Executions of Jewish Partisans in the Lithuanian Forests: The Case of Natan Ring

Jews joined the Soviet partisan movement spontaneously, after escaping from various ghettos in Lithuania and Belarus. Most of them had no military background, but they were eager to take part in fighting and revenge. They had to adjust to harsh living conditions in the forests and suffered hostility and antisemitism on the part of locals and non-Jewish fellow partisans. Internal relations amongst different political and ideological groups were often problematic as well. This article focuses on specific violent events which occurred in the Rudniki forests near Vilnius, Lithuania, and specifically on one controversial case study: the execution of the partisan commander Natan Ring in early November 1943, by his brothers in arms. Ring was suspected of collaboration with the Germans while he served as a Jewish policeman in the Vilnius ghetto. Based on the testimonies and memories of former partisans, recorded at different times between the end of the war until the present, the article rethinks morals and behaviour in that unique space and time and how the event has been perceived over the years which followed.

Who Is Purged? Determinants of Elite Purges in North Korea

The existing literature on elite purges in dictatorships claims that the risk of coups to replace dictators is the main cause of the dictator’s choice of purge strategy. Why then do elite purges occur even in well-established dictatorships with a consistently low risk of coups? This article argues that elite purges in consolidated dictatorships have a different purpose and logic. Dictators, who have consolidated their position, seek to maximize the efficiency of rule by making the elite obedient through purges. For this purpose, dictators carefully select the purge target by considering various factors. To test this theory, the article examines the pattern of elite purges in North Korea based on an original individual-level dataset, which contains the personal background of 367 North Korean elites and their purge records between 1948 and 2019. The result of survival analysis shows that the purge risk of the elite is not significantly associated with their military background but is associated with the characteristics of the institution to which the individual elite member belongs. Other individual factors, including the elite’s educational background, the experience of studying abroad, and the career path, are also significantly related to the probability of being purged. The finding suggests that coup-proofing is not the only purpose of elite purges but that ensuring the leader’s political superiority is another purpose of elite purges in consolidated dictatorships.

Military Background and Gender Identity in Psychological Assessment Among College Students: Factorial Invariance of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms–62 (CCAPS-62)

The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial invariance of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms–62 (CCAPS-62) across military background and gender identity. A sample of 2,208 military students and 2,208 nonmilitary students were chosen from a large database of university and college counseling centers. Using exploratory structural equation modeling, findings suggested the CCAPS-62 is mostly invariant across military background and gender identity. Only three item thresholds appeared to be noninvariant across groups. These results suggest comparisons of scores across military background and gender can be made. Latent mean differences across groups were also examined. After controlling for several background variables, there were some differences between males and females on subscales measuring depression, eating concerns, and generalized anxiety, but no differences between military and nonmilitary students. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Evaluating serious stress in military veterans, their carers and families: a protocol

In 2018, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (ACFT) allocated approximately £4M to seven UK projects to address serious stress in military veterans, their carers and families. These programmes commenced between May and October 2019 and will conclude in August 2021.This paper outlines the protocol for the evaluation of the Tackling Serious Stress programme and the novel support provided to grant holders. Entry into the programmes was through multiple routes, including self-referrals with an anticipated sample of approximately 2000 participants. A common outcomes framework was designed to measure outcomes. Grant holders accepted ownership for data collection and quality and were supported through accompanying guidance material.Veterans were often reluctant to seek support, and the anonymous and confidential nature of the evaluation plus the study team’s military background helped address this. Participants’ voices were a key part in developing the protocol, leading to results to inform policy and highlight success, efficiency and cost effectiveness, and providing markers for future development.The study provided a reservoir of information. Interim reports indicated compliance with performance indicators and provided timely evidence. Shared learning provided grant holders with an indication of what was helping the beneficiaries and what needed to be improved. The combination of all data sets provided the ACFT with a resource to demonstrate success and insight into projects where improvement was required, and indicators of how to redress these problems. The study protocol provided a platform for building lasting partnerships.

The Fallacy of the Idea of Military Entrepreneurship

In this chapter, the author argues that the mainstream Occam's razor narrative of military entrepreneurship as a successful income earning second career for veterans only rings true in intellectual circles. This is based on a presupposed reality that veterans lack challenges building a second career. He uses existing literature to show that contrary to the mainstream narrative, military entrepreneurship is not a smooth-sailing path to a veteran's second career. Entrepreneurs face the same challenges irrespective of whether they are veterans or civilians. Military training might equip someone with discipline, focus, tenacity, and calculated risk avowal approach or risk taking that a civilian may not have, yet it may not ensure entrepreneurial success. A veteran's military background and training, if anything, may be rather inhibiting than facilitating of entrepreneurship. It's a fallacy to stipulate otherwise.

Militarized Ministries of Defense?

General (Ret.) James Mattis’s tenure as secretary of defense represents a rarity in US history, in that at only one other time has the United States had a retired general in that post. This chapter places Mattis’s tenure in a comparative context. It leverages new data on comparative ministries of defense to examine patterns in the military background of ministers of defense (MoD) across a range of countries from 1964 to 2008. The analysis shows that, while not unprecedented, having a retired or active-duty military officer as MoD is relatively rare among democracies. The chapter concludes by examining the implications of another retired general or flag officer being appointed as secretary. The chapter argues that while a shift toward retired military officers as secretaries of defense would not necessarily increase the conflict propensity of the United States, it could harm the defense policymaking process. The effect would likely depend on whether a future secretary’s tenure saw the continued marginalization of civilian voices in policymaking in the Pentagon and White House.

Polityka dezinformacyjna Rosji wobec Estonii

Russian activities in the area of information war are very dynamic. They have internal legal, political and military background, constituting an important element of today’s war theatre. Disinformation is directed not only to the global or regional powers, which would undermine the position of the Russian Federation, but also to the neighboring countries, including the Baltic States. It has a specific narrative vis-à-vis individual states, emphasizing historical propaganda and building messages which should be easily absorbed mostly by Russian speaking minorities, which seem to be a sensitive and “easy” target in these terms.Russian disinformation policy faces in Estonia natural barriers. They stem from political (consensus among the parties on pro-European and pro-transatlantic policies), historical (negative experiences with Russia’s and the Soviet Union policy) and economic (limited presence of Russian capital) factors. They key issue for analyzing an effectivity of Russian propaganda in Estonia is demographic structure. Amongst 25% of Russian speaking minority in this country, there is a fraction of citizens (mostly Russians) which are sensitive to Kremlin propaganda. However, the vast majority of Estonian society seems to be impregnated from Moscow’s propaganda. Thus we can state that the disinformation activities of Russia has in Estonia a limited significance.

How one pre-employment decision nearly changed the world order

In How one pre-employment decision nearly changed the world order Nerys Williams briefly explores the medical and military background of a well-known revolutionist.