The strongholds of Russian coastal borderlands: economic dynamics amid geopolitical turbulence

In the 21st century, the World Ocean is becoming a key factor in global socio-economic dynamics and a geoeconomic and geopolitical priority of many countries. The Russian Federation, whose economy, infrastructure, and settlement system have been gravitating towards the sea since the late 1990s, is no exception. This article aims to identify and provide a conceptual framework for the phenomenon of Russia’s coastal borderlands and their constituent 'strongholds'. It also explores the factors and features of the economic dynamics of the coastal borderlands amid the post-2014 geopolitical turbulence. Economic and statistical methods are used to highlight the irregularity of the economic and settlement patterns across Russia's coastal borderlands, in their water and land areas. It is shown that Russian economic and military activities have clustered there to create 14 'strongholds', including two emerging ones. The current confrontation between Russia and the West is accompanied by the country's growing maritime presence, particularly in its western borderlands, the revitalisation and expansion of its 'strongholds', and economic diversification. The economic systems of the country's leading coastal region have proven to be highly resistant to geopolitical turbulence; this is partly explained by government support

On the motivic classification of codimentional filtration quotients

In this note, we study motivic pro-spaces of the form \begin{equation*}\label{eq:XXz}X/(X-x),\end{equation*}where $x\in X$ is the closed point of a local essentially smooth scheme $X$ over a scheme $B$. We obtain some results on the classification up to motivic equivalences with respect to the pointed Morel-Voevodsky $\mathbb{A}^1$-homotopy motivic category $\mathbf{H}^\bullet(B)$, and study some morphisms in between of $\mathbf{H}^\bullet(B)$, and Voevodsky's motives category $\mathbf{DM}(B)$.Comment: 16 page

One Belt - One Road Initiative: A Window of Opportunity for Russia's Western Border Region

In recent years, global geo-economic transformations have been considerably affected by the development of the People’s Republic of China, its reviving leadership and ambitions, and its increasing efforts to reformat and integrate the Eurasian space. The One Belt — One Road Initiative is a manifesto and a tool to advance China’s long-term geostrategic interests that spread to the bordering states and regions and to the prospects of their socioeconomic development. The initiative encompasses transportation and logistics, production and investment, finances, research and technology, humanitarian affairs, and foreign policy. In this article, we will highlight the key geoeconomic and geopolitical aspects of the One Belt — One Road initiative implementation, based on the Chinese and Russian studies. Another goal is to weigh up the risks and benefits associated with the extension of the project to Russian territories. Special attention is paid to Russia’s western borderlands — 17 regions that account for 8.6 % of the country’s territory, 17.4 % of the total GRP, and 20.8 % of the national population. We analyse the factors in effect — including geopolitical ones, as well as current trends in the development of Russia’s western borderlands. It is shown that the inclusion into the Chinese Eurasian integration initiatives creates additional incentives for a positive re-evaluation of the Russian space as a whole and holds special relevance for Russia’s western borderlands. We analyse the possibility of including Russia’s Baltic regions — the infrastructural and economic island of the Kaliningrad exclave among them — into the One Belt — One Road Initiative

Low-frequency acoustic wave generation in a resonant bubble layer

The nonlinear response of a bubble layer subject to harmonic and biharmonic excitation at frequencies smaller than the individual bubble resonance frequency is considered. The nonlinear resonance properties of the layer and generation of difference?frequency signal are studied analytically and numerically. It is found that, for bubble volume fractions ??10?3 and pump amplitudes of the order of 10?1 atm, the power of the low?frequency signal (including waves radiated in both directions) may reach 10% of the total power of the incident biharmonic wave. The efficiency is restricted by the rapid formation of shocks already at relatively low driving amplitudes, which may not occur in a more complete model accounting for the inertia of the bubble pulsations