000			02701nam a2200181Ia 4500
999			_c9334 _d9334
020			_a9780190253301
082			_a947.0864 _bTOA-N
100			_aToal, Gerard
245		0	_aNear Abroad _b: Putin, the West, and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus
260			_aNew York _bOxford University Press _c2017
300			_axx, 387p
504			_aincludes notes and index
520			_aBefore Russia invaded Ukraine, it invaded Georgia. Both states are part of Russia's "near abroad" - newly independent states that were once part of the Soviet Union and are now Russia's neighbours. While the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 faded from the headlines in the wake of the global recession, the geopolitical contest that created it did not. Six years later, the spectre of a revanchist Russia returned when Putin's forces invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula, once part of Russia but an internationally recognized part of Ukraine since the Soviet collapse. Crimea's annexation and follow on the conflict in eastern Ukraine have generated the greatest geopolitical crisis on the European continent since the end of the Cold War. In Near Abroad, the eminent political geographer Gerard Toal moves beyond the polemical rhetoric that surrounds Russia's interventions in Georgia and Ukraine to study the underlying territorial conflicts and geopolitical struggles. Central to understanding are legacies of the Soviet Union collapse: unresolved territorial issues, weak states and a conflicted geopolitical culture in Russia over the new territorial order. The West's desire to expand NATO contributed to a growing geopolitical contest in Russia's near abroad. This found expression in a 2008 NATO proclamation that Georgia and Ukraine will become members of NATO, a "red line" issue for Russia. The road to invasion and war in Georgia and Ukraine, thereafter, is explained in Near Abroad. Geopolitics is often thought of like a game of chess. Near Abroad provides an account of real-life geopolitics, one that emphasizes changing spatial relationships, geopolitical cultures and the power of media images. Rather than being a cold game of deliberation, geopolitics is often driven by emotions and ambitions, by desires for freedom and greatness, by clashing personalities and reckless acts. Not only a penetrating analysis of Russia's relationships with its regional neighbours but Near Abroad also offers an analysis of how US geopolitical culture frequently fails to fully understand Russia and the geopolitical archipelago of dependencies in it's near abroad.
650			_aGeo politics _vThick and thin
650			_aNovorossiya project _zRussia
650			_aPutin _vNear abroads
942			_cBK _2ddc