The author wonders at the problem of the leadership in the present Asia, which is the region of the economic growth and the area doesn’t affected by the crisis. At the present four countries aspire to the leadership in Asia: India, Japan, China and United States. The author presents reasoning that the present China is the nearest to the leaderships in the Asia. China tries to push out the USA from the Asia and addict the United States by its economic policy and the ransom of indebted papers. At the present the America is in debt on approx. 17 bln USD., and 7% of this debt has at Chinese. In the India it came to slow down of the economic development and in the Japan after the period of the stagnation, it just slowly comes in on the path of the economic development.

The geopolitical situation of Ukraine and the threats of the modern world, such as international terrorism, organized crime, illegal emigration, as well as international and internal conflicts necessitate conducting an effective foreign policy and national security policy. Choosing the vector of its foreign policy, Ukraine also made a choice of the concept of its national security. The analysis of the concept of national security of Ukraine in the years 1991–2012 allows to verify the thesis put forward in the introduction of the paper that the evolution of the concept of the national security policy in a significant way mirrors the evolution of the foreign policy of Ukraine. Both the security policy and the foreign policy can be described as having multiple polarity, balancing between the Euro-Atlantic and the Euro-Asian spheres of influence.

The work Fri: “Strategies in competitive political parties in elections the Assembly of Citizens of Bremen in the years 1947–2011 “the authors analyze the voting behavior, the balance of power and the changes taking place in the Assembly of Citizens of Bremen on the sixty-four years. The hypothesis, which has been subjected to verification implies that the evolution and even late in the existing balance of power party Meeting in Bremen Citizens can speak after the election, which took place in May 2011. The work was divided into two parts, the first author addressed the analysis of the political system of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, and other strategies rywalizacyjnymi political parties in the elections to the Assembly of Citizens of Bremen. The first part will be devoted to the specifics, described the status of the region, the relationship between the government and the historical circumstances and constitutional Bremen. The second will focus on the analysis of the political scene, the results of ongoing since 1947 elections and the why in May 2011 can be considered as a breakthrough in this matter.

The article examines the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) over twenty years. It shows the internal conflicts of the ICTY relating to the different positions of countries which had influence on the judicial investigation of war crimes committed during the wars in the post-Yugoslav space.

Special role of the USA in creating financing and follow-up activities of the ICTY is noted. The attention is paid to the political importance of the ICTY. Attention is also paid to the political importance of the ICTY as a factor in preventing crime and the international community – ethnic cleansing and genocide in the future.

The ICTY’s activity in the context of search and punishment of the major war criminals of the Bosnian – Radovan Karadzic and Radco Mladic is discussed. The article also tells about the so-called "exit strategy” of the ICTY, that is the completion time of its activities.

Gaining by Syria independence from France in 1946 and the rise of the State of Israel supported by Western countries, which from the beginning was in the political and military conflict with the Arab states, created for the Soviet Union the new possibilities of the political game in the Middle East. From 1955 to 1991, USSR became the main supplier of conventional arms to Syria (displacing the United Kingdom). In the years 1955–1991 Syria bought in the Soviet Union arms for $ 34.6 billion in SIPRI trend indicator values , which accounted for 8.04% of the value of the total Soviet arms sales during this period. After the collapse of the USSR cooperation in this regard was continued and throughout the years 1992–2012 Russia remained the main and dominant arms supplier to Syria, though not on this scale as earlier. However, especially the 90s of the twentieth century meant a huge setback in comparison to the previous period – then delivery has been completed of diesel engines for the modernization of tanks ordered in Soviet Union, and 3,000 antitank guided missiles were ordered in Russia. In the years 1992–2012 Russia has sold Syria arms for $ 1.254 billion SIPRI trend indicator values , which accounted for 1.21% of the total sales of Russian arms and weapons of 103.393 billion $.

Polish contacts with the Caucasus region one date back to the late Middle Ages, and intensified in the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s greatness, as it sought allies in that region in the fight against Turkey. After the partition of Poland in the 19th century a large group of Poles – several hundred thousand strong – was exiled to Caucasus. They were political exiles and soldiers serving in the Russian army, and later civilians of various professions. Their fates become at first the subject of interest of memoirs authors, and later the subject ofscientific research. This promoted Polish-Caucasian relations, which reached its apogee in the interwar period. It was connected with the Promethean movement, which then gained wide popularity in Poland. Hitherto achievements of the Polish Caucasology invites us to reflect on its condition today. The paper aims to present the most important changes in Polish studies of Caucasus, focusing on the most recent achievements. The purpose of this activity was to determinante the feasibility of Polish Caucasology in solving research problems. Therefore, an attempt was made to analyse Polish Caucasological publication, paying particular attention to the area of the issue of research, the methodology used and the cognitive value of results. Attention was focused on several selected publications, which according to the author characterized the most important directions of research of contemporary Polish Caucasology. This applies to the work of Polish scholars and those from the West, which lived to see the Polish editions. This stems from the belief that it is this group of publications that have the greatest impact on the face of contemporary Caucasus research in Poland, and thus the strongest influence on the younger generation of researchers. Analysis of the achievements of contemporary Polish Caucasus studies demonstrate their intensive development. This applies both to a significant expansion of the area of research interests of Polish Caucasologists, as well as the intensification of scientific exchange with foreign centres. After a period of domination of historical issues we can observed expanding interests in various areas of contemporary political and social change. In recent years, there have been publications of results of own research on the problems of the political elite and the mechanisms of governance in Caucasus. Scientific level of these publications is extremely diversified– from highly original research to repetitive works and compilations. It is difficult to blame for this state of affairs only researchers who have not yet livedto see a single Caucasological research centre. It is an example of the lack of ability to adapt the structure and organization to current needs in Polish science.

Ukrainian-Chinese relations have taken on new importance since 2010, along with the economic crisis. Ukraine tried (like the U.S.) to get new sources of funding for business, but primarily as an antidote to the stagnation of the Ukrainian economy. The multiplicity of agreements signed between Ukraine and China in 2010–2013 was also demonstrates that Ukraine was looking for a new direction of foreign policy. The strategic partnership between Ukraine and China is primarily economic and economic, not political. However, the perception of China in Ukraine is carried out through the prism of state influence on the political, economic and social processes in the world. China on the other hand see Ukraine in the context of the so-called region. New Eastern Europe (including Belarus and Moldova), which is regarded by Beijing as an opportunity to expand markets to sell their goods to the markets of the EU and the Customs Union.

In 2010, Byelorussia undertook an ambitious plan to reduce dependence of its energy sector on supplies of Russian energy sources. In accordance with the adapter concept, participation of local fuels in the country’s energy balance is to increase from 20.7% in 2010 to 32% in 2020. Implementation of the strategy for increasing participation of local and renewable energy sources in the country’s energy and fuel balance encounters numerous problems. Insufficient financial resources, corruption scandals in the background, and problems with finding foreign investors seem to jeopardise chances for implementation of the government strategy concerning the renewable energy sources. Thus, Byelorussia will still remain a country strongly dependant on supplies of Russian natural gas.

The main aim of this article is to describe the system of higher education in Russia. Moscow is the biggest academic center in Russian Federation. There are about 60 universities. The largest and most popular are Moscow State University, The Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, International University in Moscow and Moscow State Institute of International Relations. They are two levels of higher education in Russia – Bachelor’s degree (4 years) and Master’s degree (2 years). Both could be obtained while studying full-time or part-time. After that, there is a possibility to finish postgraduate studies. Russian universities cooperate with many foreign educational institutions (including Polish universities). Not only do students have the opportunity to leave in Moscow but also study at Russian academies, for example, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Diplomatic Academy.

Higher education in Moscow is affected by various problems. One of them is a decreasing level of education. In fact, students do their specializations, however the level of their general knowledge seems to be low. Furthermore, the education is commercialized since everyone would like to receive a Master’s degree. It suggests that in the near future not only will Russian society have a bigger cadre of professors but also more business and financial universities.

The First World War (1914–1918) was inextricably connected with regular conscription. Undoubtedly it had a huge impact on reducing the population of Sorbs in Germany. Their number decreased from 102 801 to 70 998 people between the censuses in 1910 and 1925. After World War I, Lusatia failed to become a country independent of the German Empire. On 7 October 1925 the national organizations of Sorbs united (Maćica Serbska, Domowina, Lusatian Alliance) and established the Wendish People’s Party, which on 26 January 1924 accessed the Association of National Minorities in Germany. The Association’s publication was the monthly “Kulturwille” (since January 1926 “Kulturwehr”), which was issued until 1938. Its editor was a Sorb – Jan Skala (1889–1945). The censuses of 1925 and 1933 claimed that nearly 73,000 Sorbs lived in Germany. Under Hitler all Sorbian associations were dissolved and in both parts of Lusatia more than 60 Sorb ian place names were removed and replaced by German ones. The years of World War II (1939–1945) is the most tragic period in the history of the Sorbs – a period of even worse persecutions, arrests, taking the Sorbs to the concentration camps, the destruction of their properties, the suppression of all forms of autonomy and selforganization. Freedom from Fascism was given to the Sorbs on 6 April 1945 by troops of First Ukrainian Front and the Polish Second Army. On 23 March 1948 – under pressure from the Soviet occupation authorities – the National Parliament of Saxony (Landtag) passed a law guaranteeing the rights of the Sorbs. GDR authorities sought to reduce the population of the Sorbs and the use of Sorbian language. Only after the absorption of the GDR by the FRG – called the second unification of Germany – on 3 October 1990, the Sorbian population began to use civil rights emerging from the Basic Law of the FRG. Currently about 60,000 Sorbs live in Germany, out of which 20,000 in Brandenburg (Protestants) speaking Lower Sorbian (similar to Polish), and 40,000 in Saxony (Catholics) speaking Upper Sorbian (similar to Czech). The majority are elderly people (60 and over). Younger generation speaks almost exclusively German.

The article points out that:

1) The Polish-Mongolian and Mongolian-Polish contacts devloped rapidly after the World War II as a consequence of the international cooperation of the socialist states.

2) Science and education were particularly important factors.

3) Poles significantly contributed to the cultural and civilization transformation of Mongolia, including the spheres of construction, industry, and agriculture.

4) Memories of the Polish-Tatar contacts still remain in the collective consciousness of Poles; the negative image of a community which destroys the cultural achievements of conquered peoples has formed.

5) The contemporary knowledge about Mongolia and Polish-Mongolian relations is largely shrouded with a mist of myths and stereotypes.

The aim of this article is to present the eastern policy in conceptions of Stronnictwo Konserwatywno-Ludowe (SKL). Stronnictwo was established in 1997 as result of uniting such political parties as Partia Konserwatywna, Stronnictwo Ludowo- Chrześcijańskie and the group of Members of Parliament from Unia Wolności. The youth organisation of SKL was Młodzi Konserwatyści AWS. Stronnictwo is categorised as a postsolidarity and conservative party. In the field of the eastern policy, SKL appealed to historical geopolitical conceptions: the Promethean conception, the political thought of the Parisian „Kultura” and indirectly to ideas of Adolf Bocheński. The party believed that independent Ukraine had fundamental meaning for the security of Poland. In the opinion of SKL Russia returned to imperial policy towards the states of the Central and Eastern Europe. The accession to NATO and the European Union was supposed to be a chance for Poland, which could become the creator of the EU eastern policy in this way. The members of the party and the youth organisation to cooperated also with the opposition in Belorussia, for example Białoruski Front Ludowy.

The history of the areas (incorporated to the Belarusian SSR in 1939), which in the Belarusian and Russian historiography adopted the geopolitical term “Western Belarus,” in Polish historiography is seen as an integral part of the overall history of the multinational Polish State. Regardless of the form of the state, which have evolved in the course of historical development (i.e. as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, founded in the 16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – which from the late 18th to the early 20th century was under Russian domination; finally revived in 1918 as the Second Polish Republic of interwar era, which has become a victim of Nazi on the one hand and on the other hand, the Stalinist aggression in September 1939) the history of “Eastern Borderlands”, including areas inhabited mostly by Belarusian peasants, is recognized in Polish literature in the paradigm of “our common and only homeland”, to which the love, affection, compassion are inseparable from the whole Polish patriotism. The distinction between methodological principles of Polish and Russian-Belarusian (tsarist, Soviet and post-Soviet times) lies in the fact that in the last so-called “Western Belarus” occurs as an entity independent of the fate of Poland, subject of research and legal entity (on the basis of which, among others, it was incorporated in the Belarusian SSR), while in Polish studies and assessments of all aspects of the history and culture of the people of this country and its political transition are presented through the prism of Polish historical issues. This applies to threads, causing debates (for example, about the borders approved by the Treaty of Riga in 1921), grief, accusations of treason by a certain group of Belarusian activists of inter war era, a sad irony in relation to the so-called national enthusiasm with which Belarusians erected “welcome gates” for the Red Army. The first part of the article concerns texts by Józef Mackiewicz, Kazimierz Podlaski, Sokrat Janowicz and other authors who in Poland and in exile dealt with the history of “Western Belarus” until 1939.

There are considered problems of imperial administration`s intervention in legal proceedings affairs of the nomadic population of Turkestan.

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