Russia attempts to revise a Western-led liberal world order. However, challenging the West seems to be a strategy aimed at improving Russia’s international standing. This strategy is undoubtedly ambiguous as Russia challenges the West, particularity the United States, and looks for a rapprochement at the same time.The Russian Federation abandoned the West in 2014 as a result of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula what constituted breaking international law, andengagement into the war in the East Ukraine. Nevertheless, the milestone was not 2014, but 2008 when Russia had decided for the first time to use its militar yforce against Georgia and indirectly against the growing Western military and political presence in this post-Soviet republic. This game changer was hardly a surprise, because several signals of a desire to challenge the Western-led world order had appeared in the past at least twice in president Putin’s speeches in 2007 at Munich Security Conference and in 2014 during Valdai Club session in Sochi. This article seeks to provide a take in the discussion about the way Russia has been trying to reshape the post-Cold War order. This paper probes the notion that Russia has become a revisionist state trying to shape a post-Western world order. Besides, there are a few questions to be answered, first of all whether anti-Westernism is in fact its goal or rather an instrument in regaining more effective impact on international politics and how it may influence the post-ColdWar order despite its reduced political and economic potential.

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In the classical meaning, the international society consisting of sovereign states plays a role of an international environment in the international system. Taking into consideration the dynamic transformation in the world politics after the Cold War, globalization, the strengthened international interdependence in its vertical, as well as horizontal realms, and the institutionalization of international social and political spheres fuels the discussion about the future of the international society, its inner structural changes, common norms, values, and rules. The thesis of the paper is the claim that the changes in international state-society reflecting the dynamic of world politics and the global trends do change the character of the international society, but do not change its essence. A growing and seemingly lasting process is strengthening the role of culture and identity in shaping the new structure of the international society.

in the Middle east things are not always what they seem to be. it would appear that israel and Syria are the odd couple in the Middle east. although their relationship seems to be typical of sworn enemies, full of aggressive rhetoric, distrust and a hostile atmosphere, in fact, however, both countries were driven for decades by pragmatic security interests and they have managed to avoid a violent military clash. yet the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011 created an opportunity for israel to change the regime in damascus and made it rethink its policy towards Syria. Therefore, Jerusalem had to decide whether to take the historical chance or stay passive. The goal of this paper is to answer a few questions -whether the war in Syria is a challenge or a threat for israel? How Jerusalem has tried to balance the chance to get rid of its old enemy and the fundamental security concerns about getting involved into a massive regional conflict. The analysis finds that Israel has a limited impact on events in Syria, that it is able to react at most, and in no case to create facts on the Syrian battlefront. it is also remarkable that, paradoxically, the turmoil in the Middle east even along the israeli borders has not directly undermined the Jewish state due to the complexity of a dynamic situation and the fact the at superpowers are embroiled into contradictory campaigns.