915 research outputs found
After Transnistria, the Suwalki Gap
This Guest Editorial appeared in multiple venues: The Commercial Dispatch, 26 April 2022 Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 28 April 2022 The Palm Beach Post, 28 April 2022 Magnolia Tribune, 29 April 2022 The Sun Sentinel, 7 May 202
The Elements of Water Balance in the Changing Climate in Poland
Strong global warming has been observed in the last three decades. Central Europe, including Poland, is not an exception. Moreover, climate projections for Poland foresee further warming as well as changes in the spatial and seasonal distribution and quantity of precipitation. However, climate models do not agree on the sign of change of precipitation. In Poland precipitation is projected to decrease in summer (this finding is not robust, being model-dependent) and to increase in winter. Therefore, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding likely climate change impacts on water resources in Poland. However, there is no doubt that changes in the thermal characteristics as well as in precipitation will influence changes in the water balance of the country. In this study, the components of climatic water balance, that is, precipitation, evaporation, and runoff, are calculated for the average conditions in the control period of 1961â1990 and in the future (2071â2100) in Poland. The changes of the water balance components for the present and for the future are compared and analysed. Due to insufficient consistency between climate models a possible range of changes should be presented; hence the multimodel projections from ENSEMBLES Project of the European Union are used in this study
The Aron Museum at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal
In 1953, when the Aron Museum at the Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montreal opened it was the first museum of Jewish ceremonial objects in Canada. In its early years, Rabbi Sternâin his vision of the collection, the Aron family as benefactors and the artist Sam Borenstein who helped to select the pieces, played significant roles in the development of the museum. This article explores the original description of the Aron Museum to show how the humanistic and aesthetic values attributed to the items followed the pattern of pre-Holocaust Jewish museums and exhibitions. For a variety of reasons the religious, ethnographic and historical interpretations of the ceremonial objects of the Aron Museum were initially minimized in its public display. Today, the provenance and memory associations of these objects as well as an explanation of Jewish rituals more fully express the multi-layered meaning of Jewish ceremonial art.
Résumé
Lorsque le musĂ©e Aron ouvrit ses portes en 1953, au temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom Ă MontrĂ©al, il Ă©tait le premier musĂ©e dâobjets cĂ©rĂ©moniels juifs au Canada. Durant ses premiĂšres annĂ©es dâexistence, le rabbin Stern, avec sa conception de la collection, les membres de la famille Aron en tant que bienfaiteurs et lâartiste Sam Borenstein, qui contribua Ă sĂ©lectionner les objets, jouĂšrent des rĂŽles significatifs dans son dĂ©veloppement. Cet article explore la description originelle du musĂ©e Aron afin de montrer la maniĂšre dont les valeurs humanistes et esthĂ©tiques attribuĂ©es aux piĂšces exposĂ©es suivaient le schĂ©ma des musĂ©es et expositions juives dâavant lâHolocauste. Pour des raisons variĂ©es, les interprĂ©tations religieuses, ethnographiques et historiques des objets cĂ©rĂ©moniels du musĂ©e Aron Ă©tait initialement minimisĂ©es dans lâexposition publique. Aujourdâhui, la provenance et les associations mĂ©morielles de ces objets, aussi bien que lâexplication des rituels juifs, expriment plus pleinement la signification multi-niveaux de lâart cĂ©rĂ©moniel juif
The Military-Geographical Significance of the SuwaĆki Gap
Dynamic changes in the security environment are forcing us to refl ect on the shape of the
international order at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. Th e aggressive
policy of the Russian Federation, which is confi rmed by the confl ict with Georgia in 2008
and the current situation in Ukraine, indicates that the use of military violence in the
resolution of international disputes is not a historical category at all. Th is is of particular
importance to the geopolitical location of the Republic of Poland. Th e length of our land
border with the Russian Federation is 210 km, while with Belarus it is 418 km. Th e above
fact has a fundamental impact not only on the public debate on the security of our country
and the region, but also, and perhaps most importantly, on the shape of defence policy
and the content of planning possible measures to prevent and counteract the escalation
of prospective tensions in NATO-Russia relations. Both Russian military doctrine and
the opinions expressed by politicians and specialists dealing with military issues and
political and military experts indicate that, from the Russian perspective, the Baltic
Statesâ membership of the North Atlantic Alliance and the presence of NATO troops on
the territory of these countries, is highly unfavourable. Th erefore, there are grounds to
believe that countries such as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, are treated by Russia as
natural bridgeheads, convenient for bringing possible strikes against Russia. Th erefore, it
is possible that blocking communication routes leading to these countries, while cutting
them off from the support of allied land forces, may prove to be a key success factor in the
situation of a hypothetical armed confl ict, aimed not only at depriving these countries of
their sovereignty, but also aimed at discrediting the power of the Alliance
THE CHANGING POLISH FOOD CONSUMER
This paper provides an overview of major demographic and food trends in Poland and the rapid changes in Polish food retailing. The demographic changes include the size of the population; birth, death, marriage and divorce rates; the age distribution, education and household types. Two important demographic factors that will affect food consumption are the aging population and the major gap in education between urban and rural areas. In the next 20 years, the number of children will decrease radically, whereas the number of people over 64 years of age will rise significantly. Education levels are much lower in rural than in urban areas. The average household budget share for food was 44.6% in 1988. It reached 55.3% in 1990 at the beginning of the transition to a market economy and fell to 37.8% in 1996. Under central planning, consumers had to adjust to what was made available. There was a limited assortment of goods and many people relied on home-produced food. Since 1989 and the transition to a market economy, food consumption patterns have undergone some substantial changes. Butter consumption has fallen sharply, while plant fat consumption has increased with the introduction of high quality margarine. The change from central planning to a market economy has had a major impact on food retailing. U.S. fast food companies, such as McDonald's, have opened numerous outlets in Poland during the 1990s. Fast food is very popular, especially among young Poles. Under central planning, three government-owned chains dominated grocery retailing in Poland. The food marketing system was producer, not consumer driven. When the right to own private businesses was restored, many new food retailing stores were opened. In 1996, final sales by food retailing stores in Poland were about 5 billion in 1997. The foreign-owned chains open larger stores, supermarkets and even hypermarkets. Many of the major Western European food retailers are now operating in Poland, such as Ahold, a big Dutch company, and Tengelman, a large German company.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,
Codes of Good Agricultural Practices for Crop Production in Poland
The economic and social background of Polish agriculture provides the basis for this discussion of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). A primary goal of Polish agricultural policy is securing food self-sufficiency for the nation. Accomplishing this goal will require both an intensification of agricultural production in some areas and a concern for environmental protection. Numerous tables and figures illustrate land utilization, soil composition, farm size, and other features of Polish agriculture
Military signaling & geopolitical instability: a critical geopolitics view of the NATO-Russia exercise dynamic in the Baltic Sea
The aim of this study is to analyze how military signaling can impact geopolitical instability.
I explore this issue through a case study of the NATO-Russia military exercise dynamic in
the Baltic Sea region using a critical geopolitics perspective. Currently, NATO-Russia
relations find themselves in grave decline for NATO members and Russia possess inherently
different viewpoints about the European security order. Following Russiaâs annexation of
Crimea and its actions in eastern Ukraine among other events, NATO members and Russia
ramped up their military activity in the Baltic Sea under the guise of deterrence. This study
finds that instead of contributing to regional stability, the NATO-Russia military exercise
dynamic can be considered a factor of geopolitical instability in the region. Essentially,
NATO finds itself in a conundrum where it must assure its most vulnerable members even
though geography is not on its side, therefore it must reassure its allies, rehearse
interoperability, and deter Russia. NATOâs balancing act affects how Russia perceives its
exercises. In contrast, Russia does not see NATOâs military exercises as a deterrent but as
provocations and at times responds with low level provocations of its own.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5504758*es
"The Local Geographic Origins of Russian-Jewish Immigrants, Circa 1900"
This working paper concerns the local origins of Russian-Jewish immigrants to the United States, circa 1900. New evidence is drawn from a large random sample of Russian-Jewish immigrant arrivals in the United States. It provides information on origins not merely by large regions, or even by the provinces of the Pale of Settlement (where nearly all Russian Jews lived), some 25 in number; rather, most analysis is conducted in terms of some 230 districts that made up the administrative subdivisions of provinces. The sample evidence is coordinated with district-level data from the detailed publications of the 1897 Census of the Russian Empire. Finally, all of this evidence has been entered into digitized maps.
Kaliningrad and the Lithuanian âgeopolitical code"
The paper analyses the evolving role of Kaliningrad in shaping Lithuaniaâs security perceptions vis-Ă -vis Russia. Applying the framework of the âgeopolitical codeâ designed by Flint, the authors question whether the exclave-enclave nexus in the Kaliningrad region â after the European Union (EU) and the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) enlargements â has been a relevant change in context that has affected Vilnius' security perception of Moscow in its âgeopolitical codeâ. The cooperative posture of Vilnius initialled in 1991 â and later reinforced through the EU
programmes â tended to be based on achieving the country and EUâs own stability and development, in a regional perspective, with no strategy to spill over on global relations with Moscow. Vilnius' understanding of Russian policies in Georgia and, mainly Ukraine, represented a change in context from 2008 onwards that brought a focus on military dimensions concerning the Oblast. This change was convergent with the same tendency in NATO. Membership in the EU and NATO has reinforced Lithuanian perceptions of Kaliningrad as a potential ally or enemy. At the bottom line, Vilniusâ key decisions towards militarization in detriment of cooperation result from a continued negative security perception of Russia. Although cooperative engagement exists, it has not been able to become a feature of the relation due to the rationale of this cooperation. Kaliningrad influenced the âgeopolitical codeâ of Lithuania concerning Russia but it did not play a decisive role in changing Vilnius' calculations on how to engage with Moscow.(undefined
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