Syria 2.0? Will Burma play a similar role in the Far Eastern policy of the Russian Federation to Syria in the Kremlin’s Middle Eastern strategy?

The intensification of Russia-Myanmar relations has been one of the the unexpected consequences of Russo-Ukrainian war. For Russian Federation Burma/ Myanmar used to be a secondary partner, important only due to being the major client of the military-industrial complex. Global (semi)isolation of Russia changed these calculations, upgrading the importance of Myanmar in Russia’s foreign policy. For Naypyidaw these relations have been important since the last coup (1 February 2021), in the aftermath of the putsch Moscow became the biggest international protector of Burmese generals. Due to these two reasons Russia-Myanmar relations have reached the unprecedented high level, unseen in history of this bilateral relations.

Russian-Pakistani relations. Political, economic and military aspects

After the collapse of the Soviet Union into 15 independent states in December 1991, including the Russian Federation, there was a real opportunity to reset relations between Moscow and Islamabad. The Russian Federation did not take advantage of the new geopolitical situation to significantly improve mutual relations in the last decade of the twentieth century. However, in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, there was an intensification of political, economic and military relations between the two countries, which fluctuated. The author focused in the article on the premises that underline the improvement of mutual relations in these three areas. The premises that have inhibited and inhibit more intensive cooperation, especially in the political and economic fields, were also presented. In the end was formulated a few conclusions.

The impact of the International Tribunal for the Far East on the development of the International Humanitarian Law of Armed in the aspect of sexual violence

The Second World War caused the collapse of the rules prevailing in the world so far. The cruelty of warfare, which also affected civilians, made the international community aware that the principles of humanitarianism adopted so far are insufficient. The world demanded that war criminals be brought to justice. At that point, no international court existed to take on the challenge. Two tribunals were established – the International Military Tribunal based in Nuremberg and the International Tribunal for the Far East based in Tokyo, whose task was to try the most serious crimes committed during II World War. The civilian population, especially women, suffered from sexual violence and rape. The International Tribunal for the Far East did not remain silent on the subject of sex crimes and undertook to judge war criminals who were also responsible for rapes. The actions of the International Tribunal for the Far East were one of the first steps in history in the field of punishing the crime of rape committed during armed conflicts and influenced the development of international criminal law in this area.

Russian “historical policy” towards Poland. The “Anti-Katyń” issue

The Russian Federation ruled by Putin seeks to rebuild the superpower position of the USSR, formerly the Russian Empire. A certain difficulty for her is Poland’s attitude and its eastern policy. Hence the use of information warfare means to combat it, including a specific “historical policy” whose origins date back centuries. Due to the need to admit to committing the Katyn massacre, in order to weaken its meaning, the “Anti-Katyń” issue was promoted, based on the alleged genocide of Poles on Russian prisoners of war in 1919–1920. This is a propaganda invention not confirmed by historical facts.

Emigration constatations by Jerzy Giedroyc and Gustaw Herling-Grudziński in 1983. French and Italian perspectives

From the beginning of the 1830s, mass emigration from Poland, not occurring on such a scale before, was noted, mainly for political reasons (especially after the defeats of the November and January uprisings). The emigration trend continued throughout practically the entire 20th century. It entered the history of Poles, especially the war and post-war period. The coming to power of the communists generated many problems. For political reasons, many dissidents sought freedom outside enslaved Poland. Many of them voluntarily and also under the compulsion of the then “people’s” government. There were two main centers of the political and cultural life of the Polish diaspora – in London and Paris. The Literary Institute, with its founder Jerzy Giedroyc and collaborator Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, played a significant role in the post-war period. Both, despite having different experiences and visions of a free and independent Poland, unanimously saw emigration as a specific form of struggle against the communist regime in Poland. They saw help and weapons in this struggle in the spoken and written word, through which they influenced both the Polish diaspora in many countries and their compatriots in Poland, which was subjugated by communists. They noticed the entire complexity of the problems faced by Polish emigrants, especially those arriving abroad at the beginning of the 1980s. Their accurate diagnoses and advice were not always accepted by the Polish diaspora. The interviews with them in a retrospective form reflect the atmosphere and spirit of the difficult and complex reality of that time.

Organizations and institutions in Munich for refugees – selected aspects

Russia’s war in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, but initially Russian actions took the form of a hybrid war. Ukraine was in peaceful relations with the rest of the world when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea without a declaration of war and waged war in Donbass. Its full-scale scope, launched on February 24, 2022, was unprecedented in post-war Europe and caused several million people living in the invaded country to leave Ukrainian territory. The purpose of this article is to show how organizations and institutions in Munich are addressing the influx of refugees into the city, including refugees from Ukraine. As a research hypothesis, it was assumed that in Germany, including Munich, the German experience of 2015 and subsequent years in accepting newcomers from the Middle East played a huge role in solving the problems of refugees from Ukraine after February 24, 2022. The basic research problems are contained in questions such as: what changes in asylum law have been made in Germany by the federal government; who in the city of Munich is entitled to assistance and what benefits does it cover?; what is the assistance to refugees provided by the Office for Housing and Migration in Munich?; what does the Office for the Prevention of Homelessness do?; what are the tasks of the Local Mediation Office?; what are the competencies of the so-called Social Service for the Deaf?; what is the scope of activities of the Office of Return Assistance?; what are the return offices in Bavaria?; what are the activities of the Office for Intercultural Work?; what is the scope of activities of the Foreign Qualification Development Service Center? The leading research method used in the research conducted is institutionallegal analysis.

Local government in the crises in the Third Polish Republic. An outline of the issue

During the majority of Polish crises, apart from the reaction of the central authorities, the responses of the local institutions were also noticeable. The very creation of local government in 1990 materialized under conditions of the profound political, social and economic crisis. In 1997, the flood revealed the weaknesses in the administration of the commune. In turn, the strength of frustration that was accumulated in many local communities, manifested itself during the agricultural protests in 1999. The global financial crisis (2008–2009) has had the mild impact on Poland, but it caused a breakdown in many communes. Similarly, the effects of social unrest during the pandemic and the wave of refugees from across the eastern border (2020–2022) were unevenly distributed. This article is an attempt to address the questions concerning its title: did the crises turn out to be more of a threat or an opportunity for local communities? To what extent have the crises revealed the specific functioning of local government? Were local councilors and municipality staff able to work effectively under the extreme circumstances? How to assess the crisis experiences in the context of legal and institutional changes.

Analysis of the possibility of building a credit risk model

FinAi has undertaken a project focused on the development of an innovative credit risk model utilizing alternative data sources, such as data from social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn) and mobile phone records. This project was co-financed through the European Regional Development Fund under a funding agreement between FinAi S.A. and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR), headquartered in Warsaw. The initial phase of the project involved the collection of data and their utilization in constructing a network graph of customer relationships. Furthermore, leveraging external data as well as data managed by FinAi, specific indicators were formulated. These indicators were employed under the supervision of experts to train a predictive model that incorporated graph structures. The model thus constructed was to exhibit a higher predictive capability compared to conventional models commonly employed within the industry. The study explored the feasibility of creating a credit risk model based on the acquired data and assessed the quality of data originating from alternative sources. It was demonstrated that alternative data sources were populated for a small fraction of the population, and their quality has proven unsatisfactory. The scale of the dataset proved inadequate for establishing a robust credit risk model or attaining a competitive advantage over the models in use within banking institutions.

The seal of confession in a criminal trial vs revocation of the authority to administer the sacrament of penance in canon law

The article addresses the hitherto under-researched issue of the seal of confession in the criminal trial in the context of revoking the authority to administer the sacrament of penance in canon law. It turns out that the regulations of canon law and criminal trial are consistent in guaranteeing the inviolability of the seal of confession, known as the ‘sacramental seal’. Secrecy does not apply if the confessor is not a priest since only a priest can validly administer this sacrament. The article’s considerations also deal with other subjective and objective issues that have impact on seal of confession in canon law and criminal trial.