Near Abroad

November 7, 2016
Toal, director of the government and international affairs program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, National Capital Region campus, analyzes Vladimir Putin’s military actions in Georgia and Ukraine to demonstrate how “structurally similar affective storylines in U.S. and Russian geopolitical culture produced mutual incomprehension.” He begins by delving into Putin’s worldview. In Putin’s own words, with the collapse of the Soviet Union “tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory.” Toal believes that Putin is not trying to recreate the U.S.S.R., but to bring these self-identified Russians back into the fold and “to make Russia great again.” Thus, Putin sees NATO and E.U. expansion as a threat to those Russians living “near abroad.” American actions during George W. Bush’s administration and onward that support “democratic” regimes in Georgia and other border countries have only increased Russian fear of a takeover of these regions by Western nations. American support of an independent Kosovo and American rejection of Ossetian independence are evidence that a chillingly similar rhetoric is employed by both Russia and the West to justify their aims. Toal’s thorough, academically oriented study provides a window into the beliefs of many Russians and is a corrective to the point of view prevalent in Western news.