For the past decade the focus of the U.S. security policy has been changing. After a period of global American hegemony, which took place at the end of the Cold War, the international position of the country is declining; countries such as China, India, Brazil, Russia are moving alongside the United States and Europe as centres of power. Focusing U.S. interest on Asia and the Pacifi c ("Asia Pacifi c pivot") causes a reduction of its interests in Europe. Given these trends U.S and EU policymakers face the challenge to redefine their security and defence cooperation. This applies both to the acquisition by European allies more responsibility for their own safety as well as to develop new mechanisms for cooperation on the line US-NATO-EU relations. The article aims to answer about the current situation and perspectives of EU's place and role in U.S. security policy in the context of redistribution of power in the world politics. The analysis is carried out in the neorealistic paradigm.
The article focuses on different aspects of the nuclear energy challenges. In the recent past, there has been a paradigmatic shift in the approach to nuclear crisis legal arrangement. Effective nuclear management requires a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, and holistic approach, encompassing pre-crisis preparedness initiatives, crisis response, and postcrisis rehabilitation, all with active participation of local people. As the incidence and severity of crises has increased over time, culture of HR management deserves highest priority at both the national and sub-national levels and the traditional approach of post-crisis response and relief need to be replaced by an all-in-compassing holistic approach. Nuclear security management is an important issue that cannot be addressed by one agency, technology or institution alone. It calls for convergence of technologies and institutions with the goal of fulfilling the various dimensions, timeliness, accuracy, scope and coverage, formats and standards to match the user needs and finally assimilation of information for decision-making. A holistic approach encompassing a suitable mix of policy reforms, institutional changes and technology options. Without this, it will not be possible to achieve longer term immunity against natural and manmade crises. It is quite evident that economic development may not be sustainable under conditions of vulnerability to crises ; Czy energia atomowa jest zabawą z ogniem czy też jedynym wyjściem z kryzysu energetycznego? Nowe wyzwania, które pojawiły się przed ludzkością w wyniku wydarzeń w Japonii, stwarzają nieznane dotąd zagrożenia. Energia nuklearna stała się przyczyną podziałów na świecie. Artykuł analizuje czynniki kształtujące europejską kulturę bezpieczeństwa atomowego uwzględniając efektywność procedur kierowania zespołami ludzkimi oraz adekwatne ramy legislacyjne wytwarzania energii z atomu. Autor szuka odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy można wyciągać jednoznaczne wnioski dla rozwoju energetyki atomowej w Polsce z wywołanych trzęsieniem ziemi i tsunami zdarzeń w japońskich elektrowniach jądrowych? Dla zapewnienia rozwoju oraz bezpiecznego funkcjonowania energetyki jądrowej w Polsce niezbędne jest przyjęcie ustaw tzw. pakietu atomowego. Czy nowelizacja Prawa atomowego określa wymagania bezpieczeństwa budowy i eksploatacji obiektów jądrowych zgodnie z najnowszymi standardami i zaleceniami międzynarodowymi?
The language question in St Catherine's Convent in Krakės in the first half of the twentieth centuryAfter 1918, the two Catholic convents on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania faced the issue of Lithuanisation, which was solved in different ways. The Benedictine Convent in Kaunas, the provisional capital of Lithuania, had been firmly Lithuanised by 1924. However, St Catherine's Convent in Krakės in Samogitia chose a different path. This article aims to find out how the Krakės convent dealt with the challenges of nationalism in the context of ongoing modernisation of its life at that time. The main objective is to present the shift from the Polish to the Lithuanian language in public and private life of the convent. The study is mostly based on original documents held in the archives of St Catherine's Convent in Kaunas.The Polish language was very important for the Krakės convent (established in 1645). According to the modified Rule of St Catherine the Virgin and Martyr adopted in Krakės in 1673, the language of prayers and sermons was Polish. Only daughters of noblemen were accepted to join; they were obliged to donate a dowry, which meant that only wealthy girls could become nuns. The Krakės convent stemmed from the cultural traditions of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The establishment of the independent Republic of Lithuania meant that St Catherine's sisters of Krakės needed to re-evaluate their political (civic), national and cultural identities.The study indicates that the solution to the language question in the Krakės convent was not enforced. The sisters were able to naturally reconcile to the situation, with time left to adapt. The article provides a detailed account of the reasons behind the gradual shift from Polish to Lithuanian. Initially, the nuns used Lithuanian to communicate outside the convent. It was not until 1930 that it began to be used in their community life, including prayers. Even then nuns could use Polish to communicate among themselves, say their private prayers or write letters.The study reveals various tensions which existed during this transitional period. However, the conclusion is that the convent successfully managed to avoid hasty decisions and resist emotions, as well as to balance between the universal and local church, the congregation of St Catherine in Braniewo (Braunsberg), the aims of various Lithuanian institutions, and the needs of the convent itself. The greatest achievement can be seen in the fact that the language issue in Krakės was not given unnecessary prominence and prioritised. As the study shows, giving it time was the best solution as the issue of language became resolved naturally, although the transition period lasted for a decade. Problem języka w klasztorze sióstr katarzynek w Krokach w pierwszej połowie XX wiekuPo 1918 roku dwa żeńskie klasztory katolickie, które znalazły się na terytorium Republiki Litewskiej, zetknęły się z problemem lituanizacji, który został rozwiązany na różne sposoby. Klasztor benedyktynek, który znajdował się w tymczasowej stolicy Litwy – Kownie, do 1924 roku uległ drastycznej lituanizacji. Klasztor katarzynek w Krokach, znajdujący się na Żmudzi, wybrał inną drogę. Celem artykułu, opartego głównie na autentycznych dokumentach przechowywanych w kowieńskim archiwum zgromadzenia katarzynek i innych, jest ukazanie, w jaki sposób w klasztorze katarzynek w Krokach poradzono sobie z wyzwaniami dotyczącymi kwestii narodowości w kontekście modernizacji życia klasztoru w owych czasach. Głównym zamiarem jest pokazanie, w jaki sposób nastąpiło przejście z języka polskiego na język litewski w życiu publicznym i wewnętrznym klasztoru.Język polski był bardzo ważny dla klasztoru w Krokach, ufundowanego w 1645 roku. Reguła Zgromadzenia Sióstr św. Katarzyny Dziewicy i Męczennicy przyjęta przez klasztor w Krokach w 1673 roku przewidywała modlitwy i słuchanie kazań księdza w języku polskim. Do klasztoru mogły wstąpić tylko córki szlacheckie. Należało wnieść posag, dlatego mogły być przyjęte tylko osoby o odpowiedniej kondycji majątkowej. Klasztor w Krokach ukształtował się jako ośrodek kultury szlacheckiej WKL. Powstanie niepodległej Republiki Litewskiej oznaczało, że katarzynki z Krok musiały zastanowić się nad swoją tożsamością polityczną (obywatelską), narodową i kulturową.Badania wykazały, że rozwiązanie kwestii języka w klasztorze sióstr katarzynek w Krokach nie było forsowane. Siostrom pozwolono w sposób naturalny zdać sobie sprawę z sytuacji, dano im czas na jej zaakceptowanie. W artykule przedstawiono szczegółowo powody, które doprowadziły do tego, że katarzynki w Krokach stopniowo przeszły od używania języka polskiego do używania języka litewskiego. Początkowo używały go do komunikowania się ze światem zewnętrznym, a dopiero od 1930 roku zaczęły używać go w życiu wewnętrznym klasztoru, podczas modlitw. Jednakże nawet wówczas nie zakazano siostrom używania języka polskiego do własnych kontaktów, do komunikacji między sobą, korespondencji lub podczas osobistej modlitwy.W artykule zostały ujawnione różne napięcia, które miały miejsce w badanym okresie przejściowym, aczkolwiek stwierdza się, że udało się bez podejmowania pochopnych decyzji, bez ulegania emocjom uwzględnić zarówno potrzeby Kościoła powszechnego i lokalnego, zgromadzenia sióstr katarzynek z Braniewa, jak i cele różnorodnych instytucji państwa litewskiego, a także potrzeby klasztoru w Krokach.Za największe osiągnięcie można uznać fakt, że kwestia języka w Krokach nie była wyolbrzymiona, nie była najważniejsza. Jak wykazują badania, czas miał najlepszy wpływ na rozwiązanie problemu. Kwestia języka w klasztorze w Krokach została rozwiązana w sposób naturalny, chociaż zajęło to całe dziesięciolecie.
In the face of demographic problems in Europe which are mainly caused by reduced reproduction of the population, in the case of Poland also emigration, it is no surprise that the declarations, which aim at indicating the proposals of staving off the threat of demographic crisis appear in electoral campaigns. This is indicated by the general formulated directions of actions as well as the proposals of particular actions. Because the biggest number of instruments which may be used to support the families' decision about procreation are found within the scope of family policy, this area of social policy has been selected as the object of analysis. This article presents the selected proposals of the electoral offer concerned with the solutions in the framework of family policy of those parties which during parliamentary elections 2015 in Poland, registered the lists of candidates for Sejm in at least half of electoral constituencies. The aim of the author is not only identify the vision of family policy and the directions of its development presented by given parties, but above all to try to indicate the main separation lines. Detailed analysis of the proposals, mainly from electoral programs, allowed also to mark off those areas and solutions around which political consensus can be created, as they were a part of electoral programs of almost all groups.
The Crucifix in the Public School Classroom in European Court RulingsLautsi v. Italy was an important court case that was brought before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The subsequent ruling on 3 November 2009 noted that the display of religious symbols (i.e. the crucifix in Italian public school classrooms) is contrary to Article 2 of the 1st Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights. This decision, which went against Italy, is in line with other judgments in similar cases, and seems to be promoting the European public school as a place of confessional neutrality, where the goal is to cultivate secular values of a democratic society in pupils.The European Court of Human Rights thus clearly supports the idea and principles of secularism and the impartiality of the state. However, the ruling did not impose any obligation to undertake adequate legal solutions or verify the existing law, leaving each member state a level of freedom to make opinions and final decisions on their own. The Lautsi v. Italy judgment had an indirect influence on the entire public service sphere, of which the public school is just one link of a chain. Yet Italy filed an appeal and the case was referred to the Court's Grand Chamber. Its hearing is to be held on 30 June 2010. The legal ramifications of this ruling therefore remain an important debate in Europe.
The article focuses on analysis of Germany's stance as regards transatlantic cooperation in the 21st century, presenting successively 1) main elements concerning the evolution of the transatlantic cooperation with special regard to Germany's stance toward the U.S.; 2) controversies in Germany around working out provisions of the TTIP agreement; 3) the attitude of Christian Democrat-Liberal government towards the prospects of successful negotiations as well as the significance of fi nalizing the TTIP agreement. In evaluating Germany's attitude as to the Transatlantic partnership the biggest emphasis has been devoted to Germany's determinants and interests in its relations with the U.S. in political and socio-economic grounds. As regards controversies around future shape of TTIP agreement positions of CSU/CDU/SPD government, opposition parties in Bundestag as well as economic circles, trade unions, experts, scholars and non-governmental organizations have been taken into consideration. Basing on conducted opinion polls in the U.S. and in Germany in the final part of the study the attitudes of public opinion in both these states as for the crucial questions of Transatlantic cooperation have been presented between the EU and the U.S. There is ambivalence because generally supporting the signing of TTIP agreement between the EU and the U.S. the German society expresses stringent opposition to importing American genetically modified food to European markets. Changing social moods among German society on TTIP agreement's provisions force CDU/CSU/SPD to declare enhanced readiness to European standards and the EU's interests.
The focal point of this paper is voter turnout in the self-government elections in Poland. Particular attention is given to the turnout in the city with district rights, Łódź. This city provides an interesting place of research, both on account of its peculiar location in the center of Poland, and its recent cultural, economic and political transformation. A local referendum on the dismissal of the city mayor, held on January 10, 2010, is worth mentioning. Łódź was the first large Polish city (with a population of over 500,000) where a one-man executive organ was dismissed before the end of his term. In the paper, the results of parliamentary election turnouts are juxtaposed with self-government election turnouts. Voter turnout is analyzed for each term of the self-government in Łódź, and the types and reasons for absence are indicated. The author uses these data to emphasize that over the twenty years of self-government's existence, voting procedures in Poland have not changed and are the most conservative in Europe.
The focal point of this paper is voter turnout in the self-government elections in Poland. Particular attention is given to the turnout in the city with district rights, Łódź. This city provides an interesting place of research, both on account of its peculiar location in the center of Poland, and its recent cultural, economic and political transformation. A local referendum on the dismissal of the city mayor, held on January 10, 2010, is worth mentioning. Łódź was the first large Polish city (with a population of over 500,000) where a one-man executive organ was dismissed before the end of his term. In the paper, the results of parliamentary election turnouts are juxtaposed with self-government election turnouts. Voter turnout is analyzed for each term of the self-government in Łódź, and the types and reasons for absence are indicated. The author uses these data to emphasize that over the twenty years of self-government's existence, voting procedures in Poland have not changed and are the most conservative in Europe.
Zacieśnianie współpracy politycznej, wojskowej i gospodarczej pomiędzy Chinami oraz Rosją zostało przyjęte przez Stany Zjednoczone w drugiej dekadzie XXI wieku z dużym niepokojem, jako zagrożenie dla interesów narodowych i pozycji międzynarodowej supermocarstwa. Ze względu na słabnącą pozycję Moskwy w systemie międzynarodowym oraz pogarszające się relacje z Zachodem, w interesie Kremla było znalezienie silnego sojusznika, posiadającego zbliżone przedsięwzięcia i cele. Utworzenie chińsko-rosyjskiego tandemu ośmieliło Moskwę do prowadzenia jeszcze bardziej zdecydowanej i kategorycznej polityki wobec Zachodu. Stosunki amerykańsko-rosyjskie uległy przy tym znacznemu pogorszeniu do tego stopnia, że dziś stawiane jest pytanie: czy świat stoi w obliczu nowej "zimnej wojny"? Celem niniejszego artykułu jest analiza polityki bezpieczeństwa USA wobec Rosji w XXI wieku, w kontekście zacieśniania współpracy rosyjsko-chińskiej; przedstawienie współpracy na linii Waszyngton–Moskwa podczas rządów trzech ostatnich prezydentów USA oraz czynników mających wpływ na pogorszenie stosunków pomiędzy państwami. Słowa kluczowe: Stany Zjednoczone Ameryki, Rosja, Chiny, bezpieczeństwo, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, stosunki międzynarodowe ; The strengthening of political, military and economic cooperation between China and Russia has been a cause for concern for the United States in the second decade of the twentyfirst century, who view it as a threat to national interests and to the international position of the superpower. Due to Moscow's weakening position in the international system and deteriorating relations with the West, it was in the Kremlin's interest to fi nd a strong ally with similar interests and goals. The creation of a Chinese-Russian front has emboldened the Moscow authorities to pursue an even more decisive and categorical policy towards the West. American-Russian relations have significantly deteriorated, to such an extent that there is a need to pose the question: is the world facing a new "Cold War"? The purpose of this article is to analyze US security policy towards Russia in the twentyfi rst century in the context of closer Russian-Chinese cooperation, as well as present the level of cooperation on the Washington-Moscow line during the rule of the last three US presidents and the factors aff ecting the deterioration of relations between the two states. Key words: United States of America, Russia, China, security, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, international relations
Presentation of the novelties of the W-STEM project website, made in the 2nd face-to-face meeting of the W-STEM ERASMUS + Capacity-building in Higher Education European Project (Ref. 598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP), which was held in the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla (Colombia), 27-29 November 2019. ; W-STEM (Building the future of Latin America: engaging women into STEM) is a project funded under European Union ERASMUS + Capacity-building in Higher Education Programme (598923-EPP-1-2018-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
A search for the production of events containing three W bosons predicted by the standard model is reported. The search is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb-1. The search is performed in final states with three leptons (electrons or muons), or with two same-charge leptons plus two jets. The observed (expected) significance of the signal for W±W±W production is 0.60 (1.78) standard deviations, and the ratio of the measured signal yield to that expected from the standard model is 0.34-0.34+0.62. Limits are placed on three anomalous quartic gauge couplings and on the production of massive axionlike particles. ; Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie program and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract No. 675440 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A.P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation a la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F.R.S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the "Excellence of Science — EOS" — be.h project n. 30820817; the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Lendület ("Momentum") Program and the J´anos Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program UNKP, the NKFIA research grants 123842, 123959, 124845, 124850 and 125105 (Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the HOMING PLUS program of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Center (Poland), contracts Harmonia 2014/14/M/ST2/00428, Opus 2014/13/B/ST2/02543, 2014/15/B/ST2/03998, and 2015/19/B/ST2/02861, Sonata-bis 2012/07/E/ST2/01406; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu, grant MDM-2015-0509 and the Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias; the Thalis and Aristeia programs cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); the Welch Foundation, contract C-1845; and the Weston Havens Foundation (U.S.A.).
This is an original postcard produced by the Curteich company located in Chicago. This postcard is described as a "C.T. Art- Colortone" postcard. The front of the card features the B-24 Liberator and an image of the State of Texas. The following phrase is also written on the front. "Howdy! From deep in the heart of Texas." A tag that reads "Bound For Tokyo" hangs off the nose of the B-24. The Back of the postcard contains a description of the B-24 Liberator. ; https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/nur_hagan/1758/thumbnail.jpg
The Treaty of Lisbon which entered into force in 1 December 2009 has once again increased powers of European Parliament. In fact, the treaties reforming the European Community (and then European Union) lead to change the role of European Parliament from the institution of an advisory nature with very limited power to important body with broad scope of competence and authority. This process ensures the democratization of European Union, because European Parliament is the only one fully democratic EU institution. In the Lisbon Treaty European Parliament for the first time were named as legislative body. According to the treaty the Parliament and Council can be regarded as two chambers in a bicameral legislative branch of the European Union. Therefore, the elections to European Parliament in 2014 were very important for all member states. Presented article provides the new scope of competence of European Parliament and the result of election to this institution in Poland. The author try to answer the question how the Lisbon Treaty influence on political practice.
The idea of building interconnectors between the transmission systems of the EU Member States is now getting more visible in Poland. This approach is a part of the implementation of European energy policy, which aims to strengthen cooperation between Member States' energy sectors. Combining transmission networks in the EU has also been included as one of the strategic objectives of the national energy policy and a tool of ensuring security of supplies. It is pointed out that the EU needs a fully functioning, connected and integrated internal market of energy, so that no country is isolated from the European network of transmission. The article discusses the grid investments in Poland and make comments on national interconnections in the context of their use of free bandwidth. ; Ostatnie lata to zwiększone zainteresowanie rozbudową transgranicznych połączeń międzysystemowych. Realizowana systematycznie w toku rozwoju integracji na zachodzie Europy idea budowania interkonektorów pomiędzy systemami przesyłowymi państw członkowskich, zajmuje obecnie coraz większą uwagę także w Polsce. Podejście to, odzwierciedlone realnymi inwestycjami, jest jednym z elementów realizacji europejskiej polityki energetycznej i systemu finansowego wsparcia powiązanych z nią programów, których celem jest zacieśnianie współpracy pomiędzy sektorami energetycznymi państw członkowskich.
Drawing on the idea that Japanese colonialism was by no means confined to military conquest, but involved an implementation of a specific cultural project aimed at the creation of a Pan-Asian political community, the author of the paper proceeds to show that cinematography was among the basic instruments propagating the new political order in East Asia. In his analysis of the Korean film culture of the period of the Japanese rule (1910–1945), the author brings out internal contradictions of the apparently homogenous cultural project implemented in Korea by Japan. The discrepancies in question were caused by factors other than the contents and the form of the movies, among them the film production and distribution systems (e.g., the cooperation between Japanese and Korean film studios), the organization of film shows, the opinions of film critics, the weight of the political element (e.g., the censorship and the cinematographic law), and the social impact. The object of the author's scrutiny is documentaries as well as fiction films, in particular those promoting voluntary military service in the Imperial Japanese Army, which leave no doubt as to the propagandist nature of the film productions in question. ; Wychodząc z założenia, że japoński kolonializm nie ograniczał się do podboju militarnego, lecz wiązał się z realizacją określonego projektu kulturowego, zmierzającego do stworzenia panazjatyckiej wspólnoty politycznej, autor artykułu zamierza wykazać, że kino stanowiło jedno z podstawowych narzędzi pozwalających na propagowanie wizji nowego porządku w Azji Wschodniej. Analizując kulturę filmową okresu kolonialnego (1910-1945), zwraca uwagę na ukryte sprzeczności wewnątrz pozornie homogenicznego projektu, uwzględnia szereg aspektów wykraczających poza treść i formę dzieła, jak system produkcji i dystrybucji (np. współpraca wytwórni japońskich z koreańskimi), organizacja pokazów, recepcja (głosy krytyków), wpływ czynników politycznych (cenzury, prawa filmowego) oraz oddziaływanie społeczne. Przedmiotem analizy są zarówno filmy dokumentalne, jak i fabularne – zwłaszcza promujące ochotniczą służbę w armii cesarskiej – które nie pozostawiają wątpliwości co do propagandowego charakteru ówczesnej produkcji.
