Russia in Crisis: Year One. OSW Report, January 2010

Economic conditions which had favoured Russia’s development suddenly changed in mid-2008. The Russian economy was hit, on the one hand, by a drastic slump in oil prices (which fell from nearly US$150 to US$50 between July 2008 and January 2009), and on the other by the outflow of investors (a net of US$130 billion of capital left Russia in the fourth quarter of 2008). Within several months, the financial crisis became an economic crisis affecting the entire economy. The financial reserves accumulated in times of prosperity (more than US$162 billion in the stabilisation funds and nearly US$598 billion in the currency and gold reserve) alleviated the negative impact of the crisis, although this failed to prevent the deep declines in macroeconomic indicators. Russia is one of the states most severely affected by the crisis. In the first half of 2009, its GDP fell by 10.4by nearly 15has strongly affected the Russian budget, which reported a deficit for the first time in ten years in 2009. During the first year of the crisis (August 2008 – September 2009), Russia’s financial reserves were seriously reduced as a result of the government’s anti-crisis policy and interventions from the central bank: the reserve fund decreased by nearly 45$76 billion, and the central bank’s reserves shrunk by nearly US$200 billion to US$409 billion. Meanwhile, however, the money in the National Welfare Fund, which had been intended almost entirely to subsidise the Pensions Fund between 2010 and 2015, rose almost three-fold (to US$90 billion). According to government forecasts, the money from the reserve fund is also supposed to be spent fully in 2010. The financial crisis has triggered a dynamic outflow of capital from the Russian market. So-called speculative capital was the first to demonstrate the lack of confidence in the Russian market. In the first half of 2009, the growth rate of long-term investments also decreased noticeably, although no spectacular withdrawal of direct investments from Russia has been observed. The economic crisis has also halted the foreign expansion of Russian private capital, while state-owned capital strengthened its position as an investor. Russia’s raw materials companies continue to be the main category of foreign investors; however, new technologies are gaining prominence as the second main direction of Russian investments

A captive island. Kaliningrad between Moscow and the EU. OSW Study 41/2012

The Kaliningrad region can be called a 'captive island', because of its specific geopolitical location - it is part of the Russian legal, political and economic space, yet it is geographically separated from the rest of the Russian Federation, and it is particularly open to co-operation with its neighbours in the European Union. Moscow is trying to compensate the region for its separation, offering it financial support and economic privileges.At the same time, it is sensitive to any potential challenges to Russia's territorial integrity - and the centre's desire for control over the region often limits the latter's potential for cooperation and internal development. This report presents the situation in the region, and is intended to help develop a model for its effective regional co-operation with its EU neighbours

The resource wealth burden - oil and gas sectors in the former USSR. OSW Study 12/2003

The former USSR area plays a great role in the international oil and gas market. Russia is a real gas giant, with the richest deposits of this material in the world. Russia is also the main exporter of natural gas to many European countries. Keeping a strong position in this market remains a priority for the Russian Federation's economic policy. Europe is a very attractive region because its demand for gas is expected to grow steadily, while its own gas production keeps decreasing. In the long term, the Far East will be an important market for Russian exports, too. According to estimates, demand there will grow even faster than in Europe. Caspian gas producers, for the time being, can not really compete with Russia in this field, and this status quo will most probably be preserved in the nearest future

Between energy security and energy market integration. Guidelines for the future development of the EU’s external energy policy in Europe’s neighbourhood. OSW Report, June 2011

For many years the European Union has been improving the efficient use of energy resources and yet the demand for energy in the EU continues to increase. When Europe belonged to one of the world’s key energy markets with relatively easy access to energy resources, growing energy needs were not seen as a source of concern. Today, however, as the competition for energy resources is intensifying and the global position of the EU energy market is being challenged by growing economies in the developing countries, above all China and India, the EU needs to adopt bold policies to guarantee the sustainable supply of energy. This report argues the EU needs to develop a fully-fledged external energy policy; i.e. a common, coherent, strategic approach that build bridges between the interests and needs of the EU integrated energy market on the one hand and supplier countries on the other. The EU’s external energy policy has two main objectives. The first one is to ensure a sustainable, stable and cost-effective energy supply. The second is to promote energy market integration and regulatory convergence with neighbouring countries (often but not always this supports the achievement of the first objective). However, in order to improve its effectiveness, the EU’s external energy policy needs to be seen in a broader economic and political context. Any progress in energy cooperation with third countries is contingent upon the EU’s general stance and offer to those countries

Eurasian integration. Russia's attempt at the economic unification of the post-Soviet area. OSW Study 44/2013

In 2009, Vladimir Putin, the then Russian prime minister, gave impetus to the establishment of closer relations within what was then a still narrow group of three countries: Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Russia was determined in embarking on the implementation of the principles of the Customs Union among these three states and, since 2012, within the Common Economic Space as well. This process of integration is intended to bring about the introduction of ‘four freedoms’ in this area: the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour. From Moscow’s point of view, building up such integration structures is especially necessary in order to counteract the economic expansion of the European Union and China. It also feels it is important to take measures against the loosening of the bonds between the CIS countries and Russia. At the same time, close co-operation is expected to guarantee for Russia that the strong politico-economic influences in this area will be maintained. Despite the numerous limitations of the integration process, such as the small number of the participating states or limited progress in implementing the CES, this is still the most advanced integration programme in the region seen since the collapse of the USSR. Progress in putting the rules of the Customs Union into practice can be seen as a success for Moscow. In turn, the formation of the CES is still at an early stage, and it is difficult to determine at this point to what extent the three countries will harmonise their markets

Gazprom's expansion in the EU: co-operation or domination? OSW Report, October 2009

The energy sector, especially with regard to the gas trade, is one of the key areas of co-operation between the EU and Russia. However, the form this co-operation has taken has been giving rise to some concern, both in Brussels and in the EU member states. Questions arise as to whether the EU has not become excessively dependent on Russia for energy, and whether the presence of the Russian gas monopoly in the EU does not enable Russian interference with the development of EU energy policy. The objective of this series of OSW reports (for the previous edition,see Gazprom’s expansion in the EU: co-operation or domination? April 2008 – pdf 1.2 MB) is to provide facts which will permit an accurat answer to these questions to be formulated

Argumentationsanalyse von Kommentaren in einem Forum der BBC zur Unabhängigkeit des Kosovo

Die vorliegende Arbeit geht hervor aus dem Hauptseminar „Argumentationstheorie“, das im Wintersemester 2008/09 am Institut für Linguistik der Universität zu Köln unter der Leitung von PD Dr. Leila Behrens abgehalten wurde. Ziel dieses Seminars war es, ausgehend von traditionellen Begriffen der Rhetorik, Dialektik und Logik, in die Terminologie sowie in zentrale Modelle der zeitgenössischen Argumentationsforschung einzuführen. Die dabei erworbenen Kenntnisse sollen im Folgenden bei der Analyse von Beiträgen eines Diskussionsforums im Internet angewendet werden. Hierbei handelt es sich um ein sogenanntes „newsforum“ der BBC mit dem Titel „Have Your Say“ (BBC 2008), in dem aktuelle Themen und Nachrichten von Internetnutzern weltweit diskutiert werden können. Im untersuchten Fall behandeln wir die Frage, wie mit der Unabhängigkeitserklärung des Kosovo vom 17. Februar 2008 umzugehen sei: „Should the world recognise an independent Kosovo?“ […]. Zu dieser Fragestellung wurden insgesamt 3195 Beiträge im Forum veröffentlicht, von denen hier 780 ausgewertet werden. Diese folgen chronologisch aufeinander und umfassen den Zeitraum zwischen 7:49 Uhr (mittlere Greenwich-Zeit) und 14:26 Uhr des 17. Februar 2008

Constructing an Electronic Dictionary of Polish Urban Proper Names

International audienceWe present a project of constructing an electronic dictionary of Polish urban proper names. The dictionary describes inflection and variants of proper names and links them with city objects. Moreover, we classify proper names according to their former, common, official, or spoken usage. We present tools which we use for the creation of the dictionary, and an analysis of Warsaw toponyms gathered for description

Grammatical Lexicon of Warsaw Urban Proper Names (SAWA).

Dictionnaire électronique. Licence CC BY-SA. Varsovie. PologneThe Grammatical Lexicon of Warsaw Urban Proper Names (SAWA - Słownik elektroniczny nAzewnictwa WArszawy) is an electronic lexicon containing about 9,000 proper names of places related to the Warsaw transportation system, i.e. names of streets, squares, monuments, buildings, bus, tram and subway stops, etc., as well as names of persons to whom some objects (notably streets) are dedicated. Previous names (notably those used before 1989) are also included. Their morphosyntax is described by over 450 graph-based inflection paradigms, which allow an automatic generation of over 300,000 inflectional and syntactic variants. It has been developed within a French-Polish Polonium project and within nationally funded Polish project

Influence of gestational diabetes in twin pregnancy on the condition of newborns and early neonatal complications

Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic complication in pregnancy and increasing worldwide. In Europe, it occurs in 3–5% of pregnant women. The rate of twin pregnancy has been increased similarly to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Twin pregnancy is associated with a higher complication rate compared to singleton pregnancy. The growing prevalence of GDM and twin pregnancy has given rise to their increasing concurrent presentation. Material and methods: The retrospective analysis included 212 twin-pregnant patients. The analysis excluded cases of miscarriage and early fetal death in the first trimester of pregnancy. The influence of GDM on the condition of newborns and mothers after delivery was analyzed. For statistical analysis R 3.6.2 software was used. Results: No statistically significant relationship between GDM and Non-GDM group and periparturient complications was found. Birth weight was significantly higher in the GDM G2 group. Apgar Score was the lowest in the GDM G1 group. In the group of larger newborns of the GDMG1 group respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) , a higher incidence of second-degree intracranial bleeding and grade II of preterm retinopathy were observed. There was no statistically significant relationship between GDM G1, GDM G2 and other neonatal complications. Conclusions: In summary, our results indicate that GDM in twin pregnancy does not increase the risk of cesarean section but increases some neonatal complications. In conclusion women with twin pregnancies complicated by GDM require specialist care during pregnancy and childbirth should take place in a third-level reference center