The article centers on the political aspects of international news making, i.e. the coverage of major political news by global media. Nowadays we are witnessing rising interest towards the modus operandi of global media, its newly-acquired functions and its role as a world politics actor. In this study new empirical data is used to assess the role global media plays in the representation of major civil conflicts and to revisit the commonly-accepted understanding of its political functions. With the help of discourse analysis, the authors investigate the realities of the civil wars in Libya and Syria through the lens of their representations in international news, the aim being to unveil the influence of the existing social frames on the pertinent media content.

Public diplomacy as a phenomenon of international affairs has many formats, and various actors of world politics differently utilize it. The public diplomacy experience of two modern integration projects – the CIS and EEU is of considerable general interest as it is focused on strengthening multilateral positive interaction and not directed to the creation of only one country’s attractiveness. In the context of cultural cooperation, youth policy, educational cooperation, promotion of foreign policy initiatives, work with diaspora, Russia and its partners increasingly use public diplomacy resources. Activity of Post-Soviet integration participants creates unique effect of complementarity of their efforts in the sphere of humanitarian cooperation. That is increasingly needed in establishing dialogue platforms with participation of state and non-state actors within not only CIS and EEU countries, but also their regional environment.

The article deals with the features of public diplomacy resource’ application in US foreign policy in Central Asia. The author claims that American public diplomacy which has been actively working in the region since the collapse of the USSR appears to be an important instrument of achievement of not only regional, but also global objectives of the USA. Despite a certain de-emphasis on the Central Asian direction in the American foreign policy at the present stage, the rising Russian public diplomacy activity and increasing Chinese influence in the region forces Americans to look for public diplomacy response in order to secure their positions in this important, from geopolitical viewpoint and energy resource perspective, region. The aforementioned tendencies shape a competitive regional environment for implementation of public diplomacy.

The article analyses the main causes and factors of the militant extremist ideas spread among the youth. The author proposes measures necessary to counteract it and makes comments on the Russian state youth policy which is aimed at involving young people in social practice and informing them of the potential for their development, encouraging creative youth activity, reintegrating young people who find themselves in a difficult life situation into society.
The article traces the main causes and factors of the spread of militant extremism ideas among the youth. Proposals are formulated on the measures necessary to counteract it, comments are made on the content of the Russian state youth policy aimed at involving young people in social practice and informing them of the potential for their development, the encouragement of creative youth activity, the reintegration of young people who find themselves in a difficult life situation into society

The paper addresses FAO’s main principles and strategy for responding to emergency and crises situations in the field of food security and agriculture. The organization carries out measures for early warning and forecasting of natural disasters and conflicts, which can seriously complicate food security in crisis areas of the world. Active work is carried out to forecast emergencies, as well as to assess risks for individual countries. Particular attention is paid to the new EU strategy to strengthen the “resilience” of vulnerable states and societies under the pressure of humanitarian, climatic and military crises.
The partnership between FAO and the EU is based on the integration of conceptual approaches to emergency assistance. Emphasis is placed on early forecasting of crisis situations and helping to restore the socio-economic potential of affected countries and their further development. Such interaction is based on the exchange of data and the exchange of technical tools, as well as on financing mechanisms for emergency assistance.
FAO is a politically neutral international organization with a number of comparative advantages. The EU uses partnership with it as an effective tool not only for providing emergency assistance and development assistance, but also for indirectly projecting its interests in various regions of the world.

Transatlantic expansion in Europe in order to move NATO’s strategic positions to the borders of Russia together with the inspirited Washington-Brussels duo, the “Ukrainian crisis”, is the main destabilizing factor for the security in the European region. In context of preventing threats to the Russian Federation it should be perceived through the declaration of will by the people of the Crimea, who used their right for self-determination and for their future as part of the Russian state and return of the Crimea to Russian fatherland. The article includes “three groups” of international legal grounds for the reunification of the Crimea with the Russian Federation: territorial succession, secession (but not annexation) and a territorial title. Justification for a fully legal inclusion of the Crimea into Russia as a state of historical sovereignty, unlike Ukraine, which historically never existed as an independent state, without legal claim for the Crimea, which was part of the Ukraine due to an anticonstitutional voluntarism of the soviet ruling of that time.

One hundred years ago, the British Empire controlled a quarter of the world’s area and population. Today only a dozen tiny islands remain of this once great empire. However, the British left a huge and permanent legacy behind in terms of the English language, a rule of law, banking, Protestantism, team sports, and parliamentary institutions. While some historians, notably Niall Ferguson, hold that the British legacy was a positive one, most historians believe the legacy was a negative one. Instead of being liberal and democratic, the British Empire was anti-democratic. Instead of fostering free trade, the Empire was protectionist toward the outside world. Notions of class and hierarchy were crucial. This article examines the British legacy in two former colonies in Asia--one huge and one tiny: India and Hong Kong. While in Hong Kong, Britain’s legacy has been fairly positive, in India it is quite negative. The British Empire was not a prelude to a modern 21st century Western world of democracy, multiculturalism, and liberal economics. The British Empire was something different– snobbery, hierarchy, and individualism, and must be understood on its own terms.

The author of the article analyzes the present situation on the territory of the Karabakh conflict and the positions taken by the parties. These are based on a “package approach” (Armenia) and a “step by step approach” (Azerbaijan). The two approaches conflict with one another, which is the main reason why the negotiations under the OSCE Minsk Group fail. This makes the armed scenario of solving the problem likely. The author describes Russia’s policy, which seeks to prevent a new war in Karabakh by maintaining a comparable military-political balance of power. Given the situation, the main task of the OSCE Minsk Group and Russian diplomacy is to create effective mechanisms to prevent resumption of hostilities. International ceasefire monitoring will create conditions for resuming talks to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Otherwise, the Karabakh problem will continue cause international tension.

The period of national liberation movements was marked by a struggle for political influence between world powers in the rich newly independent countries. The Congo crisis was the first to witness such an intense use of mercenaries by world powers in modern history. Policies differed – several western countries hired mercenaries to help suppress secessionist insurgencies, while others used them to support the secession of some regions in the Congo (now – Democratic Republic of Congo). Mercenaries were used to suppress Simba rebellion, to help in release of hostages, as well as in training the Congolese National Army. There was much to gain from the use of mercenary forces by the former colonizing nations. While formally they set the colonies free, informally they continued influencing politics in these countries using clandestine forces – the phenomenon which later becomes known as an essential component of “neocolonialism”. The use of numerous “soldiers of fortune” in the Congo will launch a process of corporate mercenarism, leading to the participation of mercenaries and private military contractors in a higher number of conflicts. In a short period of time contractors will become an integral part of military missions worldwide.

The article explores the political crisis in Abkhazia in 2014 -2017. The author analyzes its visible preconditions, as well as the reasons that are beyond the political situation (nation building, Abkhazian society’s attitude to sovereignty, the political system reform). The author also considers the issue of forming mechanisms for protecting Abkhazian political system from crises. In conclusion, a preliminary analysis of the events of January, 2018 is given.

The article examines the final phase of Northern Ireland peace negotiations (1993–1998), which resulted in the Good Friday Agreement, a document that established the current constitutional status of the country. After a brief overview of the history of the conflict, the stances of the parties concerned are described, an outline of the negotiation process is traced and an analysis of the resulting agreement is given. The author concludes that the key to the success of the talks consisted in the following factors: due consideration of the opinions of those political parties and paramilitaries that were involved in the conflict; proper prioritization in regard to the goals of the negotiations; the principles of equality of the parties and democratic consent of the Irish people as the foundation for the peace process.