Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

Recent years have been very turbulent for the small NATO member states located near the Russian border. Concerns about the credibility of collective deterrence and overall solidarity have been growing since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. For the Baltic states bordering Russia, the potential withdrawal of United States military support from Europe, as well as the insufficient levels of stockpiles and defense readiness among European states, have created a significant erosion of security. Baltic needs and expectations regarding European NATO powers could be better articulated and more focused once the United States’ levels of commitment and solidarity are clarified. The primary questions, however, center on how much of the Baltic states’ future survival is in their own hands and how much depends primarily on global powers with their own ambitions and preferences in the region. New affordable and acceptable solutions need to be found quickly, collectively, and at the intra-state level. Ankara’s NATO meeting in 2026 has brought some positive energy to Baltic security and deterrence options during Trump’s second presidency. Long-expected contributions from NATO to Baltic defense and security have not only been debated but also promised.

The protection of cultural heritage is an important element of a country’s cultural policy. The article describes the nature of threats posed by armed conflicts to cultural heritage and the destruction of Ukrainian cultural property by Russian aggression in 2022. The article aims at discussion of the consequences of Russia’s deliberate destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage and offers an interdisciplinary insight into protection of cultural heritage during the contemporary armed conflict. These initial observations from Russian aggression against Ukraine serve as a starting point for a discussion on challenges related to the protection of cultural heritage during a potential armed conflict in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on practical observations from Ukraine, the article calls for improvements to the protection of cultural heritage in Poland.

The protection of cultural heritage is seen as an important element of a country’s cultural policy. The article describes the nature of the threats posed by Russian aggression on Ukrainian cultural heritage and the destruction of cultural property. The article was aimed at highlighting the consequences of Russia’s deliberate destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage and an interdisciplinary look at its value and protection during the contemporary armed conflict. This assessment can serve as a starting point for a discussion on the challenges related to the protection of cultural heritage during a potential armed conflict in Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on practical examples of Ukraine, solutions were proposed to improve the protection of cultural heritage in Poland.

The aim of the article is to present Chechen terrorism as a consequence of violations of basic human rights, including the crimes of genocide committed by the Russian Federation in the First Russo-Chechen War in 1994-1996. It has been argued that terrorism has become a dramatic way of drawing the international community’s attention to the tragedy taking place in Chechnya. Over time, Chechen fighters were influenced by radical Muslim groups and used terrorist fighting methods. On the other hand, the Russians did not shy away from bombing entire villages they suspected of sheltering wanted fighters. All this led to an escalation of terrorism and radicalization of religious views among a large part of the society. Moreover, the lack of a decisive reaction from the West to the policy of exterminating the Chechen population by the Russian Federation has led to an increase in anti-Western sentiment, which had not been recorded in Chechnya before.

This paper is an attempt to review the European debate between proponents of the voluntary and the obligatory case for CSR in the middle of the economic crisis that we are living. Starting by the analysis of the current European government-led initiatives to foster CSR among companies we move to the analysis of two specific national government-led initiatives in the EU area, Spain and Poland. Finally, the paper focuses on the comparison of both cases, as an example of the disparities between national policies in Europe. The lack of a regulatory European framework for CSR could explain the misbalance between country initiatives.