Dr Jasna Plevnik on The World's challenges to the National Interests

Dr Plevnik was invited to hold a lecture by The Polytechnic Karlovac and The Slovenian home. The Lecture was a part of Professor Mirko Butkovic lecture project called "Present and near future of science technology and society".

Jasna Plevnik, Vice President of Croatian think-tank for foreign policy studies The Geoeconomic Forum held a lecture The World's challenges to the National Interests on May 5, 2008 at City Public Library in Karlovac.

Dr. Plevnik has pointed out that current world's challenges that involve rise of energy insecurity, shortages of food, and global terrorism endanger economic and political stability in international relations. She assessed that above mentioned challenges could be explained as negative consequences of the globalization. For Dr Plevnik the cardinal challenge to the global stability is deepening of the gap between rich and poor countries that could become more deeper because of actual crises in world finance, energy and food resources.

She emphasised that Croatia has been faced, except of energy-food- terrorism challenges, with the serious challenge of integration in global capitalism, The European Union and its region.

Since 2000 Croatia has accepted transnational concept of its development what has meant an exposure of its national interest to norms of global market, The European Union's standards and its demands for regional cooperation. In those processes of integration that could be named "voluntary colonialism" Croatian governments have failed to protect the national interests of their citizens.

Those states that put in first place national interest regardless of textbooks theories about "transnational interests" have suffered minimal consequences of the process of integration and adaptation. Dr Plevnik concluded that protection policies of national interest are the most important task of every state, though strong states successfully camouflage their national interest in international relations behind words like "global", "EU" or "regional interests".

Presented book: "Oil - Blessing or Curse"

ZAGREB - the book "Oil - Blessing or Curse" by Igor Dekanic a professor at Zagreb Faculty of Mining and Geology was presented in Zagreb on May 23rd 2007.
An academic Mirko Zelić, an expert on terrorism Pavle Kalinić, the vice president of Geoeconomic Forum Dr. Jasna Plevnik and the author spoke about the book.
"Today it is much more difficult to write about the globalization than in the beginning of the 90s when the idea to the phenomenon conquered the world, because intellectual scepticism has been growing." said Dr. Plevnik who spoke about the chapter referring to globalization.
In the Dekanic's book the stress is put on the so called "oil globalization", that is, on describing the relationship between oil companies and globalization. As an important point in this relationship, the author interprets the secret meeting of leaders of the world oil companies in 1928 in Scotland where the division of oil market and global price were agreed on.
Dr. Plevnik also said that no matter how popular the assumptions about the end of globalization are the events that generated globalization are still very important to the world, although there is crucial difference between the globalization in the 90s and recent processes of economic interdependence of the countries. This interdependence has moved from the direction "West-and-the others" towards the direction which could be called "China-and-the others". Although extreme conclusions about the Asian era should be avoided, including China into capitalist social relations caused imbalance that worries America.
"This book", Dr. Plevnik pointed out, "puts an especially important question: What is the purpose of globalization if none of essential issues of the world has been solved, and the possibilities for the development of small and poor countries are even more difficult?"
"The creation of righteous globalization is not the aim of the global government G-7, because rich countries did not found the World Trade Organization to root out poverty, there are millennium accounts and humanitarian concerts organized by Bono and Geldof for that purpose, which means that an unjust globalization will go on.

The War in Iraq became a war between the East and the West

A distinguished journalist Yasin Rawashdeh* delivered a lecture "Three Years After- Iraq-War, Terror and Peace" on 27th March 2006 in Karlovac.
He said that Americans are capable of waging the war but have problems with building the peace. They have demonstrated it in Iraq through a fatal decision to dismiss Iraqi army and police. According to Rawashdeh that wrong decision has resulted in the chaos on the ground.
" The current conflict in Iraq will have consequences for the whole world because the war between the United States and Iraq became a war between the West and the East. Unfortunately, extreme conservative dark forces of both sides covet such kind of development. But I think that the quiet majority is against the clash and Bush and Bin Laden are not majority" he stressed in his excellent Croatian language.
Rawashdeh also presented Iraqi exceptional civilization history and compared it with the modern time full of political and economic overturns.
The audience was also impressed with Yasin Rawashdeh's liberal democratic attitude toward cultural diversities that couldn't be, as he said, seen as issue of conflict.
"The world culture with all its diversities needs to be accepted through compromises and ratio what could assure the world as more secure place. These rational solutions should include, first of all, question of Palestine and its people thrown out from their homes to make place for Israelis. That problem is eye-sore to all Muslims and generates terrorism. The recognition of Palestine would annul military extremism of both sides" concluded Rawashdeh.
President of Geoeconomic forum Academician Zvonimir Baleti? said that opposed to the past times when subjects of world politics were national states today's subjects have become almost everyone: from business companies to individuals. This process makes world relationships much more differentiated and complicated.
" In the world in which economy dominates Geoeconomic forum has a big job in front of itself: to make people conscious of these new circumstances and help that all together will become subjects not objects of the world politics.
Ambassador of Malaysia to Croatia H.E. Dato' Azman Mohd Nazir and representatives of Embassy of Libya to Croatia attended the Lecture that was organized by Geoeconomic forum.

Tihomir Ivka, The daily Newspaper Karlovački list

President of Geoeconomic forum Zvonimir Baletić, a lecturer Yasin Rawashdeh, Vice President of Geoeconomic forum Jasna Plevnik (from left to right)

*Yasin Rawashdeh is an expert for the Middle East, The Balkans and the human rights. He is a counselor of the government of the Bosnia and Herzegovina for economic and political cooperation with Arabian countries.
As a visiting lecturer he held many lectures about Middle East crises, relationships between East and West in the context of human rights violations at various universities and institutions in the Middle East and Europe.
He is a general coordinator of campaign Civilized Dialog-Culture of Peace established in February 2006 as reaction after a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed was published and provoked stormy demonstrations in Moslem countries.
He worked as Director of Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) for South East Europe which is correspondent currently. He was an adviser and attaché in Embassy of Kuwait to former Yugoslavia. Speaks Arabic, English and Croatian language.
Currently works and lives in Sarajevo.

Member of Geoconomic Council John Court at
the World Affairs Conference in Washington,

US policy is much more pro-India

The World Affairs Conference held in Washington, DC on December 18-21, 2005. The Conference was a meeting of 86 delegation of the World Affair council, which has over 250,000 members.
I attended a talk on India by Tom Pickering who was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and is now a vice president of the Boeing Company in Seattle.
I heard that one should forget an India which is slow, corrupt, and bureaucracy-ridden. The new India has a population of over 1 billion people and is growing at 6.5 % per year. India has a younger population than China and its population is growing faster.
Pickering observes that India is less bureaucratic and corrupt than in the past. It still takes 100 signatures to start a business but the situation is improving rapidly.
With the disappearance of the Soviet Union, India is much closer to the US and US policy is much more pro-India. India does not see itself as a "superpower" except in South Asia, but it is a big country and a real rival to China.

Vice president of Geoeconomic Forum Jasna Plevnik in Sarajevo on

ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AND IRAQ

Dr. Jasna Plevnik held a public lecture on Economic globalization and Iraq on December 15, 2005 at the International Forum Bosnia in Sarajevo. She is a Vice -President of Geoeconomic forum, regional Association for economic globalization studies and its impact on the South East Europe countries.
Dr. Plevnik said that Iraq was analyzed in may different ways and aspects( war on terror, occupation, fake intelligence data ) so she would be focused on presenting integration of Iraq in the world economic system.

MFBPress

Berina Baąi?-Hasanagi?

GLOCALIZATION

FPLC Aim to Make Foreign Policy Nonpartisan

John Court, the former assistant to Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council, now member of Geoeconomic Council of GEOFO, was among the founders of The Foreign Policy Leadership Council's (FPLC) branch in Cincinnati on September 22, 2005.
Court said that the local FPLC would be organized as a fora for discussion on different foreign policy issues.

The FPLC is the new American foreign policy think tank, which now has 400 members in 23 states, and has the task to prepare the next generation of foreign leaders in The United States of America. One of the FPLC's vital aims is not only to bring foreign policy to the local level, but also to make foreign policy issues nonpartisan! The members of FPLC are people who have held positions in the White House, in the State, Defense and Treasury departments, Congress, academic think tanks and in international organizations.

Jospeh Dehner, the head of the Cincinnati FPLC and chairman of the International Services Group at Frost Brown Todd LLC, has said that people in Cincinnati are concerned about the current state of American foreign policy. He stressed that it is time to get more Cincinnati people involved in helping shape foreign policy.

Daniel L. Cruise, a member of the FPLC executive board and former director of public affairs at the NCS said:"FPLC is not dealing with the issue of being for or against the war in Iraq, but is wondering why are we still there?"

Danko Plevnik, Ph. D. : EU has no explicit geostrategical approach toward Bosnia and Herzegovina

Member of the Council of GEOFO Danko Plevnik, Ph. D. held a lecture at the Conference "EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina between managing of the crisis and building the state on September 9th in Sarajevo. The Conference was organized by Sarajevo and Bruxelles Offices of Foundation of Heinrich Böll.
Plevnik has spoken about repercussions of the new war on terrorism for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its integration in the EU.

Building a Global Future

During her stay at Chautauqua Institution (www.ciweb.org), the Vice-president of GEOFO Ph.D. Jasna Plevnik met with the former Deputy of State Secretary Madeleine Albright in Clinton's Administration, Strobe Talbott, who is currently the Director of Brookings Institution, one of prestigious American think-tanks for foreign policy.

In the series of lectures "Building a Global Future", organized by Chautauqua Institution, besides Talbott lecturers, there have been lectures given by Philipa C. Wilcox, president, Foundation for Middle East Peace, former U. S. ambassador; Jamesa A. Jospeh, former U. S. ambassador to South Africa, professor, director of U.S.-Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values at Duke University, Robert Kagan, senior associate, Carenegie Endowment for International Peace, former ambassador Richard W. Murphy, expert for Middle East, long- member of Council on Foreign Relations) and Ira Rifkind , well known journalist specialized in a religious aspect of globalization.

Professor Zoran Jaąić is appointed ambassador of Croatia to Vienna

Vice-president of GEOFO Zoran Jaąić, full professor of Finance at the Faculty of Economy, University of Zagreb has been appointed ambassador of Croatia to Wiena.

Professor Zvonimir Baletić, Academician

On May 20, 2004 the President of GEOFO, professor Zvonimir Baletić, was elected full member of the Department of Social Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Statute of GEOFO is adopted

Geoeconomic forum - Association for World Economic Development Studies - was established on its founding session held on April 22, 2004. After a brief discussion, the Statute of GEOFO was adopted.