The Military Face of a Frozen Conflict
Academic literature discusses the Nagorno-Karabakh War as one of many frozen conflicts on the periphery of the former Soviet Union. The term “Frozen Conflict” is a misnomer. It is really a longstanding simmering conflict with low-level fatalities, punctua
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Russia’s Interventions in Ethnic Conflicts
James J. Coyle
Russia’s Interventions in Ethnic Conflicts The Case of Armenia and Azerbaijan
James J. Coyle Newport Beach, CA, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-59572-2 ISBN 978-3-030-59573-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59573-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
In 2018, I published a book entitled Russia’s Border Wars and Frozen Conflicts.1 The thesis of the book was that Russia has used a ju-jitsu foreign policy to project power and influence far beyond its geopolitical weight. With the exception of its nuclear arsenal and landmass, Russia is a mid-level power. Politically, its system is run by a group of oligarchs led by the former KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin—not a system that most people in the world would want to emulate. The country’s conventional military armaments and tactics are/were far outclassed by those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as evidenced by the ease in which Western forces triumphed over countries that follow Russian military doctrine and fight with Russian armaments. The population of 145 million is less than half that of the United States, and the GDP of its natural resource extractive economy is only on par with Italy. Despite these drawbacks, Russian diplomatic prestige is as high as it ever has been because of three factors: its potential peer competitors are in political or economic disarray; it has used its energy policy to make Europe, including Turkey, dependent on its good graces; and, it has skillfully manipulated ethnic unrest on its
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