Search results

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States of America has pursued an offensive foreign policy. In the realities of the 2010s and 2020s, marked by mounting resistance to American global dominance, primarily from Russia and China, there are prerequisites for the adjustment of the U.S. foreign policy strategy. The aim of the article is to identify the underlying causes of offensiveness in U.S. foreign policy of the post–bipolar period based on theoretical constructs of offensive realism and liberalism. Research has shown that offensive realism and offensive liberalism can help understand the offensive nature of U.S. foreign policy after 1991 in their own way and make appropriate projections for the future. Based on the tenets of offensive realism, it can be assumed that the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism have created an enabling environment for maximizing the power of the United States, which Washington could not but leverage. Witnessing the dwindling U.S. power potential, as well as the strengthening of China and Russia in the 2010s – 2020s, Washington has not stopped acting in the logic of offensive realism, but under the Trump and Biden administrations it has definitely began to move towards defensive realism. As the rivals to the US continue to strengthen their capacities, this trend can only intensify. Following the tenets of offensive liberalism, it is possible to assume that after the Cold War, the power of the United States has turned out to be so great in comparison with other great and major powers that Washington has begun to offensively build an American liberal hegemony, letting power rivalry falls by the wayside. However, due to the weakening of the U.S. power potential, as well as the simultaneous rise of China and Russia, it has been forced to begin a transition to a strategy based on offensive and defensive realism under the Trump and Biden administrations. If its rivals continue to rise, the U.S. may turn away from offense altogether.

Политика США на Ближнем Востоке на протяжении десятилетий оказывает серьезное влияние на политическое и экономическое состояние региона. Ближний Восток, в свою очередь, был и остается важным направлением для каждой американской администрации. Действия последних президентов США радикально изменили традиционный американский подход к политике на Ближнем Востоке и, в частности, к палестино-израильскому вопросу более того, эти действия стали импульсом к началу революционных изменений в сложной мозаике ближневосточных противоречий. Ситуация на Ближнем Востоке меняется, выражается это в нормализации отношений между Израилем и такими странами арабского лагеря, как ОАЭ, Бахрейн и Судан. Цель исследования – рассмотреть процесс формирования ближневосточной политики США и подходы к ближневосточной политике различных американских лидеров с целью определения «классического» американского подхода. Для достижения цели необходимо решить следующие задачи: рассмотреть историю американо-израильского сотрудничества и политики США в регионе для определения «традиционных» особенностей американского ближневосточного подхода и подхода к решению палестинской проблемы; изучить некоторые результаты политики американских президентов на ближневосточном направлении и определить, как она вписывается в «классическую» американскую политику. В процессе исследования использованы исторический метод и метод сравнительного анализа. Изменения, произошедшие на Ближнем Востоке за последние 4 года, революционны. Перенос американского посольства в Иерусалим, признание Америкой Голландских высот частью Израиля, заключение мирных соглашений между Израилем и некоторыми арабскими странами на фоне рекордно быстрого израильского строительства на оккупированных палестинских землях – еще вчера все это казалось невозможным, а уже сегодня является неотъемлемой частью реальности на Ближнем Востоке. Наиболее важным трендом остается процесс нормализации отношений между Израилем и арабскими странами.

A recent conspiracy about U.S. troops points to the wider problem of unregulated media in Iraq's polarized political environment.

Currently, social networks are increasingly being used as an effective medium for public diplomacy. The article is devoted to the consideration of the phenomenon of Twitter diplomacy and its role in the foreign policy of most countries of the world. The events of recent years show that Twitter has not only become a new tool in diplomatic activity, but also changed the way the diplomatic processes themselves are perceived. Diplomats and world political leaders have begun to understand the benefits of some of Twitter's services and capabilities to maintain the most favorable relationships in a networked public space. Thanks to Twitter, the relationship between social networks and diplomacy began to transform into a dynamically developing modern phenomenon, showing that social networks can play both negative (Twitter revolutions, social instability, the formation of negative public opinion, etc.), and a positive important role in building favorable relations and ensuring peace between peoples. Therefore, Twitter today remains the most popular social network for world political leaders and foreign ministries of several countries.

The article presents a brief overview of India-U.S. relations during the period of Narendra Modi's government and Barack Obama's administration. The author analyzes the dynamics of cooperation development after the victory of Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2014 Parliamentary elections in India and studies the key directions of bilateral agenda. The current condition of India-U.S. strategic dialogue and the influence of human rights issues on the countries' cooperation are characterized.

Since 2014 the states' cooperation has been growing rapidly. The bilateral investment, trade and economic interdependence have significantly increased. Some experts and mass media note that Barack Obama and Narendra Modi are having friendly relations. From a different angle, a number of agreements between countries still remain unaccomplished. For instance, the U.S. support for India's permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, its accession to APEC and the implementation of nuclear deal have yet to be turned into achievement.

Together with strengthening the bilateral strategic dialogue, the U.S. has intensified the criticism of India's human rights record. The main part of it includes the cases of religious intolerance, which are observed in the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports and the remarks given by U.S. lawmakers and official representatives, including the Ambassador to India. Washington's careful attention to the human rights issues and religious violence in particular is one of the major irritants in the U.S.-India relations.

The engagement of Indian Americans in the local U.S. politics and their lobbying efforts in the context of U.S.-India relations are revealed. The author outlines the near-terms perspectives of bilateral cooperation.

The main idea of this article is to describe the process of Turkish foreign policy evolvement during the rule of Justice and Development party (JDP). From weak economy and unstable political situation in 2001, JDP quickly formulated a new strategy of foreign policy and stabilized economy. In the article the Turkish foreign policy in the 21st century is divided into several stages which respond to different international threats and circumstances. The first stage was a peacekeeping stage when Turkey tried to stabilize the situation near its borders and implement peace initiatives for the purpose to find new markets and allies. As a result, Turkey formulated a new strategy of foreign policy, called "Zero Problems Policy" which aimed to create a ring of friendly countries on the borders. On the second stage, Turkish foreign policy was more active – Turkey tried to balance among regional power centers and confront with one of the most powerful actors – Israel. Confrontation with Tel Aviv was a preface to the third stage, and today under the influence of "Arab Spring" and desire to change its role in international relations, Turkey refused "Zero Problems Policy" strategy and turned to a new aggressive and revanchist idea – neo- Ottomanism. Ankara tries to build a new regional set of rules where Turkey will play a leading role.

The third and final article of the three-part series of articles «Artificial intelligence in the economy and politics of our time» (the first and second articles of the series were published in the fourth and fifth issues of the journal for this year, respectively) presents the results of a study of the goals, motivations and specifics of the adoption of national strategies to support the development of artificial intelligence in different countries. It is shown that such a strategy in Russia is based on the idea of the most important role of using artificial intelligence in solving the most complex economic, social, and military-political problems of the country. Differences in conceptual approaches to the development of research and practical use of artificial intelligence developments in the national strategies of the largest countries of the world — the United States, China and India.

The article observes some aspects of strategic planning and prognostication in the context of increasing effectiveness of the Russian Federation international activity. The author examines main reasons for drawing attention to the subject of strategic planning at post-soviet planning. In this connection, the author takes up some practical works of the leading western countries. The focus is on practical significance of the legislative basis, which has been created in the Russian Federation. This legislative has given for the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs ability to work up its own system of long-distance planning, monitoring and prognostication. The article contains some proposals toward improving the mechanism of strategic planning in the interests of Russian international policy.

The author examines the process of Soviet military involvement in the events that took place in Afghanistan from the viewpoint of the United States. This topic is poorly studied, and the author makes an attempt to fill this gap. The main goal of the paper is to consider the process of increasing involvement of the USSR in the interior Afghan affairs from the U.S. position and to trace how this position changed during 1979. Methods and materials: The author mainly relies on the document 'The secret correspondence of the foreign policy agencies of the United States on Afghanistan' and also draws documents from the U.S. Congress and a monthly bulletin from the U.S. State Department. Analysis. The special attention is paid to the period from the beginning of the spring of 1979 to the end of 1979, since it was during this period of time that the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan continued to grow. Results: The author concludes that throughout 1979 and earlier, the U.S. closely followed the events in Afghanistan and Soviet actions there. However, the U.S. position on possible Soviet military involvement was expectant, and the USSR was not given strong protests, which could promote the Soviet decision on military intervention in the civil war in Afghanistan.

Along with traditional methods of providing information through mass media (periodicals, television and radio), digital sources are also widely used in the modern world, which, although not officially registered mass media, play no less a role in shaping public opinion. The emergence of personal blogs, «live magazines», Internet sites and social networks opened a new platform and provided new opportunities. There are actors of various sizes, from presidents of major States to Housewives, from businessmen to human rights activists. Foreign policy is one of the most popular topics.

The author analyzes the evolution of foreign policy of new Russia, identifies trends and patterns of transition to various courses, prerequisites of the "eastern turn", and characterizes the specificity of this direction in the contemporary realia. The author proposes a number of clarifying concepts within the analysis of the foreign policies of Russia. The foreign policy of Russia for the last decades underwent a number of the changes connected with its orientation to various groups of the countries. However, in connection with the events which took place in 2014, the Russian foreign policy carried out the "eastern turn" that entailed certain consequences and prospects by estimates of experts. The relevance of the research consists in the opportunity to estimate realities of a foreign policy of Russia, to analyse the reasons of its acceptance, possible risks and reaction of the western partners who changed in their turn a course concerning Russia.

Scientific novelty of the present work consists in the systematization of the issue on the evolution of a foreign policy of Russia and the analysis of current trends taking into account the "eastern turn". Besides, scientific definition of "eastern turn of the Russian foreign policy" and its consequence in the conditions of development of modern Russia is worked out. The author considers the main actions and the directions which formed the basis of the updated foreign policy of Russia from 2009 to 2013. The author made the conclusions concerning the analysis of modern Russia's foreign policy and its turn to the east.

Over the past five years, Congress has achieved a great deal for U.S. national security in its debate of and legislation on China, but there is a risk of overshooting a well-reasoned policy response and generating costly escalation.

This article examines the political discourse on foreign-culture immigrants, that forms the agenda of the Danish government. The difficulties of integrating migrants increase with the influx of asylum seekers and family reunification, when the rate of their admission exceeds the rate of naturalisation (absorption) of diasporas, that Danes see as a threat to social cohesion. A "preventive" immigration policy has emerged, demonstrating significant restrictions that reduce the influx of refugees. The discourse of restrictive policy supported by the electorate determined the government's agenda based on agreements between the center-left Social Democratic Party, the center-right Liberal Party of Wenströ, and the far-right Danish National Party (DNP) with its anti-immigrant agenda. At the same time, the ruling parties, weakening the support of the extreme right-wing parties, "intercept" the provisions of the DNP programme.

Restrictions on the political agenda concern mainly foreign-culture immigrants: strict regulation of the admission of asylum seekers, granting a residence permit, family reunification, initial distribution to municipalities and resettlement of immigrant "ghettos". This is combined with the education of immigrants based on the values ​​of social cohesion, work for the welfare state, and the inclusion of immigrant children in educational institutions. The discourse also includes the issues of deportation of immigrants, including asylum seekers, who commit crimes, the detention of asylum seekers not in Denmark and the EU countries, but in third countries that the government intends to make special agreements with. Taking into account the difficulties of returning refugees to the countries of origin, even if life there has become safer, this option is considered the most optimum, and appropriate work is being carried out in this direction.

The EU leadership condemns such a policy, but in the conditions of the weakness of its immigration policy, legal collisions, as well as the weakening of the solidarity of the Union members, there is no political opportunity from the outside to forcibly adjust the Danish state policy. In other EU countries, Denmark's preventive restrictive policy can be perceived as a positive model for the reception and integration of refugees of other cultures. The Danish experience is also useful for Russia, where problems arise in working with foreign-culture diasporas. In addition, such restrictive policies are helping to strengthen mobilisation mechanisms to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article analyzes the formation of a new foreign policy strategy of Saudi Arabia in conditions of the changing situation in the Middle East after the "Arab spring" and the "nuclear deal" with Iran. It is shown in the article that the instability of domestic policy and economic problems connected with oil price drop have influence on the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia. Struggle with Iran for domination in the region becomes the basis of its policy in the Middle East. The author notes that the complication of relations with the USA also greatly influences the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom condemned the nuclear program agreement of Iran. Riyadh didn't manage to neutralize the growth of influence of Iran in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Riyadh places a bet on B. Asad opponents support in the Syrian conflict aiming to strengthen its positions in the country and to dislodge Iran and Russia from it. Confrontation with Iran forced Saudi Arabia to interfere with the civil war in Yemen and to carry out a successful operation in Bahrein. The article shows the aspiration of Saudi Arabia to withhold Egypt, Jordan and a number of other countries of the region in the sphere of its foreign policy through financial aid to these countries. It is proved that the reasons of the conflict of Saudi Arabia with Iran were of economic, geopolitical and religious nature, and that Saudi Arabia aspired to strengthen its positions in the Middle East and East Africa. A great breakthrough was acquisition of two islands in the Red Sea from Egypt by Riyadh.

The article is meant to analyze current problems and prospects for the development of effective tax policy as part of digital transformation of Russian economy. Introduction of a digital tax and the consequences of the digital tax reforms in the EU, the USA and OECD countries are highlighted. The necessity of qualitative transformation of the tax system of the Russian Federation in response to modern challenges is substantiated, taking into account the changes of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation adopted at the end of July 2020. The authors suggested their own concept of a digital tax and the prospects for its adoption in Russia, and consider it inappropriate to impose taxes on Internet users who do not use the Internet for business. Today, the main focus should be made on creating and testing effective technologies that allow on-line monitoring the tax basis of digital economy entities, taking into account the cross-border movement or use of digital products (goods and services). In addition, it would be extremely important to provide for a potential tax exemption for part of the profits of international ICT companies that are received on the territory of the Russian Federation and reinvested in joint with Russian companies projects in the high-tech for civil purposes area.