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The purpose of this study is to analyse system of economic control at a level of expense institution of the ACR in comparison with theoretical approaches and experiences of civilian company economics and the practice of NATO armies. The author wants to postulate necessary prerequisites widening the space for rationale economy behaviour and decision-making of leading army management. He creates an economic model constituting methods, proceedings, tools of economic control in all phases of budgeting and accounting processes, behaviour of the whole economic system of defence department. The case study is based upon the presentation delivered at the international conference on economy, logistics and ecology in armed forces taking place at IDET 2009 trade fair. Proposed methods should be used for sources allocation, value based management costing transparency, resulting in saving sources and increasing personal responsibility.

The author compares two scholarly books: World's Tension Epicentres by M. Šlachta (published in 2007) and Security Policy of the Czech Republic by the team of authors headed Jaroslav Janda. The latter study of 1996 uses different terminology: instead of today's favourite teams threat or security threats, they are civilizational risks, economical risks, military risks, environmental risks and so on. The special attention is paid to undemocratic, autocratic states, violating humane rights. Those who owned nuclear weapons are regarded as especially dangerous to peace. Those risks have multiplications effects, they could be solved only by collective effort of all interested states. The recent history confirms predictions made by the team of Jaroslav Janda. The analysis by Mojmír Šlachta contributes to deeper understanding present state of affairs, among others it covers rising Islamic word.

What is Necessary to Consider in the Process of Organization Structures Construction, Military Forces Equipment and Training in ACR, after the Ending of "Conception" by Ing. Antonín Krásný, CSc. The very welcomed "Concept of Development of the Professional Army of the Czech Republic and the Mobilization of Armed Forces of the Czech Republic" had to be revised because of the lack financial means. This fact influenced a lot of live of our army. Additional career officers were to leave his services; military material, vehicles were further reduced. At present, we have to balance our military strength with security demands reflecting running changes in world's security surrounding. The main aim of the article is to describe development of security environment in the Central Europe. It considers decision mechanisms reform in NATO and transformations of its military forces structures. It highlights an impact of demographic, technological, institutional changes and changes in value system of defence assurance of the CR. We must still bear in mind that for us, NATO alliance, supplemented by the EU structures, is the main tool of our security.

This article begins with a theoretical discussion of the culminating point, for both the attack and defence. Key definitions and related concepts provided in Carl von Clausewitz's On War, Joint Publication 3-0, Doctrine for Joint Operations, and U.S. Army Field Manual 100-5, Operations, are discussed in detail. These sources provide many of the factors that can cause a force to reach culmination, and serve as a basis for understanding the difficulties involved in trying to determine the time and place of culmination. Other current factors attributing to culmination are discussed, and recommendations are offered to help operational commanders and planners to zero in on this elusive point. It is of the utmost importance that one's own, and the enemy's culminating point be identified with the highest possible degree of accuracy during the planning phase of a major operation or campaign.

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.

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.

This article covers the EUFOR RD Congo operation preparation phase and provides information on Military Strategic Planning Process, Military Operational Planning, Collaborative Planning, EU OHQ Potsdam activation and Force Generation Process. It describes planning period to highlight a pivotal role of training and education. Operation EUFOR RD CONGO was the EU second military intervention in the RDC, following Operation Artemis in 2003. The EUFOR RD CONGO mission was to support MONUC during running election process, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1671, authorizing the temporary deployment of an EU force in the RDC. 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 MoD. All information and data for this paper were drawn from unclassified sources.

The main theme of this extensive paper is ethical evaluation of the state of affairs in Iraq that would play greater role - directly or indirectly - in the decision-making of foremost politicians, more role then we might think. Although the author quotes various positive or negative attitudes towards the war, he does not intend to prove or refute presented theses. He broadly treats e.g. the so-called just-war, events when imminent threat might be a case for war, moral clarity in a time of war, situations when we consider that our aims might be achieved by peaceful means. Last but not least, he writes about attitudes of church leaders, the Holy See, lines of their reasoning. The armed forces are called upon to do their duty. The greater the threat, the grater is the risk of inaction, the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory actions. In such case, the governments make their final decisions. It is not the responsibility of church-leaders or military commanders. To obey it, it would not be in conflict with the churches teaching. In these circumstances, the troops could regard an order to go to battle as morally decent, in pursuit of a moral good purpose.

The Military Technical Institute of Ground Forces (VTÚPV) Vyškov was established in 1978 as a research authority and its activities have covered both requirements of the Army of the Czech Republic as well as the civilian sector. The VTÚPV Vyškov Division specializes in equipment, material and technologies of the ground forces. It solves tasks ranging from theoretical analyses and applied research and development to the prototype production phase, testing and validation, and small series production. It is an accredited testing laboratory for testing products and systems; it operates as an accredited certifying body for a large number of products. Since 2003 it is a part of the military repair shop VOP-026 Šternberk, s.p. (state enterprise) founded by the Ministry of Defence. The article enumerates its activities, namely just finishing semi-anechoic hall EMC (electromagnetic compatibility), the most important and most expensive investment project since the late 80s.

The basic change in world's security situation after the September 11, 2001, Attacks is accompanied by raising numbers of security studies, dealing namely with the subject of terrorism. The monograph written by three authors of Defence University Brno defines categories of terrorism, its historical development, psychology, methods of attacks, their forms, consequences. The special part is consecrated to the fight against individual types of terrorism. We must value highly the general summary of literature dealing with theme of terrorism, including electronic sources. Last but not least, we must also appreciate the chronological list of the worst terrorist attacks, starting with assassinated Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia (1914); short characteristics of representative terrorist groups: Action Directe (France), a Basque separatist group known as the ETA, Irish Republican Army (IRA), Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth) in Japan, Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), Hezbollah guerrillas, or al-Qaeda, etc. Selected Aspects of Contemporary Terrorism, MoD CR-AVIS 2008.

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.

Some of the published critiques dealing with midterm planning are not true, as they were created without detailed knowledge of practice and methods how our midterm plan was created. Nevertheless, there are some real faults in midterm planning. According to the author, they are divided into two groups: external-they depend on quality of assignment; and internal-they are connected to the application of theory. Main external fault is the absence of long-term plan. In fact, it was introduced by the Order of Defence Minister, but it has not been worked up thoroughly. We lack adjusting main goals, tasks and priorities for MoD. Next problem are unstable and lacking financial sources. Internal mistakes are as follows: absence of mechanism for balanced changes between cycles of planning; implementation of life cycle cost and level of education of staff preparing data for planning.

Mentioned Balanced Scoredcard-BSC is an ef f icient tool that helps to the of f icial management to transform vision and strategy into reality, by means of monitoring key efficiency indicators and their transformation into action plans: BSC covers the package of strategy maps enabling to consider mutual connections. Owning to the transparency cause-consequence relation, we can implement cohesive strategy into all level of the organization.

We have no many characters that unlike Ivan Gabal could move on the edge of practice, academic world and politics, dealing with incomparable themes: foreign policy, security, terrorism, Europe vs. the Czech Republic and vice versa. Referred chapters are entitled NATO, EU, Radar, the Army of the Czech Republic. Among others, Mr. Gabal compares Czech army with its English and American counterparts, evidently better than ours, because those armies have not undergone such troublesome history in the last hundred years as the ACR. Ivan Gabal's editorials, sociological analyses, critical and professional articles from 1997-2007, when focusing on safety and the Army of the Czech Republic, uncover a striking lack of conceptual planning and incompetence of the post-November political elites.

In NATO, here are many common items in welfare benefits, and there are different ones. Authoress depicts military social welfare in the CR, Slovakia, Germany, France, Poland, Hungary. The final part of this article compares systems of military benefits of mentioned countries. The authoress enumerates various conditions to be fulfilled, so that soldiers were entitled for welfare or retirement benefits. In nearly all countries, veteran?s pensions are regarded as the substitute for deferred, postponed pay. Retirement pays have its source in the last soldier?s salary. In the Czech Republic, retirement pays are based upon serviceman?s average best income in a calendar year, before he leaves the army, the time he served in the army, and its real income. Czech veteran?s social security scheme is separated from general (civil) social security system, as there some special military benefits that can?t be taken over by civil authorities.

The change of security situation in the world, international ties and last but not least changes in operational environment, exploitation of new technologies are reflected by changes in defence planning, military organization, forces engagement and operational assessment. Time, flexibility, cooperation in coalition operations, interoperability in technology spheres play incommutable roles together with trained personnel. Command and control (C2) is self-contained system depending on many factors provided by the so-called System of Communication and Information. At present it is the very base for information collection, decision-making process, preparing variants of operation for both commander and his staff. Among others the author writes about Network Enabled Capability system introduced into Czech armed forces. C2 programme is also a part of educational curriculum at Defence University Brno.

Physical condition and nutritional state of soldiers were monitored among members of KFOR mission by means of anthropometrical measurement of physical changes, defined above all by the so-called Mass Body Index, metabolic exchanges, and contents of fat in a body. The evaluation was done in picked-up clusters, formed on the base of physical activities of personnel. Verifying was carried out by means of the Wilcoxon test, non-parametric statistical test for the case of two related samples or repeated measurements on a single sample. The test involves comparisons of differences between measurements; the null hypothesis is specified. The alternative hypothesis assumes clusters, different in physical characteristics, with notable statistical differences. Among other results, in 2005, 57.10 per cent of military personnel between 25-35 years were overweight.

The ACR is going to take part in expeditionary operations abroad, so we must be prepared to supply and sustain such forces. Problems with the provision of the bakery products in the military operation and mission include diet; economical, technological, safety; and psychosocial aspects. The ground forces are to be effective. Now we are developing premixes that meet the conditions of nutritional content of bakery products and the indigenous products with the protective function. The new utilized technology is based on preparing dough with improvers. Cost analysis of producing bread and pastry in operation was carried out with a surprising outcome: the costs of our own production are approximately 4-6 times lower than the costs of products from the local or other producers or participating armies (which is contrary to present-day official policy buying from outside suppliers).

Similar to the Czech Republic, all NATO nations have their own military territorial administrative authorities that both execute tasks of state administration and at the same time fulfil assignments of territory defence. Their overall numbers differ and mostly depend upon the fact whether the country has compulsory military service, alternatively military service is voluntary (professional army). Or as in the case of Greece, the scheme of Military Territorial Authorities is influenced by security situation in neighbouring areas. The author deals with Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Greece, and Spain. Those authorities have basic influence on recruitment, and manning, which is especially important in time of crisis, as the authorities have prepared manning system to increase numbers to prescribed volume.

The complex security strategy must pay attention not only to outer threats, but also to inner security risks. Social and cultural impacts of globalisation produced even to our country a rise of several extremist right-wing political groups inspired by or following the tenets of Hitler's Nazi Party, referred to as neo-Nazis, because they modify Nazi doctrine and because the original Nazi movement inspires them. Some forms of fascism are also anti-Semitic or xenophobic. On the contrary, Anarchism is a political theory opposed to all forms of government. Anarchists believe that the highest attainment of humanity is the freedom of individuals, unhindered by any form of repression or control. To accept matching strategy, we must know those theories, their international background, as those movements are usually tied with organized crime and terrorism.

At present, we pay great attention to alternative methods of teaching and learning foreign languages. Actually, it is difficult for language instructor to choose from among them. This article is a sort of hint to help teachers to pick up the most suitable one. Reciprocal teaching has its prominent position, namely in the field of reading with understanding. There four basic strategies: prediction, questioning, clarification, summarizing. During socio-cognitive conflict, in discussion, the language knowledge of learners (students) is pushed up and higher, learners are mutually influenced in social interaction. This learning process is sometimes recorded, monitored. The role of a teacher is multifaceted, indispensable and very demanding. New security threats ask for the transformation of NATO alliance, in the background of political Islam or the recent Russian-Georgian conflict. The contents analysis of presented papers points to main hidden problem lying behind all security questions: whether the U.S. would be able to continue in its role as a world leader, explicitly owing to American economy difficulties, e.g. today's financial and mortgage crisis.

Terrorism threatens to attack and destroy the open democracy, but what is terrorism? The main aim of this essay is to formulate some proposals of a minimal operational definition tied with terrorism, as well as a definition of terrorist attack with the ambition to surpass a possibility of an ambiguous construction in the field of semantical research. Terrorism is usually described as unlawful violent activism targeted against civilians or against civilian targets with the aim of achieving political, religious, ideological and other goals. It presents wellconsidered ways of production and fructification of fear that are applied on civilian targets. A terrorist attack communicates devastatingly as a pure act of violence inside the psychosomatic structure of its recipients (victims). The new terrorism after 9/11 attacks could be characterized by fanaticism and the impending danger of arms of mass destruction. It is a culture of death.

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 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.

Professional, or Professionalized NCO Corps by CSM Dušan Rovenský. This article covers the process of transition from conscript army to entirely professional, allvolunteer force (AVF). It deals with the role and responsibilities of NCOs generally, rank and grade structure, career rules, NCOs' training and education. The author identifies the problems of a rapid professionalization, discusses the possibilities for improvement and finally suggests the possible solutions to those problems. Among others, there is some sort of misunderstanding as far as Other Ranks/Enlisted corps is concerned. The Czech translations of those ranks do not always correspond to their general positions, ranks, responsibilities, command authority, the length of service of individual non-commissioned officers (NCOs), sergeants, or warrant officers (WOs). The author, Command Sergeant Major, Support and Training Forces Command (a graduate of U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy Fort Bliss) puts forward several proposals to make those translations more precise.

At present, the current reform of our armed forces is oriented towards qualitative changes. The Brigade of Logistics Support is going to be the unit designated for transportation, maintenance and repair, technological control of arms and vehicles, it must be capable of fluent supplying advances positions, namely by propellants, ammunitions, and further dozens of tasks in frame of joint task groups (National Support Element) or as a HNS (Host National Support). All units will be connected by multifunctional logistics informational system. Logistics system must fulfill its tasks even in time of peace, and thus be prepared for time of crises. The operational engagement in the early 21st century will require light expeditional forces capable of easy and rapid deployment. The logistics support ought to be more mobile, more integrated, more compatible and more precise, with the quick accession to spare parts and maintenance support.

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.