International Affairs No. 6, 2020 – Table of Contents

Key words: 75 years of the United Nations, Sergey Lavrov.

MR. CHAIRMAN, …

Key words: U.S., GDP, depression, unemployment, fiscal policy, monetary policy, national debt, budget deficit.

IN EARLY JUNE 2020, The National Bureau of Economic Research (New York), which is responsible for monitoring developmental cycles in the American economy, made the announcement that February 2020 had marked a peak in the American economy’s latest climb, which began in June 2009 and continued for more than 10.5 years (128 months). This stretch of the American economy’s growth has been the longest since such cycles started being observed and studied in 1854 [1]. Then, beginning in March 2020, primarily as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. economy began a precipitous slide into economic crisis. And the first outcomes of the American economy’s slide to the bottom immediately brought to mind the Great Depression of 1929-1939, because such indicators have not been marked since the end of World War II in the mid-1940s. …

Key words: international negotiations on the unification of Germany, NATO expansion, Two Plus Four treaty, Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev.

IN 2020, Germany – currently the leading European member of NATO – celebrated 30 years since the completion of the unification process of the FRG [Federal Republic of Germany] and the GDR [German Democratic Republic]. A year prior marked 70 years since the creation of NATO itself. On the eve of that anniversary, James Mattis, then American Secretary of Defense, speaking at a meeting of defense heads of this bloc in Brussels, called it “the most successful military alliance in modern world history” [1]. …

Key words: Russia, India, trade, economic cooperation, COVID-19.

REGARDLESS of where it moves to from now on, the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly had an unprecedented impact on the world economy. There have been various epidemics in the past that evolved into pandemics, but the current coronavirus pandemic is the first one to be handled by the international community in such a coordinated way. Many countries have been taking preventive measures, e.g., travel restrictions and suspension of industrial facilities, but those measures have caused serious economic underperformance. …

Key words: FAO, SDGs, achievements of FAO, Russia and FAO.

“You can’t build peace on empty stomachs.” …

Key words: “soft power,” power, humanitarian influence, humanitarian politics, infrastructure, foreign policy.

AT THE TURN of the 1990s, when the bipolar world order had fallen apart and the U.S. and the EU had launched their expansionist foreign policy, the West simultaneously formulated the “soft power” concept¹ and reissued, so to speak, the philosophical idea of civil society.² It was a new form of substantiating democracy designed to apply Western patterns in post-socialist societies through nongovernment organizations (NGOs) as agents at the middle and low levels. …

Key words: cultural valuables, restitution, colonies, metropolitan states, responsibility, international law, art, museums.

THE COLONIAL EPOCH not only shaped history, geography, the system of international relations but also and to a great extent, distribution of cultural valuables on the planet. In its colonial rage, Western Europe was capturing territories across the world which explains why the treasure troves of the biggest European museums look very impressive at the expense of cultural valuables brought from other continents. …

Key words: Russia, Cyprus, diplomatic relations, 60 years of friendship and cooperation.

Question: Mr. Ambassador, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Republic of Cyprus. What important milestones in our relations during this time would you single out? …

Key words: Battle of Khalkhin Gol, gratuitous aid, trade and economic relations, Mongolian students.

A CENTURY is a very long period not only for one person but even with regard to relations between Mongolia and Russia. During the past century, a lot has changed in Mongolia, Russia, and the world as a whole. Life goes on, with economic upturns followed by crises, technical innovations changing our way of life, and care about the future generation and the country taking up all the time. Our peaceful life today did not come easily, and amid our everyday problems, we must remember our heroes of the past, especially now, 75 years after the end of World War II. …

Key words: Laos, Russia, cooperation, ASEAN.

FRIENDLY RELATIONS between Laos and Russia have existed since the Soviet days. They are based on friendship, mutual understanding, trust, and the readiness to help each other. Geographic remoteness; cultural and linguistic differences; differences in customs, as well as the major political changes that have taken place in our countries, the region and the world, do not impede the development of our traditionally friendly ties. On the contrary, our friendship has not only survived the durability test, but has grown stronger, gaining a new impetus for its steady, productive development. Our countries established diplomatic relations on October 7, 1960. This year will mark the 60th anniversary of this notable event. …

Key words: Russia, Germany, European Union, Two Plus Four Agreement.

Question: In 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, or the Two Plus Four Agreement, was signed in Moscow. It was signed by the FRG and GDR foreign ministers, as well as by the foreign ministers of the four allied powers in World War II – i.e., the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The chief skeptic of the German reunification in Europe was British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. What did London and the other parties disagree on? Were there any other possible German reunification formats? …

Key words: Russia’s cultural policy, human capital, social capital, culturologists, information and communication technology (ICT), marketing.

A STUDY of the cultural policy of a country should involve studying the connection of the cultural life of that country with the political strategy of its government. Undoubtedly, the political course of a country is seriously affected by sociocultural factors that have evolved historically. …

Key words: Belarus, crisis of law, Belarusian law, constitution.

ALL TROUBLE in society stems from failure to reach agreement. Social contract theory, which is the basis of law (and has been somewhat oversimplified since it was first propounded), sees primitive society as what Thomas Hobbes describes as bellum omnium contra omnes (the war of all against all).¹ This made people realize the need for an arrangement where one needed to limit their own freedom in respecting the life and freedom of others. That realization gave birth to law. …

Key words: Transnistria, conflict, Russia, European Union (EU), OSCE, United States, NATO, OSCE, 5+2 format, United Nations, settlement.

Roots and Prehistory …

Key words: communication, communication regime, international communication, New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), types of communication regimes.

STUDIES of various aspects of mass communication have lately become one of the most common fields of scholarly research in humanities. Researchers have been taking up subjects such as information revolutions, information wars, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in international affairs, digital diplomacy, and transnational communication networks. However, any of these forms exists in a specific context, is governed by specific norms and rules, and may be institutionalized and legitimized by a specific government agency and/or international organization. We may sum up by saying that they all are regulated by specific communication orders and regimes and influence those orders and regimes. …

Key words: education, education policy, globalization, online learning, digital disruption, social inequality, academic mobility.

THE WORLD has changed in the blink of an eye in 2020 after being struck by a new virus that triggered a pandemic, put people all over the planet under enormous stress and confronted many countries with social and economic problems needing urgent solution. One way or another, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected practically everyone in the world. There have been prompt large-scale suspensions of business in many economic sectors, including manufacturing, tourism, air transportation, hospitality, and entertainment. Other sectors have been adapting to the new reality. The latter sectors include education – the pandemic has affected more than two billion learners in 192 countries [12] and has forced schools and universities to go over to distance learning. …

Key words: radioactive waste (RW), spent nuclear fuel (SF), American pragmatism, environmental problems, John Dewey.

THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT of the nuclear industry in the 20th century, the widespread use of radioactive isotopes in medicine and in military programs, the usage of nuclear submarines, as well as the operation of radiochemical plants, factories, nuclear power plants, and scientific research centers all around the world are accompanied by a constant accumulation of radioactive waste (RW) and spent nuclear fuel (SF). Mishandling of RW and SF could possibly inflict significant damage on the whole planet, not merely a single nation. Thus, the question of placing RW and SF in storage is the main component of an environmental issue shared by the whole planet due to the use of nuclear energy. …

Key words: environment, national sovereignty, Brazil, interference, forces of deterrence.

INTERNATIONAL PROTESTS against burning forests and indiscriminate tree felling in the Amazon revived the risk of political pressure, boycott of goods and economic sanctions imposed by great powers on the culpable states that do not pay enough attention to ecological problems. This might threaten their sovereignty: the world has increased its attention to the Brazilian Amazon and put forward unprecedented political demands. While fires were spreading across the Amazon rainforest. President of France Emmanuel Macron said at the G7 summit held in France in August 2019 that “the Amazon should be given an international status.” France has not yet moved in this direction, yet its president did not exclude a possibility that this idea would become part of the international agenda: “We should predate our actions by legal and political efforts. This is an open subject that will develop in the next months and years.”¹ …

Key words: Pruth-Dniester Interfluve, Moldavians, Southern Bessarabia, Alexander II, URP, ROC.

IN FEBRUARY 1828, Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855) signed the draft law Institution for Administering the Bessarabian Region that discontinued the experiment with the autonomy for the Pruth-Dniester interfluve. The “rights and freedoms” that Alexander I (1801-1825), his predecessor on the Russian throne, had granted to the local elite were replaced with the status of a province within the newly formed Novorossiyan-Bessarabian Governorship General, a new administrative unit in the South of Russia.¹ …

Key words: Sweden, USSR, World War II, Cold War, neutrality.

SWEDEN is a small and, in many respects, unique country with a specific historical experience. Indeed, it managed to remain outside the mess of World War II (WWII) and the Cold War. Two very different monographs* reviewed here offer new approaches to the specifics of Stockholm’s foreign policy and practical realization of its neutrality during WWII and the protracted Cold War that followed it. These works have acquired special value and special importance in the light of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. May 9 is an axiological and meaningful date, the U-turn and the fundamental foundation of national awareness amply confirmed by contemporary Sweden. …

Key words: Russia, USSR, West, NATO, United States, U.S., Germany, British-German disagreements, resource bases, World War I, World War II, unions and alliances, Plan Ost, Germanization, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, consequences, countries of people’s democracy, perestroika, common European home.

“Was there ever a boy? Maybe there was no boy.” …

Abdulatipov R. The Islamic Vector of Russian Foreign Policy – 4, 51

Ablyatipov A. The Republic of Crimea: Native Language Education – 1, 118 …