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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.

The basic question of Army transformation was the fact that it was not constituted upon the statehood principle that gives precedence to politicking individual parties. The ultimate goal of this transformation was to build forces loyal to democratic republic, but during the last ten years the top personnel at the Ministry of Defence changed several times, leaving the Army with restricted means, without precise laid down tasks and goals. Uncontrolled interventions into forces structure, reducing numbers of military personnel, lead to balance on the verge of collapse. The basic goal to develop Czech national security and defence policies did not fell short. Army was transforming itself, initially under the management of former generals and later under civilian control, especially after 1991. The division of the armed forces after the split-up of the state at the turn of 1992 went very smoothly, with good discipline. The transformation has been influenced above all by the newly adopted legislation, accession to NATO and to the European Union, participation in missions abroad and professionalization of the Czech armed forces. The whole process has been facilitated by the acceptance and implementation of a broader concept of security.

The famous quotation from Moliére that says "Grammar, which knows how to control even kings", implies importance of grammar for everyday use. There are many way of the acquisition of grammar. The best or smartest way of teaching grammar is to memorize rules in sentence contexts to bear them in mind for a longer time, and learn those rules more easily. The authoress presents new ways in teaching grammar, expressed in works by several famous authors, Barton, Birch, Chomsky, Hudson, Larsen-Freeman, Patterson, Pennington, Weaver. Those are: communicative and competitive models, together with systematic and consistent procedures, resulting in highly motivated structure of learning grammar. In the core of this process lies the strong personality of language instructor.

The study analyzes the key features of Russian policies in the late 2000s and their prospective developments. It is above all the rise of Russia's economic power, boosted by the favourable rising trend of energy prices (oil and gas) that has helped to resume again the position of one of the key world powers, obsessively pursuing its geopolitical interests in a new emerging multipolar world. This also determines its relations with other major global actors, e.g. the U.S., the EU, and China (outlined in this article). As far as military budget is concerned, it is increasing. Russia has overcome a long period of stagnancy. After 2007, they re-established strategical patrol flights off Russian territory; great effort is aimed at power projection, as a means to secure natural resources beyond Russian boarders. The study is closed by Russia's geopolitical prospects till the year 2020. and its Anticipated Development

The very modern trends in the forces of advanced countries are hiring private civilian companies, private enterprises, in everyday performance of armed forces. As this phenomenon is very frequent, the authors decided to go into its roots, to find a common cause of this fact. In the past, armies were closed societies, self-sufficient, independent from states. Today, gradually, soldiers became more concentrated on key military tasks and supporting functions are transferred to private companies. The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) takes over mechanics used in private sector: it integrates economy dimension. Above all, it is transparency of bookkeeping, which ought to give evidence on savings in everyday life of forces. The Bundeswehr uses the so-called Market Testing, as a means of practical cooperation for engaging private capital. All those fact are cited as thoughprovoking.

The purpose of this report is to imagine the unthinkable of the worst case scenario for the global future post-modern society. The analysis addresses the main features of global risk society, human suffering, and loss of life from natural catastrophes, man-made catastrophes, economic losses, peak-oilcrises impacts, threat of terrorism, radical Islam, fragile states, etc. Important are the consequences of the end of the Vestfal system and global climate change. There is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21st century. The research suggests that once temperature rises above some threshold, adverse weather conditions could develop relatively abruptly. Drought persists for most of the decade in critical agricultural regions and in the water resource regions for major population centres in Europe. As fertility shrivels, societies get older-and much of Europe are set to get older than any functioning societies have ever been. To avoid collapse, European nations will need to take immigrants at a rate no stable society ever attempted. Europe will be significantly more Islamic.

In November 2007, under the auspices of Lieutenant-General Vlastimil Picek, Chief of the General Staff ACR, there was the 4th international conference held in Prague, dealing with command, control in Network Enabled Capability environment: NEC-IV. The conference was organized by the Institute for Strategical Studies, Defence University Brno, in cooperation with the Department Communications and Information Systems, DoD, and the Department of the Development of Forces-Operational Department, DoD, last but not least with a civilian Carolina Agency, as NEC principles could be utilized even in civil sector. The conference is regarded as a step from theory to practice, both in the field of education, preparation and practical exercises supported by simulators and trainers. In the immediate future, we must develop the integrated environment for EU Battle Groups, brigade task force, covering the whole operational spectrum, so that we could reach a synergy effect in education, pedagogy, science and research.

Backed by a heap of articles from the Western Press, author summarizes the recent conflict in the Caucasus. Georgia's position astride the western access route to the Caspian sea's energy reserves and Central Asia give it geopolitical significance. Moreover, Georgia represents exactly what Russia does not want to see on its borders: a country both independent and increasingly democratic. Russian government instead seeks submission, preferably by authoritarian rulers that it can manipulate. In summer 2008, Russia invaded South Ossetia, aimed at locking Georgia out of NATO. Moscow's military operation has far-reaching implications. To leaders in Ukraine and the Baltic states, it sends signals that it seeks to re-establish control in the former Soviet space. How should the West react? The author is a supporter of improving Russia's behaviour by mutual dialogues, negotiations. He sets an example: dispassionate, non-ideological talks between the former Soviet leader M. Gorbachev and an American president George Bush Sr.

The author of this article considers the prospective changes in the development, character, missions and tasks of the Army of the Czech Republic, Those changes are deduced from the changing security environment and long-term development trends. To meet new demands, we must continue in building interoperability and compatibility. The battlefield operations will be planned and controlled by the systems of "Network Centric Warfare" and "Reach Back Operations". It will not be necessary for a commander to be in physical contact with operational theatre. Electronical high speed intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance will enable the high pace of military operations (together with common analyses, integration of collected data, evaluation of enemy's intents and activities). This will enable to build a credible defence, in the frame of collective security system, hand in hand with other NATO allies.

The Slovak author Štefan Volner wrote a book called The Wars of the 21st Century (Zvolen 2007). After the break-up of common Czechoslovak state we promised each other that the relations between Czechs and Slovaks will not change, but after fifteen years we see that we are really departed, when speaking about Slovak home policy, about Slovak security questions, its army. Štefan Volner who often publishes in the review Vojenské rozhledy helps to cover this gap and thus our military public can follow his scholarly works dealing with security and defence. In reviewed book he enumerates the causes of 21st century wars and analyses four basic paradigms: civilizational; Toffler's third wave; realistic approach; and finally thermodynamics, dealing with non-linear causes of war. Asymmetric wars came into existence as the roots of wars are asymmetric. It is not difficult to win the war, but more difficult is to guarantee post-war reconstruction.

The second part of this short serial deals with the theory of the operational art focusing on the centre of gravity (COG). The article emanates from Carl von Clausewitz's ideas, doctrinal publications analysis and many study projects of the operational art theorists. The author especially aims on disunity and heterogeneity of comprehension of the centre of gravity theory in confrontation of contemporary doctrinal publications and original Clausewitz's theory. He compares operational manuals (those of U.S. and NATO), and finds similarities concerning characteristics, capabilities or localities from which a military force, nation or alliance, derives its freedom of action, physical strength or will to fight. Finally, he himself defines enemy's centre of gravity and highlights coherences that can affect fulfilling political and military objectives in current and future military operations.

The article deals with the state of English e-learning on the premises of the University of Defence. The authoress introduces some pages of the electronic materials used for the General Staff Course as an example of modern methods of learning English. She explains the basic principles of the work with these exercises. There is also mentioned the military English interactive CD-Rom that was published last year and is used as the electronic support for learning military English; and also a new CD-Rom that is being developed now is mentioned because it will be used for the General Staff Course participants as well. Because of the fact that Czech military personnel are expected to serve in multinational operations, this interactive CD-Rom will make their language training easier. In the last part of the article, the opinions of the General Staff Course participants on using e-learning materials are given on the basis of questionnaires.

The key fact is that changes in the political, economic, social, and technical spheres are making it possible for a small group bound together by a cause to use new technologies to challenge nation-states. 4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare) uses all the shifts from a mechanical to an information/electronic society to maximize the power of insurgency. Fifth-generation warfare (5GW) will result from the continued shift of political and social loyalties to causes rather than nations. It will be marked by the increasing power of smaller and smaller entities and the explosion of biotechnology. The purpose of this article is to widen the discussion on what forms 4GW may take and to offer a possible model for the next generation of war: 5GW. Adapted from Military Review, May-June 2007.

Management consists of those continuing actions of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the use of men, money, materials, and facilities to accomplish missions and tasks. Management is inherent in command, so the candidate officers are trained to execute their authority and responsibility in command. Management principles are lectured both at military graduate schools and application courses. But some themes are repeated, reduplicated; the study plans at the Military University and the Military Academy must be more coordinated, was said at the professional conference on management, held in November 2007, at the Defence University. Some proposals were put forward, e.g. stress on simulation of military functions on computers. The central goal of Army transformation is to reach the decisive information prevalence and operational effectiveness backed by NEC (Network Enabled Capability), established as an accredited study subject.

The overall trend set by NATO forming small, mobile, modern and highly capable units, prepared for combat deployment whenever and anywhere - determines fundamental changes both in military materiel, arms, technologies, but also those in structures of command and control, in the field of preparation and training soldiers. Small units, company, platoon, section are to be prepared for matching the task in the whole spectrum of operational and combat activities, so that they could immediately conduct warfare after being deployed. Supported by a wide range of Allied Publication, Joint Force HQ and Doctrine Committee, Training and Doctrine Directorate, prepared together a pack of tactical publications introducing principles to support above mentioned principles. At the end there is a list of individual chapters dealing with standard principles which will guide actions of company, platoon, and section.

This operation was led by Germany, and made up of elements contributed by twenty EU nations; as well as Turkey and Switzerland. The EU deployed FHQ in Kinshasa and simultaneously kept the over-the-horizon force in Gabon, in order to ensure a deterrent capacity and to avoid unnecessary heavy military presence in Kinshasa. After Operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EUFOR RD Congo was a second EU largest military operation, involving a total of almost 3,000 soldiers and officers). The co-operation with MONUC was decisive in containing the potential spread of violence at a particularly sensitive moment in the election process. The operation demonstrated the EU ability to successfully conduct medium scale autonomous multinational operations within a planned time frame under the UN mandate. The views expressed in this assessment are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of EU Military Structure or the Czech Ministry of Defence. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

He was born in 1910, during his military service he became a reserve officer. After 1938 he left the former Czechoslovakia, and after a long and complicated journey through the Balkan states, after being arrested for illegal crossing Palestinian borders, in 1940 he joined the Czechoslovak army in the Middle East. He was appointed the commander of a reserve officer platoon. He hold several positions, among others he led 12 patrols in enemy's areas. As the British Royal Air Force suffered heavy losses, Czech soldiers were called up to join the Air Force. He became a member of 311 bomber squadron, in 1943 he was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force, Newfoundland, to guard sea convoys, next he was transferred to the Bahamas, then back to 311 bomber sq in Scotland, where he patrolled around the seashores, till the end of war. He reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant (Captain). He was awarded the Military Cross and other orders and medals. As an airman from the West, because his wife was of German origin, he was forced to leave his native country again. Even though his beginnings were hard, he established his own company in the USA. He is still very busy and takes part in many projects tied with activities of Czech army abroad.

This article deals with the present state of command and control dilemma in brigade battle groups. It outlines the resources of the rationalization of organizational structures at HQs and it shows their impact on modular design of the command posts. The gradual introduction of NATO Network Enabled Capability (NEC) into Czech armed forces (Bde TF-Brigade Task Force), requires first, changes in the structure of individual components of command and control system; secondly, initiating basic changes oriented towards optimalization command and control structures; third, the preparation of commanders and staffs in the field of information technology, so that they could achieve knowledge and control dominance. At the same time organizational changes raise modification within command chains of separate groups.

This article deals with the problem of theoretical base of reflective teaching methods and illustrates practical examples and recommendations of experienced language teachers. In detail it explains the structure and principles of this educational concept, and defines differences from regular teaching methods. The authoress explains both teaching and learning through critical reflection practice, how to develop critically engaged learners. She explains how to gather information on students in class in charge, and enumerates questions to be answered. Reflective thinking by means of feedback enriches both students and teachers. "Reflective" teachers are able to monitor, criticize and defend their own activities, planning, implementation and assessment language programmes and instructions. fl

The so-called Provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) are a relatively new concept and element in coalition operations. Those teams have been operating in Afghanistan since the end of the year 2002. The evaluation and assessment of their work is very complicated and sometimes quite unambiguous. The main purpose of this article is to show to widest military community tasks and problems of PRTs; secondly to introduce main principles of work of PRTs under different conditions. Moreover, this article refers to fundamental problems that guide their PRTs development and work in countries that have some experiences with building and activities of PRTs. The author also describes the activities of 40 Czech military personnel PRT in Afghanistan (in the frame of German PRT, Badakshan Province, Fayzabad).

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.

Officially Israel kept quiet about the 5 September 2007 air raid in northeast Syria. Reports indicated that the Israeli operation was triggered by the arrival of a North Korean cargo ship carrying suspected nuclear materials. Israel used electronic attack in air strike against Syrian mystery target. Syrian air defence infrastructure is based on for the most part aging Soviet missiles and radars. This air attack means that Israel is beginning to win cyber war battles. For several decades Israel has maintained a policy of preventing any nation in the Middle East from acquiring nuclear weapons, e.g. in 1981 Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor and thus crippled Iraq's nuclear programme. The destruction of a Syrian nuclear site is a continuation of that policy and a strong message to Iran that Israel is willing to take serious risks to maintain its stance. Based upon Jane's Defence Weekly No 39, 44/2007, Aviation Week No. 17/2007 (nas).

The reform of the Czech armed forces is factually and timely tied with the transformation of NATO forces, both in the field of technology and that of doctrine. The covering principle of this transformation is the so-called EBAO concept, in the frame of which we define three main transformation objectives: forces must have operational superiority, they must be operationally effective, deployable, and sustainable. The effects-based approach to operations focuses on combining military and non-military actions to influence the overall behaviour and capabilities of other actors: national, trans-national, belligerent and benign, in an operational environment in order do create effects leading to the achievement of strategic objectives and a desired end-state. Its application focuses the planning, execution and assessment of operations. The cited EBAO handbook was followed by several documents (e.g. discussion papers), issued at the end of 2007 as a means to inform future doctrine reviews. Many of the concepts and documents should be validated, either through experimentation, or through specifically designed exercises.

The subject of this comprehensive study: the main features of global risk society can be embodied by ecology crises, global financial crises, threat of terrorism. The article is presented as a report to military community and audience, with the underlying focus on terrorism. The author is mapping the global future in the first two decades of this century. As a small country we must pay attention to the developments in the worlds leading powers: the U.S., China, Russia, last but not least, within the EU. Those themes also present individual headings of this study. He treats energy, demography, peace, security, good neighbourly relations, cooperation between states that are most desirable goals we want to reach. In a way, as the main actor of worlds security situation till 2020 is identified Islamist terrorism (radical Islamists, Al Qaeda). At the end Mr. Balabán recalls the former "Security Policy of the Czech Republic" released ten years ago, reminding us the necessity to be prepared for the worst scenarios.

Department by Ing. Jiří Dušek. The purpose of this article is to provoke discussion among military public dealing with economy in order to improve economy management in the forces. The author would like to point out the gap between officially proclaimed principles and true economy development in MoD department. Why proclaimed principles remain only on a sheet of paper and are not introduced in practice? In three theses are summarized the main problems to be resolved. The article is not conceived as a mere critique, it also features several proposals how to improve, optimalize, economy behaviour of the ACR. Among others he proposes to make us of 3E indicator (Economy, Effectiveness and Expediency), SWOT analysis, etc. Last but not least, he underlines the importance of economy education for army officers and leading civilian officials.

The act of making up commander's mind is one of most important roles of leaders/managers. The science of managing or controlling ought to be employed even in everyday life of the military. The skilful or resourceful use of materials, time, etc. are the main characteristics of command and control. The purpose of this article is to outline connections in management theory, namely managerial posts, coupled with command. How we can use management theory in shooting drills or marksmanship theory in commander's decisionmaking. The authors explain sequential managerial functions, planning, organizing, staffing, analysis and their implementation into shooting practice. The article is accompanied by several schemes. This exercise can be also used in modelling of combat clashes, as a part of simulations in computers and as a factor of the professional preparation of servicemen.

The academic year 2006-2007 is an important milestone for the Defence University, as the freshmen are asked to have relatively high entry knowledge of English language. The concept of English entry tests had to be changed, i.e. entry tests are at the level STANAG 6001 SLP 2. For practical purposes, speaking and writing knowledge of all applicants can't by tested, therefore new test patterns cover only listening and reading (level SLP 2). This represents an extra burden for the staff of the Centre of Language Preparation, influencing language training and testing. The new curriculum was formed, accredited in UNIcert system. It has been implemented for students in the first grade of the Faculty of Military Technologies. This curriculum reflects speaking knowledge at the level STANAG 6001 SLP 3333 and opens the road to European Certificate of English Language.

This article deals with the EU command and control functions and provides basic information on the structure and capabilities of the EU CCS in Battle Group EU operations. The author describes political and strategical levels CCS (COREPER, GAERC, COPS, CivCom, EUMC, EUMS, BDE HQ, prospective EU FHQ). Only US, EU and E3 (Britain, France, Germany) are capable to realize integrated expeditional operations. The ACR can work only with cooperation with them. The Czech Republic as a small EU member state is actively engaged in the building of the Battle Group EU. The Czech Army is going to increase its expeditionary capabilities as demanded and be prepared for a broader range of conflicts and crises in the vital area of the EU concerns. At present, the ACR is able to carry out a self-supported, integrated expedition operation only on the edge of all its strength. The political leaders must bear this fact in mind, as the army mustn't be overburdened, otherwise it might lose its credibility. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

How to master foreign language? There are many methods the teacher can use. The authoress enumerates at least the most important ones: grammatical-translation method and communicative language teaching. Both methods are subdivided into smaller groups, emphasizing different aspects of teaching. The second method puts the stress on communication in practical life. The teacher is only a mediator, learners (students) take over responsibility for mastering foreign language. The language is used prevalently in tangible social context. This method could be called "natural approach". The language acquisition is hard and demands extreme efforts. It is 206 never ending process, assuming perpetual repetition of gained knowledge. At the end the authoress (language teacher at Komorní Hrádek Institute) describes her own experiences with learning foreign language.

Anti-ballistic missiles are missiles designed to counter enemy's ballistic missiles. First, the author compares strategic patterns reflecting various eras of the former bipolar world. Their mutual balance of that time could be described as Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). As long as MAD was a fact of life, the ABM Treaty fulfilled its important function as a cornerstone of strategic stability. Keeping nuclear arsenals at a level which is not even justifiable is selfcontradictory, as the military strategy and targeting policy is based on the capability of the other side, not on its intentions. Today's Russian policy is shaped by the status-driven desire to deal with the United States from a position of power-related symmetry and strategic parity, by negating the unique position of the United States. The American ballistic missile defence policy used to be also a central element of their containment strategy towards China. However, at present, Ballistic Missile Defence (BDM) sets as a top-priory the defence against the so-called rough states, rather than against Moscow or Beijing.