Russia in Global Affairs

Europe’s accelerated militarization seriously threatens Russia, and must be addressed immediately. Current Russo-European relations amount to a state of deep hostility, in which each side seeks to identify and exploit the other’s vulnerabilities, while keeping away from brink of open war.

Russia’s new elites, and the whole country, should feel engaged in the project of building Greater Eurasia, with a Siberian Russia at its heart. Historically, great projects have been needed for Russia to make breakthroughs. The construction of the transport network for a Siberian Russia, and for Greater Eurasia, should become such a project.

The stereotypical perception of Russians as constantly craving great-power status did not arise out of thin air. It deserves consideration in its historical, cultural, and civilizational context.

Like Russia, over the past century, both Turkey and Serbia have gone through historical upheavals, the collapse of the previous model of statehood, and a “re-assemblying” of the nation.

The greatest danger of “memory wars” is that they are easy to unleash, but very difficult to end. The antagonistic nature of discussions about the past often becomes self-sustaining.

World order Z began to be formed before sophisticated analysts could describe it. And it is being formed through an armed conflict in Europe, unparalleled in scale and intensity since World War II.

To describe the transformation of the world order most accurately it would be appropriate to use the formula “bipolarity overburdened by multipolarity.”

The “modified” version of common European memory politics is used ever more actively for geopolitical purposes to create a new mental frontier that is expected to divide the European geographic and cultural space once again, forcing Russia out, but retaining all other post-Soviet countries included in the Eastern Partnership program.

The Ukrainian crisis is just ushering in a series of conflicts amid which a polycentric system of international relations will form. An effective multilateral mechanism must be created for preventing and settling crises in Europe and North Eurasia.