The Soviet disUnion. From Superpower to the periphery of globalization
What happened in the former Soviet area after 1991. Russia and its ‘internal backyard’.
The collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the most important events in the twentieth century. It represented the final conclusion of the Third World War, the Cold War, and the end of the ideological struggles that marked the past century. It has also become a source of inspiration for the still oppressed peoples in search of freedom in other continents.
The Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics are no longer together a Superpower as they were for decades. After a complex transition Moscow has acquired new weight on the international stage and Russia is today a well respected regional power in Europe and Asia. The post-Soviet area, on the contrary, is the battlefield for the control of vast energy wealth. Its pipelines run towards Europe, China and in the near future to India through Afghanistan.
The author of the book observes the main dynamics in this crucial area for the West after 1991, while famous specialists such as the former Italian ambassador Sergio Romano, the American professor Richard Pipes and the Russian specialist Andrei Rjabov provide basic interpretation keys.
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Contents
Prologue
Introduction
Russia 1991-2011. The ‘relegated’ superpower
The first steps in the market economy
The new Russian capitalism
From the Soviet power to the contemporary Russia
From the Communist party to United Russia
Moscow, the coveted capital
Year 2008, the crisis. The return to reality
The exploitation of the labor forces
The desperation of the small business
Young people and their future
Oligarchs as famous football players
Russian women in business
A full of problems society
Women in distress
The peculiarity of ‘Khalim!’
Caucasus, the bleeding wound
Zakhar Prilepin: Russia, the risk of decomposition
A better life in the Soviet epoch?
CIS, Yesterday and Today
Year 1992, the rude awakening
The first decade of the new century
The religious radicalism
The dangerous Afghan infected wound
The Silk Road or the Drug Road?
The obsession of the new ‘pipeline’
Mass migration
Searching for historical roots
The slow detachment from the common Soviet past
The legacy of frozen conflicts
The European area – Towards the continental integration
Ukraine, a country in eternal transition
The Orange Revolution
Viktor Janukovich, the man of the oligarchs
Sevastopol, the town of the Fleet
The Tatar unresolved issue in Crimea
The hell of the mines
Belarus, a ‘supported’ off-shore
The grim legacy of Chernobyl
Moldova, young people in an uproar
Caucasus – The complex tightrope between East and West
The puzzle of the Caspian region
The resurgent Turkey
The unpunished Holocaust
Armenia, “resist”!
Azerbaijan, dreaming of a new ‘Kuwait’
A flood of refugees
Georgia and its fragmentation
Year 2008, the Russian-Georgian painful divorce
The Asian area – Among China, Islam, and the West
Modern khanates: “I have a family”!
The explosive Ferghana Valley
Xinjiang, Beijing’s torment
The populous Uzbekistan
Adolescents in the plantations
The Aral Sea and the great thirst
Kyrgyzstan, the lost bet
Kazakhstan, the giant
Astana: the ‘Brasilia’ of the steppe
Turkmenistan, the cult of the excess
Tajikistan, the daily fight against poverty
Main chronology
A conversation with
Richard Pipes – Russia‘s unpredictable nature
Sergio Romano – Russia, former USSR and the globalization
Andrei Ryabov – In defense of the ‘status quo’ in the post Soviet area
Economic data (USSR and former Soviet republics)
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To purchase the book in ITALIAN cash on delivery: send an e-mail with name, address, phone number, to Greco&Greco publishers in Milan (Italy)
E-mail: info@grecoegrecoeditori.it tel. +39-02-58312811. +39-02-58312811. Cost volume EUR 12.00 + postage. OR visit Greco&Greco site.
