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The transfer of power from the Biden to Trump administration in the United States opened the issue of a possible ending of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The author presents his standpoint by explaining that, apart from the sincere intentions of Washington and Kyiv, for peace in Ukraine to come into being, it is necessary that Russian President Vladimir Putin accepts it because he was the one who started the war. In the paper, the argument that Putin is a decisive factor in the outbreak of this war is derived from the consideration of an array of deeper and intermediate causes of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. To answer the question of what is necessary for Putin’s acceptance of peace, without him restarting the invasion later, we analysed what he wants to achieve in Ukraine, alongside the classification of his war goals. The climax of the analysis is the notion that Putin was motivated to attack Ukraine by an ambition towards historical greatness. Russia’s policy towards Ukraine, in general, and Putin’s invasion, in particular, could be subsumed under a policy of prestige in Hans Morgenthau’s classification. The author concludes that peace, acceptable for Ukraine and the West, is possible only if Putin is allowed to hold occupied territories temporarily to gain the delusion of the individual prestige he craves. At the same time, Russia needs to be further contained, and Ukraine\'s independence must be protected.

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Throughout the history of mutual relations, responses to Latin American socio-economic inequalities have occasionally led the Vatican and Latin America to opposite sides, as was the case in the second half of the 20th century with liberation theology. In the context of the centuries-old continuum of the Roman Catholic faith on the soil of Latin America, this deep-rooted and complex interrelationship, at the crossroads between social, economic, and political spheres, provided space for setting up the hypothesis: the approach of Vatican diplomacy towards the socio-economic inequalities of Latin America with the pontificate of Pope Francis experienced changes in relation to its previous positions. The research analysis is developed through the types and levels of connection of Vatican diplomacy with socio-economic and political developments in Latin America. Following that theoretical context, the scientific methods used in the work are historical-comparative, discourse analysis, analytical-synthetic method, content analysis, and case study method (Nicaragua). The results obtained from the mentioned scientific methods have confirmed that Catholicism is returning to the ideals of the Gospel through the planned and steady trend of modernising church dogma, which is advocated by Pope Francis as the leader of the moderately liberal current of Catholicism. In this way, Vatican diplomacy, through the operational efficiency of the fresh attitudes of Pope Francis, opens new, more humane social and economic paths for Latin America. The aim of the work is to assess the contribution of contemporary Vatican diplomacy to the mitigation of social and economic inequalities in Latin America and to encourage new effective solutions in that area.

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At the core of the existence of international law is the idea of a global society that functions based on universally accepted rules. In this sense, international law, at least part of its norms that aspire to universality, necessarily incorporates universal values, i.e., values recognised and inherited by all civilisations. However, in Western thought, the dominant view is that international law is a product of European Christian culture. Such an attitude has always provoked reactions from the East, which warned that the roots of international law should be both sought for and found in other civilisations, religions, meridians, and cultures, as well as that international law, if it wants to be universally accepted, must recognise its transcivilisational nature. A review of this discussion, which is certainly interesting, gives us many insights that can help us better understand the contemporary moment and the crisis of the global international legal order.

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If we start from the postulate that military strategy involves conducting war to achieve a specific goal, a fundamental prerequisite for engaging in military strategy is understanding war. Given that war represents one of the most complex social phenomena, which continuously changes its basic characteristics over time, it is challenging to \"tame\" the essential traits of war. Considering this complex nature of war, determining its dynamic nature is more practical if we focus on one of its characteristics, in this case, the spatial dimension of war. Understanding the spatial dimension of war is one of the prerequisites for understanding war itself and how it has evolved. Historically, wars were fought through close combat, which allowed for a clearly defined geographical space and a social construct that attributed solely war-related purposes to it. That raises the question of whether the concept of the battlefield can today be defined in both spatial and social-constructivist terms. The fundamental assumption on which this work rests is that the battlefield has undergone a complete transformation, which reached its peak with the development of hybrid warfare, turning from a space where geography had primacy over war into a space where war has primacy over geography. Analysing military strategic thinking from Sun Tzu to contemporary military strategists, it becomes evident that today, in conducting war to achieve political objectives, the focus is not on tactics that best adapt to geographical circumstances but rather on tactics that best overcome geographical circumstances. Thus, the spatial dimension of war, both in strategic thinking and tactical action, has expanded to the point where the battlefield cannot be geographically limited or understood as a social construct that separates military from civilian

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This article explores the new migration wave from Russia, triggered by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict(February 2022-December 2024), and its implications for the economy of the Republic of Serbia. The influx of young, educated, and highly skilled migrants from Russia has contributed to the launch of numerous economic ventures. However, it also comes with a set of challenges for Serbian policymakers. The author initially hypothesises that the influx of Russian professionals and businesses brings positive changes to the Serbian economy in the short term. On the other hand, limited interaction with local Serbian professionals reduces the long-term benefits that this migration could have. The author discusses these challenges and suggests several recommendations, i.e., measures to improve this situation, such as introducing targeted grant programmes that will support joint investments of Russian and Serbian professionals, partnerships between Russian IT companies and Serbian universities, and revision of employment incentives

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This paper examines the complex dynamics of Russia-Israel relations through the lens of the concept of “balanced friendship” as a key to understanding their contemporary relations, with a particular focus on the impact of the Gaza war on these relations. The dynamics of Russia-Israel relations reflect the ability of both states to maintain stable relations while often balancing between their own goals and mutual recognition of each other\'s interests. The seriousness of the current situation caused by the Gaza war has certainly tested the limits of this bilateral relationship and redefined the priorities of their cooperation. The first part of the paper analyses the concept of friendship in international relations theory, applied to the relationship between Russia and Israel, highlighting the historical, economic, social, and security aspects that enabled the development of this specific relationship. The paper then turns to the concept of balancing, emphasising how the conflicting regional interests and different allied networks of Russia and Israel have led to the development of relations that combine cooperation and rivalry. In the third part, the paper examines how events following the start of the Gaza war have altered the dynamics of these relations, emphasising the need for clearer positioning of the two states\' stances. The paper\'s starting assumption is that the Gaza war has had a negative impact on Russia-Israel relations, manifesting in more intense balancing and suppression of the elements of friendship. The current situation in the Middle East indicates that regional instability, along with growing geopolitical tensions, has redefined the priorities and strategic calculations of both sides, raising questions about the sustainability of their balanced friendship. To this end, a qualitative methodological approach, primarily through discourse analysis, will be used to review official documents from both states, statements by state officials, and publicly available information on Russia-Israel relations.