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2010 was a seminal year. Stuxnet, an American-Israeli cyber operation sabotaged Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges. It became publicly known as the first cyber operation in history that destroyed physical objects. This operation had the clear goal of degrading Iran's uranium enrichment capability, but in general there has been little research as to why hegemons launch destructive cyber operations. This brief argues that the main motivations are threefold: territorial conquest, threat prevention, and retaliatory actions. Key Findings: Iran, North Korea, South Korea, Ukraine and Taiwan have been the main targets of destructive great power cyber operations. For the US, future targets will possibly be limited to countries that aim to acquire nuclear weapons - Iran and North Korea. Given ongoing border disputes, China and Russia will likely target neighboring countries with such destructive campaigns - for China those are Vietnam, the Philippines, and Japan, and for Russia they are Georgia, Moldova, and Japan. To prevent destructive cyber operations, Germany and other EU states have been engaged in cyber capacity building and threat-intelligence sharing across continents. But Berlin needs to set priorities. When it comes to combatting state-sponsored cyber campaigns, Germany should deepen ties with non-EU countries that have been or likely will be targets of damaging rather than merely disruptive operations, i.e., in Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Caucasus, and Southeast Europe.

A sweeping history of the Greeks, from the Bronze Age to today More than two thousand years ago, the Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, laid the foundation for much of modern science, the arts, politics, and law. But the influence of the Greeks did not end with the rise and fall of this classical civilization. As historian Roderick Beaton illustrates, over three millennia Greek speakers produced a series of civilizations that were rooted in southeastern Europe but again and again ranged widely across the globe. In The Greeks, Beaton traces this history from the Bronze Age Mycenaeans who built powerful fortresses at home and strong trade routes abroad, to the dramatic Eurasian conquests of Alexander the Great, to the pious Byzantines who sought to export Christianity worldwide, to today's Greek diaspora, which flourishes on five continents. The product of decades of research, this is the story of the Greeks and their global impact told as never before

AbstractThe article explores the role of moral exemplars as an approach to dealing with and learning from the past as part of peacebuilding education initiatives (PEIs) operating in Southeast Europe. To this day, a deeply rooted divide along ethnic lines is present throughout the region, with each ethnic group using separate narratives and educational programs, providing the youth with little space to meet and learn about the past and outgroup members. Civil society increasingly introduces PEIs that target adolescents through experiential learning approaches. Based on 12‐month‐long multi‐sited ethnographic research into four peacebuilding approaches, this article addresses three outcomes connected with the use of the moral exemplars approach in peacebuilding intervention programs. These include (1) a greater desire to learn about the past, outgroup members, and each other in post‐conflict and divided settings, (2) a greater chance to form cross‐group friendships as well as (3) a drive to take concrete steps toward peacebuilding in the participants' local communities.

We use the cross-impact balance analysis to develop narratives that differ in the level of political collaboration (in terms of the stringency of the EU climate policy) and physical collaboration (possible expansion of transmission capacity between countries) in the European power market. Applying a CGE model and two power market models, we quantify the impact of the two dimensions on emission, abatement cost, and electricity prices until 2050. The most collaborative narrative leads to CO2 emissions of 90 to 139 Mt, abatement cost of 245 to 271 EUR/ton CO2, and prices of 56 to 67 EUR/MWh in 2050. The least collaborative one has emissions of 848 to 1013 Mt, cost of 378 to 559 EUR/ton, and prices of 47 to 57 EUR/MWh. In all narratives, countries at the periphery of the European market tend to experience lower prices and abate more, whereas prices are higher and abatement lower in central and Southeast Europe.

Major events in Croatia regarding economy and politics in the last three years have been related to the Agrokor concern. Agrokor is one of the biggest companies/concerns in Croatia and Southeastern Europe. Since some of Agrokor's stocks are listed on the Croatian stock market, the economic and political events regarding Agrokor have affected the stock market as well to an extent. In this study we observe the effects of several economic and political events on stock returns on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, by dividing the sample into two groups. The first group consists of Agrokor's stocks and the other group consists of stocks of other companies which are listed and frequently traded on the market. The methodology used in the study was event study, by using parametric and nonparametric tests. The results indicate that specific economic and political events have affected Agrokor's stock returns negatively. Other stock returns were not affected, or were affected positively, but not statistically significantly.

As a consequence of asset purchases by the European Central Bank (ECB), longer- term yields in the euro area decline, and spreads between euro area long-term yields narrow. To assess spillovers of these recent financial developments, we use a Bayesian variant of the global vector autoregressive (BGVAR) model that uses shrinkage priors coupled with stochastic volatility. We find positive and signif- icant spillovers to industrial production in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) and other non-euro area EU member states. These effects are transmitted via the financial channel (mainly through interest rates and equity prices) and outweigh costs of appreciation pressure on local currencies vis-a-vis the euro (trade channel). That both shocks yield rather similar results adds narrowing longer-term yields in the euro area as a viable alternative to the pol- icymakers' toolkit. While these results represent general trends, we also find evidence for both cross-country heterogeneity of effects within the euro area and region-specific spillovers thereof.

Media studies have not amply dealt with the concept of clientelism, although it is the widespread opinion that political clientelism more or less exists in all modern societies. The first part of this paper examines political clientelism in the media through the presentation of the results of comparative research around the globe, in post-communist European countries that are members of the European Union, and in the countries of Southeast Europe. The foundation of the study involves the characteristics of political clientelism identified by Daniel C. Hallin and Stylianos Papathanassopoulos. This paper raises the issue of the relationship between the slow democratization of Serbian society and the political instrumentalization of the media. The paper reviews the extent to which non-transparent media ownership, the state's media market, and state funding of the media affect the utilization of the media. Within this problem circle, the changes brought by new media laws adopted in August 2014 are also analysed and the necessity of implementing good solutions in practice is highlighted.

Congress tourism is a highly lucrative segment of the tourist offer, which usually happens outside the tourist season. The development of congress tourism requires the existence of high-quality congress tourism offer that will meet the needs of the participants and organizers of the conference. Participants in congresses are demanding guests, but also capable of payment, but they need to ensure all necessary preconditions for quality work, but also to adequately have free time. In this regard, the fundamental role of congress tourism is to promote tourism with well-organized system of promotional activities, continuing education, personnel, market research, application of quality standards etc. Congress tourism, and all the facilities are very important in the future tourism development in Serbia, especially when it comes to large gatherings that generate significant revenue. The aim of this paper is to analyze the main characteristics of congress tourism market in the world and Serbia, which has all the requirements to become a leading destination of this form of tourism in Southeastern Europe.

Since independence until today, in the period from 1991-2008, were prepared more energy strategies, with funds from foreign sources, but they have not been adopted or implemented by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. The lack of vision and lack of a long term strategy for the development and operation of the energy sector led to strong stagnation in its development and improvement. This has resulted in the need to carry the Energy Development Strategy of the Republic of Macedonia. Energy Development Strategy in the Republic of Macedonia for the period 2008-2020 with a vision to 2030 was made at the request of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Macedonia. This paper will analyze the most strategic commitments of the Republic of Macedonia which are supposed to offer opportunities for a secure energy future. In this context, paper will analyze the oil and gas pipeline in the region of Southeast Europe and the possibilities for achieving the concept of diversification of energy sources.

Climate change is one of the most important subjects in 21st century. In fact, that is no longer just a question of environmental protection and ecological awareness, but along with it some other important themes are imposed: sustainability, economic growth, energy efficiency and energy security. Serbia is one of the countries of Southeastern Europe where climate change is evident, and its manifestations are more frequent and intense. As the consequences of climate change in Serbia in recent years the floods are more intense, landslides and erosion are more active, wind gusts are stronger, periods of drought are more frequent and longer and extreme climate events affect both urban as well as rural areas. In order to plan the sustainable development in areas vulnerable to climate change and, on the other hand, to reduce the effects of global warming and climate change in Serbia it is necessary to adopt and implement new strategies and laws, respecting the already adopted international conventions, declarations and strategies as well as national legislation.

The Roma are the European Union's largest, poorest, and most marginalized ethnic minority. Large segments of this heterogeneous group, whose identity is multidimensionally diverse, live in countries within the macroregion of Southeast Europe. This article is concerned with the backgrounds of and the living conditions experienced by the impoverished segments of Bulgaria's Roma community. Under socialism, in spite of repressive policies, they benefitted from permanent employment, regular wages, social security, and improved opportunities for education. After 1989/90, legal and institutional reforms provided a basis for the organization of ethno-specific interests, cultural development, and various forms of participation. At the same time, the transition processes brought new hardships with high unemployment rates, impoverishment, and increasing segregation. Large segments of the Roma population, including those beyond Bulgaria, are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and exclusion. These problems bear enormous socioeconomic and political risks and clearly possess broader European importance. Adapted from the source document.

As the author states, Inequity is a constant in political life, but its salience in political discourse rise and recedes. The article surveys and explores trends and factors around the world, which pertain to democratic values and economic inequalities, as studies indicate and suggest. The author then examines the process and prospects for reducing and/or reversing economic inequalities, keeping in mind the current financial crisis, and other barriers regarding redistributionist ideals. The article also discusses the idea and speculation behind reversing democracy and the new populist wave in Latin America, and Central and Southeastern Europe. The author finds that there is a strong association between economic development and democratic consolidation regarding the trajectories will have positive effects on regime legitimacy, before discussing democracy's self-defense mechanisms and the poor, i.e. via the current situations in Venezuela and Thailand. Though the author does conclude the ironic twist on reversing inequality may pose a bigger threat to democracy's durability than to economic inequality itself. Adapted from the source document.

Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, 30 March 2006, Panel on Timing and Spacing Development, Exporting Integrity: Anti-corruption Programs in the Balkans Steven Sampson Dept of Social Anthropology Lund University, Sweden Contact: steven.sampson@soc.Lu.se Anti-corruption is high on the list of development priorities, and a high level of corruption can actually prevent a government from receiving aid. This paper focuses on Transparency International, the leading anti-corruption NGO, and its strategy of operating at both global levels and at local levels through the establishment and coordination of its 90 national chapters. Transparency International is well-known for its 'coalition-building' strategy in which government, civil society, international donors and the private sector should all cooperate. Coalition-building is about trust, but most of the societies which are rampant with corruption are characterized by distrust. The dilemma of exporting what are essentially moral relationships is illustrated with examples from southeastern Europe. Branding and franchising anticorruption are one way in which these dilemmas remain hidden from view.

Argues that the shadow economies of Bosnia & Kosovo have been labeled "criminal" without an appreciation for their functions, their relationship to state-legitimized activities, & their impact on post-conflict transformation. It is contended that these economies provide needed social welfare elements where state safety nets are nonexistent. The conflicts of the 1990s presented new opportunities for trafficking & black marketeering that offered a way for some portions of the population to survive. In spite of their negative aspects, these mafia networks perform needed services for their followers in addition to being a source of income generation for workers without viable alternatives. The international community's commitment to a neoliberal economic model is examined to argue it has "rubbed salt into war wounds" by hindering prospects for growth in "legal" markets. Although measures for tackling the issue proposed at a 2003 meeting of nongovernmental organizations from Southeastern Europe would be somewhat helpful, they fail to address the ideology that perpetuates the dependence of the poor on these shadow economies. J. Lindroth

During the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire retreated from the Balkans, and underwent a steady decline culminating in its final demise in the early part of the twentieth century. Sizeable communities of Muslims, derived both from those who had arrived with the Ottomans and from indigenous inhabitants who had converted to Islam, remained in the new successor states of southeast Europe. With the exception of Albania, where the Muslims formed the majority of the population, these communities became established as minorities within the new states. Upheld as ethno-national states each based on one dominant nation, the new states suffered from irredentism on the one hand, and internal tension between majority and minority populations on the other. Tension was particularly evident in the relations between the new Orthodox Christian rulers and their Muslim minority populations, which were seen as undesirable relics from the Ottoman past. In spite of such attitudes and the continuing waves of emigration, however, these Muslim communities remain an integral part of the present-day Balkans.