Posts by Center for geostrategic studies

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About Центар за геостратешке студије

Center for geostrategic studies is a non-governmental and non-profit association, founded in Belgrade at the founding assembly held on 28.02.2014. in accordance with the provisions of art.11. and 12. Law on associations ("Official Gazette of Rs", no.51/09). for an indefinite period of time, in order to achieve the goals in the field of scientific research of geostrategic relations and preparation of strategic documents, analysis and research. The association develops and supports projects and activities aimed at the state and national interests of Serbia, has the status of a legal entity and is registered in the register in accordance with the law. The mission of the Center for geostrategic studies is: "we are building the future, because Serbia deserves it: the values we represent are established through our history, culture and tradition. We believe that without the past there is no future. For this reason, in order to build the future, we must know our past and cherish our traditions. True values are always grounded, and the future cannot be built in a good direction without that foundation. In a time of disruptive geopolitical change, it is crucial to make wise choices and make the right decisions. Let go of all imposed and distorted ideas and artificial urges. We firmly believe that Serbia has enough quality and potential to determine its own future, regardless of threats and limitations. We are committed to the Serbian position and the right to decide our own future, bearing in mind the fact that historically there have been many challenges, threats and dangers that we have overcome. “ Vision: the Center for geostrategic studies aspires to become one of the world's leading organizations in the field of geopolitics. He also wants to become a local brand. We will try to interest the public in Serbia in international topics and gather all those interested in protecting state and national interests, strengthening sovereignty, preserving territorial integrity, preserving traditional values, strengthening institutions and the rule of law. We will act in the direction of finding like-minded people, both in the domestic and in the world public. We will focus on regional cooperation and networking of related NGOs, both at the regional and international level. We will launch projects at the international level to support the repositioning of Serbia and the preservation of territorial integrity. In cooperation with media houses, we will implement projects that are focused on these goals. We will organize education of interested public through conferences, round tables and seminars. We will try to find a model for the development of the organization that would enable the financing of the activities of the Center. Build a future together: If you are interested in cooperating with us, or to help the work of the Center for geostrategic studies, please contact us by e-mail: center@geostrategy.rs

Donald Trump ‘least popular President in history of political polling’

Concerning the US election and Trump Presidency and his performance, an interview was conducted with Mrs.  Dragna Trifkovic

 

Trump is (again per FiveThirtyEight) back in last place in approval ratings at this number of days after being sworn in of any President in the polling era.

I last checked in on Donald Trump’s approval numbers when they were rising modestly. They’ve now been retreating, at least by FiveThirtyEight’s estimate, for the last three weeks, and he’s now back down to 37.7 percent approval. Some of this movement could just be random fluctuation, and the exact estimates are different from various poll averagers; RealClearPolitics, for example, has him slightly higher. But the basic story is about the same.

Trump is (again per FiveThirtyEight) back in last place in approval ratings at this number of days after being sworn in of any President in the polling era.

And his “net” approval (subtracting disapproval) has been the worst among those 13 presidents every day of his presidency, and it’s never been particularly close. Currently he’s within a single percentage point of same-day Gerald Ford in approval, but at -18.3, his net approval is 9 percentage points worse than Ford’s, and every other president was in positive territory at this point.

All of that with the more-or-less peace and something very close to prosperity — the two things that generally drive whether US citizens like their Presidents or not.

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Manuel Ochsenreiter visiting the Donetsk People’s Republic. Photo: Supplied

The truth behind AfD’s Russian ‘scandal’

The popular party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is under coordinated attack from the mainstream media for alleged Russian contacts, mainly directed against the ‘German Center for Eurasian Studies’, a NGO and it’s head Manuel Ochsenreiter. In an exclusive interview with FWM, Mr. Ochsenreiter points out that although the media have been researching the alleged connections for months, they can’t present the slightest evidence, and he exposes the driving forces behind the smear campaign.

 
 

 

Mr. Ochsenreiter, in middle of August, several mainstream newspapers launched a campaign against the AfD party, your “German Center for Eurasian Studies” and you personally. The whole tale is about Russian influence on the AfD and how your Center allegedly serves as an instrument in a pro-Russian European network. The German mainstream media have presented their research as a huge media scoop. Was that the case?

– What “research”? The whole story is devoid of any content – as per usual with this topic. Mainstream media doesn’t work with facts, it works with blurry allegations. Mainstream newspaper journalists are criticizing my assistance in organizing electoral and crisis observation missions on the territory of the former Soviet Union, activities the Center has been very open about. Some parliamentarians of the AfD party took part in missions in Ukraine, the two Donbass Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and in the Republic of Artsakh [known as Nagorno-Karabakh] during the last years. Our mainstream media doesn’t like that, and that’s their whole story.

 

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Russian Spies’ in Kosovo: Anti-Russia Hysteria Captures the Balkans

By SPUTNIK

 

RTK, Kosovo’s public broadcaster, has recently „disclosed“ what it called a „network of Russian spies.“ Without any evidence whatsoever, it included the names of prominent journalists, civil society activists and professional military, predominantly ethnic Serbs. Sputnik Serbia spoke with several people who found themselves on the list.

 

OSCE as a tool to pressure NATO

By Dragana Trifkovic

 

From the beginning of the war in Ukraine analysis of the events reveals similarities with the Yugoslav conflict. Strategy and tactics of the war in Yugoslavia and Ukraine has a lot in common. The question I considered at the conference of RIA Novosti in Moscow (1), in mid-August 2014. In principle, both conflicts are triggered from the outside, as part of a broader strategy of Western countries and many operations that have been conducted (particularly special operations), and tactically recognizable.

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Challenges And Lessons Of The Situation In Syria: An Overview

By Dragana Trifkovic

The ceasefire in Syria entered into force on February 27th in accordance with the agreement reached between the Russian Federation and the United States of America following the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The terrorist group “Al-Nusra” (a branch of Al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State were exempt from the agreement. With the truce not applying to these groups, the struggle against these terrorist structures has continued. It is estimated that since the beginning of the war in Syria (March 2011), more than 270,000 people have been killed. Once rebel forces in Syria had successfully taken control of large territories of the state, the last line of Syria’s defense fell back to Damascus, Latakia, and Aleppo. When terrorists seized Aleppo, Damascus’ resistance was close to collapsing. 

 

The Results of Russian Support

 

At the last moment for Syria, the Russian Federation committed to a military intervention. In early September last year, the Russian army began operations against the terrorists in Syria and inflicted serious blows against terrorist units over the course of six months, thus turning the tide of the war. The Russian Air Force carried out more than 9,000 sorties and destroyed over 200 infrastructural objects of the terrorist organization known as the Islamic State. It should be noted that Syrian, Russian, Iranian, and Lebanese forces from Hezbollah have all participated together in the defense of Syria. If Russia had not come to support the Syrian Army, then by all estimates Syria would have lost the war to the jihadists. On this note let us recall how the US and its allies allegedly led the fight against Islamic State in Syria for months without any results. In reality, since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the US and EU supported, trained, and armed malicious forces in the country and region as a whole, with the special role of financing terrorism played by the United Kingdom, France, as well as the American allies of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. 

Seventeen days following the announcement of the ceasefire in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin took the decision to partially withdraw Russian armed forces from Syria with the justification that they had accomplished all of their established goals. However, a necessary number of soldiers and S-400 anti-air defense systems have remained at Russian air and naval bases in Syria. The focus in Syria has since shifted from military operations to the peace process in favor of which Russia had acted from the very beginning. 

 

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Choosing Sides in Serbia

 

Neutral or NATO?

Russia’s media are currently in a lather about their nation’s old friend Serbia becoming too chummy with the old adversary NATO. The mystery is: why?

For all sorts of reasons, both domestic and diplomatic, Serbia is showing absolutely no hint of wanting to join NATO. It does want to join the European Union. Oddly, in a purely UK context, and as a Liberal, I am actively campaigning to have Britain leave the European Union; however, I understand Serbia’s instinct for the economic security of a customs union. On the other hand, I’m a long-standing political supporter of NATO’s mission in Europe. And here again, I understand the Serbian government’s very different view.

For all sorts of reasons, both domestic and diplomatic, Serbia is showing absolutely no hint of wanting to join NATO.

 

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Syria’s Balkanization: Partitioning the Country ‘Not a Good Option’

By Ekaterina Blinova

 

The division of Syria is not a good option and cannot be regarded as a permanent solution, Serbian geopolitical expert Dragana Trifkovic stresses, drawing parallels between Syria and Yugoslavia. When the West rushes in to redraw state borders, it usually means it plans to capitalize on the fragmentation, she adds.

A chorus of Western pundits and military analysts is calling for the partitioning of Syria, claiming that Humpty Dumpty, as they cynically dub the country, cannot be put back together again.

However, the last things they are concerned with are the will of the Syrian people and the nation’s peace and prosperity. What really makes the hearts of the Western establishment beat faster are their vested interests.

NATO’s Humpty Dumpty Approach

For instance, John R. Bolton, an American scholar and a former US Ambassador to the United Nations, suggests carving the Syrian and Iraqi oil regions out from the countries in order to create a pro-Western Sunni state — an oil producer and a „bulwark against both Mr. Assad and Iran-allied Baghdad.“

In his turn, Israeli academic David M. Weinberg claims that it is in the interest of the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights amid the Syrian civil war. „Humpty Dumpty is down: The Golan is Israeli“ — the title of his articlefor The Jerusalem Post reads.  

„I think that the division of Syria is not a good option and that it won’t result in a permanent solution,“ Serbian expert in geopolitics and the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade Dragana Trifkovic told Sputnik.

 

SERBIA IS NOW DE FACTO ‘AT NATO’S DISPOSAL’

 

 By Ekaterina Blinova

 

BELGRADE – When Serbian leadership claims that it wants to remain “neutral” and to cooperate with both NATO and Russia, this is a half-truth, since the Alliance has already entered Serbia, Serbian expert in geopolitics Dragana Trifkovic told Sputnik.

In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Dragana Trifkovic, Serbian expert in geopolitics and the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade, shared her views regarding the ratification of a logistical support agreement between Serbia and NATO in February 2016.

“The agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the NATO Support and Procurement Organization (NSPO) on cooperation in the field of logistical support, provides the basis for an even closer cooperation between Serbia and NATO. It regulates the relationship between our country and NATO, which was established by an Individual Partnership Action Plan, which represents the highest level of cooperation of a country that is not a member of this organization,” she explained.

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The Migrant Crisis And Its Impact On Europe

By Dragana Trifkovic

 

The beginning of the migrant crisis

 

The previous year was marked in particular by the migrant crisis, i.e., the migrations of peoples on a scale unprecedented in recent history, or more precisely since the end of the Second World War. In considering the causes and consequences of this crisis, it is necessary to recall that the waves of refugees from the Middle East were preceded by the migration of Albanians from the territory of Serbia, Kosovo and Metohija to the EU and Germany in particular at the end of December 2014 and the beginning of 2015. In that case, however, there were not enough emergency bus lines to take all interested Albanians from Pristina to Subotica, i.e., the Hungarian border. According to some data, within three months 30,000 Albanians migrated from the southern province of Serbia to the countries of the EU.

 What Serbian and foreign media interested in finding out what prompted Albanians to move en mass to the EU is of interest at this point. According to migrants who answered questions posed by journalists while waiting for buses at Pristina station, poverty and the uncertain future of Kosovo and Metohija were the main causes for migration. These Albanians told journalists that they had heard that good conditions were being offered for asylum seekers in Germany, France, and Switzerland. 

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The Vucic Government’s Secret Pact With NATO

By Dragana Trifkovic

 

Although NATO officially stands for the preservation of peace and security, its actions result in the exact opposite effects manifested in partitioned states and the spread of terrorism. The citizens of Serbia have an extremely negative attitude towards NATO in regards to its aggressive activities and, above all, our experiences in 1995 and 1999 when this organization bombarded us and thereby violated international law. According to public opinion polls in Serbia, 80% of Serbs oppose any cooperation with NATO. The Serbian government, however, does not adhere to the will of the overwhelming majority of the people, but instead acts as if it is responsible to NATO and not the Serbian state whose interests it is supposed to protect. 

 

Significant advances in Serbia’s cooperation with NATO were realized in 2015. This information can be found on NATO’s official website [1] in which it is clear that Serbia officially chose the rather strict path of cooperation through the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP). Serbia’s actions in regards to NATO have drawn attention in Russia. This subject was discussed during the closing session of the board meeting of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, at which the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu presented an analysis of the military-security situation in the world in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin [2]. 

 

 

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