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The paper deals with the essential nature of the US society and the American foreign policy in a global perspective. The fundamental aim of the paper is to get at the truth about the character of the US global politics as the only world hegemonic power currently, which uses the instrument of the war as the main source for the achievement of its main foreign policy goal: the Pax Americana as the global empire. The main conclusion of the research is that from the very beginning of the existence of the USA in 1776, the warfare is a crucial characteristic of the American culture. This very fact is a direct product and consequence of the nature of the economic system of the US followed by a consumerism mentality of the American society.

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Belarus is a country also known as Belorussia (White Russia, Weißrussland) in Eastern Europe, which was occupied by the PolishLithuanian common state for centuries until it became a part of Tsarist Russia in the late 18th century.1 Belarus faces many identity problems, but the most important one is the ethnolinguistic challenge to separate Belarussian2 national feature. This research paper investigates the focal problems of Belarussian ethnolinguistic, historical, political and national identity features using the methodology of text description and analyzing some relevant academic literature and historical sources. Historical and geopolitical background of Belarussian ethnonational identity question deserves special attention in the paper, which is supported by theoretical framework for ethnic and national identity research by eminent scholars. The fundamental conclusion of the paper is that Belarussian ethnonational identity has been historically developed outside of Belarus as a product of political Russophobia andtherefore it is extremely fragile among the people of Belarus today.

This paper presents a critical scientific view of some issues of the scientific publication of our colleagues from Croatia: D. Živić, S. Špoljar Vržina, S. Cvikić, I. Žebec Šilj (editors), Vukovar 91 - Genocide and Memoricide Heritage of the European Union, Zagreb: Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, 2014. It is an attempt to alternatively highlight the background of the military-political case of '1991 Vukovar Operation' in the context of the brutal breakup of the former SFR Yugoslavia, both from outside and inside, the historical conflicts between Croats and Serbs, as well as the international law and the moral principles of global politics and regional security at the outset of the post-cold war era of international relations, in which the nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia found themselves in 1991.

The research topic of this article is the 'Ukrainian Question' in perspective of 'Kosovo precedent' within the framework of international law, current stream of international relations, contemporary world politics and global security. The aim of the article is to investigate the possible solutions for the current Ukrainian political crisis through the prism of 'Kosovo precedent' and global security perspectives. The article consists of nine sections dealing with the Ukrainian identity, historical background of the Ukrainian statehood, the 2014 Euromaidan coup d'état and the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, 'Kosovo precedent' and the 'Ukrainian Question', the possible political solution of the current Ukrainian crisis founded on the example of 'Kosovo precedent', a global geopolitical context of the 'Ukrainian Question' and 'Kosovo precedent', the geopolitical convergence between the US and Russia as a geostrategic background of the 'Ukrainian Question', Russian geopolitical and national interest in Ukraine, and finally conclusions of the investigation. The fundamental conclusion of the research is that 'Kosovo precedent' has already served and will further serve in the near future as the foundation for territorial decomposition of Ukraine by neighbouring Russia, opening the doors for a new age of global security and international relations.

Introduction. Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare, progressive bacterial infection of superficial fascia followed by secondary subcutaneous tissue necrosis. We pressented a patient with massive fulminant lifethreatening necrotising fasciitis after bellow-knee femoro-popliteal vein bypass grafting successfully treated by antibiotics, surgical debridement and final skin reconstruction using the Tierch method. Case report. A 61-year-old patient was ad-mitted to the Vascular Surgery Clinic for below-knee femoro-popliteal bypass grafting. He complained of intermittent claudication in the left leg after 50 m, ankle brachial indexes were 0.45 on the left and 1.0 on the right side. Femoropopliteal below-knee bypass grafting was done using the autologous great saphenous vein. In the very next day, initial signs of skin infection appeared including local inflammation, erythema, swelling and cellulitis restricted to saphenectomy site. These changes had rapidly spread in the following days on the deep tissue of the whole upper and lower leg, including the groin and with clinical signs of life-threatening systemic infection. Immediate surgical debridement was done followed by extensive wound packing and wide spectrum antibiotics administration for the next 33 days when final skin reconstruction by the Tierch method was performed. Interesting point is that this entire time wound swab was sterile. Conclusion. In the presented case immediate surgical debridement, wide spectrum antibiotics administration and consistent wound packing gave satisfactory results in this life-threatening systemic infection. Wound swab is not always a reliable indicator of the infection while clinical findings and surgeons’ experience are of great significance in rapid reaction to this rare surgical complication. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 41002]

Introduction. Severe extremity ischemia and the presence of the “blue-toe” syndrome are rarely the first complications of the present abdominal aortic aneurysm. We report two interesting cases of this rare entity. Outline of Cases. A 61-year-old man presented with the rest pain of his toes accompanied with digital ischemia of both feet. Physical examination confirmed regular arterial pulses at lower extremities accompanied with palpable pulsate mass in the abdomen. Vascular ultrasound and multidetector tomography (MDCT) of blood vessels revealed small abdominal aortic aneurysm (37 mm in diameter), filled with the irregular, ulcerated, heterogeneous thrombotic masses. Aneurysm sac resection was performed with an aorto-bi-iliac bypass reconstruction. A week later, it was mandatory to amputate the fifth toe on the left foot because of the advanced gangrenous process. The second case was a 77-year-old woman with 7-day history of severe feet pain. Abdominal examination revealed pulsatile mass paraumbilical to the left. Performed abdominal ultrasonography and MDCT angiography confirmed coexistence of the infrarenal aortic aneurysm, 40.5 mm in diameter, covered by significant mobile mural thrombus and ulcerations. Surgical reconstruction was mandatory and patient underwent aneurysm sac resection and aortobifemoral reconstruction. Conclusion. Embolic phenomenon and peripheral embolic occlusion from the mural thrombus within the abdominal aortic aneurysm are relatively rare events, but associated with tissue loss. Thorough diagnostic examinations and prompt management are required regardless of the aneurysm size once these signs occurred.

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Introduction: Spontaneous dissection of supra-aortic arteries is an exceptionally rare cause of vocal cord dysfunction. We are reporting a case of spontaneous carotid dissection and internal carotid artery aneurysm presenting as vocal cord paralysis., Case Report: A 44-year-old female was admitted with hoarseness and swallowing disorders. Diagnostic imaging revealed dissection and obliteration of the right internal carotid artery (ICA) 23 mm from the carotid bifurcation. Electromyography revealed unilateral paralysis/paresis of the right vocal cord. Genetic analyses for thrombophilia, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 were found to be at high risk. The patient was discharged after 5 days without any neurological findings, and control angiography revealed complete restitution of the flow in the right ICA one month later. However, a fusiform aneurysm of the distal part of the extracranial right ICA was detected and excluded with endovascular procedure., Conclusion: Connective tissue systemic disorders and even mild trauma could initiate the dissection process of neck arteries. Precise diagnosis might be difficult even for an experienced neurologist, however, the final outcome is favorable., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is the gold standard for the treatment of symptomatic patients with atherosclerotic carotid disease. However, benefit of the CEA procedure depends on the rate of peri- and postoperative adverse neurological events. Therefore, brain monitoring is important in detecting cerebral ischemia during and after CEA and also allows to prompt appropriate action. Traditional methods of cerebral monitoring are being replaced by novel, easy-to-use techniques that allow continued monitoring of regional cerebral oxygen saturation. In this review, we present the recent literature data related to the mechanism of cerebral oximetry and its practical use during and after CEA., (© The Author(s) 2013.)

Before the routine use of computed tomography (CT) angiography, decisions for carotid artery treatment were mostly based on ultrasound findings and conventional angiography. Implementation and increasing use of CT angiography provided better visualization of the carotid and vertebrobasilar arteries system leading to an unexpected more frequent detection of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs). Concomitant presence of intracranial aneurysms in patients with severe carotid stenosis is a potential cause of significant mortality and morbidity. Due to the possible higher risk of aneurysm rupture after carotid procedures and ischemic events after aneurysm repair, the simultaneous presence of both lesions creates several therapeutic dilemmas. We review the prevalence of UIAs in patients with carotid occlusive disease and management difficulties and the current treatment strategies for handling the concomitant presence of these life-threatening diseases.

Background: To study the initial and long-term results of endovascular treatment in patients aged <50 years with trans-Atlantic inter-society consensus-II type B unilateral iliac lesions and chronic limb ischemia., Methods: From January 2000 to February 2010, 60 consecutive endovascular interventions were performed on 23 women and 37 men aged ≤50 years. After successful treatment, all patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the procedure and every 6 months thereafter., Results: Successful percutaneous revascularization of the iliac artery was achieved in 56 patients (93.3%). The early vascular-related complication rate was 6.7%. The primary patency rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 88%, 59%, and 49%, respectively. Cox univariate analysis revealed that an age range of 45 to 50 years (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.290; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.152-0.553; P = 0.0001), lower preprocedural ankle-brachial index (HR: 2.438; 95% CI: 1.04-5.715; P = 0.047), lesion length >5 cm (HR: 0.838; 95% CI: 0.746-0.943; P = 0.003), and diabetes (HR: 2.005; 95% CI: 1.010-3.980; P = 0.047) had significant influence on decreasing primary patency., Conclusions: Endovascular treatment of TASC-II type B iliac lesions in patients aged <50 years is a safe procedure with low procedural risk. Primary patency rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 88%, 59%, and 49%, respectively., (Copyright © 2012 Annals of Vascular Surgery Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)