The article deals with the problem of water scarcity in the countries of Central Asia. Despite their efforts, the lack of water availability continues to persist. This increases tension in the inter-state relations in the region, as in recent years the countries increasingly face a shortage of water. Recently, Afghanistan has begun to influence the distribution of water resources in the region. Its actions are aimed at increasing abstraction of water resources from transboundary rivers of Central Asia. At the same time, Afghanistan has a right to act in this way. However, given the increasing shortage of water resources, Afghanistan’s policy may lead to new conflicts and exacerbation of relations with the Central Asian states.

The relevance of this study lies in the need to study the potential effectiveness of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in the conditions of the world order in the XXI century. The formation of the collective security system of the post-Soviet space was accompanied by a number of crisis processes determined by the post-bipolar era. Based on the results of the review of the activities of the CSTO institutions, the reasons for the insufficient effectiveness of the collective security system in the situation of modern international escalation are determined and further reformatting of the scope of competence and structure of the organization is predicted.

The onset of the 2022 energy crisis, the impact of which is felt by the whole world, and especially Europe, has radically changed the existing mechanisms of the European Union energy policy. It is therefore necessary to assess energy policy’s new directions and implementation measures. After providing a summary of the key reasons for the energy crisis in Europe, the article assessed the new measures and mechanisms, as well as the reasons for their adoption by the European Commission. The article revealed the influence of the actions taken on the state of the energy sector of the European Union, as well as their role in the emergence of disagreements between Brussels and EU member states. Ultimately, it was concluded that the European Union’s response to the energy crisis is insufficient. While there are prerequisites for a continuation of the crisis in 2023, the European Union is primarily pursuing geopolitical goals without addressing the underlying causes of price increases. There is the prospect of increasing pressure on the Commission to intervene more in the electricity market and more effectively support business and households.

The article is devoted to the study of China’s energy transition policy and the prospects for its implementation. As the world’s second largest economy, the People’s Republic of China has become an important part of the global energy market in recent years. In the process of industrialization and economic growth, the Chinese economy plays an important and positive role in maintaining the world’s energy security. In connection with the gradual slowdown in the growth of the Chinese economy, the full implementation of the Paris Agreement, as well as the transformation and modernization of the global energy structure, the Chinese side proposed a new strategy for energy transition and energy security. In 2020, China announced a desire to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. Despite the fact that China’s own coal dominates in the structure of China’s energy balance, the emphasis is on identifying the role of oil and gas in the modernization of the energy system. The features of China’s energy production and consumption structure are emphasized, in which natural gas can become an auxiliary and transitional energy source during its transformation of the energy system. The article discusses the main documents that define the energy transition. The preliminary results of China’s implementation of the new energy policy have been summed up. It is concluded that energy saving and efficiency improvement are the primary objectives of China’s modern energy strategy, as well as important measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The Black Sea shelf contains significant hydrocarbon resources. Over the past decades the Black Sea countries, supported by Western oil and gas companies, have been developing various plans for the extraction and export of hydrocarbon resources to fore In solving this task, they faced a number of challenges due to the difficult production conditions. In addition, the Black Sea region was not in the focus of attention of oil and gas companies, which produced resources in other regions of the world. Nevertheless, the Black Sea countries have developed national programs for the production of hydrocarbons on the Black Sea shelf and are considering various options for their export to foreign markets.

The article considers the problem of the phenomenon of geopolitical «borderliness» as a factor in the positioning of Ukraine in international relations within the Ukrainian scientific discourse of the early XXI century. The definition of the concept of geopolitical «borderliness» has been presented. It is shown that Ukraine is an average regional power, which is characterized by a «borderliness» geopolitical position. On the modern Ukrainian territory, the Euro-Atlantic, Eurasian, Islamic massif and, accordingly, the «super-ethnic frontiers» of the Western European, Slavic and Islamic civilizations intersect. Concepts of the genesis of ideological and sociocultural differences within Ukrainian society in the regional dimension have been characterized. It is substantiated that the foreign policy orientation of Ukraine has always been a derivative of the interaction of the Euro-Atlantic, Eurasian and Black Sea (South-Eastern) paradigms, which necessitates adherence to the «orientation priority» in international political positioning. It follows from this that it is expedient for the Ukrainian state to be guided by a non-bloc strategy. According to Ukrainian researchers, the entry of Ukraine into allied relations with one of the competing poles can lead to a strategic conflict with another center of power and negative consequences for Ukrainian statehood. To prevent this from happening, Ukraine was recommended to pursue a foreign policy on the basis of a neutral status and the principles of «optimal multi-vector approach». This was confirmed by the Ukrainian sociological research. The geopolitical and socio-cultural «borderliness» determines the «split» of Ukrainian society, which is manifested in the foreign policy orientations of residents of different regions. According to Ukrainian sociologists, traditionally the majority of the population of the West of Ukraine and about half of the Center supported the European integration vector. At the same time, about half of the inhabitants of the Center and the majority of the population of the South and East of Ukraine were supporters of the development of relations with Russia and the Eurasian vector of integration. As the only option for foreign policy positioning that would unite the Ukrainian society of different regions, the achievement of national agreement through a compromise was noted, this was possible only if Ukraine pursued a policy of neutrality and «optimal multi-vector approach».

The article considers a number of genres of Arctic films in the world cinema. Among them, some of the most common are horror films (horror), thrillers (part I), dramas, science fiction and action films (part II). The socio-political climate of the times determined the evolution of genres and influenced their semantic content and structure. Their formation and production flow has a calendar milestone. In the second half of the twentieth century, after the end of the Great Patriotic War, a cold war began between two blocs of states with different socio-economic systems led by the USSR and the USA. It was she who strengthened the militaristic role of the Arctic not only in the military-industrial sphere, but also in the cinematographic one. Hollywood, as part of the political and ideological machine of the United States, immediately responded with its films. The screen was politicized in the general range of Cold War sentiments. Conducting atomic tests, the appearance of the atomic bomb in the USA in 1945 and in the USSR in 1949, “flying saucers” from space, noted in 1947, brought to life horror films, science fiction and drama. The heroes of the films were monsters that descended to earth from outer space or rose from the depths of the ocean, all kinds of mechanical and biological monsters awakened by nuclear tests. In parallel, western cinema constructed models of anti-Soviet orientation. The purpose of the films was to amuse and captivate the viewer into an illusory world and at the same time, to shock, amaze, terrify and excite him with scientific or pseudoscientific fiction. This goal remains the main one for most fantastic horror and thrillers. Some of them preached violence, cruelty, conflict, degradation of the human personality. Aggressiveness, programmed in the person himself, is increasingly, manifested in Arctic thrillers and action film.