Suchergebnisse

In recent years, we have seen a wide range of forms of armed conflict, varying in scale, intensity, complexity, and duration, blurring the lines between war and peace. These and other conditions were the reason for undertaking research aimed at identifying scenarios for the development of the international security situation and scenarios for the use of the Polish Armed Forces in relation to threats of a military nature in our country's neighbourhood, in the region, and across the world. With this in mind, while conducting research on the above-mentioned issues, the article focused attention on a research problem which took the form of a question: How does the development of military threats and potential armed conflicts, including the one in Ukraine, affect the shaping of state security? The hypothesis took the form of an assumption that military threats and, consequently, armed conflicts are one of the main determinants of shaping state security. In the face of the threat of an armed conflict, states take actions to ensure their security, in particular, political, organisational, and modernisation activities, and above all, to increase their defence potential in view of war. The research was conducted in military universities, and the general population (N) included research and teaching staff. The research tool was a questionnaire posted on the MS Teams online platform, which is also used to educate students at military universities.

The Russian intervention in Syria has been the first act of a considerable scale since 1991 of a direct involvement of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in a military conflict on a territory not included in the former Soviet Union. At the same time, it became the first operation in the history of the Russian Federation (and formerly the USSR) in which a leading role – both in the composition of the military contingent addressed there, as well as in relation to the results of actions – played the air force. This publication focuses on the genesis and the
different phases of the engagement of combat aircraft of the mentioned type of armed forces in the initial stage of Russian intervention, as well as an attempt to assess the reasons for the exceptional effectiveness of the operation on the course of the entire war.

The article presents the organizational changes of the Polish Army after Poland joined the NATO alliance. The issues addressed are presented in three parts, including changes carried out immediately after Poland joined the alliance, then organizational transformations related to the implementation of the professionalization program of the Polish Armed Forces, and ending with the changes introduced in the second decade of the 21st century. The aim of the research was to determine the scope of the organizational changes made in the Polish Army and their impact on the security of the state. The analysis covered the development programs of the Polish Armed Forces, which were periodically modified to adapt them to new challenges and current needs resulting from the international situation, as well as compact stud-ies, articles and Internet publications dealing with the issues of organizational changes. During the research, the methods of document research and critical analysis of the literature were used. The result of the research is to show the course of the introduced changes and the related transformations of the organizational structure of the army. This made it possible to define the current possibilities of taking defense actions by the Polish Armed Forces in the event of a possible armed conflict.

The article explains the mechanisms leading to achieving the Russian Federation's dominance in the regional and global security environment. To solve the research problems, a systemic approach was applied and methods of literary analysis and critique, non-participant observation, and uncategorized interviews were used. In the research process, it was established that the dominance of the Russian Federation in the international arena is based on force. The key factors enabling its achievement are displayed by the quantitative and qualitative superiority of the armed forces, expressed by force correlation coefficients, strategic forecasting, and operational prediction as well as the modern forms and methods of using armed forces. The Russian Federation balances the existing international disparities with the use of adaptive strategy, blackmail of conflict escalation with the use of nuclear weapons, modern and technologically advanced operational capabilities, and offensive asymmetric activities.

The transformation of the Russian foreign and security policy based on a more courageous use of military potential is a fact. Over the past several years, Russia has moved from articulating its interests to their enforcement with the use of military force. This article focuses on analyzing this process and identifying its potential consequences for global security. The conclusions drawn by the author, based on the conducted research, allow to state that the armed forces are and will be an important instrument of the Russian foreign and security policy. This does not mean, however, that the Russian Federation will strive for an armed conflict posing a threat to international security.

The article includes an analysis of the peace mission in Lebanon with the participation of the Polish Military Contingent. The organizational structure of the military health service securing our soldiers in that mission was also presented, bearing in mind the initial intended use of Polish units in this mission. The article is looking for an answer to the question about the importance of participation in peacekeeping missions of the Polish Armed Forces. It is also a description of the first mission in Lebanon, with a view to the re-participation of Polish troops in the mission at the end of 2019. Poland is considered a responsible member of NATO and the European Union.

A military presence on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is highly significant for the Russian Federation geopolitically. Russia is very particular about having buffer zones, client and neighbouring states with limited sovereignty on its borders. The aim of this article is to analyse the specificity of the Russian Federation's military presence in Belarus. In the following article, two hypotheses have been verified using factor analysis. Firstly, sustaining control over the territory of Belarus is of particular importance for the military safety of Russia, while at the same time, it detrimentally affects the stability of the Central and Eastern Europe countries. Secondly, the Russian Federation does not have a permanent military base within Belarusian territory and its military presence is solely confined to the use of military and transport infrastructure, which is indispensable for rapid accommodation and deployment of the Armed Force formations as well as for the rotation of strike forces. Due to political reasons, a permanent military presence enables Russia to keep Belarus within its area of influence. Nevertheless, in military terms, the utilisation of military and transport infrastructure in order to rapidly deploy strike forces within the territory of the Republic is far more important.

A few years ago, veteran employment was associated in the United States with the charity. Today both public administration and many private companies are willing to assist former soldiers. Within the next five years, about one million soldiers will have to leave the armed forces because of the planned partial withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan and defense cuts. Most of them will find employment, however, a significant percentage, especially the young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will remain unemployed. Veterans affairs are crucial both for the President of the United States, the Congress and the whole American society, as they are related to the economic and social aspects of the state functioning. On the other hand, misconception about ex-combatants prevents the use of their potential and skills acquired in the military, and is not reflected in any way on the economy of the state. This situation is frustrating because veterans can be very good workers having many qualities that are desirable among employers, such as leadership skills, cooperation, loyalty and initiative.

The paper describes the Polish road to NATO which, contrary to the West's expectations and promises, was long and bumpy. The author presents and analyses various obstacles that hindered Polish accession to NATO. The author divides such challenges into objective and subjective barriers, but using other criteria, the author points to specific geopolitical, international, political, social, and military conditions. Furthermore, the author presents the stances of different countries on the enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance after the Cold War, particularly the attitudes of the USA, Germany, France, the USSR, and Russia as these states were either more or less supportive of Polish efforts to join NATO or not supportive at all. In 1989-1999 the Alliance's position was slowly evolving from being initially unwilling to support Poland's accession to NATO to being sympathetic towards it. In the paper, the author poses a few research questions on the above-mentioned obstacles on the Polish road to NATO and a few theses and hypotheses. The author states that primarily the USSR, later the Russian Federation, was against Poland's accession to NATO. Initially, the West also opposed it. After 1989, its priority was to reunite Germany and stabilize military relations with Moscow through the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the elimination of Soviet military bases in post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the dynamics and variability of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. As noted in the introduction, the term "conflict" refers to the state of bilateral relations between the two countries since 2014, nevertheless, for the analysis of the current state of the conflict, the key date is 24 February 2022. Since the start of the invasion, described by the Russians as a "special military operation", we have seen an increase in the dynamics and intensity of the conflict at all levels. The intensification of military operations has also affected the political, economic, and social spheres. Just when it seemed that the so-called "annexation referenda" would mark a new phase in the course of the conflict, and the scenario of a "Ukrainian version" of a low-intensity conflict would become more feasible, it turned out that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine changed not only the situation on the frontline but also dynamized the other levels on which the conflict is taking place. This forced the author to update the analysed phenomenon. The article concludes with the constatation that we are in a "period of transition", and the coming winter may once again change the situation of both sides in the ongoing war. Celem artykułu jest analiza zmienności i dynamiki konfliktu pomiędzy Federacją Rosyjską i Ukrainą. Jak zaznaczono we wstępie, termin "konflikt" odnosi się do stanu stosunków dwustronnych pomiędzy tymi państwami od 2014 roku, niemniej jednak, dla analizy obecnego stanu konfliktu, kluczową datą jest 24 luty 2022 roku. Od rozpoczęcia inwazji określanej przez Rosjan "specjalną operacją militarną" obserwujemy wzrost dynamiki i intensywności konfliktu na wszystkich poziomach. Intensyfikacja działań militarnych wpłynęła także na sferę polityczną, ekonomiczną i społeczną. W momencie kiedy wydawało się, że tzw. "referenda aneksyjne" wyznaczą nową fazę przebiegu konfliktu i bardziej realny stanie się scenariusz "ukraińskiej wersji" konfliktu niskiej intensywności, okazało się, że kontrofensywa Sił Zbrojnych Ukrainy zmieniła nie tylko sytuację na froncie, ale też zdynamizowała pozostałe poziomy, na których ten konflikt się rozgrywa. Wymusiło to na autorze zaktualizowanie analizowanego zjawiska. Artykuł kończy się konstatacją stwierdzającą, iż znajdujemy się w "okresie przejściowym", a nadchodząca zima może po raz kolejny zmienić sytuację obu stron w toczącej się wojnie.