According to the increasing awareness of the importance, advantagesand feasibility of representing/visualizing spatial relations and spatial content through corresponding cartography –maps are becoming increasingly more frequent and elaborate when one needs to represent some aspect of reality from various standpoints: economical, natural scientific or politological. Some contents practically impose the need for applied cartography which is especially true of international-political, military, geopolitical and transport issues. Therefore, mass communication media have been increasingly accepting and adopting specific cartography as significant content which successfully compete with the importance of the text itself – this is the case everywhere, including in Croatia. The French geographical-political-cartographic school is the model and exceptional accomplishment. It also has predecessors in the German/Nazi geopolitical school from the first half of the 20th century. ; U skladu sa sve razvijenijom sviješću o značenju, prednostima i velikoj uvjerljivosti prikazivanja/vizualizacije prostornih odnosa i sadržaja u prostoru putem odgovarajuće kartografije – zemljovidni prikazi postaju sve učestaliji i razrađeniji kada treba dočarati neki oblik stvarnosti i to s vrlo različitih stajališta bilo onog gospodarskog, prirodoslovnog ili politološkog. Pri tome neki sadržaji upravo nameću potrebu postojanja aplikativne kartografije što naročito vrijedi za pitanja međunarodno-političkog, vojnog, geopolitičkog i prometnog značaja i značenja. Zbog toga sredstva masovnih komunikacija sve više prihvaćaju i udomljuju specifičnu kartografiju kao bitne sadržaje koji se u svojoj važnosti uspješno natječu s važnošću samog teksta – tako je svugdje, pa tako i u Hrvatskoj. Pri tome kao na uzor i naročito dostignuće treba ukazati na francusku geografsko-političko-kartografsku školu koja ima i starije preteče i to iz redova njemačke/nacističke geopolitičke škole iz prve polovice 20. st.
1. Prilog razmatra mogućnost i potrebu da se standardni regionalni sastav Republike Hrvatske na panonski, središnji (gorski) i primorski dio dopuni i modificira na način da se središnji dio tj. Gorska Hrvatska definirana dvojni način: Gorski kotar kao izraziti planinski i Lika kao izraziti kotlinski prostor, što sve čini jedinstvenu Gorsku Hrvatsku. 2. Umjesto termina regionalna podjela Hrvatske bolji je termin regionalni sastav, jer pojam podjele nosi u sebi politička i geopolitička opterećenja. Države su obično sastavljene od pojedinih regija, dok je podjela nešto drugo: sastav je geografski aspekt, a podjela nosi u sebi politički/geopolitički naboj. Tako je Hrvatska sastavljena od regija i županija, a nije na njih podijeljena, Švicarska isto tako nije podijeljena na etnikume, nego je od njih sastavljena. Međutim, ima i onih koji svjesno ili nesvjesno uzimaju u obzir "podjelu" Hrvatske na način: Istra i "Hrvatska" umjesto Istra i ostala Hrvatska. Za razliku od navedenoga, Belgija jest podijeljena (Valonci i Flamanci), Ukrajina jest podijeljena (unijati i pravoslavni). 3. Za razumijevanje nekog prostora prijeko je potrebno povijesno i geografsko poznavanje, tj. povijesno senzibiliziranje geografije i obratno, što znači da je riječ o historijskoj geografiji, a ujedno i o geografiziranoj povijesti i historiziranoj geografiji. 4. Glavnina je rada posvećena problemu gografske i funkcionalne lokacije. Tako je regija izrazito locirana u središtu Hrvatske, ali nije preuzela i središnje funkcije, zbog niza geografskih, povijesnih i geopolitičkih razloga. 5. Položaj regije može se, dijelom, izjednačiti s položajem u prostoru "hrvatskog praga", koji se savlađuje tek u 21. stoljeću. Iako centralno locirana u Hrvatskoj – nakon što je u 15. st. definitivno izgubljen hrvatski prostor između Une i Vrbasa (kasnija Turska Hrvatska) – regija nije preuzela i ulogu funkcionalne središnjosti. Ostaje, dakle, stalni kontrast između središnje lokacije i izostanka središnjih funkcija. U povijesnom i geografskom smislu regija je, dakle, imala diobeno značenje i zbog reljefnih i povijesnih i geopolitičkih razloga (visina reljefa, diobena uloga Vojne krajine). Na taj način uočava se bitna osobina razvitka hrvatske državnosti – ona se začela na primorju, u trokutu Nin – Knin – Cetina, a od 15. i 16. st. nova regija jezgre postaje zagrebačka regija. ; 1. The contribution considers the possibility and need for the standard regional structure of the Republic of Croatia divided into Pannonian, central (mountainous) and maritime part, to be supplemented and modifiedin the way that the central part i.e. Mountainous Croatia is defined in the dual way: The Gorski Kotar region as specially mountainous, and Lika as a special mountain depression (or mountain-encircled valley) space, thus making the undivided Mountainous Croatia. 2. Instead of the expression regional division of Croatia the better expression is regional structure, because the concept of division has in itself political and geopolitical burdens. Countries normally consist of particular regions, whereas the division is something else: structure is a geographical aspect, and division has in itself political/geopolitical tension. Thus Croatia consists of regions and counties, and it is not divided in that way; Switzerland in the same way is not divided into ethnic groups, but it consists of them. However, there are those who consciously or unconsciously acknowledge ''division'' of Croatia in the way that: Istria and ''Croatia'' instead of Istria and the rest of Croatia. Unlike the mentioned, Belgium is divided (the Wallons and the Flemish), Ukraine is divided (Uniates and Eastern Orthodox). 3. To understand a certain space it is necessary to have knowledge in geographical and historical sense, i.e. to perceive geography in a historical manner, and vice versa, which implies that it is the matter of historical geography, and at the same time about geographized history and historized geography. 4. The major part of the work is devoted to the problem of geographical and functional location. Thus the region is specially located in the central part of Croatia, but has not taken over its central function due to many geographical, historical and geopolitical reasons. 5. The position of the region can be, partly, equalled with the position in the space of "Croatian threshold", which is conquered only in the 21st century. Although centrally located in Croatia – after the Croatian space between the rivers Una and Vrbas (later Turkish Croatia) had been definitely lost in the 15th c. – the region did not also take over the role of functional central position. Consequently, the constant contrast between central location and absence of central functions remains. In historical and geographical meaning, the region, as a result, had a divisional meaning also because of relief and historical and geopolitical reasons (height relief, divisional role of the Croatian Military Border). In that way essential characteristic of the Croatian development of sovereignty is observed – it started in the maritime region, in the triangle Nin – Knin – Cetina, in this way the Zagreb region became the new region of the nucleus from the 15th and the 16th c.
The author describes the political and geopolitical genesis of the Kosovo crisis and offers a polemically intoned criticism of the great powers regarding their policies on the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia, and particularly on Kosovo. The author advocates the continuation of the military struggle of the Kosovo Albanians until they have achieved their total political independence. (SOI : S. 50)
The author analyzes the process of the NATO expansion in Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. Paradoxically, after the end of the cold war, the security conditions in Europe have not improved. On the contrary, the danger of military conflicts has increased. That is why most former communist countries, including the newly created states which emerged after the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, have been trying to eliminate this danger and strengthen their security by joining NATO. The Russian Federation is the main opponent of the NATO expansion in Eastern Europe, particularly on the states which came into being after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The author describes in detail the geostrategical and geopolitical implications of the admittance of the first group of Eastern-European countries into the NATO (Poland, Czech Republic and Romania), as well as the prospects of the NATO expansion onto the other countries in the region. He sees the American initiative for the cooperation in Southeastern Europe as a complement to the process of the NATO expansion. In the end he criticizes NATO's process of selection of new members, the process which has left Croatia (for the time being) in a sort of a geostrategical void. (SOI : PM: S. 118)
International pressure prevented Croatia from ending the occupation of eastern Slavonia by military means. The author claims that the policy of peaceful integration and the UNTAES mandate are rife with risks which might jeopardize the eventual Croatian control of that region. He points out a set of contentious issues related to the occupied territory: the incomplete demilitarization, dual government (parallel UNTAES and Serbian authorities), no return for the non-Serbian refugees, staying on of the Serbs from other parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Particularly risky for Croatia are the efforts of the local Serbs to retain absolute ethnic majority as the grounds for establishing territorial autonomy which would enable the militant accolytes of Greater Serbian politics to remain in the region and push for the secession and annexation by Serbia, the efforts which would in all probability be given military support by Serbia, this time under the circumstances which would be much more unfavourable for Croatia than in 1995. The author concludes that for Croatia the only acceptable solution is the total integration of eastern Slavonia and the establishment of full Croatian sovereignty while the creation of a Serbian autonomous province in that region must on no account be permitted. (SOI: PM: S. 188)
