Presence In Europe Research Articles

With the Image of Deterrence: Operation Atlantic Resolve

As deterrence is to become a new pillar of Operation Atlantic Resolve and European Reassurance Initiative from 2017, the paper offers an analysis of these U.S. security programs through the lens of deterrence theory. Through the empirical analysis of ERI and OAR, the author argues that these steps create only the false image of deterrence, while the very essence of the increased U.S. presence in Europe is still about assurance; nevertheless, this strategy would not be fully inefficient for two reasons. On the one hand, it helps to avoid the return of Cold War era uncertainty with its negative spirals and unintended consequences, while on the other hand it pushes European allies towards a more nuanced defence policy and does not disrupt the process of U.S. rebalancing either.

Od kolektivní obrany ke kolektivní obraně s podmínkami

This article aims to highlight the most important changes within the transatlantic defense relations. The central argument is that NATO is gaining a conditional nature, transforming collective defense into a form of transactional defense. The study utilizes Paul Kennedy's notion of "imperial overstretch" to explain the strategic context of the transatlantic defense relations. After this, the analysis highlights how the transatlantic defense relations gained a transactional character that is resonating to this American "imperial overstretch". The second part of the study focuses on the latest developments concerning the US military presence in Europe and highlights their transactional character, thus enabling the emergence of transactional defense within NATO.

De novo assembly of English yew (Taxus baccata) transcriptome and its applications for intra- and inter-specific analyses.

We provide novel genomic resources for Taxus baccata in the form of a reference transcriptome, SSR and SNP markers, and orthologous single-copy genes, useful for phylogenomic and population genomic applications. English yew (T. baccata) is the only European representative of the Taxaceae family, a conifer group originated in the Jurassic period. The wide extent of environmental heterogeneity within the species' range, together with its long presence in Europe, make English yew an ideal species to investigate adaptive evolution in conifers. To enlarge the genomic resources available for this species, we used Illumina short read sequencing followed by de novo assembly to build the transcriptome of English yew. In addition to a fully annotated transcriptome as well as large sets of new potential SSR and SNP markers for T. baccata, we provide a data set of orthologous single-copy genes across three Taxus species using Picea sitchensis as outgroup, and discuss ortholog uses and limitations for phylogenomic and population genomic applications.

ОТНОШЕНИЯ РОССИЯ–НАТО: ОТ ДЕКЛАРАТИВНОГО ПАРТНЕРСТВА К ГЛУБОКОМУ КРИЗИСУ

The end of the Cold War stimulated decisive positive changes in Russia-NATO relations. American military presence in Europe was reduced by 85% which was one of the signs of growing trust between Russia and the West. Moscow and Brussels adopted a number of documents (NATO-Russia Founding Act of 1997 among them) proclaiming mutual intention to develop a “stable and long-term partnership”. Unfortunately, a number of drawbacks in the Western strategy towards Russia (most notably NATO’s enlargement policy) almost derailed prospects to realize the above intention. Negative developments of the military political situation in Europe and in the world resulting from the Ukrainian crisis drastically aggravated the interaction between Russia and Western countries. As a result, Russia-NATO relations were thrown back on the brink of the Cold War and degraded from the level of developing cooperation with the goal of establishing partnership-like cooperation to a deep mistrust. For the first time since the Cold War, the militaries of the parties almost came in close contact creating the risk of military conflict. In this situation, reducing the level of mutual confrontation becomes an urgent task. To achieve this a number of measures may be undertaken: the mechanism of direct bilateral dialogue (primarily within the NATO-Russia Council) should be restarted, steps should be taken to prevent incidents on and over the high seas, certain key provisions of the Founding Act should be clarified and specified, the level and numbers of military maneuvers should be lowered significantly, zones of the reduced levels of armaments should be established, the process of negotiations on arms control and confidence building measures in Europe should be resumed. In fact, a number of such measures may be proposed. But it is important to take into consideration that the discussion on “modernization” of the 2011 Vienna Document on confidence- and security-building measures proposed by the West may be effectively started only in line with the development of a dialogue on security and arms control and achieving here sizable results. The parts should reduce drastically declaratory accusations addressing each other and try to refrain from activity that would be negatively perceived by the other side.

Ungleiche Brüder: Russen und Ukrainer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart by Andreas Kappeler

Reviewed by: Ungleiche Brüder: Russen und Ukrainer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart by Andreas Kappeler Alessandro Achilli (bio) Andreas Kappeler, Ungleiche Brüder: Russen und Ukrainer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: C. H. Beck, 2017). 267 pp., ills. Personenregister. ISBN: 978-3-406-71410-8. The urgent necessity of a readable, comprehensive overview of the complex relationship between Russians and Ukrainians from the Middle Ages up to the present day can hardly be doubted. In his capacity as one of the most authoritative scholars in the field of the Ukrainian-Russian encounter, Andreas Kappeler has produced a balanced and informative account that will help readers better understand the historical background of the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe. Kappeler's latest book can be seen to pursue a double intent. On the one hand, Kappeler aims to provide an extensive description of the social and political evolution of the Eastern Slavic space with a focus on the interaction of those areas that would be internationally recognized as "Ukraine" and "Russia" between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. On the other hand, he frequently draws the attention of his audience to matters of perception and self-perception, showing how the relationship between Ukrainians and Russians has gone through different phases and must constantly be put into context. No less important to Kappeler is to stress both differences and similarities between the two "brothers," as the title of the book itself suggests. The ten chapters of the book cover the historical path of Ukraine and Russia from the beginning of their history to the ongoing war. The first chapter after the introduction sets the tone for the forthcoming narration, framing it through the concepts of "family" and "brothers." Kappeler stresses how the interaction between the two "siblings" is far from having been an exclusively negative one, as [End Page 238] shown by several surveys conducted in different phases of the post-Soviet period. At the same time, as the title of the book suggests, Russia's failure to recognize Ukraine as an equal partner can be seen as the key element of the Ukrainian-Russian relationship. The second chapter develops the family metaphor on the basis of "the common cradle" of Kyivan-Kievan Rus'. Kappeler underlines how a univocal appropriation of the heritage of Rus' by official Russian and Ukrainian historical narratives is not sustainable from a scholarly perspective, since neither Russia nor Ukraine existed as such at that time, and, in spite of Kyiv's supremacy, Novgorod was a very important center, creating a balance between the North and the South of Rus'. The third chapter stresses the separateness of the history of Russia and Ukraine in the centuries after the Mongol invasion, stressing the continuity of Ukraine's presence in Europe and Russia's cultural repositioning toward the Asian East. It is precisely with reference to this period that the modern self-perceptions of Ukrainians as a Cossack nation of free people in contrast to the Russians with their attraction for strong leaders finds its justification. Commencing with the fourth chapter, which analyzes the period from the late sixteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the intersecting destinies of Ukraine and Russia can no longer be treated separately from each other. Kappeler stresses how the initiative for convergence came from the Ukrainian side, which sought the protection of the Orthodox tsar from the Poles. For obvious reasons, a considerable amount of space is dedicated to the opposite national interpretations of the Pereiaslav agreement and of Mazepa's choices. The last parts of the chapter deal with what Kappeler regards as a Ukrainization of Russian culture, linked to an intense northbound brain drain, the fascinating issue of dual identities, exemplified by Teofan / Feofan Prokopovych / Prokopovich, and Russia's discovery of "Little Russia" in the early nineteenth century. The fifth chapter focuses on the belatedness of the Ukrainian and Russian nation-building projects and on Russia's imperial drive as an obstacle to the formation of both the Ukrainian and Russian nations in the nineteenth century. The following chapter expands on the identity problem, presenting the complex self-perception of figures such as Kostomarov and Vernads'kyi, and reminds the...

A re-evaluation of the enigmatic dinosauriform Caseosaurus crosbyensis from the Late Triassic of Texas, USA and its implications for early dinosaur evolution

The holotype specimen of the Late Triassic dinosauriform Caseosaurus crosbyensis is redescribed and evaluated phylogenetically for the first time, providing new anatomical information and data on the earliest dinosaurs and their evolution within the dinosauromorph lineage. Historically, Caseosaurus crosbyensis has been considered to represent an early saurischian dinosaur, and often a herrerasaur. More recent work on Triassic dinosaurs has cast doubt over its supposed dinosaurian affinities and uncertainty about particular features in the holotype and only known specimen has led to the species being regarded as a dinosauriform of indeterminate position. Here, we present a new diagnosis for Caseosaurus crosbyensis and refer additional material to the taxon—a partial right ilium from Snyder Quarry. Our comparisons and phylogenetic analyses suggest that Caseosaurus crosbyensis belongs in a clade with herrerasaurs and that this clade is the sister taxon of Dinosauria, rather than positioned within it. This result, along with other recent analyses of early dinosaurs, pulls apart what remains of the “traditional” group of dinosaurs collectively termed saurischians into a polyphyletic assemblage and implies that Dinosauria should be regarded as composed exclusively of Ornithoscelida (Ornithischia + Theropoda) and Sauropodomorpha. In addition, our analysis recovers the enigmatic European taxon Saltopus elginensis among herrerasaurs for the first time. This result suggests a greater body-size range for herrerasaurs than previously thought and provides further evidence for their presence in Europe during the Late Triassic. If this hypothesis is correct then this clade of herrerasaurs also represents the first clade of non-dinosaurian dinosauromorphs known to contain large-bodied carnivorous species. The results of our analyses also highlight the distinction between the clades Herrerasauridae and Herrerasauria, as they are currently defined, and necessitate a provisional revival of the latter until future works can better resolve the relationships among these important early taxa.

The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace by Susan L. Carruthers

Reviewed by: The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace by Susan L. Carruthers Kristine Dennehy (bio) The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace. By Susan L. Carruthers. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. 400. $29.95 cloth) For many Americans, bestsellers like Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation (1998) resonate with their desire to embrace a heroic narrative of Depression-era sacrifice, wartime honor, and postwar triumphalism, despite challenges to this mythological arc by historians like Kenneth D. Rose (Myth and the Greatest Generation: A Social History of Americans in World War II [2008]). In The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace, Susan L. Carruthers shines light on the years following the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945 and fills a gap in the American historiography of this period, which features less prominently in our national discourse. In contrast to the deconstruction of "the 'good war' mythos," Carruthers argues that the "virtuous aura around the post-1945 occupations remains undimmed, and has been if anything enhanced by comparison with the recent U.S. enterprise in Iraq, a project intended to mimic and reprise earlier reconstructive triumphs" (p. 10). Carruthers reveals the less-than-virtuous side of the continued American military presence in Europe and Asia in several ways. Most compelling is her use of the heretofore untapped memoirs, diaries, and private correspondence from ordinary soldiers who were part of the "after-armies" in Occupied Germany and Japan. Oftentimes, these sources expose an ambiguity in the minds of the conquerors, as in this excerpt from a letter home penned by Leo Bogart who struggled with the postwar task of requisitioning German homes: "Undoubtedly in the last half year my work has helped to break up many homes, to kill young men and bring agony to their women, but it has always worked through devious abstracted channels. Now I am personally an agent of woe, and this is no source of joy to me" (p. 69). Interspersed among this grassroots perspective are quotes from higher-ranking officers like Brigadier General Jack Whitelaw who invoked the Yankee carpetbagger, "the lowest form of American life" in his description of "two slimey looking Jewish bastards" hawking cigarettes from the post [End Page 279] exchange (PX) in postwar Berlin. For this black-market infraction, Whitelaw proposed to his wife, "They ought to be horsewhipped and then strung up by their thumbs" (pp. 258–59). In her discussion of postwar Japan, Carruthers relies heavily on comprehensive secondary sources such as John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (1999) and the English-language translation by Robert Ricketts and Sebastian Swann of Takemae Eiji's work on this period, Inside GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and Its Legacy (2002). Here, too, she orchestrates a combination of voices of lower-ranking soldiers with elite accounts of the occupation, including extensive references to the papers and publications of General Robert Eichelberger, commander of the Eighth Army. As with the post-Holocaust demonization of Jews, Eichelberger showed an affinity for the Japanese racialized oppression of Koreans by singling them out as "black market people" who "intimidated the police in many areas" (p. 187). Although Carruthers does not cite works by ethnic Korean authors, readers might be interested to know that the animosity toward Eichelberger was mutual on the part of Korean residents in Japan who lived through his suppression of ethnic Korean schools in 1948. Many decades later, as this reviewer learned through personal communication, Koreans in Kobe still referred to Eichelberger (pronounced in Japanese as Ei-kel-ba-ga) as "Ei-kelba-ka," making the final two syllables a pun on the Japanese word "idiot" (baka). The insights Carruthers does provide will appeal to a wide readership who may be surprised to encounter the daily life of occupation as it unfolded on the ground. As Bob Titus wrote to his "Pop" from Okinawa two weeks after Hirohito's surrender, "Our aimless piddling in the mud is becoming disgusting to me as well as to most others" (p. 208). [End Page 280] Kristine Dennehy KRISTINE DENNEHY served as the historical adviser for the U...

Mapping Shia Muslim Communities in Europe

AbstractThis article provides an introduction to the special issue onMapping Shia Muslim Communities in Europe.1 With six empirically rich case studies on Shia Muslim communities in various European countries, this issue intends: first, to illustrate the historical developments and emergence of the Shia presence in Europe; second, to highlight the local particularities of the various Shia communities within each nation state and demonstrate their transnational links; and third, to provide for the first time an empirical comparative study on the increasingly visible presence of Shia communities in Europe that fills an important gap in research on Muslims in Europe.

Diet footprint of Egyptian mongoose along ecological gradients: effects of primary productivity and life history traits

The Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon Linnaeus, 1758) is an expanding species, whose presence in Europe is restricted to its western extreme. Mongooses are generalist and opportunistic carnivores which is reflected by their anatomical features and nutritional preferences. With the purpose to fully characterize mongoose diet and ascertain if game species overlap within the guild of consumed food items, a total of 122 stomach contents of animals resulting from hunting activities and accidental road kills from seven provinces of mainland Portugal were identified. In order to identify which factors influence the nutritional requirements and food preferences of the Egyptian mongoose, several individual parameters (body condition, spleen weight, age class, fat levels and sex) were related with bio-ecologic features, as seasonality, region, habitat primary productivity, climate, human disturbance and environmental conditions.The results suggested that the diet of the Egyptian mongoose is mainly composed of mammals. Mammals and amphibians were predominant in males’ stomach contents, while reptiles and invertebrates overlapped other food categories in females’ diet. Diet (food categories) variations across age groups were registered. The consumption of prey also varied throughout the year, according to availability and mongoose energy uptake needs, with a higher consumption of more energetic prey during the breeding season. Mongooses consumed more mammals and reptiles in areas with higher primary productivity. Our data thus suggest that the consumption of reptiles, predominantly by females, results in heavier spleens, possibly driving to greater investment in immunity and better animal performance during the breeding period.In a general way, the obtained results suggest that mongooses do not exclusively focus their diet on game species although this does not necessarily mean a low impact of this carnivore on game species.

Vedantic variations in the presence of Europe: establishing the Hindu dharma in late nineteenth century Bengal

We will offer in this essay an analytic overview of four texts from the second half of the nineteenth century which elaborated different variations on the Hindu dharma. These are Rajnarayan Basu’s Hindu Dharmera Sresthata (‘The Superiority of the Hindu dharma’, 1879), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Dharmatattva (1888, ‘Principles of Dharma’), Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay’s Sāmājika Prabandha (‘Essays on Society’, 1892), and Chandranath Basu’s Hindutva (‘Hinduness’, 1892). These textual constructions of Hindu identity sometimes have different argumentative goals, employ different rhetorical strategies, and draw upon different scriptural resources. Notwithstanding these distinctive variations relating to aims, methods, and styles, they seek to engage Europe as the Other both as a conceptual toolbox whose instruments can be appropriated for reconfiguring the Hindu dharmaand as a dialectical foil which highlights the superiority of the Hindu dharma to its diverse critics. For Rajnarayan Basu, Chatterjee, Mukhopadhyay, and Chandranath Basu, the Hindu dharma is the hermeneutic site for evaluating specific aspects of European modernities and for re-asserting Vedic norms, ideas, and practices through a critical engagement with European modernities. These texts are multi-faceted vignettes into the Bengali Hindu appropriations of European concepts in late nineteenth century Bengal, and also the anxieties about the stability of the Hindu dharma in an age of rapid socio-cultural transformations.

Ulf Hannerz Writing Future Worlds: An Anthropologist Explores Future Scenarios Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. xi + 295 p. $119.00.

Ulf Hannerz Writing Future Worlds: An Anthropologist Explores Future Scenarios Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. xi + 295 p. $119.00.

The Aggradational Successions of the Aniene River Valley in Rome: Age Constraints to Early Neanderthal Presence in Europe.

We revise the chronostratigraphy of several sedimentary successions cropping out along a 5 km-long tract of the Aniene River Valley in Rome (Italy), which yielded six hominin remains previously attributed to proto- or archaic Neanderthal individuals, as well as a large number of lithic artefacts showing intermediate characteristics somewhere between the local Acheulean and Mousterian cultures. Through a method of correlation of aggradational successions with post-glacial sea-level rises, relying on a large set of published 40Ar/39Ar ages of interbedded volcanic deposits, we demonstrate that deposition of the sediments hosting the human remains spans the interval 295–220 ka. This is consistent with other well constrained ages for lithic industries recovered in England, displaying transitional features from Lower to Middle Paleolithic, suggesting the appearance of Mode 3 during the MIS 9-MIS 8 transition. Moreover, the six human bone fragments recovered in the Aniene Valley should be regarded as the most precisely dated and oldest hominin remains ascribable to Neanderthal-type individuals in Europe, discovered to date. The chronostratigraphic study presented here constitutes the groundwork for addressing re-analysis of these remains and of their associated lithic industries, in the light of their well-constrained chronological picture.

Gender and Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Europe

Gender emerges as a key site of contestation with respect to immigrants’ integration and public presence in Europe. The recent politicization of gender and Islam in immigration debates marks an increasingly salient constructed opposition between egalitarian European values and traditional immigrant cultures. Against this background, this study investigates how gender structures attitudes toward immigrants of different economic and cultural profiles. Prior research finds that women are usually less likely to exhibit anti-immigrant attitudes than are men. Using 2014 European Social Survey data, results show that women are no less likely to hold anti-immigrant attitudes. However, in a significant reversal of traditional gender patterns, women are more likely to hold targeted anti-Muslim attitudes. Further, social trust moderates this gendered anti-Muslim effect. I interpret findings as a shift in how gender structures xenophobia resulting from the increased salience of gender ideology as a boundary-defining feature and growing demonization of Muslims as gender inegalitarian.

The Conversion of Senator Arthur Vandenberg: From Isolation to International Engagement by Lawrence S. Kaplan

Reviewed by: The Conversion of Senator Arthur Vandenberg: From Isolation to International Engagement by Lawrence S. Kaplan Gregory L. Schneider Lawrence S. Kaplan, The Conversion of Senator Arthur Vandenberg: From Isolation to International Engagement. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2015. 294pp. $45.00. Any student of the origins of the Cold War has probably heard about or read a story about a meeting between Michigan Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg, consummately described as an old Right isolationist, with President Harry Truman. The date was January 1947 and the subject was Soviet pressure on Greece and Turkey. The new Republican majority, skeptical of the containment idea and of an expanded foreign presence in Europe, had to be scared about the threat of communism and the necessity of aiding Greece and Turkey with military and economic aid to resist Soviet pressure. Vandenberg was said to be so scared and wound up eschewing his isolationism and embracing the Truman Doctrine. Nothing in history is ever so neat. Vandenberg, a former Teddy Roosevelt progressive in his youth, had not been so scared. Rather, as this superb biography of the Senator and his transition to internationalism reveals, the transition from isolationism to internationalism was more gradual and evolutionary. It was not Soviet pressure on Greece and Turkey which played the major role in this transition; rather, it was Pearl Harbor six years before which played the crucial role in turning a skeptic about internationalism into an internationalist. Lawrence Kaplan is well positioned to tell this story as the master historian of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and as a student of American–European relations. Vandenberg was a Grand Rapids newspaperman, who spent one year at the University of Michigan before becoming editor of the Grand Rapids Herald. The editorial line was progressive Republican and so were Vandenberg’s politics. In 1928 he was appointed to an open Senate seat to fill a vacancy and during his time in Congress pursued a working relationship with both Herbert Hoover and with Democrat Franklin Roosevelt. While no New Dealer, he was also not a laissez-faire conservative and not a practitioner of the conservative anti-New Deal politics embodied on the political Right in those years. Vandenberg’s true interest remained foreign affairs and he was a committed isolationist. He had been a member of the Nye Committee hearings and had fought against the power of the munitions makers and war profiteers, giving many speeches in Michigan about the desire to keep out of foreign wars. Amazingly, given the drift toward New Deal liberalism in Michigan [End Page 139] and the sight of sit-down strikes in early 1937, Vandenberg easily won reelection as a Republican, showing his fungible manner in representing himself as an isolationist on foreign affairs and as a progressive on domestic matters. World War II changed Vandenberg’s views and moderated his prewar isolationism. He gained significant national attention for a speech reiterating a desire for a strong internationalism given on the floor of the Senate on January 10, 1945, a few weeks before FDR departed for the Yalta conference. The speech showed his growing internationalism and pursuit of clarification of the necessity for a new approach in American foreign policy. (Kaplan considered it such an important turning point that it is republished in the index to the book.) The speech drew notice from the administration and Vandenberg was named a delegate to the San Francisco conference to establish the United Nations. He worked diligently and sought the advice of both John Foster Dulles, the senior delegate to the conference and columnist Walter Lippmann. He took the work seriously and supported the San Francisco Treaty and the establishment of the UN. At the same time he developed a realistic assessment of the Soviet Union and was not prepared to accept the administration’s approach that Josef Stalin could be worked with to shape the peace. In this question regarding the onset of the Cold War it would have been nice to see more engagement with recent assessments of Truman by scholars like Wilson Miscamble’s From Roosevelt to Truman, which shows that the president was not the hard liner on the Soviets until late...

Sodobna ukrajinska migrantska problematika v luči evromajdanskih protestov in vojne

Članek se osredinja na ekonomske in politične begunce iz Ukrajine, ki se zaradi želje po boljšem življenju množično izseljujejo iz domovine, drugi pa so se zaradi vojne na vzhodu države prisiljeni razseljevati na varna območja znotraj nje. Članek predstavlja vzroke in posledice tovrstnih migracij zlasti z vidika humanističnih prepričanj, kakršna vidnejši ukrajinski literarni avtorji in avtorice podajajo v svojih esejih, premišljevanjih in zapisih (Jurij Andruhovič, Andrej Kurkov, Tanja Maljarčuk idr.), predvsem ob vprašanju evropskosti Ukrajine oz. ukrajinski (ne)prisotnosti v Evropi. Članek zanima tudi odslikava te problematike v javnem diskurzu, saj se zdi, da so te teme redkeje prisotne v primarnem smislu, poudarjeni pa so vzroki, ki so (tudi) privedli do današnje situacije: vprašanje nacionalnosti in identitete ter poudarjanje patriotizma.

The Spread of Nezara viridula (Hemiptera:Pentatomidae) Species from its First Occurrence in Romania

Lately in horticultural agroecosystems from Romania joined several insect species autochthonous. Among these is a species of bugs known as southern green stink bugs or Nezara viridula L. (Insecta: Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Unlike other new entrants this bug species has a diversified polifagism being present in many plants but obvious damage produce only tomato fruit. The causes are unknown. Can be found in gardens, green spaces and parks. Often is observed in vegetable gardens where populations comprise all stages (egg, larva/nymph, adult). Although it has African origins of a warm area is interesting installation and survival in temperate zones like those in Europe. Presence in Europe appears to be more random which excludes primarily spread through the neighborhood. By observations made in west of Romania, during 2010-2015 we wanted to watch the evolution of the insect from the first point of occurrence (Timișoara, 2010). Also, were monitored tomato crops and ornamentals in gardens and green spaces from 5 counties. Only in four monitored counties it was observed this species. Most adults and larvae were registered in Timis county (5-6 adults or 7-8 larvae/tomato plant and 10 -11 adults or 15-20 larvae/ornamental shrub). In our country the insect has proven to be capable of a rapid spread in a relatively short time interval including surrounding counties.

Central European Blocking Anticyclones and the Influences Imprint over the Romania’s Climate

Abstract Blocking anticyclonic circulations from Europe are provoking climatic episodes responsible for discomfort, human and financial loses. During the summer, these episodes are known for prolonged droughts and maximum temperatures often exceeding 35 °C to 40 °C. In the cold season, the rainfalls are close to 0 while the daily minimum temperatures are low under the average period. For this study, we used a synoptic classification which is available especially for Central Europe but works similarly for Romanian territory too. We aim to follow what kind of climatic conditions these circulations are producing in Romania during their presence in Europe. ECA&D daily gridded climatic dataset was used in this study. The study period lasts from 1961 to 2012. We used the minimum and maximum daily temperatures as well the rainfall quantities recorded. Since the output volume of data was too high, we aggregated the results into yearly multiseasonal average. In order to classify the synoptic patterns as blocking anticyclones, we used two synoptic situations from Hess-Brezowsky defined as Anticyclone High Central (HM) and High British Isles (HB). We calculated the thermic anomalies as well the rainfall quantities recorded in Romania during the presence of these circulations in central Europe. The results shows a perspective over the synoptic conditions in Romania during the presence of the above mentioned synoptic types in Central Europe.

The need for a taphonomic perspective in spatial analysis: Formation processes at the Early Pleistocene site of Pirro Nord (P13), Apricena, Italy

Ever since their percolation from neighbour disciplines, archaeology has employed spatial statistics to unravel, at different scales, past human behaviors from scatters of material culture. However, in the interpretation of the archaeological record, particular attention must be given to disturbance factors that operate in post-depositional processes. In this paper, we answer the need for a specific taphonomic perspective in spatial analysis by applying point pattern analysis of taphonomic alterations on the faunal and lithic assemblages from the Early Pleistocene site of Pirro Nord 13, Italy. The site, biochronologically dated between 1.3 and 1.6MaBP, provides evidence for an early hominin presence in Europe. The archaeological and paleontological deposits occur as filling of a karst structure that is currently exposed. We investigated the distribution of the archaeological and paleontological assemblages, as well as the distribution of identified taphonomic features, in order to evaluate the degree and reliability of the spatial association of the lithic artifacts with the faunal remains. Our results contribute to the interpretation of the diagenetic history of Pirro Nord 13 and support the stratigraphic integrity of the site.

Russia Argues Enhanced Military Presence in Europe Violates NATO-Russia Agreement; United States Criticizes Russian Military Maneuvers over the Baltic Sea as Inconsistent with Bilateral Treaty Governing Incidents at Sea

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Merkel, Erdogan and “Syrian refugees”. Background and consequences of the migration crisis

This article analyzes the reasons behind the grand-scale migration flow to Europe. It is argued that under the mask of “Syrian refugees” more than a million of migrants from different countries came to the continent. The prerequisite for inviting the migrants was a need for extra manpower due to the decision to execute an agreement between the EU and the USA on the implementation of a program of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). At the same time, the German leaders expected to replenish the catastrophically decreasing population size by migrants. However, during the realization of the project on migrants’ attraction it turned out that instead of the supposed Syrians in a crowd of migrants the people from two dozens of nations, including Islamic radicals, moved to Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the initiator of such a massive refugees’ admission, had to sign an agreement with Turkey on the return of a substantial part of refugees in exchange for the promise of a visa-free regime for the citizens of Turkey, paying off Ankara’s costs for the maintenance of refugee camps within Turkish territory, as well as the assistance in admission of Turkey to the EU membership. However, there is no understanding between the EU members on the decisions made. Moreover, there is a growing comprehension of the fact that Turkey has its own nationalistic interests which it intends to promote through the Islamic presence in Europe.