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The White Paper on Defence was approved by the Government of the Czech Republic on 18 May 2011. The article describes a circumstances of the document development and its substance and role in the family of the defence strategic documents. In addition, the article highlights some important measures of the White Paper that has been implemented in practice. The author who was a member of the committee, responsible for development, and an editor of the White Paper, responds to some voices, claiming that the document has not come up to expectations and it is not usable for the future of the Czech Armed Forces. The author presents his lessons learned from the development and implementation of the document and describes some recommendations for the future.

The article deals with contemporary security situation in the Sinai Peninsula. Attention is paid to certain aspects that form the local negative trends in security developments and their mutual interconnection, as a part of social movements after the events of the so-called Arab Spring and the consequences of the Egyptian Lotus Revolution that have a cardinal influence for both the deployments of Egyptian Army and the security sector in this territory. The opening part of this article is a brief historical excursion into the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that arranges the special status of the Sinai as a demilitarized area and the adjustment of social-economic reality of the Bedouin population performing decisive influence for described situation.

The aim of this article is to provide comparison of the main indicators of military power among the individual EU countries, between the EU in total and the U.S., and the comparison of the world's biggest military powers. Current evolvement of changes in military power indicates the shift of the centre of gravity aiming prevailingly eastward towards raising and growing economical powers. Due to the differences of various input data, multiple information sources used for comparison are significantly different. In addition, it is difficult to get them for some isolated countries, the results of which are sometimes only estimated. The study also includes information on the main importers and exporters of the military equipment, as well as the estimation of future trends.

The main characteristics of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic-leadership, organization, doctrines, personnel and its preparation, weapons systems, material, infrastructure-has been continuously adopted since their creation in 1993. This article analyses three main strands of this process: the first one constitutes the changes in the global security environment and their impact on the role and tasks of armed forces. The second strand reflects the marginalisation of security and defence policy agenda, influencing the instability of armed forces. The last strand focuses on the growing role of international organisations during the provision of security and defence of the Czech Republic. In summary, the author identifies main challenges ahead for Czech political and military leadership.

In 1939-41 Mr. Kácha was involved in Czech home resistance movement. At the beginning of 1948, the year of communist coup d'état, he became a member of illegal group of democratic army officers and military "academics" (officer candidates) at the Military Academy Hranice, headed by Col. Alexandr Korda. They collected intelligence information and prepared plans for the situation of prospective liberation of Czechoslovakia by Western democratic armies, or the Soviet Union?under the pressure of bad economic conditions or under Western pressure?would withdraw from Eastern Europe. They planned to form control authority to prevent chaos and acts of violence. In September 1949 he was sentenced to life imprisonment, after the Velvet Revolution, in May 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. He was awarded the White Lion Order, Military Division.

In the past, the Common Funding played only marginal role in the NATO strategic decision-making. However, this situation changed significantly when the global economic crisis challenged the national public expenditures and NATO defence policy became a matter of serious reflections. NATO should balance its requirements with limited resources and adjust its future activities within shrinking budgets. NATO must make hard decisions and implement reforms in order to ensure its ability to fulfil its mission and priority tasks in the long run. The reconfiguration of Common Funding is an inherent part of this process. The aim of this article is to introduce Common Funding as a management-supporting tool of the international organisation under currently mounting resource constrains.

In the middle of Obama's first presidency, several waves of criticism turned up. According to some analysts, Barrack Obama's first presidency introduces the beginning of new world's era, the so-called "post-ethnical society". The latest discussions prove that the United States have been no longer the only world's superpower, they will remain in the position of world's leader, but still aregoing to substantionally influence global arrangement. Unsuccessful and protracted wars, reflecting serious economic depression with successive debts, effect military budget cuts, even though the American Armed forces are still powerful, potent and mighty power, all around the world, influencing word's events as a stabilising force. The study depicts political and security layout against American domestic political background.

This article describes the question of CBRN and their possible abuses in civil aviation. The problem includes security analysis identified by the Civil Aviation as the most significant class of this group-biological agents. The authors pay them special attention. The second part of paper contains model situation in case of emergency: virus variola (smallpox) attack in a terminal of medium-size international airport. Depending on the detailed properties of virus, transport hub and afflicted area, there are two versions of attack- for summer and winter timetable, according to expected progress of virus extension, and follow-up arrangements.

The defence environment is complex and dynamic. This is a result of the nature of modern conflict, rapid changes in technology, the need to deal with uncertainty in the face of limited sources, changed attitudes to risk and the sheer diversity of actors from different cultural backgrounds. Defence-decision makers are confronted with an increasing operational complexity that has strategic implications. Decisions on defence policy and strategy are characterized by uncertainty and risks. This Article describes differences in Hard and Soft Operational Analyses, and presents some examples and conclusions for military practice.

When the White Paper on Defence was drafted, there was lot optimism as of crisis, then only set in motion. It was regarded as a mere limited, transitional phenomenon. Nowadays we see that it is not a standard crisis known from history, but the so-called systems crises. It is a different sort of crises; we ought to respond by systems reaction in which the society should response to crisis as a whole. This paper originated as a research paper dealing with methods the Czech state should adapt to avert opening crises, with all its sectors and components, including the sector of Department of Defence. The author proposes to draw up a working document "The Army for the Next Twenty Years".

The author summarizes present-day knowledge of this problem. Worms and viruses have transformed to serious security challenges and perfect instruments of cyber espionage. They have become a tool in information warfare. Cyberattacks transformed to risks calling only for technical responses. The growing awareness of the seriousness of the cyber-threat is enhanced by incidents, e.g. the malware "Stuxnet" attacking the Iranian nuclear programme. Actually, cyber space is regarded as a fifth dimension of military deployment, apart for land, air, water, and cosmos. Some nations are already investing massively in cyber capabilities that can be used for military purposes. Most Western nations have considerably stepped up their defences in recent years and are forming special units for cyber warfare.

In September 2011 the government approved the new Security Strategy of the Czech Republic. It was important that this document was discussed and elaborated with the participation of the security community, security professionals both from the army and civil institutions or schools; among others we must state the CEVRO institute or the CESES centre, Charles University Prague. The author familiarizes readers with its contents and the history of its genesis by means of polemics with individual items of this document. In addition to general statements, there should be concrete proposals, the authors supposes, for tangible precautions, which might help readers to comprehend proposed measures, and thus to open way to deeper understanding among wide public to security problems, i.e. impending threats and dangers.

Studies of the importance of culture have gained greater attention in the post-Cold War era. In present world, there are many fenomena that can't be explained in terms of neorealism. There is the consensus in national security policy studies that culture may significantly affect grand strategy and state behaviour. It limits behavioural choices, from which we could derive predictions about our strategic choice. This study is based among others upon Johnston's strategic culture concept related to three generations. The study is divided into five parts: at first the author introduces general concept of strategic culture, the second, third and fourth parts correspond to individual generations. In closing part the author explains his own understanding to this concept.

The results of American foreign, security, defence and military policies are ambiguous. The war in Iraq ends, troops are going to leave both Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama was held up in Arab spring. He tried to improve relations with Russia. The centre of gravity was moved to the Pacific area, which got complicated ties with People's China. He didn't succeed in solving troubles with nuclear programme in Iran. His moderate success in foreign policy was the consequence of his concentration on home politics, health care reform, economy and financial crises. At the end the essay evaluates the Chicago summit that among others officially affirmed that NATO activities in Afghanistan would be concluded by 2014 and declared the so-called smart defence.

This paper depicts the position of the Czech President as the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Czech Armed Forces, including his special relation to Defence Minister who actually runs defence department. The President is superior to all members of armed forces of the Czech Republic; the Chief of General Staff is superior to all members of the Army of the Czech Republic.The President formally and officially controls all the military organizations in a country. But we have no tradition of independent of armed deployment in war conflicts. Our forces operated always as a part of higher multinational coalitions, in joined combined groupings, operationally subordinated to friendly, but alien highest command.

Understanding the importance and role of present-day operational art is not always a matter of knowledge of relevant doctrinal publications or the use of experiences from military operations. Number of aspects of operational art had their roots deep in the history of warfare. Many of them are unknown or forgotten. This article aims to give the reader some basic information about the context that led to the awareness of the need of operational art and finally to real fulfilling the imaginary gap between strategy and tactics, which was the place for operational art. The article briefly describes the background of the emergence of operational art and the approach of two basic schools of military theory: Soviet and German that were crucial to its development.

After the year 1990 a total of 120 wars have taken place. The most appealing were those initiated by the USA, in which other friendly states´ve participated as well. No country has the right to invade its neighbour or over-run and annex another. There were many discussions in the world over the legacy of imposed interventions, under which conditions they are true and just. The study covers two dissimilar attitudes: the first one against Hussein's expansionist policy in 1991 and warfare after 9/11 2001. The legitimacy rests upon Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council that allow any nation to remove the aggressor by force. The author also mentions a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995, and then again from 1998 until 1999/2001.

The new ten-year defence strategy of the Czech Republic has been approved. The document stresses that despite the continuing recession, our state should not allow the military being weakened by further reduction of resources. This could worsen the quality of the military and weaken the Czech Republic's credibility in the international community. There is also the risk of the financial, organisational and personnel destabilisation of the Czech defence system that would bring about a loss of the quality of military personnel, a decayed prestige of the military service, an erosion of the state military capabilities. The new defence strategy is not a cure-all medicine. By its adoption the real

In spite of the fact that the security tensions are not so high as during the cold war, with impending nuclear conflict, the global security situation is far from ideal. Fundamental changes in a global security environment have brought except a lot of positives also many negatives, in a form of various asymmetric security threats. The rise of new military and nonmilitary dangers, under the influence of globalization and contemporary worldwide economic crisis, is directly related to the need of conflict prevention, crisis management, peace missions, law enforcement, or support to humanitarian assistance.

The necessary predisposition of successful meeting assigned tasks of every military contingent sent abroad lies in a high cooperation of its elements, hidden performance of all mission members. The purpose of this article is to introduce nearly invisible activities of geographic and hydro meteorological specialists of the ACR, who prepared and printed geographical maps of Logar province. It is the very first set of maps created by the method of rapid symbolization of GIS data (Geographic Information System), based upon standard Topographic Map TLM50. Vocational preparedness of military geographers is high. Technological means, advanced technology they use in Logar, are an indispensable prerequisite for successful fulfilment of their mission with honours. In fact, the Czech contingent consists of nearly 200 members, formed by soldiers of 102nd reconnaissance battalion Prostějov, 7th mech brigade Hranice, 13th arty brigade Jince, 15th rescue engineers brigade Bechyně, 103rd Centre CIMIC/PSYOPS Lipník, 22nd Air Base Náměšť and other members of Czech armed forces.

The article describes certain findings obtained during the introduction of new methods in the teaching of English language courses organized at Defense Language Institute, Vyškov. It outlines possible problems, which will have to be addressed before the wider exploitation of e-learning in language education for the MoD. It expresses the optimism that e-learning will find the rightful place, especially in the realm of distance learning, as well as support of the administrative and command authorities. The dynamic development of e-learning is prevented only by the barriers of legislative provenance, as military computer network must be protected and secure. The leading authorities are searching for suitable connecting of users that are not only passive participants, but they must be tested and instructed.

The overall purpose of this paper is to describe the way the Alliance and the also the Czech Army is going to apply the leverage of powers while conducting operations in the future. The article shows in details that the relative combat power analysis requires an assessment of factors either directly or indirectly affecting the potential outcome of the operation. In order to improve military knowledge and operational thinking within the Czech Army it is recommended to improve the quality of officers' military training and personnel preparation in accordance with Czech MoD White Paper on Defence. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Alliance or the Czech Ministry of Defence.

The book consists of papers by eleven authors, members and fellow members of the Centre for Social and Economy Strategy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University Prague. At present, we must prepare to face socially unwelcome phenomena. We must arrange preventive projects, so that we could solve prospective crises. The authors therefore pay their attention to methodology of crisis scenarios, or how they are to be prepared. Predicted nine worst-case scenarios anticipate prolonged crises, failure in education policy, rise of extremism, climate changes, energy collapse, lack of international balance, and separation of the Czech Republic from Europe.

One of main task while preparing new security documents is to identify, analyze and evaluate newly emerging, self-generating security threats. They menace cybernetic, economy, bank, and religious security. The special menace, as for inner security it is lobbyism. Cybernetic threat is today regarded as more dangerous than nuclear strike. The American lived through those experiences in Iraq. Another example is cyber attacks on Estonia in 2007 that swamped websites of Estonian organizations, including Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters.The attacks triggered a number of military organisations around the world (including NATO) to reconsider the importance of network security to modern military doctrine. There is a paradigm: the more modern country, the more risks are opened. The situation is complicated by the fact that in sophisticated society there is hard to identify attacking enemy. The author underlines that we are the last member nation in the EU that has no official CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team) to react cyber /terrorist attracts.

The identification of security threats and subsequent risks is the base on which we form security and military strategies. It is also the core of all security scenarios. That's why we must welcome all books dealing with futurology predictions, like The Cognition of Future as a Challenge by Martin Potůček at al, Karolinum, Charles University. He summarizes knowledge and experiences done by CESES, the only scholarly lab dealing systematically with drafting up visions and strategies the Czech state might be confronted with. The CESES is a Czech acronym, which stands for the Centre for Social and Economic Strategies, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague.

This concept has been preparing since the early 2009. In short, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation must be increasingly prepared to intervene far beyond its borders. In the coming decade, NATO will have four central inter-related military missions. The first requirement is to "deter, prevent and defend" against aggression, so as to ensure the political independence and territorial integrity of NATO member states. The report insists on the need to send out military missions beyond the treaty area "when required to prevent an attack on the treaty area or to protect the legal rights and other vital interests of Alliance members". Any expeditionary mission must be based on the principles of the UN charter. Another key item is to cooperate better with those partners, and others worldwide, in order to tackle the new threats posed by cyber attacks, piracy, arms proliferation and energy supply insecurity and climate change. However, in order to achieve the new goals, NATO "must halt the precipitous decline in national defence spending", and to introduce reforms to make spending more efficient.

The existence of the Czech Army is at state. We need to get over present cut in military budget, ill-advised savings, without searching for new appropriate financial and material sources. To save something important means always to sacrifice or to give up something. Some security and military experts wish to dissociate themselves with approved methods. They think that the White Paper doesn't express opinions on many important things. It assumed that after five years there will be need to revise this White Book. So, proposes the author, wouldn't be better for us to regard the White Book only as an analytical document containing certain proposals for the following Defence Strategy of the CR, as originally intended?

This extended essay is based upon various sources, among others on May 2010 President Obama's speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where President Obama described his national security objectives. The highest priorities of U.S. national security are the safety of Americans at home and abroad and achieving a peaceful, stable world through global cooperation despite a flawed international system. The Obama's security strategy relies heavily on diplomacy and engagement, economic development and other methods of influence, along with U.S. military capabilities with global reach and unsurpassed resources. As we face multiple threats, from nations, non-state actors and failed states, America will maintain the military superiority that has secured country, and underpinned global security, for decades. The security strategy is global, and identifies an array of real or potential security challenges that include: countering violent extremism and insurgency; stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and securing nuclear materials, resolving and preventing conflict; and reducing destabilizing risks to economic interdependence.

This year we mark the 70th anniversary when the commander of 1st Squadron, RAF, Lt/O Antonín Velebnovský died in the Battle of Britain. He was only 26 years old. His biography is typical for Czechoslovak airmen. After German occupation of Czech lands, he fled abroad, to France. In Britain Antonín Velebnovský belonged among those officers who were assigned to British squadrons. His 1st Squadron was the first that was furnished with fighters Hawker Hurricane. Under his command served several legendary flying aces: Kuttelwascher, Jícha, Krátkoruký, Příhoda, Čížek, Dygrýn. His Hurricane was damaged in air combat and crushed down nearby the air base Tangmere, West Sussex. Among others he was decorated by Air Crew Europe Star, Czechoslovak War Cross 1939, and Military Commemorative Medal F-VB.

The White Paper on Defence is a frame document that only points out main directions of military activities that further must be worked up in detail at all levels of defence department. This study presents all possible themes in the field of public procurements. As he set principles in the Whiter Paper correspond to those set in governmental document Public Procurements, it depends only on MoD experts to what measure they meet governmental requirements and implement them into drafted concept materials, incorporating rules for placing, assignment, rating, examination and audit.