THE INTERMARIUM PARADOX

The region called ‘Eastern Europe’ in Korea lies between three European seas - the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea. In the Polish academic world, this region was called Central Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Southern Europe, or several other ways, depending on time and conditions. And each of these names had justification to be called that. In this paper, the authors will focus on the use of the term ‘Central Europe’ and make the argument. Based on the research achievements of the Institute of Political Studies, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the current discourse in Polish academic world is the subject of this thesis. Numerous attempts have been made to define the concept of Central Europe in Polish literature on international relations. In this process, controversy often arose over which countries should be included in the Central European region. In this paper, while developing the thesis on Central European terminology, it was divided into four stages by period. With the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian War in 2022, the concept of ‘Central-Eastern Europe’, which was widely used in Polish academic world, began to lose its reason for existence. In the authors’ opinion, it seems logical to refer to the territory of the Three Seas Initiative as Central Europe. In other words, we conclude that it is reasonable to call Central Europe the group of 12 countries of the Three Seas Initiative, which are members of the European Union.

Cultural and social cooperation among nations lived in East and Central Europe has been sprung up over many centuries. In the 20th century, the nations of the part of Europe were subjected to an attempt to standardize their national cultures by means of introducing the socialist realistic culture. At present the message of cultural cooperation is social and cultural integration. Relations between Poland and Lithuania can be an example for development of cooperation among the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the state and regional levels, as well as example for educational institutions and economic associations, the connected relations may become germs of cooperation and good-neighbourly relationship as well as in the perspective of social development of the region among the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea.

In January 2015 K. Grabar-Kitarovic was elected as President of Croatia. She identified the integration of Southeast Europe countries into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions and strengthening the cooperation between the countries of Central Europe as a national strategic interest. In her opinion the 12 European member countries of the EU located between the Adriatic, Black and Baltic seas have great potential for regional cooperation in the framework of the EU and the transatlantic community. This potential depends on the geographical position and features of common economic and cultural development. In the presented work is described the evolution of the concept of “the Baltic-Adriatic-Black Sea” and the prospects of its promotion in the countries of Eastern Europe. Special attention is paid to the impact of the initiative on the economic and strategic interests of Russia in Eastern Europe.

Tides are the main type of sea level variability in the world ocean. However, oceanic tides penetrate weakly, or do not penetrate at all, into enclosed basins such as the Baltic, Black and Caspian seas. Consequently, only directly forced tides are formed in these basins. Long observation time series (up to 123 years in the Baltic Sea and 38 years in the Black and Caspian seas) at numerous stations were used to precisely estimate tidal constituents. High-resolution spectra revealed fine structure of discrete peaks at tidal frequencies. The diurnal radiational constituent S1 (1 cpd), apparently associated with breeze winds, was found to play an important role in general tidal dynamics in these seas. Harmonic analysis of tides for individual yearly series with consecutive vector averaging over the entire observational period was applied to estimate mean amplitudes and phases of tidal constituents. Our findings indicate that the formation and predominance of diurnal or semidiurnal tides in these seas appears to depend on the frequency-selective properties of the basins. Thus, in the Baltic Sea with fundamental modal period of about 27 h, diurnal tides dominate in the major eastern gulfs. In the Black Sea resonant amplification of semidiurnal tides is observed in the northwestern part. The predominance of semidiurnal tides in the Caspian Sea has also probably a resonant nature. Maximum tidal heights estimated for a 100-year period are 23 cm in the Baltic Sea, 18 cm in the Black Sea and 21 cm in the southern Caspian Sea.

History and collective memories influence a nation, its culture, and institutions; hence, its domestic politics and foreign policy. That is the case in the Intermarium, the land between the Baltic and Black Seas in Eastern Europe. The area is the last unabashed rampart of Western Civilisation in the East, and a point of convergence of disparate cultures. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz focuses on the Intermarium for several reasons. Most importantly because, as the inheritor of the freedom and rights stemming from the legacy of the Polish-Lithuanian/Ruthenian Commonwealth, it is culturally and ideologically compatible with American national interests. It is also a gateway to both East and West. Since the Intermarium is the most stable part of the post-Soviet area, Chodakiewicz argues that the United States should focus on solidifying its influence there. The ongoing political and economic success of the Intermarium states under American sponsorship undermines the totalitarian enemies of freedom all over the world. As such, the area can act as a springboard to addressing the rest of the successor states, including those in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation. Intermarium has operated successfully for several centuries. It is the most inclusive political concept within the framework of the Commonwealth. By reintroducing the concept of the Intermarium into intellectual discourse the author highlights the autonomous and independent nature of the area. This is a brilliant and innovative addition to European Studies and World Culture.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest states in early Modern Europe. Its internal public law structure was complex and had several federal features. The existence of different levels of autonomy was no stranger to him. Many nations and denominations (churches) were mixed in this state, which ceased to exist at the end of the 18th century, but the ideal of independent Polish statehood lived on. In the 19th century, several Polish independence uprisings broke out, mostly against the Russians, but none of them were successful. Various concepts were born among Polish politicians; these often dealt with a Central and Eastern European federation with Polish leadership. In the first half of the 19th century, the Poles held Slavic solidarity concepts that sought to reconcile Slavic Poles and Russians. These concepts were popular mainly among the conservative and romantic intellectuals. In time, however, Slavic solidarity took a back seat. In the second half of the 19th century, the Polish socialist movement was born, which sought more moderate national politics toward the Belarus, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian national movements and wanted to unite some nations of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in a fairer federation. These ideas were also close to Józef Piłsudski, under whose leadership Poland again became an independent state at the end of 1918. He arrived from the Polish Socialist Party, and during the First World War, he organized the Polish legions. At a similar time in tsarist Russia, the Polish National Democratic Party was the second important political movement in the early 20th century. This nationalist movement was born in tsarist Russia and propagated the rebirth of Poland in the form of a smaller but more Polish national state. Roman Dmowski, a leader of the NDP, had a conflict with Piłsudski that was an important conceptional problem of the second Polish Republic in the interwar period. The new Poland was big state with regional ambitions, but it had two dangerous neighbors—Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Polish leaders therefore had to think about various federal alternatives, most of which revolved around solidarity in Central and Eastern Europe. Such were the Intermarium or Jagellonian plans. The Polish tragedy during the Second World War and Soviet dominance after 1945 only reinforced these ideas. Many Polish intellectuals began to see the future in European unity, although such ideas existed as early as the 19th century. Some of the Polish emigration to Paris worked to reconcile them with the peoples of Eastern Europe (Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Belarusians). The journal Kultura played the crucial role in this process. Poland after 1989 again plays an important European role in three regional contexts: Central Europe, the Baltic Sea, and North-Eastern Europe.

[1] This article investigates an extreme rainfall event occurred over wide areas of central Europe on August 11–13, 2002. By using a synergistic approach that includes regional modeling, air mass tracking, and observational data sets, the importance of moisture accumulation processes in the Western Mediterranean basin (WMB) is acknowledged as an important mechanism responsible for the magnitude of this event. The RAMS-HYPACT modeling system is used to track air masses from potential marine sources of evaporation. MODIS water vapor products, wind profilers and surface rain gauge measurements are used to substantiate our simulations. Results show that most of the precipitation occurring in central Europe during the initiation of the rainfall episode (August 11) came from vapor accumulated over 4 days (August 6–9) within the WMB: the vapor was transported, after the irruption of the Vb cyclone Ilse, through the Italian Peninsula and the Adriatic Sea, into the target area, causing the precipitation episode. On August 12 and 13 the marine sources of evaporation changed to include the north-Atlantic region. The north-African convergence region, the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea are revealed to be sources more related to the intense rainfall experienced in eastern Europe. The subsidence-related processes through which pollutants and water vapor can accumulate for several days in the WMB are shown to be very relevant for this event. The quantification of the evaporative sources, responsible for the extreme rainfall events in central Europe, and the relative importance of marine and terrestrial sources within a chosen regional domain are discussed in the companion following article.

When the political camp centred on the Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power in 2015, it led to a change in priorities in Polish foreign policy. The Three Seas Initiative (TSI), understood as closer cooperation between eastern states of the European Union in the area between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas, has become a new instrument of foreign policy. The initiative demonstrates the growing importance of Central and Eastern Europe in the global game of great powers. The region has become a subject of rivalry, not only between the United States and Russia but also China. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to try to describe the importance of the region to Germany and how Germany’s stance on the TSI has evolved. The article consists of three parts, an introduction to the issues, the genesis of the TSI, and the definition of goals set by the states participating in this initiative, as well as analysis of the German stance towards the initiative since its development in 2015. The theories of geopolitics and neorealism are used as the theoretical basis for the analysis.

Changes in dynamics of excess mortality rates and net survival after diagnosis of follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: comparison between European population-based data (EUROCARE-5)

Hydatidosis (also known as echinococcosis or hydatid disease) is one of Europe’s neglected infections of poverty. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is endemic in Southwestern and Eastern parts of Europe. Although alveolar echinococcosis was considered a rare disease in Central Europe, recent studies have shown its emerging nature and demonstrated that the endemic areas for this parasite are broader than previously thought. This chapter aims not only to review but also to bring to light new epidemiological and clinical data regarding hydatidosis of the central nervous system (CNS) in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe where information was available. At the same time, we intend to shed light on particular or interesting cases reported in the literature. Special emphasis will be given to the casuistic from Romania, listed in 1995 among the countries with the highest prevalence of CE worldwide and where, in the past, at least one person from 45.5 % of its localities underwent surgery for CE. Although rare in Central and Eastern Europe, hydatidosis of the CNS should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient with seizures, focal neurological deficits, and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, especially when that person comes from regions with high disease prevalence.

VIRVELINĖS KERAMIKOS KULTŪRA LIETUVOJE 2800–2400 cal BC

Bank Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe Through the View of the Western European Stock Markets

The rule of law is a juristic concept implying an image of an orderly society respecting the rights of individuals enforced by stable institutions. This image proved attractive in many parts of the world which have known little respect for individuals’ rights, notably in the Eastern and Central Europe after 1989. However, since 2010 in some of these societies, political forces have recently come to power whose actions challenge or undermine the rule of law. The crisis in Hungary and Poland is flagrant, but it is also imminent, for example, in Bulgaria and Romania. In this chapter, it is argued that Norbert Elias’s theory allows us both to theorise the rule of law as part of long-lasting social processes and to explain its crisis. The author proposes using Central and Eastern Europe as a laboratory for figurational sociology to make the case relatable for researchers studying the rule of law in other regions that have undergone systemic transformation.

ARCHAEOLOGY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS— Scientists plan to mount a major expedition this summer to look for remains of ancient settlements submerged in the Black Sea, a team including Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic wreck, announced here on 30 January. The archaeological treasure hunt is meant to test a controversial theory that fast-rising waters some 7500 years ago drove coastal dwellers inland at a dizzying 1 to 2 kilometers a day, a cataclysm that some researchers say could have spread farming into Central Europe and perhaps even account for the biblical tale of Noah's ark. In late 1997, oceanographers William Ryan and Walter Pitman of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, published evidence from sediment cores that about 5500 B.C. the rising Mediterranean Sea topped the shallow Bosporus straits and began gushing into the nearby Black Sea, until then a landlocked lake. The flood raised water levels 15 centimeters a day; by the time it ended, the sea was up about 150 meters and an area the size of Florida was underwater ( Science , 20 February 1998, p. [1132][1]). Many oceanographers consider this flood scenario credible, but archaeologists are skeptical that the deluge altered the course of civilization. “I'm certain we have a flood,” says Pitman. “But did it cause a diaspora? We can only speculate.” Now some of this speculation will be put to the test. In July, a team from several institutions—including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ballard's Institute for Exploration (IFE), the University of Pennsylvania, and the Archaeological Museum in Sinop, Turkey—plans to use sonar to plumb the murky waters off Sinop for signs of settlements. A preliminary survey last July turned up promising results, says expedition co-leader David Mindell of MIT, who organized the conference on deep-sea archaeology (see p. [929][2]) where these findings were unveiled. According to Mindell, a side-scan sonar dragged from a hired fishing vessel revealed “shapes that are too large for a shipwreck and too regularly shaped to not be manmade” in coastal water 60 to 80 meters deep. If more probing by sonar indicates that the shapes are the remains of settlements, Mindell says, the team will use standard techniques—sediment coring and magnetometry, for instance—to date them. To test the theory fully, researchers will put on their detective hats and try to trace the hasty retreat of these erstwhile Black Sea dwellers—a migration that, if it happened, may be tied to the surge of farming across eastern Europe around the time of the flood. The effort is the fruit of a budding collaboration between Ballard and archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, to look for a deep-sea trade route between Sinop and ports along the Black Sea's northern coast. “I was like a kid in a candy store when Bob laid down a map of the Black Sea and said, ‘Where shall we go?’” recalls Hiebert, who had begun land excavations around Sinop 3 years ago. The duo saw great potential for the preservation of artifacts—shipwrecks and other relics—in the Black Sea's oxygen-free waters below about 200 meters. “The anoxic bottom conditions make the waters rich with archaeological potential found nowhere else on Earth,” says Mindell. But after last summer's sonar survey, the team now thinks that there might be more sensational relics closer to shore. When Ballard, whose IFE is footing part of the expedition's cost, saw the grainy images of possible settlements, says Mindell, “he told me, ‘This is the next Titanic. ’” This summer, before going into deep water, the team will probe for near-shore settlements. The researchers say they aren't out to prove the veracity of the biblical flood story, in which Noah and his family built an ark and rounded up two of every creature on Earth. “Noah's flood is not a testable hypothesis,” says Hiebert. “We will test whether there was a strong level of occupation in the [Black Sea] basin when the sea level was low.” Of course, there is one way to test the Noah story directly, jokes Mindell: “We could look for pairs of animal skeletons, too.” [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.279.5354.1132 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.283.5404.929

The present article analyses the concept of Central and Eastern Europe. The term Central and Eastern Europe is defined, the evolution stages of concept and transformation of the term are described as well as the role and significance of Central and Eastern Europe in contemporary international relations are characterized. The author submits that the term Central and Eastern Europe is the most viable and efficient in comparison with the terms Central Europe, Eastern Europe, South-Eastern Europe, East-Central Europe. This definition has mainly political interpretation. Central and Eastern Europe does not contain as much myths, stereotypes and emotions as another equivalent terms. It means the determined geographical, economic, cultural space and political landscape which was included into Soviet bloc during the Cold War. The region of Central and Eastern Europe has specific features and reflects the trends which give us the opportunity to confirm its significant role in international relations. This space is at the core of the European project and the regional security.