SpecialEurasia: our 2021 in review
SpecialEurasia wants to celebrate the last year of activities with our friends, partners, sponsors, and followers with the hope of beginning the following year with the same commitment. Although 2021 was an uncommon year because of the pandemic, we have improved our activities and projects and affirmed our presence in Italy and abroad.
In 2021 we officially started with an outstanding commitment and emphasis this new adventure called SpecialEurasia after in February 2020 we launched our pilot project (SpecialEurasia: the beginning of a new project). In a short time, we have increased our activities and partners, and we have organised and conducted official visits abroad to improve our knowledge and network of contacts in target countries.
We ideated and promoted our geopolitical model because we believe in our concept of geopolitics and security. Therefore we developed our working model, which we considered the most necessary step to support public institutions and private companies in understanding current phenomena and future trends (Fundamentals of SpecialEurasia geopolitical model). We consider Mahan’s Sea Power, Mackinder’s Heartland, and Spykman’s Rimland the guidelines of our activities. We cannot deny our commitment to researching and analysing those actors shaping and/or leading maritime commercial and military sectors and influencing the regional land dynamics.
Inspired by our geopolitical model, we elaborated our monitoring and risk analysis interactive map published on our homepage. Our commitment is to update this map, focusing on the security and stability of each region and country we monitor and analyse.
Among our successes, we must mention the publication of Geopolitical Report ISSN 2785-2598, which is our serial that aims to investigate the current geopolitical and socio-cultural events and trends shaping the world of international relations, business and security, creating a debate by allowing scholars and professional experts to share their views, perspectives, work results, reports and research findings.
Since we believe that partnership and networking are an essential part of our projects, in November 2021, we signed a media partnership with Opinio Juris – Law & Politics Review as part of our public relations and networking activities. This agreement highlights our commitment to enlarge our network of partners.
Events and projects
In December 2021, we organised a successful webinar on security and threats of the Eurasian geopolitical chessboard in partnership with CeSEM – Centro Studi Eurasia Mediterraneo and Opinio Juris – Law & Politics Review (Webinar “Sicurezza e minaccia terroristica nello scacchiere geopolitico euroasiatico”). We had distinguished speakers who analysed current geopolitical trends in Eurasia, the terrorism threats and possible future trends. Since this webinar registered high consensus and interests among the Italian public audience, we planned to organise in January 2022 another webinar focused on the Caucasus considering the strategic role that this region has in the Eurasian chessboard and the recent dynamics affected by the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict (Webinar “Geopolitica e conflitti nel Caucaso: sfide attuali e sviluppi futuri”).
Furthermore, we launched the Call for Papers “Geopolitics of Nuclear Energy in Eurasia” to realise a publication focused on the role of nuclear energy in Eurasian countries’ policies and economic strategy. The publication will host papers and contributions in English and/or Italian that will be distributed in a special issue released by Opinio Juris – Law and Politics Review (ISSN 2531-6931) in partnership with SpecialEurasia and CeSEM – Centro Studi Eurasia Mediterraneo.
Training and courses
Our Training & Courses activities are still an essential part of our activities. In 2021 we have organised and supported an online course in geopolitical analysis on the post-Soviet space in partnership with ASRIE Analytica, CeSEM-Centro Studi Eurasia Mediterraneo, the Istituto Internazionale delle Scienze Sociali and UniDolomiti (Corso Online In Analista Geopolitico Dello Spazio Post-Sovietico) and an online course in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) in collaboration with Centro Studi Roma 3000 (Corso online in Open Source Intelligence e Geopolitica).
Official visits abroad
Travelling abroad is a crucial component of SpecialEurasia to enhance its network of contacts and partners and better understand local dynamics. Although last year the pandemic and government restrictions made travelling difficult, our team visited Ukraine in August 2021 during the Ukrainian Independence Day, met local political representatives, members of the entrepreneurial world, and paid a visit to the Chernobyl area. As a result of this official visit, we published a report which stressed that even though Ukraine aspires to become a member of the European Union and NATO, the country is witnessing strong nationalism, militarism, and the phenomenon of russophobia which do not reflect the democratic principles promoted by Brussels (Ucraina tra nazionalismo e militarismo: report da Kiev).
In September 2021, during the Russian parliamentary election, members of SpecialEurasia visited the Russian Federation attending an international conference at the Lomonosov State University of Moscow and examinating the Russian electoral system in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Since this election animated a considerable debate among the media and the diplomatic circles, our presence on the ground and the possibility of visiting the polling stations allowed our team to understand better the Russian electoral system and politics (Russian elections 2021: report from Kronshtadt).