BALKAN STUDIES

Peny Sotiropoulou
(Master's student in the MSc of Ethnicity and Multiculturalism in the Department of Sociology of the University of Bristol, UK)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr), Publication Date on 19 July 2014

Introduction

Prof. Anis Bajrektarevic famously claimed that “…the conglomerate of nation-states/EU has silently handed over one of its most important debates – that of European identity – to the wing-parties, recently followed by the several selective and contra-productive foreign policy actions.” Elaborating on these actions he went further as to claim that: “…sort of Islam Europe supported in the Middle East yesterday, is the sort of Islam that Europe hosts today. (…) and “…that Islam in Turkey (or in Kirgizstan and in Indonesia) is broad, liberal and tolerant while the one in Northern Europe is a brutally dismissive and assertive.”...Read more

Alexandros Niklan
(Security Consultant/CEO, IISCA group)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) (Publication Date: 31 May 2014)

On March of 2011, many believed that this was indeed the “fat’s lady song” on terrorism in Greece. A simple camera device and a long, in duration, surveillance and forensics data analysis, resulted to the arrest of multiple core members, of the terrorist group Fire Nuclei Conspiracy which was thought as the continuous stage of former group 17N [ ]. But facts since then changed and lead now to a different direction.... Read more

John M. Nomikos
(RIEAS Director)                                                                                                                      

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr/) (Publication Date: 17 May 2014)

It is a fact that in the international environment the intelligence field is in the turning point of important developments, turnovers and revolutionary changes that are prescribed by the rapidly developing technically, practically differentiated and socially formatted environment. The targeting to the rapid and in real time intelligence process with reforming the means and the ways of its acquisition, but also its direct processing and dissemination is the fuse of broader organizational and structural changes that are already adopted by countries with tradition in the field of intelligence, such as the USA, the United Kingdom and Israel.... Read more

Antonia Dimou
(Center for Strategic Studies (CSS), University of Jordan & RIEAS Senior Advisor)

John Nomikos
(RIEAS Director)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) based in Athens, Greece. (Publication Date: 13 April 2014).

The energy findings of the East Mediterranean could ensure Europe’s energy security in terms of alternative supply sources and delivery routes. Of particular importance in the European energy security context is that a size-able proportion of confirmed discoveries are situated in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus, a EU member state, while more discoveries are on the way. Greece, also EU member state, follows next with several promising prospects. Speakers on the sidelines of the 1st Mare Forum Oil and Gas Europe 2014 at a resort south of Athens noted that, in a broader sense, the massive new findings close to the European market are destined to alter the economics and geopolitics of the wider region. The ongoing turmoil in Syria, the Ukrainian crisis, and the aftermath of the Arab spring involve oil and gas in some way or another........ Read more

Dr. Miroslav Mareš
(Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Social Studies,Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) based in Athens, Greece. (Publication Date: 6 April 2014)

Violent extremism is considered a serious threat to contemporary European and global security, mostly in relation to terrorism and other insurgent strategies (European Union 2014). Extremist scenes from various countries and regions are closely interconnected and they support one another. The transfer of strategies and tactical elements is also an important element of contemporary transnational extremism. The rise of extremism in one country or region is interconnected with the state of extremism in other countries and regions. This process is characteristic of the impact of extremism in Greece on East Central European extremism. The campaigns and links between left-wing extremism, right wing extremism and Islamist extremism are analysed in this article.... Read more

John M Nomikos
(RIEAS Director)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies- www.rieas.gr  – based in Athens, Greece. (Publication Date: 10 March 2014).

John M Nomikos participated in the Counter-Terrorism Challenges in the Region of South Eastern Europe Conference and he delivers a paper on “Balkan-Mediterranean Intelligence-Sharing Cooperation and Counterterrorism Policy in Greece.” The Conference took place in the Slovene Armed Forces Military Schools Center (3-7 March 2014) in Maribor, Slovenia.....  Read more