[Cross-posted from European Tribune – where dissent is NOT troll rated!]
For Russia, the great prize is a Europe where it’s accepted on equal terms with other European nations and can share in Europe’s economic and technological progress. A `common European home’ was a core element of the Gorbachev revolution and remains an objective today.
Russia west of the Urals accounts for 38% of Europe. Nearly 80% of Russia’s population (roughly 112 million people) lives on the Great European Plain that extends from the Pyrenees to the Urals and from the Arctic Basin to the Black Sea. It was a key concern of Cold War strategists when it was dominated by the Warsaw Pact, and it remains of great strategic importance to both NATO and Russia.
The Cold War was over when Gorbachev spoke to the Council of Europe in July 1989. He envisioned Soviet states with genuine democratic socialism–characterised by greater freedom and openness and with modern economies–competing peacefully with their neighbours in a `common European home’. Gorbachev spoke of `the emergence of a vast economic space from the Atlantic to the Urals where Eastern and Western parts would be strongly interlocked’. He said, `It is in such a Europe that we visualise our own future.’
Continued below the fold …
Gorbachev then lost control of the forces he had unleashed. His new synthesis of socialism and democracy in Eastern Europe based on `universal values’ evaporated as communist regimes were overthrown, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in July 1991 and the Baltic states were granted independence in September. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union was gone. The former Warsaw Pact nations began joining NATO in 1997, and 10 Central and Eastern European nations joined the EU in 2004. These weren’t Gorbachev‘s new updated socialist states but democratic nations with market-oriented economies.
The Geopolitics of Europe. From the Atlantic to the Urals
Since the start of the 21st century, Europe, the region that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to Russia, has been the theatre of new rivalries. A prerequisite for any proper study of these new power plays is a precise knowledge of the geographical characteristics and recent history of Europe, an ongoing story of division, reunification and dissent. To fully understand the geopolitical parameters of Europe we must also decipher the European Union, its assets, contradictions and weaknesses. Further, we need to analyse the other components of Europe, be they candidates for EU membership or countries that have rejected the opportunity to join, as well as the jockeying for the spoils of the former USSR, particularly Ukraine.
Where Is Europe? | The New York Times – Jan. 2012 |
The reason for this was the expansive growth of the Russian state east- and southward, so that geographers felt annoyed by the fact that Russia in its entirety could no longer be treated under the header “Europe.” One solution was to discard “Muscovy” entirely from Europe, another to extend the borders of Europe to keep up, somewhat, with Russian expansion. To be fair, the Russians themselves considered Europe to be elsewhere, hence the mission of “St. Petersburg, founded in 1703, to be a “window on Europe.”
The ultimate compromise between “Russia in” and “Russia out” was found when western geographers became aware of the mountain range the Russians themselves called Kameny Poyas (“Stony Girdle”). The Swedish military geographer Philip Johan von Strahlenberg, after years of captivity gave him the benefit of close observation of the Russian geography, proposed these Ural Mountains as the new European border in 1730. The Strahlenberg border soon found acceptance throughout Europe – and Russia itself.
○ Facts about the Ural Mountains, boundary between Europe and Asia
○ 7 picturesque reasons to visit the Ural region
○ The Spectacular Ancient Megaliths of the Ural Mountains
Further reading, putting capitalism is some perspective …
○ Systemic Fear, Modern Finance and the Future of Capitalism by ARGeezer @ET on Jul 25th, 2010
○ Craig Murray – former ambassador of Uzbekistan – silenced by Russian Billionaire? NOT. by deGhandi @ET on Sep 24th, 2007
○ A European perspective on Booman
An archived diary of mine …
○ Diplomat, Perestroika Ambassador with Charm, Soft Spoken
○ The Coronation of Mystery Man Vladimir Putin – 2000
○ A Better Future for Russians, Americans and the World
