The Reflection of Lithuania in Hungarian Digital Media in 2022–2024 in the Light of the Recent European Security Situation.

The paper analyses the representation of Lithuania in the five most visited Hungarian news websites (Index, Telex, Portfolio, 24, 444) in the period from 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024 aiming to evaluate in which thematic contexts and in what ways Lithuania is being represented in the Hungarian language media in the light of the recent European security situation. The study revealed that the Hungarian news websites analysed in the research covered various issues related to Lithuania providing a broad panoramic view on topicalities of Lithuania. These news were divided into two parts: the security news, covering anything related to Russia‘s war against Ukraine and European security issues, and also all the other news. The study revealed that Lithuania during the researched period was mainly represented in the light of the Russian war against Ukraine and the European security situation, yet there were also many other regularly appearing references to Lithuania in the Hungarian media reflecting Lithuanian topicalities. The study aims to contribute to the discussions about the bilateral Lithuanian and Hungarian relations in the twenty first century also aspiring to focus on the European integration dimension in the media in the light of unity within NATO and EU

Human-centric approach to cyber threat identification: the role of cognition, experience, and education in decision-making /

This study explores the impact of human factors on cybersecurity, emphasizing how cognitive biases and the blend of knowledge, experience, and education affect cyber threat detection. It reveals that specialized education and experience enhance the ability to identify complex threats. The research, using a gamified questionnaire, assesses decision-making in simulated cyber attacks, highlighting the value of domain expertise in critical tasks like threat identification and response. It suggests further research into confidence and self-efficacy's roles in cybersecurity and underscores the need for focused training to improve detection skills and incident reporting, aiming to bolster cybersecurity defences

Transition to renewable energy as a precondition of resilience to energy shocks /

The necessity of transition towards renewables has become indisputable. The urgency caused by global warming of the climate is apparent; alas, the process is not as smooth as expected. Energy-abundant countries continue to exploit and export natural resources since worldwide demand has yet to be curbed. Dependency on energy produced out of fossil fuels causes not only the deterioration of our planet. This dependency threatens countries which do not have natural resources, and the disruption of supply shocks exposes them when supply is cut. Therefore, it is crucial to prepare energy systems for independent functioning in case of urgency. Renewable energy production, be it solar, wind, or any other type, is essential. Alas, finding ways to store this energy and transmit it to final users is not less important. Power grids, as practice shows, can be damaged sufficiently easily. Therefore, production without a carefully thought-through storage and transmission system to end users might not prevent vulnerability to energy shocks. The gap, which needs more efficient solutions, is finding ways to store energy, which might be available from different sources: cheap energy from grids, solar energy, and energy produced by external generations. There are still no solutions for how to tune different systems into smoothly operating ones. The compatibility and universality of systems still need to be present, and the problem of integrating electric vehicles into such systems still needs to be resolved. The absence of competition in the energy sector, the interests of monopolists, and their self-regulation do not allow end users to exploit cheap energy. The raised issues must be solved at community, city, country, and international levels by using good practices, looking for technological solutions, and creating wise, discussed economic policies. The issues raised are highly urgent and require interdisciplinary efforts of scientists, practitioners, politicians and other stakeholders, including communities and society in a broad sense. The raised issues must be solved at community

Karinės organizacijos poveikis Rusijos politinės sistemos transformacijai į militokratinę V. Putino valdymo laikotarpiu.

Daivis Petraitis, a Doctoral dissertation „A military organization impact on the transformation of Russian political system into a militocracy during the Putin’s rule” in the Area of Social science, Field of Political Science (S 002). The dissertation examines military organization activities during the Putin’s rule and its impact on transformation of country’s political system into a system, appreciating military culture and institutional values, operating according military philosophy and algorithms and dominated by militaries. The research is innovative due to an application of analysis of relations between institution and individual and institution and institution inside political processes while justifying the transformation of Russian political system into a system dominated not by Putin as an individual but by the military organization (as institution) and militaries (as asocial group). The main task is to analyze an impact the organization done on the political system and to estimate a rise of its power in the state while acting directly and/or employing V. Putin. The dissertation also expands and describes a term “militocracy”. To achieve the task it examines Russian military organization specifics while comparing it to other military organizations and explores its interaction and relations with other organizations and individuals (Putin in particular). The main conclusions the dissertation comes to states that the military organization used V. Putin to transfer own institutional characteristics (values and functional approaches) into Russian political system by this transforming it into a system (militocracy) which allows the militaries to dominate in the state

Hybrid threats in Lithuania: awareness of the concept and recognition of their forms of realization among young people.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have brought the concept of hybrid warfare, hybrid threats (hereinafter, HT), etc., to the political agenda of Lithuania and the West. Nevertheless, academic research and expert knowledge on the topic of HT, their perception, and identification of their forms of realization are scarce. Such research is complicated because the phenomenon of HT does not have a clear definition and is not based on a pre-defined set of characteristics. Thus, it is impossible to solve the HT problems in one universally acceptable way. In this context, knowledge and perception of HT among young people becomes particularly relevant because of their receptiveness and sensitivity to new information (or disinformation) and their important role in national security. The article presents empirical research on the knowledge and perception of Lithuanian youth about HT. The research aims to reveal the diversity of knowledge and the maturity of the perception of hybrid threats among Lithuanian youth. The definition of hybrid threats used in the article is: Hybrid threats are the malicious actions of external (foreign) actors to undermine citizens’ trust in democratic institutions by military and non-military means. Five focus group discussions hereinafter, FGDs) were conducted between September 2022 and March 2023 - three with young people (aged 18-26, conscript age in Lithuania) and two with high school students (aged 15-19). The FGDs comprised a total of 41 individuals (22 young men and 19 young females). Conclusions. The concept of a hybrid threat is difficult to understand and rarely heard among Lithuanian youth. The most common primary association of HT is with cyber-attacks and propaganda. The least common associations of HT are with law, public administration, and diplomacy. The sectors of economy, energy, education and science were highlighted during the FGDs. Young people often perceive domestic problems as HT and do not associate them with the intentional malicious activities of external actors. The research did not reveal that the experience of participating in social activities and NGOs strongly influences whether and how much young people know about HT

COVID-19 pasekmės transatlantinio saugumo bendruomenei.

Although there were many disagreements in transatlantic relations before COVIC-19, the pandemic accelerated tensions in transatlantic relations even more. The inauguration of the new US president Joe Biden, however, has been perceived as a new chapter in transatlantic relations. The paper aims to assess the COVID-19 pandemic’s possible security implications to a transatlantic security community (TSC), focusing on two aspects in particular: the transatlantic security community’s perception of COVID-19 and adaptation to this challenge. The paper stems from the idea that transatlantic countries compose a transatlantic security community. It examines the COVID-19 implications to several tiers of features that should be present in every security community: namely, the perception of challenges to security, patterns of communication and policy coordination, as well as to institutional framework. The paper argues that COVID-19 has not transformed the transatlantic security community; however, it highlighted certain problematic aspects of transatlantic relations

State and State­-Sponsored Terrorism: A Case Study of Russia.

Despite the worldwide condemnation of Russia’s aggressive activities in the war against Ukraine, there is no unified definition of terrorism in relation to Russia. Russia is referred to as a terrorist state as well as a state that supports terrorism, and the conceptions of a terrorist regime or a user of terrorist methods dominate. The answer to whether Russia should be labelled a terrorist state, a state that sponsors terrorism, or possibly not designate Russia’s actions as terrorism depends on the definition of terrorism. Given the complexities of the conception of terrorism, the purpose of this article is to present a possible assessment of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine by exploring the challenge of defining state and state-sponsored terrorism in traditional and critical terrorism studies. The article promotes a wider academic discussion regarding state and state-sponsored terrorism, not only from diverse theoretical perspectives in terrorism studies but also by evaluating the issue of the phenomenon’s politicization in the context of international relations

A military organization impact on the transformation of Russian political system into a militocracy during the Putin’s rule.

Daivis Petraitis, a Doctoral dissertation „A military organization impact on the transformation of Russian political system into a militocracy during the Putin’s rule” in the Area of Social science, Field of Political Science (S 002). The dissertation examines military organization activities during the Putin’s rule and its impact on transformation of country’s political system into a system, appreciating military culture and institutional values, operating according military philosophy and algorithms and dominated by militaries. The research is innovative due to an application of analysis of relations between institution and individual and institution and institution inside political processes while justifying the transformation of Russian political system into a system dominated not by Putin as an individual but by the military organization (as institution) and militaries (as asocial group). The main task is to analyze an impact the organization done on the political system and to estimate a rise of its power in the state while acting directly and/or employing V. Putin. The dissertation also expands and describes a term “militocracy”. To achieve the task it examines Russian military organization specifics while comparing it to other military organizations and explores its interaction and relations with other organizations and individuals (Putin in particular). The main conclusions the dissertation comes to states that the military organization used V. Putin to transfer own institutional characteristics (values and functional approaches) into Russian political system by this transforming it into a system (militocracy) which allows the militaries to dominate in the state