The article examines some key issues of academic debates within the framework of the doctrine of just war – the source of international humanitarian and military law. Attention is paid to the main directions of political-philosophical military-ethical thought: traditionalist and revisionist. The conclusion is given about the low applied potential of the revision approach and the dubious prospects of its impact on international relations.

The author analyzes the dynamics of external financial assistance to Kyrgyzstan, its scope, the goals of numerous financial donors, as well as the economic, political and social consequences of the country’s development under conditions of external borrowing.

The article examines Russian-Turkish engagement in the context of resolving the conflict in Syria. The interests of both countries in the SAR, the goals that the states intend to achieve and the existing obstacles were analyzed. Proposals were formulated to bring Russian-Turkish cooperation in the Syrian track to a more positive level.

The Astana format is an unprecedented format of cooperation in the Middle East, uniting three different states: Iran, Russia and Turkey. The article discusses the problems and prospects of negotiations in Astana. Special attention was paid to the 18th meeting, when the topics discussed went beyond issues related exclusively to Syria.

The article shows the main characteristics of transport and logistics cooperation between Russia and China in 2022-2023: the growth of the volume of rail freight, a quantitative increase in transit trains on the route China - Europe and the intensification of their movement, opening and expansion of road routes, the development of multimodal transport and increase in the volume of investments of Chinese companies in Russia.

The authors examine the specifics of NGO activities in Afghanistan, their impact on the political, economic, social, and spiritual spheres of society, and analyze attempts by foreign countries to build a controlled network model alternative to the traditional decentralized network model of Afghan society with the help of NGOs. The conclusions on the effects and prospects of NGO activities in Afghanistan are of an interest.

Digitalization is progressively changing familiar processes and phenomena. The development of the metaverse contributes to the formation of a new digital reality, which gradually integrates various spheres of society. The studyreveals the prospects for the introduction of new digital technologies in various spheres of society, the economy and state management, and points out the weaknesses in the legal regulation of offenses related to digital assets.

Based on the model of the American Research University, the criteria for evaluating universities of the BRICS countries by leading world rankings are considered, the potential in the field of education of the BRICS countries capable of competing with world educational centers is estimated.

The article presents an analysis of the foundations of the formation of the concept of science diplomacy. The main problems of science diplomacy and its advantages as a mechanism of foreign policy are revealed.

The peculiarities of the formation of the image of the enemy in AngloAmerican foreign policy, identified on the basis of the analysis of archival documents, are shown by the example of Finland.

The article is devoted to the domestic liberalism of the early 90s of the XX century. Russian liberalism, firstly, bore the features of utopian projectionism; secondly, it was based not on domestic liberal traditions and traditions of the European welfare state, but on the Anglo-Saxon neoliberal standard; thirdly, it had nothing in common with democracy and relied on the authoritarian power regime of President Boris Yeltsin.

The article is devoted to the consideration of problematic issues of the institute of necessary defense in the context of the so-called “proactive” defense, which implies protection from encroachment that is not yet being carried out or even threatening, but only capable of threatening (threatening) its implementation. The authors conclude that proactive defense is permissible in all cases when it comes to preparing to commit crimes against the security of Russia by causing any harm to the enemy in order to protect constitutionally significant values with mandatory compliance with the principles of necessity, proportionality and proportionality.

Renewable energy sources can cover mankind’s entire electricity demand under certain conditions but such carbon-free global power engineering, being heavily dependent on natural factors (wind, insolation, rainfall), will not meet the reliability and fail-safe operation requirements. Nuclear power claims to be the only comparable stabilizing carbon-free energy source to overcome this limitation.