Suchergebnisse

A -- Abengoa S.A. -- AccuWeather, Inc. -- Acer Incorporated -- Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc. -- Aga Foodservice Group PLC -- Agrium Inc. -- The Anschutz Company -- ArthroCare Corporation -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. -- The Associated Press -- Aviall, Inc. -- B -- BAE Systems Ship Repair -- Ballard Power Systems Inc. -- Bank of Hawaii Corporation -- BE&K, Inc. -- Biosite Incorporated -- The BISYS Group, Inc. -- BoHler-Uddeholm AG -- Boiron S.A. -- Busch Entertainment Corporation -- C -- Calgon Carbon Corporation -- China Netcom Group Corporation (Hong Kong) Limited -- City Brewing Company LLC -- Clean Harbors, Inc. -- Compass Bancshares, Inc. -- CoStar Group, Inc. -- D -- Dairyland Healthcare Solutions -- DaVita Inc. -- Dean Foods Company -- Deluxe Corporation -- Diagnostic Products Corporation -- DSW Inc. -- E -- E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company -- Elkay Manufacturing Company -- Encore Acquisition Company -- Enersis S.A. -- Eramet -- F -- FactSet Research Systems Inc. -- Frito-Lay North America -- G -- General Binding Corporation -- Global Imaging Systems, Inc. -- Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. -- Granite Industries of Vermont, Inc. -- H -- Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation -- Hong Kong and China Gas Company Ltd. -- Huttig Building Products, Inc. -- I -- Input/Output, Inc. -- Intuit Inc. -- J -- Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd. -- Jostens, Inc. -- K -- Keppel Corporation Ltd. -- Klabin S.A. -- L -- Lifetime Brands, Inc. -- Lonza Group Ltd. -- M -- Manpower Inc. -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. -- MBIA Inc. -- Moldflow Corporation -- N -- NBGS International, Inc. -- Nestle Waters -- Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. -- O -- Odebrecht S.A. -- Old Orchard Brands, LLC -- P -- Pagnossin S.p.A. -- Paradores de Turismo de Espana S.A. -- PFSweb, Inc. -- Philip Services Corp. -- Pinnacle Airlines Corp. -- PRG-Schultz International, Inc. -- Q -- Quaker Foods North America -- R -- Real Madrid C.F. -- RedPeg Marketing -- Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. -- RONA, Inc. -- Royal Group Technologies Limited -- S -- SEGA Corporation -- Seventh Generation, Inc. -- Shedd Aquarium Society -- Siliconware Precision Industries Ltd. -- Sistema JSFC -- Smith & Wesson Corp. -- Societe BIC S.A. -- South Beach Beverage Company, Inc. -- Spear & Jackson, Inc. -- Strattec Security Corporation -- Synnex Corporation -- T -- Techtronic Industries Company Ltd. -- TEPPCO Partners, L.P. -- 3i Group PLC -- Timber Lodge Steakhouse, Inc. -- Tropicana Products, Inc. -- U -- Unibanco Holdings S.A. -- United Press International, Inc. -- V -- Value Line, Inc. -- Variety Wholesalers, Inc. -- Vauxhall Motors Limited -- Verint Systems Inc. -- Vestas Wind Systems A/S -- Viad Corp. -- W -- Weight Watchers International Inc. -- X -- Xcel Energy Inc. -- Xstrata PLC -- Z -- Zappos.com, Inc. -- Ziff Davis Media Inc.

The battle of Taiwan, or what a Chinese invasion of a "rogue province" could look like

This article describes the possible course of the battle of Taiwan. The paper presents the Chinese policy towards Taiwan, conclusions drawn from the war games conducted by the Pentagon, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and civilian think tanks, the military potential of both sides, and the battle scenario. During the actual research, studies and articles published in Forbes, Business Insider, Taiwan News, Lowy Institute, War on the Rocks, NBC News, China Power, Military Times, Reuters, and Daily Guardian, along with reports of think tanks such as the Atlantic Council and RAND, reports of the US Congress, and reports of Military Ballance were used. The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan's Defense and American Strategy in Asia, a book written by Ian Easton, turned out to be a particularly useful source of knowledge. According to the author of this article, a "forceful solution" for the Taiwanese issue by Beijing is possible in the future and the Western world should seriously analyze its possible course. This is evidenced by numerous statements of Chinese politicians, the desire to change the current global balance of power, the continuous growth of China's economic power, the expansion of the PLA's power projection capabilities in terms of an invasion of the "rogue province", and regular war games and violations of the Taiwanese air defense identification zone. If there was a battle of Taiwan, from the point of view of the People's Republic of China, it would be crucial to isolate the island, to quickly eliminate the enemy's anti‑aircraft and anti‑missile defenses by means of missile and cyberattacks, to paralyze the command system, to gain air superiority, and then to land on the beaches from which operations would be then carried out inland. From the point of view of the Taiwan Armed Forces, the most important thing would be to survive the first days of massive air and missile attacks, to disperse their forces, and then to attack the enemy by exploring its weaknesses, i.e., shooting down selected planes and helicopters, sinking ships in the Taiwan Strait, interrupting supply lines, and then inflicting as much damage as possible during the ground combat.

The last decade has seen an increasing focus on the involvement of the private sector in international sustainable development, particularly in high-risk jurisdictions. This involvement encompasses a broad spectrum, incorporating innovative private sector instruments—now acknowledged as ODA-eligible by the OECD—as well as traditional tools of external official support to developing countries, which remain the primary contributors to ODA flows. This literature review aims to consolidate the academic exploration of the enduring classic foreign aid tools' impact on the political risks associated with foreign direct investment (FDI), and identifies prevalent limitations while suggesting approaches to overcome these challenges.The first section delineates the central theme and rationale behind the literature selection process, utilizing the Google Scholar database to contextualize the research within a comprehensive framework. The subsequent section categorizes and compares the most relevant studies based on formal criteria and methodological parameters. Sections three and four critically assess the scholarly contributions in conceptualizing the mitigating influence of foreign aid in general, focusing on its impact on specific political risks such as expropriation, terrorism, and corruption. The concluding section delves into studies that explore foreign aid and foreign direct investment flows from China, the largest non-Western donor.A bibliometric analysis reveals a noteworthy disparity between research attention and policymaking focus on the subject matter. Notably, the selected papers fail to comprehensively cover the full spectrum of primary extra-legal and legal-governmental political risks for transnational businesses. Scholars' assessments of foreign aid's mitigating effect often lack differentiation between grants and loans or between flows directed to different sectors, as well as the distinction between aid routed through public institutions and bypassing them. Notably absent is a comprehensive analysis encompassing the complete range of 'established' Western and emerging non-Western aid providers, or an exploration of aid flows from non-OECD countries other than China. Most research focuses on Africa and fails to differentiate between recipients based on fragility, income levels, or other relevant categorizations. Moreover, the researchers have yet to delve into data post the COVID-19 outbreak, a critical period that significantly altered perceptions of political risk, foreign aid, and FDI flows. The literature review illuminates a research gap awaiting substantial exploration.

In recent decades, a predominant trend in the transformation of national economies worldwide has been the extensive establishment of global value chains and the increased activities of transnational corporations (TNCs). Despite the scale of these phenomena, they have not received adequate scholarly attention, both at the level of individual countries and on a global scale. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis that combines theoretical approaches with empirical investigations of the interplay between the formation and vigorous expansion of global value chains and the dynamics of national economic transformation worldwide. This relationship is examined in the context of foreign multinational corporations operating in sectors such as chemistry and pharmaceuticals, electronics, electrical equipment, and the automotive industry.To achieve the objectives of this study, a range of complementary research methods were employed, including descriptive analysis, comparative analysis, generalization and grouping techniques, and cartographic analysis. The study yields several key findings:Firstly, a global trend of progressive reduction in the share of domestic producers within the industries under consideration has been observed. This trend is most conspicuous in the countries of the former socialist bloc in Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania. These countries previously maintained domestic production levels exceeding 50% of the total volume for the specific product types.Secondly, the field of automobile production exhibits the highest proportion of foreign companies contributing to the total volume of products manufactured. In 33 out of the 58 countries analyzed, foreign multinational corporations account for more than 50% of production. Thirdly, a selection of countries in Western Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region—such as Germany, Italy, France, Israel, the USA, China, Japan, the Russian Federation, India, and Korea—play a substantial role in the development of global value chains through the active expansion of their national TNCs. International companies from these countries are progressively shaping a global socio-economic framework.Lastly, recent years have seen the emergence of a new stage in the evolution of global value chains, prompted by exceptional factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade conflict between China and the United States, and the conflict in Ukraine. This stage necessitates a profound reconsideration of the strategies employed by current participants in global chains, driven by the imperative of preserving their sustainability.

30 years after the end of the Cold War, bipolar structure still dominates in the nuclear sphere, although certain nuclear powers are closing the gap with Russia and the United States in terms of strategic arsenals and the system of world politics in general is moving towards polycentrism. At the same time, as US-Russian relations continue to deteriorate against the backdrop of the 'Ukrainian crisis', the prospects for strategic dialogue after the expiration of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) are becoming increasingly vague. The absence of a new agreement in this field threatens to throw international relations back to the beginning of the Cold War, with all the ensuing consequences. To avoid such a scenario, not only the leaders of Russia and the United States should demonstrate political will, but other nuclear powers should also be included in the negotiation process, particularly China. In this regard, the history of the Cold War can provide valuable lessons. The author argues that bipolarity (even at its apex in the late 1950s — early 1970s) had never been an exclusive characteristic of international relations. On the basis of a number of historical cases, the paper demonstrates that during this period the superpowers constantly had to reckon with the 'third power' factor. The latter did not only influence the logic and dynamics of Soviet-American relations, but also to a large extent predetermined the direction and nature of their military development and planning. Indeed, it was the 'third power' factor, namely China, along with the achievement of strategic parity between the superpowers that became one of the main impulses to the establishment of the non-proliferation regime. In conclusion, the author focuses on yet another important lesson from the Cold War: the experience of arms control negotiations during that period suggests that the meetings of politicians should be preceded by joint brainstorming sessions with scholars from interested countries. In the current situation, representatives of the academic community should take the lead so that by the time the political climate eventually changes, there would already be coherent and viable options for nuclear arms control adapted to new realities.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest omówienie, w jaki sposób wybrane polskie czasopisma w latach 1931–1939, czyli w czasie pomiędzy nową fazą konfliktu pomiędzy Chinami i Japonią a wybuchem II wojny światowej, przedstawiały Szanghaj. Był on omawiany w kontekście modernizacji Chin, II wojny chińsko-japońskiej oraz działalności Polonii szanghajskiej. A także podobnie jak dziś, był postrzegany jako jeden z symboli Państwa Środka. W pierwszym przypadku, redakcje czasopism podkreślały jego szczególną rolę polityczną, gospodarczą i kulturową w Państwie Środka. Dziennikarze zazwyczaj oceniali metropolię jako miasto wielu kultur, szans i kontrastów społecznych. W przypadku konfliktu chińsko-japońskiego los bombardowanego Szanghaju i jego mieszkańców w polskiej prasie stał się symbolem japońskich zbrodni. Dziennikarze przy tym chwalili również męstwo chińskich żołnierzy, którzy ofiarnie bronili miasta. Polskie czasopisma niewiele wspominały o Polonii szanghajskiej. Zazwyczaj były to jedyne krótkie notatki na ten temat albo pojedyncze wzmianki dodawane przy omawianiu innych zagadnień.


"Chicago of the Far East", "City of a Thousand and One Nights" or "Babylon of the East" – Shanghai and Shanghai Polish diaspora in the selected Polish interwar press in the 30s of the twentieth century"

The aim of this article is to discuss how selected Polish magazines in the years 1931–1939, in the time between the new phase of the conflict between China and Japan and the outbreak of World War II, presented Shanghai. It was discussed in the context of: the modernization of China, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the activities of the Shanghai Polish Diaspora. And also, as today, it was perceived as one of the symbols of the Middle Kingdom. In the first case, the editors of the magazines emphasized his special role in the political, economic, and cultural situation in the Middle Kingdom. Journalists usually judged the metropolis as a city of many cultures, opportunities, and social contrasts. In the case of the Sino-Japanese conflict, the fate of the bombed Shanghai and its inhabitants became a symbol of Japanese atrocities and war crimes in the Polish press. Journalists also praised the bravery of Chinese soldiers who generously defended the city. Polish magazines did not mention much about the Shanghai Polonia. Usually, these were the only short notes on the subject or individual mentions added when discussing other issues.

In this research paper, authors provide a comprehensive overview and critique of the World System Analysis (also read as World System theory). This central focus is driven by the need to bring about a fair and justifiable explanation of the theory and appreciation by examining the work critically as the most persuasive theory in international relations. The aim of this paper is to bring about world system analysis as the best tool in analysing the world politics, understanding world history and key reasons for imperialism, and why core countries such as the United States of America (USA), China and etc., often intervene in world crises through grants and other forms of aid. The authors argue that the world system theory, unlike the dependency theory, is broader in perspective and place the world as a centre of attention in the analysis of the world economic distribution instead of the nation-state. Equally, it can also be deployed in understanding global inequality, dependency and power. The above argument which is achieved through the use of a qualitative approach that has taken the form of the adoption of secondary materials and the Afrocentric paradigm.
In this research paper, authors provide a comprehensive overview and critique of the World System Analysis (also read as World System theory). This central focus is driven by the need to bring about a fair and justifiable explanation of the theory and appreciation by examining the work critically as the most persuasive theory in international relations. The aim of this paper is to bring about world system analysis as the best tool in analysing the world politics, understanding world history and key reasons for imperialism, and why core countries such as the United States of America (USA), China and etc., often intervene in world crises through grants and other forms of aid. The authors argue that the world system theory, unlike the dependency theory, is broader in perspective and place the world as a centre of attention in the analysis of the world economic distribution instead of the nation-state. Equally, it can also be deployed in understanding global inequality, dependency and power. The above argument which is achieved through the use of a qualitative approach that has taken the form of the adoption of secondary materials and the Afrocentric paradigm.

The study and analysis of the history of economic development of the states of the South Caucasus in the post-Soviet period, as well as the comparison of their main macroeconomic indicators, shows that in the period from the 1990s to the early 2000s, the problems of the creation of an optimal market structure, monopolization, social inequality, uneven territorial development, as well as the formation of a shadow economy, significant by its specific weight, were pressing for all three states. These factors significantly affected the perspectives for economic development of these states. Nevertheless, in recent years, the consequences of the mentioned negative factors have been considerably precluded, largely due to the eduction of new opportunities for economic development, increase of the volume of foreign investments and improvement of transport and energy infrastructures. Withal, especially since the second half of the 2000s, the states of the region have began to more actively expand their trade and economic relations with European countries, China, India and Iran, thereby trying to diversify their dependence on foreign markets as much as possible.

The analysis of the perspectives for further economic development of the South Caucasian states from the viewpoint of the significant processes occurring in the region in recent years makes it possible to conclude that non-regional states consider the South Caucasus as the most important hub for cargo transportation and transit of energy resources. The attention to our region from such centers of power as the USA, EU, Russia, Iran, Turkey, China and India, has significantly increased, and all three states of the region have become the arena for their geopolitical and geoeconomic competitive activity. These centers of power seek to deepen both economic and political relations with Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, having the objective to maximally use the transit potential of the region, this creating favorable conditions for the economic development of the states of the region and the region itself as a whole. In addition to that, each of these states faces the problem of skillfully using the economic situation shaped in the region and around it for the benefit of its economy.

This paper is an attempt to assess India's performance in generating the required quantity and quality of employment for its growing population since independence in 1947. But the exercise is set in a longer period that covers India's population growth since the turn of the twentieth century (1901) in relation to its ability to generate employment. The half-a-century preceding independence, despite a slow population growth, was a disaster in generating employment and any signs of structural change. Detailed analysis of the issue since independence shows that there was indeed a demographic burden more than the world average as well as its comparator Asian countries such as China and Indonesia. While employment generation with reference to growth-employment elasticity-was quite impressive during the first four decades of independence, it almost collapsed ever since the adoption of neoliberal economic reforms in 1991, thus entering a phase of 'jobless growth', a phenomenon that is shared by China in a more vigorous form. This has led to what may be called an exclusion of working age people from not just employment but from labour force indicating the emergence of 'discouraged workers' in a larger set that we called underutilized labour. But what about those who are included in the workforce? Does it ensure an escape from poverty for those at the bottom? Our estimates show that the pace of reduction in the incidence of poverty is so slow that a significant share of households is still below the international definition of extreme poverty. We attribute this to the quality of employment characterized by a high incidence of informal sector employment as well as low wages measured by the share of workers not receiving a recommended subsistence wage. The absence of any kind of social security to an overwhelming share of workers adds to this situation of absolute poverty. Finally we examine the question of poverty from the point of manifold inequalities by dividing the households in the economy in terms of their employment, educational, rural-urban, and social group statuses for estimating predicted probability of being poor. The results bring into sharp focus the huge variation in predicted probability that shows households with low education, disadvantaged social group status, casual nature of employment, and living in rural areas at the bottom end of the scale. These results bring out the imperative for creating more employment with better quality.

Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to synthesize the extant literature on augmented reality and virtual reality in the apparel industry using bibliometric and network visualization techniques. This paper also highlights the existing gaps in the literature and sets out the future research trajectory.


Design/methodology/approach
This study investigated research articles in the domain of augmented and virtual reality in the apparel industry to assess global trends in research production in this area, and top contributors to research by way of authors, journals, countries and institutions. The study carried out an analysis of 239 research articles from the Scopus database during the period 1995 to 2021. The study used open-source bibliometric tools such as Biblioshiny and VOSviewer to analyze the research literature over the search period and also identify emerging research avenues.


Findings
The bibliometric analysis reveals that there is significant interest in this research domain. A total of 673 authors contributed to the 239 research articles analyzed and the number of multi-author documents exceeded those by single authors. Research in this domain is led by China with the maximum number of articles in the data set followed by the USA and France. However, the USA has received the highest number of citations. Donghua University from China is the largest contributor to research in this domain with 13 articles in the data set. The keyword co-occurrence analysis indicates that "virtual reality" has the most number of co-occurrences and linkages with other keywords. Other important keywords include "augmented reality," "virtual try-on" and "cloth simulation." The network visualization exercise also revealed significant collaboration between different countries in this research domain.


Practical implications
The gaps highlighted in this study will act as a reference point for researchers to conduct future studies in the field of augmented and virtual reality in apparel industry. Practitioners will also gain a comprehensive understanding of this research domain.


Originality/value
This study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, is the first attempt to integrate the disjoint literature of augmented and virtual reality in apparel industry through a mapping of the intellectual structure of this research domain. The study also contributes by way of providing a snapshot of future research avenues in the knowledge domain of augmented and virtual reality in the apparel industry.

The article deals with geoeconomic and geopolitical challenges for the further development of the world economy in the conditions of the energy transition designated by a number of countries of the world. The authors carried out a detailed analysis of the trends in the development of "green" energy in the period before and during the COVID‑19 pandemic, identified the main directions of changes in the state energy policy of developed and developing countries. It is established that the accelerated and forced transition to renewable energy sources had a negative impact on the dynamics of economic development of a number of countries of the world. The authors make the assumption that the non-alternative and accelerated transition to "green" energy, actively promoted by developed countries (EU, USA and other OECD countries), together with a sharp decline in investment in traditional hydrocarbon energy sources, can lead to the formation of significant imbalances in the global economy, loss of predictability of the development of global and regional energy and energy markets. In addition, the authors pay special attention to the role of rare earth metals in the energy transition, whose markets are characterized by high monopolization in favor of China. Together with the global economic crisis, which was caused by the consequences of the COVID‑19 pandemic, the trends of the accelerated energy transition have significantly worsened the stability of the energy systems of many countries of the world. Taking into account these factors, the authors have analyzed the strategic consequences for states engaged in intensive decarbonization of their national economies and the fuel and energy complex. At the same time, the authors noted that the EU's long-term plans to increase the share of hydrogen energy in the energy balance open up new prospects for the Russian Federation, which has extensive opportunities for the production and export of hydrogen. The importance of the development of domestic technologies in the field of hydrogen energy was noted. In addition, taking into account the development trends of the energy transition, the importance of the development of the rare earth industry in the Russian Federation to reduce the impact of imports of rare earth elements from China was noted.

The impact of global political actors on vaccine diplomacy and vaccine nationalism will be discussed in depth in this research study. First, vaccine pulls in developed countries long before vaccines were discovered and manufactured. Second, vaccine diplomacy and nationalism have emerged as a new tool for safeguarding inter-state relations; it is a weapon for extending imperialism in contemporary international politics. As a result, many governments have competed to announce vaccine gifts or advance supplies to other countries to sway public opinion while failing to meet their needs. For example, the Seram Institute of India failed to produce the promised vaccine due to the severe corona infection and complete failure of the death-oxygen-health system in India. As a result, 1.3 million people out of 3.5 million who received the first dose could receive the second dose. Bangladesh's government has stepped up diplomatic efforts outside India to gather and manufacture vaccines with Russia and China. Furthermore, Bangladesh's government is stepping up diplomatic attempts to obtain vaccines from the USA, Japan, and the UK. Finally, this study will examine how vaccine diplomacy and vaccine nationalism work in Bangladesh regarding vaccine collection.Keywords: Diplomacy, Nationalism, Negotiation, Globalization, Pandemic, Covid-19AbstrakArtikel ini membahas tentang Dampak aktor politik global terhadap diplomasi vaksin dan nasionalisme vaksin. Pertama, penarikan vaksin di negara maju jauh sebelum vaksin ditemukan dan diproduksi. Kedua, diplomasi vaksin dan nasionalisme telah muncul sebagai alat baru untuk menjaga hubungan antar negara; itu adalah senjata untuk memperluas imperialisme dalam politik internasional kontemporer. Akibatnya, banyak pemerintah bersaing untuk mengumumkan hadiah vaksin atau memajukan pasokan ke negara lain untuk mempengaruhi opini publik sementara gagal memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Misalnya, Institut Seram India gagal memproduksi vaksin yang dijanjikan karena infeksi korona yang parah dan kegagalan total sistem kesehatan oksigen kematian di India. Akibatnya, 1,3 juta orang dari 3,5 juta yang menerima dosis pertama dapat menerima dosis kedua. Pemerintah Bangladesh telah meningkatkan upaya diplomatik di luar India untuk mengumpulkan dan memproduksi vaksin dengan Rusia dan China. Selain itu, pemerintah Bangladesh meningkatkan upaya diplomatik untuk mendapatkan vaksin dari Amerika Serikat, Jepang, dan Inggris. Terakhir, penelitian ini akan mengkaji bagaimana diplomasi vaksin dan nasionalisme vaksin bekerja di Bangladesh terkait pengumpulan vaksin.Kata kunci: Diplomasi, Nasionalisme, Negosiasi, Globalisasi, Pandemi, Covid-19

The paper analyzes the position of the Federal Republic of Germany in international relations today and based on that policy, possible guidelines for the Republic of Serbia in its strategic actions in the upcoming period are given. The first goal of the research was to consider the relationship of official Berlin to the European Union, the United States, Russia, China and the rest of the world. Berlin's tendency to further strengthen the institutions, monetary, foreign and defense policy of the European Union has been present for decades. However, since 2008, that policy has been going through constant challenges. The Greek debt crisis, Brexit, the migrant crisis, the recession, a new wave of debts by European countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have put the authorities in Berlin in a difficult position. The failure of Germany and France to establish a unified EU security policy, the impossibility of peace initiatives around Ukraine and the consistent monitoring of Washington's policy have limited the EU ability to project power in other parts of the world. In addition to Russia, it is also obvious that the growing antagonism towards the People's Republic of China has been noticed recently, which threatens to affect very good economic relations The second goal of the paper is to offer Serbia's strategic options based on global trends, and in the context of German policy towards the Western Balkans. The Serbian focus on the European integration and the proclaimed policy of neutrality with a strong commitment to the European peace can be an incentive for joint affairs of the two countries. Particularly problematic is Berlin's attitude towards the self-proclaimed independence of the interim institutions in Prishtina. The opposing positions of Germany and Serbia, however, can be attributed to various regional initiatives such as the Berlin Process and particularly the Open Balkans. The attempts to further escalate the conflict or confrontation of Serbia towards the environment would adversely affect the position of Serbs in the surrounding countries and would also weaken economic exchange, which is traditionally oriented towards the European countries. However, official Belgrade should also work on strengthening internal capacities, primarily defensive, economic, administrative and demographic, so that it can have a high level of readiness in case of possible challenges.