Military Cooperation of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China

Since the 1990s, China and Russia have been increasingly strengthening their military cooperation. It includes selling Russian weapons to China and working on joint arms projects, joint exercises, and recently also joint air and sea patrols in the North Pacific. Even the Russian attack on Ukraine did not break the military ties connecting the two countries. One may even get the impression that this event gave a new impulse to tighten military relations, at least in their political dimension, between China and Russia. This rapprochement can be explained by the fact that both countries are strongly involved in building a new, multipolar international order and strive to weaken the international position of the US. In this context, there is even talk of a military alliance between China and Russia.

Nuclear powers are losing wars too! Clash in the cognitive domain – Russian nuclear blackmail vs. Ukraine’s chances of victory

The clash conducted in the cognitive domain is aimed at influencing the will, determination, coherence of decision-making centers and threat assessment, at the level of individuals, groups and entire societies. Freedom of speech and multicentricity, make democratic societies more vulnerable to influence in the cognitive domain. Strategic signaling of nuclear readiness plays a special role among the leverage tools used by the Russian Federation. The interests of Western states have been and continue to be violated by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, the potential of Western states exceeds Russian potential many times over in a number of areas. Russia can count on a favorable resolution of the conflict for itself due to a calculation that takes into account the effective disruption of Western unity and determination to support a belligerent Ukraine, an element of which is the aforementioned threat of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons.

The current events related to the hybrid and now full-scale war in Ukraine have led the Ukrainian political leadership to realize the need for developing multivector international cooperation, which was previously concentrated mainly on the countries of the Global North. The African continent, due to its active economic and demographic development, has become a region of intense competition among many world powers, including former colonial metropoles, the EU, the U.S., as well as China, Russia, and Turkey. The Russian-Ukrainian war has deepened the food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and intensified Russia’s use of private military companies in certain states. Ukraine is fully capable of offering African countries cooperation in various fields—from trade to joint production of machinery, leveraging expertise in IT, cybersecurity, and the military sector. The recognition of the need to change its approach to the region has led to the development of several strategic documents, and attention to their implementation will yield both economic and political dividends for Ukraine and African states alike.

Russia and China’s rivalry in Central Asia from 2000 to 2024

This article examines the evolving dynamics of influence between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China in Central Asia from 2000 to 2024. Central Asia, rich in natural resources such as gas, oil, uranium, and other minerals, has been a focus of attention for both countries. Initially, Russia maintained significant dominance, particularly in military and cultural spheres, while China expanded its presence mainly in economic and infrastructural domains, especially after launching the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The rivalry between these two powers intensified following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which weakened Russia’s overall influence. In contrast, China has strengthened its ties with Central Asian states, bypassing Russian territory for its trade routes to Europe. Using neorealism and neoliberal institutionalism as theoretical frameworks, this article explores the balance of power and cooperation in Central Asia, as well as the role of international organizations such as the SCO, CSTO, and the Eurasian Economic Union. The study concludes that China has significantly expanded its presence in the region, while Russia has seen a decline in influence, although it remains a key player, especially in military and security matters.

Disinformation as one of the tools in hybrid warfare

This article aims to highlight the variety of tools used today in hybrid warfare, which combine conventional warfare with irregular tactics and disinformation, posing new challenges to traditional strategies. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Ukraine and Russia, and Poland and Belarus, among others, where disinformation and the media played a key role, were analysed. The need for media education, public awareness raising, accountability of media and social media platforms, and the introduction of regulation as integrated measures necessary to build resilience against information manipulation were identified.

The fight against disinformation in the European Union, using the example of the war in Ukraine

Disinformation, meaning false information disseminated to mislead or deceive the audience, is gaining prominence in social and political life. This article aims to analyze the Russian disinformation narrative regarding the war in Ukraine and to present the European Union’s response to this false narrative. The study was carried out based on literature on the subject, source documents, and content posted on the EUdisinfo.eu. The analysis shows how dangerous the Russian disinformation narrative is for international relations and how important it is to constantly analyze content published on the Internet and expose irregularities.

February 24, 2022: Russian forces start the full-scale invasion of Ukraine under the orders of Russian President Putin. Since then, our world has been in turmoil; what seemed certain for years is not certain. After the end of the Second World War, the World Powers established international organizations to prevent that amount of suffering from happening again. Are international organizations useful for maintaining peace? This research essay is going to address the question based on available literature and internet news sources to draw some tangible conclusions and perhaps even to suggest some improvements on how international organizations will be able to stay relevant for global peace in the future. The War in Ukraine will serve as a case study in the essay’s second half. The reader will learn that international organizations have performed well in their functions, that Western nations did things wrong in handling the Ukrainian crisis, and that organizations like NATO got a new drive and purpose courtesy of the Russian aggression. Most importantly, the reader will learn that argumentations on the demise of the liberal world order are premature at best.