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... Borisova, Ekaterina: Halford Mackinder's ideas today. - S. 21-23 ... Sengupta, Anita: 9/11 and the heartland debate in Central Asia. - S. 37-45 ... Vielmini, Fabrizio: The influence of Mackinder's theory on current U.S. deployment in Eurasia: problems and perspectives. - S. 58-65 Hekimoglu, Levent: Whiter "Heartland"? Central Asia, geography and globalization. - S. 66-80 ... Megoran, Nick: The politics of using Mackinder's geopolitics: the example of Uzbekistan. - S. 89-102

There is tremendous momentum for economic and financial integration in East Asia today. Partly inspired by the formation of the European Union and partly as a response to the 1997/98 Asia financial crisis, many East Asian countries are showing greater commitment to regional economic cooperation. A number of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have either been concluded or are being negotiated.1 At a less formal level, the ASEAN+3 grouping has brought the whole region together in regular consultations over trade, investment, as well as monetary and exchange rate policy matters.

Since the fall of the bipolar order of the world, terrorism and organized crime have undergone a mutation by which they have acquired such a degree of sophistication, globalization, and hybridization that they now have transgressed the narrow categories and definitions in which they were once studied. This article calls for an innovative blend of geopolitics and criminology in order to develop a more apt tool with which to study these phenomena. Such an approach, if undertaken correctly, would quickly become applicable to numerous domains such as military, finance, political, and others, as such a joint discipline would favor the pro-active efforts that are necessary to protect assets against the range of contemporary threats.

Organizational characteristics of public institutions, councils, committees, and panels for bioethical deliberations were examined in eight OECD countries, that is, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Canada, and Japan. Their jurisdiction, membership composition, modes of agenda setting, and appraisal systems were examined, as was their utilization of public involvement measures. Questionnaire surveys and structured interviews were conducted with representatives of parliamentary offices, ministries, and other institutions for ethical deliberations, both public and private, in the eight countries. Confirmation of survey results was made by close follow-up communications. Since the early 1980s, all the countries studied have established public institutions for policy deliberation on bioethical issues. While legislatures, for example, Parliament, sometimes convene special commissions or expert panels on an ad hoc basis, most of the permanent institutions are affiliated with ministries of health, science, or technology. The composition of core panel members was quite similar across institutions as well as among countries, generally composed of 10 to 15 experts. Many institutions have experimented with some forms of public involvement measures, although public involvement is not routinely incorporated in the policy process, except in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Canada. The study describes the current public institutions and their practices for bioethical policy deliberations. Exchange of experience and knowledge among the institutions is advisable to improve their performance.

Reports on the guidelines set out by British Prime Minister Jack Straw for a global treaty on conventional arms sales.

Pascal Lamy pulled a real coup. The shock caused by his statement on the future of the common market organisation of banana (CMOB) resulted in many people taking positions. The Guayaquil seminar held by the Ecuadorean Banana Exporters' Association (AEBE) on 29 and 30 November 2004 was an opportunity for governments and trade operators to discuss the subject. Three approaches vied with each other: the status quo or continuation of the existing system, the fastest possible switch to a tariff system combined with duty of less than 75 euros per tonne or a midway solution consisting of a decrease in duty in the medium term. The different systems are often evaluated and validated from a price gap viewpoint. And what if the truth were elsewhere? For example in close knowledge of the trade mechanisms and behaviours on a market which, if suddenly liberalised, would break completely with the rules of operation generated by our old quota regime and on which our way of thinking is based.

Article examines the specific reasons for the upcoming meeting between Israel & Pakistan, focusing on each country's political issues that keep their monumental meeting out of the public eye. B. Boyce

This article undertakes a serious assessment of Carl Schmitt's admonition: viz. that every war that makes a criminal of the enemy & claims to be waged in the name of justice will be a war of annihilation, more inhumane, more total, than traditional wars between equal States for political stakes. A close reading of texts in the theological tradition reveals a more contrasting picture of the doctrine of waging war for just cause: the just war is conceived of simply as exacting reparation for a perceived violation of law; the enemy is indeed viewed as a criminal, but his punishment does not mean his utter extermination; the just war is not a holy war & continues to be regarded as legal in essence. Adapted from the source document.