Digitalization made our societies and admed forces vulnerable to cyber threats, turning cyber defense into a natural task for all defense organizations. This issue of Connections: The Quarterly Journal looks into the experience of Austria, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, providing valuable examples of policies, doctrinal aspects, organization and procedures the military applies to counter cyber threats.

This special edition of Connections focuses on the security, integration, and future of the Balkans. The edition examines the internal and external factors shaping the region. Issues as diverse as nationalism, the role of organized crime, malign foreign interference, and EU / NATO integration are comprehensively examined. This special edition aims to provide insights for a broad audience—including students, the military, and policy makers—of the challenges and especially the potential of the Balkans region over the next decade and beyond.

At the threshold of its third year, Russia's large-scale and brutal war against Ukraine continues to kill thousands, terrorize millions of Ukrainians, and disrupt international supply chains, affecting global energy and food markets. This is the second journal issue dedicated to the ongoing war. It dwells on the issue of lustration -- a problem Ukraine did not effectively address during its post-communist transition, which in turn led to the perpetuation of the Kremlin's ideology and, thus, its continuous influence on Ukrainian politics and society.

This issue of Connections delves into pressing security challenges of global significance: The role of pre-Internet social networks on the growth of civilizations, what small nations can learn from non-profits to enhance defense acquisition, the evolving landscape of hybrid warfare, exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and cyber-social vulnerabilities, the growing cyber threats to maritime industries, the propagation of radicalism via social media, and the evolution of the international perceptions of the Taliban.

NATO is faced with adversaries undertaking acts of aggression that deliberately stay below the lethal force threshold or aim to trigger a lethal response from NATO and incur costs to the Alliance such as undesired escalation, risks of collateral damage, including civilian casualties, or negative narratives. Examples of these activities range from dangerous aerial and maritime approaches, fomenting unrest and using refugees as a weapon, and even use of force short of lethal to intimidate opponents.

In the early hours of February 24, 2022, Russian and proxy military attacked Ukraine from the north, east, and south. In parallel, Russia conducted massive cyberattacks and propaganda campaigns. To the surprise of many analysts, Ukraine demonstrated exceptional cohesion, resilience, and will to fight. The raging war is already influencing the international security environment and the thinking on societal preparedness, military capabilities and operations, and will continue to do so in the coming decades.

This special issue looks at leadership theories, critically reviews applications in defense, security, and international relations, and highlights the challenges posed by the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. The contributors address diverse topics, such as the elicitation of desired leadership traits on the basis of the curricula of selected courses of the NATO School Oberammergau, the experience of China in introducing Western leadership concepts in the education and training of future military leaders, the experience of Ukraine in leading the enhancement of human resource managem

The Spring 2021 edition of Connections focuses on a number of recent challenges in the cyber domain, including the increase in cybercrime, corruption, the spread of hate speech, propaganda, and disinformation. In addition, the authors elaborate on prospective solutions such as strengthening the legal regimes, including international norms, instituting confidence-building measures, and enhancing cyber skills, as well as the challenges for defense posed by the advances in quantum computing. 

Editors: Sean Costigan & Todor Tagarev

The Black Sea region was a lesser security priority for the West compared to the Baltic Sea until 2022. While deterrence proved successful in the Baltic, the Black Sea has been a zone of war of varying intensity since 2014 due to Russia’s aggressive actions and occupation of territories belonging to another sovereign state along the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The encouraging outcomes of Ukraine’s military strategy demonstrate the effectiveness of its approach.

While international politics will certainly be shaped by two superpowers, the United States and China, a number of other states and groups of states will influence the outcome of this strategic competition as well. Taking a more complex constellation of players into account reveals new perspectives on political and economic challenges ahead and facilitates the exploration of approaches for bridging the gaps to nonaligned countries.