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The Road to Sibiu, the Road to Wisdom
2018 found Romania celebrating a century of nation-state unity. 2019 finds Romania as the home of the European unity. A freely and firmly committed community of nations is one of the most delicate enterprises of mankind, one that up to now no empire has succeeded in preserving. The nation seemed the ultimate aggregate. But ration is the ultimate aggregator. More
The Future of Cars: Reinventing Transportation
The automobile industry’s cycle-race to embrace electric and autonomous vehicles did not include all its factories and workers. Neither did softening global auto sales help the market situation. And a change in the downward slope of the number of available job positions is unlikely, with Bloomberg predicting at least 80,000 more automobile jobs to be cut in the coming years. Still, what is certain is that the disruptive future of transportation has already hit the road. More
Semiconductors – the “Future Currency” for Development
“Semiconductors became as scarce as gold”. As weird this phrase it may look at first glance, it is actually a reality. And it may be a very grim reality if the demand rate will continue to be way higher than supply. These small electronic components are vital for manufacturing electronic devices and, by extension, for a very broad spectrum of common and industrial goods. Practically, modern humans depend on devices that run on electrical power, and almost all of these depend on semiconductors, chips and other tiny parts. In a way, even if it is not so evident, and even if we are so reluctant to admit it openly, contemporary human society has become deeply dependent on electronics. More
Obelix Runs Away from Fiscalix
The “fear” of taxation dies hard. In 2013, Gerard Depardieu became a French “tax refugee” in the Russian Federation. Half a decade since then, he became a Russian tax debtor in the Russian Federation. In 2018, he was listed in Russia’s Federal Court Marshals Service database as owing taxes in Saransk (the capital of Mordovia, somewhere in “Yevropeyskaya Rossiya”), where he was registered. More
Europe after Brexit: Isolating the Continent
The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union remains undoubtedly the event of the year 2020. From a technical, procedural and institutional point of view, it was an impeccable, flawless process, according to the provisions of the existing EU regulatory framework, even if it took place after a difficult journey over three years from the date of the British referendum in 2016. Historically, the event does not deviate from the British pragmatic-action note – from the epistemic point of view, it can be explained in the margin of the neorealist paradigm, and, from the emotional point of view, it raises interest only from the perspective of its media exploitation. More
The “Czar” and the Sankt…ions
Judging by recent events, we may be witnessing the last days of the conventional war as we know it. Although conventional weapons are still an asset of the great military powers, we have recently seen a shift from physical, tangible military techniques, with troop movements and defensive positioning, to less immediately visible practices such as cyber-attacks, fake news or misinformation with the role of destabilizing the rival nation. Here we can also discuss the issue of economic sanctions, the most recent targeting the Russian Federation following the invasion of Ukraine. Are we entering a new era in which military leaders will be trained in finance and trade and not in the martial field? More
Nord Stream 2. Implications for the Eastern Neighborhood
Nord Stream 2, perhaps the most controversial extant gas infrastructure project, not only has divided the European Union in supporters and opponents of the project but is also shaping the transatlantic relation while directly impacting the Eastern Neighborhood of the EU. Supported by a Germany that insists on the economic viability and capacity to improve EU’s energy security the project is maybe the most politicized project. Central and Eastern Europe led by Poland and the Baltic States have a limited timeframe until the project’s construction is finished to negotiate their strategic interests and, together with the rest of the European opponents of Nord Stream 2, to consolidate the EU’s energy priorities. The repeated gas crisis in the Ukraine and the recent events such as the Kerch Straight incident polarized the regional and international agenda to an even greater extent and highlighted the security dimension of the project. More
A Leaflet for Economics?
It may be rightfully supposed that the first few months of higher education represent a turning point for most people. It is undoubtedly of a great importance that people take the decision of wholeheartedly stepping into a new environment and make the best use of it. In truth, contact with academia offers new perspectives to young peoples. This is not necessarily about a life turnaround, but more about a novelty represented by a field of activity which people had not been familiar with before, for the "newcomers" have just passed over the threshold between the "playground" of adolescence and the official domain of maturity. More
Address of the Scientific Community of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv to the Partners and Friends in the World Scientific Community
Dear Friends, On February, 24, 2022, Ukraine and its people faced an act of the aggression by the Russian Federation. For mostly a month Ukraine is suffering from brutal, open and large-scale aggression and terror by the Russian Federation in our territory. Aggressor’s troops attack Ukraine’s cities; civilian population, houses, kindergartens, schools, universities are under shelling. These actions are absolutely unacceptable in the 21st century and have already endangered the existence of the democratic world. A lot of our academicians went to the West to save their kids and aged relatives. These are women-scientists as men are forbidden to go out of the state during the war period. The European Union and mostly entire world are supporting those who are struggling to leave their homes and went abroad to save their lives. There are a lot of study programmes and options for our students, PhD students, there are work temporary options for staff and researchers. More
Diaspora Remittances: Major Economic Assets for Nigeria
There are millions of people who migrate each year. With the help of family and friends, they cross oceans, rivers, deserts and mountains. They risk their lives to realize a dream, which is to simply have a decent job somewhere that enables them to financially support their families back home, the same families who helped them before. More
A Perspective by and for the Youth
To most of us, it goes without saying that today’s youth will be tomorrow’s helmsmen amidst the tumultuous sea that life is. For “the little ones had become big, and the big ones had become almost men during the two years they were adrift in the Pacific”. Given that the attention with which adults have called upon the importance of listening to young people has become a leitmotif within our modern democratic society, it is imperative that we, the future helmsmen, do not wait for a second call. On the other side, the mere fact of making your voice heard at least for a tiny bit of time in the middle of this interconnected world cannot represent, in most instances, a satisfactory accomplishment, unless the one who does so is well aware of being a strong vocal cord of one of the many youthful voices which can be heard today alongside our lands. A 19 year-old’s brief analysis of the context in which his existence and that of his beloved ones emerge may hopefully resound in the hearts of other teenagers and young adults scattered upon the face of the Earth. And the past experience has proven that it does. Therefore, I should like to replace Jules Verne’s “Pacific” with our world as it presents today and the two years of forced vacation his characters had to endure with the sabbatical entities that mould our civilization. More
The Increase in Energy Prices Puts Romania in the Middle of EU Member States
Romania ranked in the 13-14th place among EU Member States regarding the increase of prices for energy in January 2022, compared to the same month of the previous year. With a level of 24.1%, our country is below the European average of 27%, after Bulgaria (24.6%), tied with Finland and slightly above Sweden (23.8%). More
