Resurgent Russia

The latest issue of The Washington Quarterly has a number of articles on Russia which should be worth reading - especially since it seems you can get free pdf's of them at the TWQ website. This "Resurgent Russia" theme issue had been advertised in the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs, and Robert Amsterdam has also posted excerpts and promised to critique the articles at a later date.

Dmitri Trenin is always insightful, Celeste Wallander introduces (to me, at least) the interesting concept of "Transimperialism," and there are also articles about France's Russia policy and the "special relationship" between Germany and Russia. Jeffrey Mankoff's piece gives prominent play to the secessionist conflicts on the very first page:

The Kremlin’s decision to challenge Western participation in several major oil and gas exploration projects, notably Sakhalin-2, and its prominent support for separatist rebels in Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia) and Moldova (Transdnistria) had exacerbated tension with the West even before the shocking deaths of Litvinenko and investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in late 2006.

He also gives the left bank of the Dniester/Nistru River yet another spelling in English. Transnistria is what the Moldovans call it, Pridnestrov'e is what Russian-speakers call it, and Western journalists, mediators and academics have long used compromise versions likeTransdniester, Transdnestr, Transdniestria and Trans-Dniester (although Google tells me that Transdnistria, while less common than those other variants, is also in somewhat common usage). Sadly, the spelling of the region's name is far from the most complicated thing about the conflict.