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The paper revisits the Lebensraum concept and examines its role in world politics, with reference to the Chinese and Russian strategies towards Taiwan and Ukraine, respectively, to achieve their geopolitical goals, thereby drawing a parallel between Adolf Hitler’s strategic ideas and those of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in the 21st century. The paper analyzes Lebensraum, both conceptually and theoretically, to examine how it influences the territorial annexation strategy of a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the interdependencies between democracy, privatization, and the rule of law in transitioning countries by comparing the cases of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Based on the findings, the study recommends policies to follow to improve the progression of economic and political transition. By focusing on two key hypotheses--whether democracy positively drives privatization, and whether privatization positively drives the rule of law--the study combines political and economic transitions of countries as one subject. It is found that democracy negatively interferes with privatization in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus due to corruption, insider control, hollow reforms, and institutional weakness. Consequently, the rule of law is also hindered by the same factors. Hence, the root causes of these transitional blockers must be resolved. Finally, the study explores political and economic interdependencies and suggests policies for political, economic, and institutional reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starlink, the satellite Internet constellation of Elon Musk's SpaceX, faced signal jamming recently near conflict areas of Ukraine, amid the ongoing invasion by Russia, drawing global attention to space law. It has been argued that necessary legislations have to address the contours of cyber defense in the area of space law. This includes testing the validity of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, 2001, against the Outer Space Treaty, 1967, if damages are caused to satellites from the geographical confines of earth through cyberwarfare. This paper seeks to address this issue with specific cases from the past. Further, it endeavors to understand the interface between space law and cyberlaw in the context of cyberwarfare. The paper highlights the gray areas in cyberwarfare dispute resolution and analyzes them where legislation is lacking or insufficient in its scope and applicability. The paper also touches on laws regarding exploration of outer space for mineral and other resources of economic importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All wars end rightly, said Fred Charles Ikle, but through negotiation and diplomatic dialogue, not by complete annihilation of another civilization or change of regime. On the contrary, the Russia-Ukraine war despite several rounds of negotiation and meditations by Israel, Turkey, Germany and France is not showing any sign of slowing down since it started. The war has escalated with each passing day, leading to the firing of hypersonic missiles into several cities of Ukraine by the Russian forces. Despite all-out Western sanctions, stern and repeated warnings from the US and Europe, requests from the United Nations and intervention from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the war is not dying down. This has invited the attention of many and therefore the paper attempts to know and examine what went wrong in Ukraine and why Russia is so desperate to capture the nation in its geopolitical orbit. To diagnose the crisis and figure out the factors underneath the ongoing war between the two erstwhile brothers, this paper adopts a geopolitical, geo-economic and geo-cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to examine the gray areas of Indian stock market in the light of the complexities arising on account of the Russia-Ukraine war. It has been a while since the actual war began, and the Indian economy and stock bourses are still facing severe repercussions in trading activities. The conflict between the two nations has affected the economy, as the Indian capital market, along with its indexes, viz., Sensex and Nifty, finds itself in the red. The equity markets are facing a downturn of 7%, extending to an amount of more than 13 lakh cr, which means serious trouble. The paper attempts to demonstrate the impact of the ongoing crisis on the investments and returns of investors. It also focuses on how the domestic stock bourse can tackle the upcoming challenges and on investor behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chains lack global resilience and break down in the face of multi-country disruptions due to crises. The impact of Supply Chain Disruptions (SCD) has become all too familiar across the world: shortages, inflation, factory closures, goods waiting at ports to be unloaded, etc. They weaken macroeconomic indicators, hamper economic growth, and impact national security. Over the past five years, the world has seen many crises that have rattled global markets, beginning with the US-China trade war in 2018. This was followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the blockage of the Suez Canal, environmental issues, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The combination of these events has abruptly frozen global economic activities by restricting and hindering the Global Supply Chain Networks (GSCN). This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the causes of these disruptions and their widespread global economic consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We live in an unpredictable, uncertain world, which is full of political, economic, social and ecological pressures. Companies and nations used to compete based on cost optimization by relying on the costeffectively organized global value chains. Recently, this policy has resulted in serious disruptions due to the "just-in-time" management methods, which meant keeping a zero-level inventory. The operations of the global value chains have also cared less about sustainability, like energy intensity in the less developed countries where assembly operations are located. Investments have mainly been focused on tangibles: machineries, buildings and other infrastructures, while neglecting knowledge-related intangibles. This has resulted in lower-than-necessary knowledge capacity building. In the absence of proper knowledge, then tangible investments could not deliver the intended productivity improvements. This paper argues for the necessity of radical change in selecting growth models for businesses and nations alike. Unless there is a shift to applying more human and environmentally-responsible economic policies and business models, serious social and environmental disruptions will happen, which may abruptly put an end to using these cost optimizing business models. The post-pandemic problems and the ongoing war in Ukraine have sent shock waves through nations and businesses not only in Europe, but also in the United States and Asia. Though these shocks cause threats, they also create opportunities for intelligent and timely changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has dealt another blow to the world which was slowly recovering from the impact of Covid-19. Global economies were just beginning to make a turnaround, hoping to recover from supply chain disruptions and boost trade activities. However, the Ukraine crisis dealt a blow to trade activities by creating a food and energy crisis. Moreover, this war has put more pressure on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and European economies, especially Germany, which are majorly dependent on Russian supplies of gas and oil. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the genesis of the Russia-Ukraine crisis from the question of national identity complexities in Ukraine's nation-building process. It covers all the major events in the bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine until invasion and provides an in-depth analysis of what led to this impasse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russia-Ukraine crisis has posed a formidable challenge to the European security architecture dominated by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for a long time. Russia is on a revisionist path to reclaim its lost ground from NATO. The principle of 'equal and indivisible security' is fundamental to European security architecture. The belligerents of the crisis have different interpretations of this principle, resulting in confrontation. Ukraine's inclination to join NATO and the European Union (EU) might have been the foremost reason for Russia's invasion. But it also appears that Russia's larger geopolitical objective remains to redefine and redraw the lines of cohabitation with NATO. In this context, this paper tries to understand the trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and how it affects the European security architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Ukraine-Russia border tensions in 2021, West-Russia geopolitical rivalry over Ukraine, and its implications for the region's stability, security, and peace. The recent Russian military build-up at Ukraine's pro-Russian Donbas border, followed by invasion and the Russophobic response of US, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Union (EU), and Ukraine have attracted international attention. The US and European powers considered the Ukraine Crisis of 2014 and Crimea annexation as Russian aggression and imposed punitive sanctions against the country. The US, West, and Russia brokered Minsk Agreements for peacebuilding remain deadlocked now. The Ukraine crisis and Russia's reaction are the outcomes of the US-led West's strategy of NATO-EU eastern enlargement and democracy promotion in Russia's geopolitical backyard, which Russia sees as a threat to its national security and regional stability. In fact, recently Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden held a summit over Ukraine in December 2021. The US warned Russia of strong military retaliation and economic sanctions. Putin asserted Russophobia as a step towards genocide and sought guarantees against NATO's expansion towards Russia and weapons deployment near its border to diffuse tension and break the deadlock. Given the complexity of the crisis, it remains to be seen whether there will be peaceful conflict resolution through diplomacy and dialogue despite differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are limited to 20th century ideas of conquest/colonialism. They are tied to ideological frameworks of human history where ill-defined concepts of liberal democracy and totalitarian states are juxtaposed as if there were established typologies of governments. The history of Western involvement in the post-USSR era has certain similarities to the division of the Ottoman Empire from 1919. The goals of the current invasion, however, are seen in a too constrained space of international conflict and should be set into a broader framework of finance and investments. Resistance of the Ukrainians to Russian aggression creates an interesting laboratory to study the resilience of populations' ideas of legitimacy where institutions have been undermined by corruption. As the strength of institutions and their interrelations are essential to understanding how societies survive or fragment under external or internal stress, reference to how some institutions, both economic and political, function in the US will be utilized. The future can be defined by failure, an ISIS-like disaster of warlords in both Ukraine and Russia or some negotiated settlement that ends the war in a compromise of issues. As with the economic and political crises after WWI, today, the West faces challenges both to its economic dominance (especially the US dollar) and political realignment with China and Russia producing a new polar opposition to the Anglosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent spate of global crises, including Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war and the Sri Lankan crisis, have hindered the economic growth of almost all nations. The prevailing economic downturn has forced many organizations to assess their financial future and the possibility of financial distress. Financial distress is detrimental to all types of organizations and it is always advisable to avoid it because it creates a tendency for firms to do things that are not in favor of debt holders and non-financial stakeholders, impairing access to credit and deteriorating stakeholder relationships. The objective of this study is to predict the financial distress of firms by analyzing their liquidity position over a period of time and by assessing their working capital management strategy. The purpose is clear: the sooner the detection, the easier it will be for companies to take various preventive measures. If it is possible to find out the situation well in advance, appropriate action can be taken to reverse the process before it is too late. The present study is an attempt to determine the possibility of financial distress in sample companies by analyzing their performance using various financial and statistical techniques. It was conducted by taking a sample of ten Indian steel companies for the period 2017-18 to 2021-22. The data has been analyzed using various financial ratios related to profitability, liquidity, solvency and Motaal's Liquidity Assessment Test and Spearman's Rank Coefficient of Correlation to find out whether companies are compromising their liquidity to increase profitability. The findings show that among the ten selected companies, NMDC has the best liquidity situation and is least prone to facing financial distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]