BALKAN STUDIES

Dr. Yiorghos Leventis
(Director, International Security Forum based in Cyprus)

Copyright: www.inter-security-forum.org Publication date at RIEAS web site: www.rieas.gr on 18 June 2016

Last Monday 13 of June, as the hot Mediterranean summer working day was here in Lefkosia drawing to a close, we received another unexpected blow (?) to our international standing if not reputation: our top diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis was defeated in his bid to be elected President of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly. There is no doubt that the election of a Cypriot diplomat to the international organization's General Assembly top post would have meant a great boost for the battered semi-occupied Republic of Cyprus. ...Read more

Their Impact on National Security in the Coming Decades

Gregory R. Copley
(President of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA),
based in Washington, DC., USA)

Note: Gregory R. Copley delivered a speech at the John Naisbitt University Conference,
National and International Security: Contemporary Global Challenges, Belgrade: February 4, 2016

The world is undergoing a geopolitical restructuring and human transition on a scale which has not been seen for perhaps a thousand years. This in turn generates what appear to be unrecognizable social, technological, and geostrategic situations, resulting in policy confusion in most societies. Read more

Shaun Riordan
(A Former British Diplomat and Director of ZEIA)

Copyright: http://www.shaunriordan.com/?p=266 - Publication date on RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 6 March 2016

Historians of the future will compare our reactions to the migrant crisis with those of our grandparents to the plight of the Jews in the 1930s. We may not come too well out of the comparison. We need to provoke ourselves in to new thinking, and more important, action. Feuerbach thesis nº11 – the aim of philosophy must be to change the world, not just think about it. Our political elites have already demonstrated their inability to tackle the issues, preferring personal ambition to humanitarian solidarity....Read more

Ourania Tsichlaki (CCO)
(Certified Confidentiality Officer (CCO) authorization by Business, Espionage Controls and Counter Measures Association. She works at the Private Security Industry, has studied Security Management and graduated in shipping studies. She received trainings in various security issues and has contributed in "SINTAKTIS Review" and "Security Manager Review")

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 24 April 2016

Security issues are rapidly changing. The existed knowledge and training are in front of the phenomenon of t/2, (t/2 is the phenomenon that the acquired knowledge in desks is not valid after some time due the new produced knowledge and the transformation in several sectors e.g. technology, medicine etc. t/2 is not the same for every scientific or technological sector) even though security does not dispose a large scale degree of change like scientific studies...Read more

Dr. Goure
(Vice President with the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. He is involved in a wide range of issues as part of the institute's national security program).

Copyright: http://lexingtoninstitute.org/ - Republication date on the Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas) on 15 October 2015.

The Eastern Mediterranean is in crisis. The focus of U.S. and NATO security concerns is moving inexorably westward from Iraq and eastern Syria as a result of the civil wars in Syria and Libya, the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, massive refugee flows to Europe, the expansion of Iranian influence in the Near East, uncertainty in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship and renewed Russian presence in Syria. Add to these problems the discovery of major energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and the expansion of the Suez Canal, and the likelihood of expanded conflicts in the area is growing along with the importance of NATO facilities at Souda Bay in Crete, Greece. Read more

Dr. Goure
(Vice President with the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. He is involved in a wide range of issues as part of the institute's national security program).

Copyright: http://lexingtoninstitute.org/ - Republication date on the Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas) on 11 October 2015.

Even as the Greek economy struggles to establish equilibrium and politicians in Athens work to implement new austerity measures, its military continues to provide security and support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance in the Eastern Mediterranean. NATO's southern flank has been hit by a wave of security challenges including mass illegal immigration, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and arms trafficking. As a result, NATO's maritime forces are stretched thin responding to this increased demand. Recent international crises at sea underscore the need for collective NATO efforts and new training demands to protect member nations... Read more