize all the events of recent years, Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine can be considered one of the elements of the Third World War, where “hybrid” methods are used”. This sentence from the article “Ukraine in the Center of the World Geopolitical Storm” from the current issue of “BINTEL” journal can briefly describe the subject matter of its content. Its author, Ph.D. in Military Sciences V. Hvozd analyzes the development of events in modern Ukraine, names the reasons for them and possible consequences, explains the position of the so-called centers of power and warns against the current political elite's possible mistakes, for which the mankind has repeatedly had to pay. The article, in particular, affirms that the Ukrainian issue can now be considered the cornerstone of the US strategy to contain Russia, and points out that China also pays attention to this topic, as it does not recognize the “legality” of the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, although it considers Russia its ally in the “top geopolitical league”, which at this stage also includes the United States, the European Union and Japan. By the way, the author of the article describes similar events in the former Yugoslavia, which was also a hot spot of Europe two decades ago. Like in Ukraine, there were Yugoslavia that also saw manifestations of separatism, provoked armed confrontation between the population of the regions, and anclaves were created artificially with the aim of re-subordinating them. In his article V. Hvozd recalls that in the Balkans, thanks to the insistence of Western countries, it was possible to restore peace, and newly-formed countries managed to choose their own way of development and become members of the EU.
Ukraine also has a chance to achieve such success, states the Ph.D. in Geography V. Hrytsevych in his article “Geopolitical and Geo-Economic Positioning of Ukraine at the Beginning of the 21st Century”. The author briefly and inclusively gives information on Ukraine’s positioning in the geopolitical and geo-economic sense, analyzes its place in the global world from the point of view of the most important metric and geospatial characteristics of the state.
In terms of area, Ukraine now ranks 44th among the first 50 states, and this, according to the author of the article, is a good position, because by this characteristic it is ahead of such countries as France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, etc. “The territory creates preconditions for the development of available natural resources, for settlements and the population's settling, for the placement of production and services, for the development of transport and communication infrastructure, for access to the seas and oceans, for recreation of the population and other needs. The history of mankind knows many wars for territories, and all the well-known empires tried to maximize their territorial possessions”, says the author, referring to current Ukraine and the problems that it now has to deal with. By the way, it is necessary to mention that the author has a direct relationship to one, so to speak, of the territorial constants — he calculated the geographical center of the Ukrainian state (the center of gravity of its territory), where today stands a memorable sign. There is its photo in the journal.
The reader will be interested to learn about the positioning of Ukraine in terms of the number of its population, GDP, neighborly position, energy resources, distance to the seas and oceans, and also (which is now of particular importance) positioning relative to the most developed countries. The author points out that Ukraine now does not directly border on any of the highly developed states, and he names those that can serve as a guide in economic development. In his opinion, “…in general, Ukraine's geopolitical and geo-economic positioning can be assessed as good, since there are still a dozen of states, whose positioning is much worse, but they cope. The task for the Ukrainian state is to take advantage of its position in the world, based on its strategic goals”. By the way, the article is accompanied by interesting author's illustrations, such as the neighbors of Ukraine of the first two levels.
The following two materials have one common abbreviation — NATO. But while the journal's interview with the Ph.D. in History S. Tolstov “The American Command Considers the Armed Forces of Ukraine a Component of the Defense of NATO's Eastern Flank” tells about the and the Ukrainian political elites' attempts to use this topic for their own purposes, the other material in the journal — “An Arab NATO: Myth or Reality?” the author, Ph.D. in History O. Volovych speaks on the idea of creating in the Middle East a military organization whose members could be local countries fighting terrorist groups of ISIS, al-Qaeda and others.
Judging by the publications, — says the author, — this idea is attributed to US President D. Trump, but this is wrong. And he tells in detail how such an idea was put forward by the Egyptian President A. Nasser in the middle of the last century, who later was supported by the “leader of the Libyan revolution” M. Gaddafi, and in the 1980s it was discussed by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf (Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC). O. Volovych describes how events developed and in what key acted the military units and groups from the joint forces, known as the “Peninsula Shield” during Iraq's military invasion in Kuwait. By the way, the author has his own view on the principles of creation of modern international military alliances or associations, in particular, on their ability to fulfill special tasks. Reflecting on this, he cites the facts and comes to a conclusion, which is difficult to disagree with, especially to those who not just study this subject, but also have to do with it directly. After all, creation of any serious military formation designed to conduct large-scale military operations is impossible without sufficient funding.
That is why a few days ago, the Chief of General Staff of France's Armed Forces wrote a report on his resignation, having learned that the new French President E. Macron decided to reduce the French Army's budget. True, every presidential decision has grounds, argues the Ph.D. in Political Science O. Mitrofanova in her journal article “France: E. Macron's Lightning Triumph”, telling about the recent elections in this European state — first presidential and then parliamentary ones. If E. Macron does not manage to improve the internal situation in the country, the author writes, his rating will fall as quickly as his predecessor F. Hollande's. “Since this victory was perceived as a triumph of European unity against the revisionists' attempts to mess up the integration project (EU), destabilization of the situation in France will significantly affect the political situation in Europe as a whole,” — this is also one of O. Mitrofanova's predictions in the article. And here we should think about the latest figures of the popularity of E. Macron, whose rating after a well-known report by the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces has fallen by 10 %. After all, the “second France”, about which the author writes in the article, has not disappeared. But to find out what is meant here, it is necessary to read this and the above-mentioned articles of the next current of “BINTEL. Geopolitical Analytics Journal”.
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