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Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization to accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach, so that we are able to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, command and control, or other processes. Internal auditing is a tool of Ministry of Defence management that is used for increasing effectiveness both in departmental and public sector administration. The article is supplemented by two schemes of the position of audition authorities within the Slovak MoD.

This piece of writing is a polemic with the article by Maj. Pernica "System of Planning, Programming, Budgeting (and Flogging a Dead Horse)? in Vojenské rozhledy 4/2005. Allegedly, the criticized article quoted some misleading statements, based on financial records, inappropriate for this purpose. Ing. Dušek does not agree with its general idea, introduced out of contexts. The Planning, Programming and Budgeting System was introduced by leading economy experts (e.g. university professor Mr. Ochrana, School of Economy, Prague). Some deficiencies and shortages are inevitable, but as a whole, the PPB system works. Statistics is a dynamic science and statistical data are to be judged only in connection with statistical methods used in years in concern. For example, in answering the Defence Planning Questionnaire, we were asked by NATO authorities to transfer entries for leasing Grippen aircrafts from modernization and development items to the operational item. Consequently, the percentage of investment purchases decreased. The same goes for the percentages of National Gross Domestic Product spent for military budget, and so on. Moreover, MoD financial department put several useful proposals how to make financial flows more clear, but the were refused by the government.

This is the question asked by the book ?Strategical Governance and the Czech Republic?, published by the Centre of Social and Economic Strategies, Social Science Faculty, Charles University Prague, in which also the Centre for Security Policy participates. The opening sentence says that humankind is not able to control itself. The team of authors guide us through individual items dealing with world?s political and economy situations, plans for economy growth, security and defence concepts, forming supranational security structures and finally towards depressing destiny of adopted strategy concepts and plans. If Czech leadership has any deficiency, then it is a lack of strategical dimension, concludes the reviewer.

The article deals with the idea that was published in Economy and Management Magazine, issued by the Faculty of Economy and Management, Defence University Brno. It analyzes the paradigm evaluating military performance, namely economy effectiveness, in relation to application of dynamic model and processional approach to marketing principles. It indicates the condition is fulfilled. The calculations demonstrate the evaluation of economy effectiveness, economies of scale, purposefulness.

The Active Reserve is part of the Reserves of the ACR and is formed according to provisions of the Czech Code of Law No. 585/2004, 220/1999 and regulations enumerated in this article. In 2005 the term "active reserve" was legally established. The numbers of soldiers was stabilized, in 2007, between 1087 to 1092 soldiers. Manning is the most successful in armour company (main battle tanks), where the numbers are met nearly by 100 per cent. The same is true about Recce Comp or MP units. There are differences among individual regions (Regional Military Commands) and military occupations: some units have zero increase in numbers. The author recommends concentrating more on younger age groups. Older age-groups should be used for more specialized activities, occupations, and proposes to analyze behaviour of those soldiers who finished active or reserve services, in case they would be call up under a state of emergency, as it might be very helpful for further development of the Active Reserve.

This work consists of analysis of differences in chain of command, tactics, weaponry and equipment used by Russian Army during the first and the second Chechen war. Main theme is searching for the answer to what degree were Russian generals able to learn from their own tragic mistakes, being done in the first war, and what are the main reasons of Russian relative success in the second. In simplification, the key factors are as follows: new joint command, at the beginning delegated to the Ministry of Defence; detailed planning of combat operations; and respect to enemy combat abilities. In addition: increased effectiveness of Russian ground forces, artillery and air force cooperation, massive deployment of new weapon systems such as Precisely Guided Ammunition and ammunition with Thermobaric effect, last but not least rather unusual effort of the Russian Army to minimize human casualties of its own forces. The reasons mentioned above with many others lead us to the conclusion that Russia is bound for a military victory in Chechnya, nevertheless a long journey remains to be covered.

The former warriors from opposing sides are recounting their version of events have always been important in understanding history. In studying the Cold War, The Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact (PHP) has undertaken the mission of preserving the history of the two alliances that faced each other for decades on the continent of Europe during the Cold War. It has been collecting, analyzing and interpreting previously secret government documents and making them available via their unrestricted website [www.isn.ethz.ch/php/index. htm]. Documents alone cannot define the thinking behind events, so PHP is now gathering key players from both sides to discuss their perspectives on events. The first meeting in this series took place in Sweden, in April 2006. Similar conferences should add to the historical accuracy and understanding of that very long and dangerous period when the two large groups of armies stood ready against each other. Source: Army No. 7/2006.

This essay is based up ideas summarized in Huntington's famous book The Clash of Civilizations. According to Mr. Huntington, there are seven or eight world civilizations. The West is "unique"-but its values are not universal. World politics is entering a new phase, in which the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of international conflict will be cultural. The decline of the nation state from the conflicting pulls of tribalism and globalism, among others. The author of this essay introduces individual world's cultures and traces prognostic visions both from historical and topical point of view. He warns against intervening into civil wars, as we know very little about their cultural background which must be respected; our interventions might be disserviceable.

Two retired American foreign ministers (state secretaries) G. P. Shultz, Henry Kissinger, former defence secretary William Perry, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn, signed the proclamation calling for freeing the world of nuclear weapons, eliminating nuclear weapons. The author of this article presents himself as their strong supporter. Among others, for two years, they have been explaining their views on pages Wall Street Journal. Several proclamations were issued in conjunction with the conference remembering Top Summit at Reykjavik where the INF treaty was signed by Mr. Gorbachev and Mr. Reagan. Their appeals contain practical measurements: lowering numbers of atomic warheads, START I prolongation, extended time of atomic warning, revoking plans for mass retaliation, common multilateral antiballistic defence, measures against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, opening dialog between the US and Russia to create a joint alert system and to work together to prevent catastrophic nuclear terrorist attacks.

The philosophers describing the growth of humane society outline concepts that are not yet verified but if true, they would explain certain facts or phenomena. As those concepts are supported by various traditions, different criteria, different hypotheses are drawn from them. Among others, most influential political thinkers are Samuel P. Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, or Mr. and Mrs. Tofflers. Every level of civilisation corresponds to respective technology, knowledge of warfare. Current trends reflect the development of security situation, to which our state responds by respective army development. Although the current "Concept of Mobilization of Armed Forces of the Czech Republic" reacts to the newest trends of general development, the raise in military spending is anticipated only time of danger. The author warns against such idea. The forces must be constantly prepared, ready not to be struck by unexpected state of affairs; e.g. similar to that of the US in 1917.

The specificity of defence as a public estate rather complicates necessary changes in public expense management, namely those chapters designated for the armed forces. One of prospective tools for defence economic management is controlling, which is more than mere control. It coordinates planning, information flows, it concentrates on final effects. The authoress explains and depicts how this method is working in the German Federal Forces (Bundeswehr).

Even after the Cold War, our world is full of local and international conflicts. There were dozens of wars, fringe clashes between local opposing groups in Africa, Asia and so on. Among them there were four wars of lager size, with more than thousands of deaths in each of them that could be characterized as international wars: Desert Storm 1991, Iraqi Freedom 2003, Allied Strength 1999, and Enduring Freedom 2001. Now we can look at them from a distance ...217 Problems tied with those large-scale wars have several levels: supranational (international) level and military level, being accompanied by paradoxes: international and political paradoxes and military ones. This influenced structures and methods of training and preparation of Australian, Britain and US forces. The lessons were embedded into their military concepts, rules and regulations, e.g. Complex Warfighting (Australia), Future Land Operating Concept (UK), Field Manual: Interim Counterinsurgency Operations (US). New roles of military forces, global and local implications, ought to be embedded also into the structures and concepts of the Army of the Czech Republic, concludes the author.

The autor responds to several articles published in our Military Review, namely by Prof. František Ochrana, Prof. František Božek, Brigadier Rudolf Urban, Prof. Miroslav Krč, in No. 4/2008, with special appreciation to critical articles by Ing. Jiří Dušek and Lt.Col. Ing František Růžička in the same issue. He tries to find out common denominators of those essays. There are three of them: economization tied with rationalization, risk management, and information compatibility. As necessary he regards to unite those denominators both at the level of decision making officials and at the level of their subordinated elements, by means of e.g. working teams as a guarantee of coordination, so that the adopted Long-term Vision of Defence Department could be actually realized.

As a young army lieutenant he left for France to fight against hated German invaders. In Great Britain, he spontaneously enrol for the fight behind the front lines, but because of his pedagogical capabilities he became an instructor of airborne troops in the so-called Special Training Schools organized by British SOE. In Scottish Traigh House, the main training facility of Czechoslovak paratroopers, he worked as a translator, combat instructor, and even the commander of combat course. In 1944 he took over the position of brigade company commander of supporting arms, Czech Armoured Division. After landing in Northern France, he took part in many fights and was decorated by several Czech and British medals and orders. After war he started to study at the High War School designated for the future high-ranking officers. After coup d'etat in 1948 he was discharged from the army and sentenced to Working Camp for the former army officers Mírov. In 1959 he was arrested again for the letter informing Czechoslovak authorities about conditions in this working camp. After November 1989 he was rehabilitated and gradually promoted to the rank of Major General. After the division of Czechoslovakia he became the chairman of Legionary Community in Slovakia.

In 1990 we expected that the Czechoslovak Army could be fully professional, around the year 2005. The process of professionalization was successfully finished after 15 years, by the successive state that replaced the former Czech and Slovak Federative Republic?the Czech Republic. This article follows the tracks of professionalization process. In accordance with the share of conscript soldiers, K. W. Haltiner divides armed forces into four types: (I) army fully dependent on conscripts; (II) nearly 2/3 conscripts; (III) less then one-half conscripts, army is not dependent on them; (IV), fully professional army. As the graph shows, the pace of professionalization was slow, for a very long time the ACR belonged to type II then the Czech army used to be type III. The author leaves the question ?whether the professionalization is forever? opened.

Generally speaking, simulations help our soldiers to hone their skills, rehearse their missions. Such simulations are done at the Centre of Simulation and Training Technologies. It is divided into two simulation resorts that have been working for several years. It is therefore high time to summarize their practical experiences and analyse the results reached. This is also the theme of scholarly task conducted by staff members, Faculty of Economy and Management, Defence University Brno. The article presents users' opinions how introduced simulation technologies influence the process of preparations of military professionals. The data were collected by means of questionnaires in which the users expressed their own experiences with the deployment of simulation technologies in both simulation resorts. At the end the author proposes further directions of their advancements.

Many security experts are of the opinion that the global security situation has been going worse af ter September 11, 2001. Even though Balkan wars ended, in fact, there are high tensions tied with Kosovo?s proclamation of independence, or in similar state of affairs in Macedonia. In Iraq, there some elements of improving, but in Afghanistan there are a lot of problems, we must mention tensions in Iran concerning building its nuclear capacities and missile tests, Russian-Georgian conflict, which is reflected in the policy of NATO enlargement: Georgia, the Ukraine were not accepted to NATO alliance. The reviewer highly appreciates this anthology of security studies, with the same title as this article. Editor Vlastimil Galatík, published by Defence University Brno, 2008.

Economy of production, economies to scale, in civilian sector are quite different than economy pattern in defence sphere, as specifying the allocation of sources for the Army of the Czech Republic is not based on exact calculation of costing, payments as we could not observe the substantial terms of comparable partial and overall expenses. At present, we are not fully able to compare defence outputs, nor effecitivity of spent sources.

He was born in 1923 into a Jewish family. Luckily, he and his older brother left the former Czechoslovakia with the last transport of Jewish children, organized by Sir Nicholas Winton. In 1943, when he was 18, he joined the Royal Air Force. He completed the course for radio operators and aerial gunners and in the second half of 1943 he joined the 311th Bomber Squadron and took part in operational sorties. In 1944, after finishing 63 flights, he was transferred to a transport squadron. After the War, he was redeployed to transport air group, he flew old Ju-52 and C-3-10 all over Europe. He left the Air Force and returned to Britain where his brother lived and studied. Here he established his own enterprise. In 2000 he passed this enterprise to his son and retired. Among others, he devotes to activities in the Free Czechoslovak Air Force Association.

In 2007, Karolinum, Publishing House Charles University Prage, released the book "Chapters on Security" by renowned security experts and analysts Messrs Balabán, Duchek, and Stejskal. The authors deal with main components of Czech national security system: armed forces and police, integrated rescue system, intelligence services, municipal police and private security agencies (the role of which in national security system is underestimated). The book also describes the UN and other international organizations, NATO, EU and OSCE, together with their security strategies. The world state of affairs is serious, namely with the relation to terrorism after 9/11 2001 attacks. The old security concepts are being re-evaluated, simultaneously with new risks classification, e.g. in the context of the so-called Copenhagen school (theory originating in Copenhagen, Denmark). It is a descriptive publication, by its structure targeted above all for university students, but suitable for readers who are interested in security problems.

Management by objectives (MBO), first outlined by Peter Drucker in the 1950s, is a systematic and organized approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best possible results from available resources. The tasks are delegated to subordinates without dictating a detailed roadmap for implementation. Everybody within the organization has a clear understanding of the aims, or objectives, as well as awareness of their own roles and responsibilities in achieving those aims. In the U. S. Army, MBO was implemented into The Army Plan FY 2000-2015, with 789 operational capabilities, divided into 1,248 operational standards, but without demonstrable success, as the system worked rather formally; it was too complicated. The same was true in the Czech Army, where e.g. The Set of Objectives till 2005 came into existence in 1991. The author tries to explain why. He concludes that MBO can be a useful management tool in the army environment, but it should not be realized without proper understanding this process.

The return of Russia as a power that begins again to partake in political agenda of present-day world raises the necessity to reflect its inner developments in the background of its recent history. There are six key factors that substantionally influence the position of Russia in the world: large sources of raw materials (pipelines); outstanding military capacities (the world's second nuclear potential); high level of general education; wide scientific and research base; permanent membership in UN Security Council and in the Group of Eight (G-8); deciding influence in the near neighbourhood. The study comes to the conclusion that Russia-in the horizon of 2020-will belong among world's leading actors, together with the US, the EU, China, and Islamic world. Russia will be able to of enforce its foreign and security goals, both in post-Soviet areas and in key regions in Europe, Asia and in the Great Near East. As such, it will probably get into conflict with the US. The priority tasks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will rest on maintaining nuclear parity with the US and building capacities for asymmetrical operations.

E. Mr. Knorr came from the family with pedagogical background, his father was a principal in a small Moravian town Ivančice. He acquired flawless knowledge of French and German, which was very useful after he emigrated in 1940. In France he became a personal adjutant to Division Commander. After the fall of France, in Britain, apart from other military occupations, he took a position of paratrooper drill instructor. In June 1944, his ship of the second invasion wave was hit by Germans and wrecked. No Czechoslovak soldier took part in invasion; in this second wave he was one of three. In Europe he interviewed captured German soldiers, dressed in English uniforms. He was decorated by the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In his second emigration after in 1948 he joined American CIC agency. In 1954 he left this service and started to work for the Insurance Company of North America. In 1995, by the order of the Czech president, he was promoted to the rank of Major General.