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The article discusses the intellectual awakening regarding Ukrainian culture following Russia's invasion in 2022, focusing on the need to address historical epistemic injustice. Topics discussed include Ukrainian war poetry translation, memory engagement in contemporary Ukrainian literature, and the influence of key poets like Serhii Zhadan and Marianna Kiianovs'ka.

In the overlapping global emergencies of the pandemic, climate change and geopolitical confrontations, supply shocks have become frequent and inflation has returned. This raises the question of how sector-specific shocks are related to overall price stability. This paper simulates price shocks in an input–output model to identify sectors which present systemic vulnerabilities for monetary stability in the United States. We call these prices systemically significant. We find that in our simulations the pre-pandemic average price volatilities and the price shocks in the COVID-19 and Ukraine war inflation yield an almost identical set of systemically significant prices. The sectors with systemically significant prices fall into four groups: energy, basic production inputs other than energy, basic necessities, and commercial infrastructure. Specifically, they are "Petroleum and coal products," "Oil and gas extraction," "Utilities," "Chemical products," "Farms," "Food and beverage and tobacco products," "Housing," and "Wholesale trade." We argue that in times of overlapping emergencies, economic stabilization needs to go beyond monetary policy and requires institutions and policies that can target these systemically significant sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite Berdichev, Ukraine, being Joseph Conrads ancestral home, and despite the fact he is arguably the most globally famous writer born on Ukrainian soil, few of its residents seem to [...]

Bill McKibben, an environmental activist and writer, emphasizes the need for urgent action to address the climate crisis. He highlights the importance of political action in accelerating the transition to renewable energy and impeding the fossil fuel industry. McKibben calls for collective action and collaboration across generations to combat climate change. He also emphasizes the role of voting, holding elected officials accountable, media coverage, global partnerships, and financial investments in renewable energy. Despite the challenges, McKibben encourages individuals to join movements and work together to create change. [Extracted from the article]

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine demonstrates once again the vulnerability and significance of cities in war. In this article, and with inspiration from Ian Hacking's historical ontology, I draw on a varied source material to argue that there is today something new and qualitatively distinct in how the U.S. military approaches war and combat in urban environments. By investigating the historical-conceptual trajectory of "the urban" in U.S. military practice from the mid-eighteenth century until today, the article argues that a gradual shift has occurred in terms of how the armed forces have begun to think of and act on the urban as a distinct object that can be made "known" and managed in and through a specialized knowledge. A "military urban" has come into being, conditioned by a particular epistemic and implying a new way for urban spaces to exist in war. The article's findings have implications for our understanding of what the urban is for militaries and, relatedly, for grasping the role of epistemics and knowledge practices in conditioning military actions in and on urban spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the short-term market impact of the beginning of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine (February 24, 2022) on the world's largest defense firms. Design/methodology/approach: The authors examine the world's 100 largest listed defense firms at and around the beginning of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine using an event-study methodology. Findings: We observe a positive and statistically significant stock price reaction at and around the beginning of the military conflict. These results are consistent with the asset-pricing perspective/expected cash flow hypothesis. Consistent with the captured regulator theory, we find superior market returns for the two portfolios with a greater weight of defense sales. Superior market returns are also found for defense firms with higher R&D and capital expenditure intensity. Finally, these reactions are reinforced or mitigated by other firm-specific characteristics such as size, profitability and institutional ownership. Originality/value: The effect of the war on stock markets has been relatively little examined in the financial theory. This study intends to fill this gap in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the European Union (EU) energy security breaks new ground, particularly after the 2022 war between Russia and Ukraine. With solar and wind power being the two dominant forms, and electricity interconnections throughout Europe to have come under the spotlight, the unregulated Eastern Mediterranean region is vital. It exhibits the biggest RES potential throughout Europe and hosts projects of European concern, such as the EuroAfrica and EuroAsia interconnectors. This profile builds on earlier work to contribute to two dimensions: a) theoretically, by showing that soft legalization does not only guarantee security in unregulated environments but can also be expanded to the development of RES and b) empirically, by elaborating on late advancements on RES in the region, with pay-offs for the EU energy security and sustainable development. All these at a time when traditional partners and critical energy commodities come into question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the intersection of Holocaust studies with ecocritical and zoocritical perspectives, exploring the relationship between genocide and ecocide. It delves into the anthropocentrism of Holocaust research and the emerging field of environmental genocide studies. The text highlights various scholars' perspectives on the intertwining of human and non-human worlds, as well as the implications of environmental destruction on human societies. The special issue of Holocaust Studies presented in the article focuses on representations of the ecocide/genocide nexus in discourse, emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of environmental Holocaust research. [Extracted from the article]

Heracleum sosnowskyi (Sosnowsky's hogweed, or just Hogweed) is considered a growing ecological problem in Russia at least since the 2010s. The plant's feral invasion creates a predicament interpreted by some scientists and civil activists as an "emergency" or even "apocalypse." However, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this apocalyptic rhetoric has been supplemented by ideological stamps from Russian propaganda: Hogweed is a "biological weapon" and a "brotherly help from America" that "Mother Russia" must be protected from. Given all these facts, it is hard to see any Russian environmental security measures just as "measures"; rather, a new—ideological and military—front is opening up, this time in the name of a fight against the nonhuman. By focusing in this article on the ideo-logical rather than biological aspect of Hogweed trouble, I want to show how the anti-Hogweed civil war transforms into a special plant operation; and in which way nature and culture, material and ideal, Soviet Union and the Russian world are involved in both the ecological and ideological formation of contemporary Putinism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Expressive citizenship: Youth, social media, and democracy" explores the concept of expressive citizenship among young people, emphasizing the importance of political expression on social media platforms. The authors argue that young people's political expression is creative, personal, and meaningful, shaping their political views and connecting them with others. The emergence of expressive citizenship as a model of good citizenship highlights the role of social media in political socialization and participation among youth, with implications for future research in the field of children and media studies. The article also discusses the challenges and complexities of expressive citizenship, including issues of performative expression, mobilization, and affective polarization in online political discourse. [Extracted from the article]

This paper investigates the resilience of city diplomacy versus traditional state diplomacy during crises, focusing on COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine's impact on Polish-Chinese paradiplomatic relations. The hypothesis posits that city diplomacy is less durable in facing external shocks than traditional diplomacy. The article analyses bilateral relations at subnational, national, and supranational levels using a multi-level governance framework. Empirical evidence from surveys and interviews reveals the nuanced dynamics amid crises. Findings indicate a general deterioration of Polish-Chinese city-to-city relationships, highlighting the fragility of the paradiplomatic links. The paper contributes to understanding diplomatic resilience, emphasising the increasing role of local governments in international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered social and economic stagnation worldwide, significantly impacting people's lives. In addition, the Russia-Ukraine war that began in 2022 resulted in rising food prices globally, severely affecting low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine the impact of these unprecedented crises on individual values, focusing on Senegal's urban population. This study is the first to quantitatively assess changes in the values of urban Senegalese during this global crisis. Surveys were conducted in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in August-September 2018 and June-July 2022. The timing of these studies coincides with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022. The findings revealed a 19.9% decrease in the average monthly cost of living per capita between 2018 and 2022, attributed to the combined effects of rising food prices and unemployment. Furthermore, the proportion of households spending less than $3.50 per person per day—below the lower-middle-income class poverty line—increased by 11.05%. Our analysis indicates a decline in values such as benevolence, universalism, hedonism, and self-direction. In contrast, values related to power and achievement significantly increased following the pandemic. These results suggest that individual values are flexible and may change in response to external factors such as global crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The armed conflict in Ukraine and its impact on Europe’s economy have led to an war and economic crisis, potentially affecting the mental health of women during the perinatal period. This study aimed to assess the severity of depressive symptoms and labor anxiety among Polish women in perinatal period during this crisis.Methods: From June 2, 2022, to April 11, 2023, 152 women completed three sets of online surveys—two during pregnancy (before 33 weeks and/or between 33 and 37 weeks) and one postpartum (4 weeks after childbirth). The questionnaires used to evaluate the anxiety and depressive symptoms included Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2), Labor Anxiety Questionnaire (LAQ), and team-developed questionnaires evaluating war-related anxiety (WAQ) and global situation anxiety (GSAQ) Statistical analyses included U-Mann Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, Wilcoxon signed-rank, Friedman tests and Spearman’s correlations, with a significance level set at p < .05.Results: Among Polish pregnant women aged 23–43, 31.6% of participants experienced depressive symptoms, while 70.4% reported increased labor-related anxiety. Additionally, 24.3% experienced significant anxiety due to the war, and 25% suffered from severe anxiety related to the global situation. Positive correlations were noted between EPDS and GSAQ scores (R = 0.34, p < .001) and LAQ and WAQ scores (R = 0.21, p = .008).Conclusions: The prevalence of perinatal depression is high during war and economic crisis, underscoring the urgent need to improve screening for perinatal depression in Poland. Further, the manuscript did not discuss symptom patterns across the three time points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, and the further introduction of martial law affected all spheres of Ukrainian society, including the non-profit sector’s activities. As a result, civil society institutions were forced to adapt to new public needs, as well as to emerging security challenges and new regulatory restrictions. In this research note, we examine on one side, how the martial law and previous legislation (and the related societal upheavals) have shaped the new roles and functioning of non-profit organizations in Ukraine and, on the other side, what the challenges to volunteers’ and domestic non-profit organizations’ activities in Ukraine deriving from these regulations and legislations. The identification of these challenges ensues from a survey of the Ukrainian non-profit sector as well as an analysis of Ukrainian regulation, statistical data, and recent scientific papers. Overall, we highlight a key discrepancy between Ukrainians’ concept of charitable activities as well as humanitarian aid and the Western approach to the same concepts and suggest regulatory improvements to address other challenges identified to facilitate philanthropic activities in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial discusses the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019, highlighting the damage to the roof and subsequent restoration efforts. It explores the significance of heritage assets and intangible cultural heritage in collective narratives. The text also delves into the impact of modern developments on historic sites, conservation challenges post-conflict, and the importance of energy efficiency in historic buildings. Additionally, it addresses the preservation of underwater cultural heritage and the evolving practices in conservation policy and practice in the UK. [Extracted from the article]

The paper analyzes the problem of entropy in the moments of transition from a normal economic situation (2015–2019) to the Pandemic period (2020–2021) and the period of Russia's attack on Ukraine (2022–2023). The research in the article is based on the analysis of electricity, oil, coal, and gas prices in 27 countries of the European Union and Norway. The daily data cover the period from January 1, 2015, to March 30, 2023, and were analyzed using two-dimensional sets of electricity and commodity prices. The work uses the time dependent James-Stein estimator of the Shannon informational entropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the impacts of the Russia–Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain and logistics related to the management of agro-food production based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. The challenges and lessons posed by market dependence in a scenario of globalization through monopolies and oligopolies in the production and export of agro-food are assessed, highlighting the vulnerability and uncertainty faced when an international conflict occurs. The review examines the format of globalization versus glocalization, analyzing their respective advantages and disadvantages in supply chains and management in the context of two major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Likewise, the resilience of agro-food and agro-industrial systems that were negatively affected by food insecurity and food price inflation in parts of Europe, Africa, and other regions of the planet is analyzed. By identifying opportunities arising from these challenges, the research offers insights into fostering a more robust agro-food supply chain that is more adaptable to global crises based on the geographic location and regional development of agribusinesses capable of responding to demand in the event of a global crisis such as a pandemic or armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores correlations and risk spillovers, essential concepts for financial risk management, among commodities (crude oil, gold, and a global commodities index) and emerging stock markets. Using the Asymmetric Dynamic Conditional Correlation–Conditional Value-at-Risk (ADCC-CoVaR) model and a bootstrapped Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test, we analyze the period from December 30, 2005, to February 28, 2024, examining correlations, downside and upside risk spillovers, and highlighting the effects of major events such as the global financial crisis of 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war. The results show heightened correlations during crises and significant risk spillovers across market pairs, with downside risks often outweighing upside risks. Gold displays minimal risk spillover, highlighting its unique role as a haven asset. We find that spillovers between gold, global commodities, and stocks increased during the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while those involving crude oil remained stable. These findings provide valuable guidance for portfolio managers in navigating volatile markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive intergroup violence such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to inflict devastating harm to individuals and societies. Civil societies generally do not need to remain inactive and can support peace processes even in severely escalated, apparently unsolvable intergroup conflicts. However, such engagement is delicate, and the exact conditions that make such commitment possible and effective in ‘classic’ interstate war settings remain unclear. Herbert C. Kelman (1927–2022), a social psychologist at Harvard University, developed seminal approaches of unofficial ‘Track Two’ diplomacy and problem-solving, mainly in the Israeli-Palestinian intergroup conflict. Using metatheory and critical hermeneutics, we suggest its current updated form is the conceptual enhancement from inter-group to complex intra/inter-national settings. Therefore, Track Two approaches can be valuable in the Russia/Ukraine setting. The paper outlines initial efforts of ongoing facilitated dialogue, unilateral on both sides and inter-coordinational between, offering inroads in an interstate context where conflict transformation is desperately needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the coexistence of the Russian émigré community and Georgian civil society in Tbilisi and the tensions between them since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It analyzes how these interactions reflect broader post-colonial dynamics, particularly focusing on the differing political grammars and histories that shape both communities. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, the study highlights the complexities of this encounter, emphasizing the influence of historical narratives, collective action, and the post-Soviet socio-political context. The paper uncovers the nuances of visibility, integration, and mutual perceptions, ultimately contributing to the broader debates on post-socialist societies, migration, and civil society development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis contribution examines the complex dynamics of war-induced mobilities, focusing on the Russo-Ukrainian war’s impact on human movement and immobility. Drawing on theories of necropolitics, regimes of mobility, and mobility justice, the study examines how war compels some individuals to flee while immobilizing others, creating significant theoretical and methodological challenges. The analysis highlights the uneven scholarly attention given to different forms of mobility, such as refugees and internally displaced persons, compared to less visible movements like deportation, smuggling, human trafficking, and war imprisonment. The article also investigates how regimes of mobility are shaped by and, in turn, influence international relations, with a particular focus on the policies governing movement across borders. Through case studies from Ukraine and Russia, the contribution provides a comparative understanding of the diverse and often underexplored effects of modern warfare on civilian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of supply chain resilience in the face of economic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, global geopolitical tensions, and climate risks. It highlights how disruptions in supply chains can propagate and amplify shocks internationally, affecting firms, customers, and suppliers. Strategies to improve resilience, such as increasing input sources, inventory accumulation, and re-shoring production domestically or to "friendlier" countries, are being adopted by firms and policymakers. The article emphasizes the trade-offs associated with resilience investments, as they may raise input prices but are crucial for mitigating the effects of future disruptions. [Extracted from the article]

What mass publics know about foreign affairs is of great importance in international politics. Knowledge and ignorance probabilistically delimit the range of opinions likely to form on foreign affairs issues. Military strategists understand the importance of “information warfare,” since publics apply foreign affairs knowledge to form opinions that may help or hinder a government's foreign policy goals. However, little research has investigated what the Russian and U.S. publics know about the invasion of Ukraine. By using a signal detection technique to assess the accuracy of, and bias in, knowledge related to the war in its first few months, this study provides insight into the knowledge both publics used to form opinions about the conflict in mid‐2022. The results indicate that both groups have more accurate knowledge pertaining to the dominant narrative in the opposing country, compared to the dominant narrative in their own country. Both groups evinced greater bias toward their own‐country narrative, with Russians more biased than Americans. These results are connected to differences and similarities in the two countries' media systems and political contexts. Normative implications differ; from a classical realist international relations perspective, public ignorance is expected and irrelevant, but some versions of democratic theory require unbiased and accurate knowledge found absent here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, some of the timeliest intelligence was provided not by intelligence agencies, but by private actors. Open-source intelligence is an increasing focus in intelligence studies; however, little systematic attention has been paid to the vendors that collect, analyze, and operationalize intelligence outside of classified national security environments. This research addresses this gap through a new dataset that seeks to capture the expanding array of intelligence providers that serve the private sector. This paper examines how vendors apply intelligence tradecraft to support corporate risk mitigation, including travel security, executive protection, and geopolitical risk analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has sped up the trend of the transformation of the world into the bipolar world of the Cold War, this time centered on Washington and Beijing.11 Serhii Plokhy, The Russo-Ukrainian War. The Return of History (W. W. Norton & Company 2023). Amid the war, Ukraine faces the dilemma of how to maintain the strategic balance with China and the U.S. while harmonizing with the EU approach. This article aims to examine the evolution of Sino-Ukrainian relations over a 32-year history of development and addresses two research questions: what internal and external factors have been critical in influencing bilateral relations during this historical period and how these factors have led both countries’ decision-makers to transition from high-level strategic interactions to those predominantly based on trade, resulting in the current de facto political disregard of Ukraine by China. This academic research provides valuable insights for both academic and policymaking communities into the behavior and diplomatic outcomes between Ukraine and China, demonstrating how geopolitical shifts and internal political dynamics have influenced the trajectory of their bilateral relationship. It elucidates the current stance and future developments of their relations. Additionally, it serves as a case study for smaller countries, particularly other post-Soviet states, in navigating their engagements with China in a changing geopolitical landscape.Serhii Plokhy, The Russo-Ukrainian War. The Return of History (W. W. Norton & Company 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes two complementary models, the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressive Diebold–Yilmaz (TVP-VAR-DY) and the Time-Varying Parameter Vector Autoregressive Baruník–Křehlík (TVP-VAR-BK), to investigate the dynamic volatility transmission between exchange rates and stock returns in major commodity-exporting and -importing countries. The analysis focuses on periods of quantitative easing (QE) and quantitative tightening (QT) from March 15, 2020 to December 30, 2022. The countries examined are Canada and Australia (major commodity exporters) and the UK and Germany (major commodity importers). An essential contribution of this paper is new empirical insights into the dynamics of stock market returns and the transmission of volatility between these markets and exchange rates during the QE and QT periods. The results reveal that causality primarily flows from stock markets to exchange rates, especially during the QT period across all investment horizons. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) emerges as the principal net driver among the markets under study. Furthermore, the Canadian exchange rate (USDCAD) and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) are the most significantly affected indices within the network across various investment horizons (excluding the long-term). These findings underscore the importance for investors and policymakers to consider the interplay between exchange rates and stock market returns, particularly in the context of the QE and QT periods, as well as other economic, political, and health-related events. Our findings are relevant to various stakeholders, including governments, traders, portfolio managers, and multinationals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen unprecedented shifts in global natural gas trade, precipitated in large part by Russia's war on Ukraine. How this regional conflict impacts the future of natural gas markets is subject to three interconnected factors: (i) Russia's strategy to regain markets for its gas exports; (ii) Europe's push towards increased liquified natural gas (LNG) and the pace of its low carbon transition; and (iii) China's gas demand and how it balances its climate and energy security objectives. A scenario modelling approach is applied to explore the potential implications of this geopolitical crisis. We find that Russia struggles to regain pre-crisis gas export levels, with the degrees of its success contingent on China's strategy. Compared to 2020, Russia's gas exports are down by 31–47% in 2040 where new markets are limited and by 13–38% under a pivot to Asia strategy. We demonstrate how integrating energy geopolitics and modelling enhances our understanding of energy futures. The war on Ukraine has reduced Russia's ability to export its natural gas, notably to the European market. Under any future strategy, Russia struggles to regain pre-crisis gas export levels, with its success partly contingent on China's gas supply strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate how Foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade openness influenced economic growth in BRICS countries from 1990 to 2022, using the Pooled Mean Group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) and System Generalized Method of Moments (System-GMM) methods. Our findings show that these two variables boost economic growth by 0.172, 0.021, 0.291, and 0.072%, respectively. Additionally, the results indicate that BRICS countries have demonstrated greater resilience in terms of FDI and trade before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, underscoring the effectiveness of their investment and trade policies in maintaining economic growth amidst global disruptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes how the first six months of the armed conflict in and around the Gaza Strip impacted political and media discourses about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2023, in five countries: the two belligerents, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. It shows that after 7 October 2023, the attention of Western leaders and media was distracted from the situation in Ukraine and redirected to the Gaza Strip. The sampled social media, VKontakte and Telegram, reacted to the military operations in the Gaza Strip mostly in unison with legacy media. Before and after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, sources of political and media discourses formed national clusters. The corpora containing more than 218 million words in four languages, Ukrainian, Russian, English, and French, informed the analysis. In addition to social media, the corpora include speeches from political leaders and news items about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, run by seventeen legacy media outlets (newspapers, online news portals, and T.V. channels). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document explores the concept of soft balancing in international relations, focusing on regional dynamics and the role of regional institutions in power politics. It discusses soft balancing strategies in various regions, such as the Indo-Pacific, central Asia, Europe, and BRICS, and their impact on regional and global orders. Additionally, the document delves into topics like the EU's soft balancing governance model, US-China institutional balancing in the Indo-Pacific, and the evolution of soft balancing in informal institutions like BRICS. The text also touches on other subjects like nuclear security in Vietnam, mobile money in Somalia, and feminist perspectives on heritage destruction by Islamic State. [Extracted from the article]

The international system is experiencing economic and geopolitical power shifts, requiring scholars to develop a more informed understanding of emerging regional orders. This article examines regional balancing in central Asia, which has gained significantly in strategic importance following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is one of the first attempts in the International Relations (IR) literature to analyse multiple levels of balancing, examining soft balancing at both great and secondary powers levels. The article has two goals: 1) to examine the strategies available to both secondary and great powers in central Asia; and 2) to contribute to IR theory by exploring the connections between soft balancing at two dimensions and discussing the implications for the emerging central Asian regional order. While great powers pursue soft balancing through international institutions, secondary powers exercise soft balancing through limited alignments, institutional balancing, strategic non-cooperation, 'cheap-talk' diplomacy, costly signalling and legitimacy denial. Despite the commonalities between soft balancing behaviour at both levels, this article shows the differences in motivations across different levels. Whereas secondary powers use soft balancing mostly for defensive purposes—to balance against perceived threats— great powers use it more proactively, to establish or preserve regional spheres of influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacifists are used to finding their arguments being dismissed as naive or even dangerous, especially once war has erupted. Yet this is precisely when pacifist arguments are arguably at their sharpest, and when questioning the 'warist' orthodoxy is most urgent. This article demonstrates the point by articulating three sets of pacifist critical reflections on the reactions to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. First, enough evidence has mounted about the relative effectiveness of nonviolent (compared to violent) methods of civil resistance to ask the question: how might a coordinated national campaign of Ukrainian nonviolent resistance have compared to the way the war has unfolded to date? Second, the defaulting to a military response that nonetheless prevailed rests on two ingrained assumptions that pacifists query: on the efficacy of violence as an instrument, and on the place of violence in 'human nature'. Third, war also transforms agents of violence politically, economically and culturally, thus further entrenching centralization, militarism, 'warism' and their concomitant dangers. It is too late to apply such pacifist reflections to the conduct of the war in Ukraine up to the present, but it is not too late to do so in the context of any ongoing tensions in the region, or indeed in the context of defence planning the world over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 resulted in the largest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII. Using a unique panel conjoint experiment on refugee policy preferences carried out in Germany, Poland and Hungary just before and after the onset of the war in Ukraine, we show a heterogenous response to the influx of refugees from Ukraine across the three countries: no change of policy preferences in Germany, moderate change in Hungary and a significant change in Poland. Our results have direct implications for the development of a common EU asylum policy, as even though the countries persistently diverge on the preferred mode of asylum seekers' allocation, with Germans favouring relocation and Poland and Hungary the status quo, the results highlight the scope for consensus rooted in shared preference for the asylum seekers' unrestricted access to the labour market. This dimension consistently emerges as the most important policy dimension in all three countries before and after the outbreak of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lives of millions of people, who fled from Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, were turned upside down from one day to the next. When faced with such an abrupt escape, what initial thoughts do refugees have about whether to remain in their new host country or to return when the war ends? In this study, we focus on refugees' initial return aspirations soon after their escape. We conduct an in-depth analysis of how individual background factors and circumstances affect refugees' aspirations to remain or return. Based on unique data collected during the months immediately following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we use survey data on Ukrainian refugees in Norway to examine their return aspirations and what individual factors that affect these aspirations and qualitative interviews with Ukrainian refugees to explore the rationales for their initial aspirations. We find that only one-fourth plan to return to Ukraine as soon as the war ends. Our analysis of how individual factors affect initial return aspirations both support and contradict previous research. Thus, we discuss how our apparently contradictory findings provide theoretical nuances of how host country and refugee group characteristics interplay with individual predictors of initial return aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes some displaced populations deserving protection more than others? I discuss this complex problem in a critical analysis of discursive narratives, presented by Polish authorities about the situation on its two Eastern borders between 2021 and 2023. I propose the race-gender-geopolitics nexus of intersectional analysis to reveal how and why migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border were presented as threatening and ingenuine as asylum-seekers, and Ukrainians became real 'war refugees'. While the identified narratives corresponded with the existing studies on the influence of race and gender on perceived deservingness and victimisation, considering geopolitics offers a novel, context-specific analytical layer of discourse production. I thus move beyond the 'deserving/undeserving' binary, complicating the picture with other groups of displaced people, often silenced in the analysed representations. I demonstrate how the widespread post-colonial, racializing and patriarchal attitudes have been intertwined with regional geopolitical goals and relations with neighbouring countries. For Poland, these are the aspirations to anchor its position within the West, as well as its complicated history with Russia and Belarus but also Ukraine. I argue that all of that, coupled with the long-standing antimigrant attitudes, resulted in particular discourses about the incoming people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To counter the escalating threat of direct conflict with rogue nations, the use of sanctions packages has become a preferred tactical response. However, although targeted, there are significantly elevated spillover effects that can generate sectoral damage. While the literature on sanctions has focused on analyzing the effectiveness and the impact on the sanctioned and sanctioning country, spillover effects have not been addressed in the tourism and travel industry. Based on behavioral decision theory and modern portfolio theory, this study states hypotheses and confronts two potential results derived from each theory regarding the way negative consequences of sanctions spill over into airlines. Using the aviation sanctions packages derived from the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 in different regions worldwide, the results indicate greater spillovers flow into airlines than other aviation-related corporations, into big firms than small firms, and with significant differential effects on each analyzed region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book review of "LNG – After the Pandemic" by Michael D. Tusiani and Gordon Shearer provides a comprehensive overview of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine. The authors detail the evolution of LNG from its inception to its current global prominence, highlighting key events and market dynamics. The book offers insights into pricing structures, market reactions, and future trends, presenting a well-researched and informative analysis of the industry's past, present, and future. [Extracted from the article]