Word: expansionist
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Just as Dulles had done in the '50s, the U.S. was again drawing a line in the dust and warning the bad guys not to cross it. It is questionable that even in their most expansionist phase, the Soviets ever seriously considered a grab for the oil and warm-water ports of the gulf. But if they did, it is certain they took very seriously indeed the risk that they would end up in a war with the U.S. In short, they were deterred...
...dilemma in both countries has the same cause: the heritage of empire. The non-Russian Soviet republics were absorbed by expansionist rulers in centuries past and never assimilated. Quebec became a part of Canada when British troops led by Major General James Wolfe defeated France's Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, a cliff overlooking the St. Lawrence river outside Quebec City, in 1759. Though nationalism is almost an anachronism in a world where economics is driving nation-states into larger units, the centuries of thwarted emotions are now catching up with multiethnic federations like Canada...
...past -- and on jettisoning the worst. As an imperial power, Russia consolidated under its rule an enormous expanse of territory. Many corners of the empire were conquered in bloody wars. But Russia was also an ethnically and culturally unique country spanning Europe and Asia. It was not only an expansionist power but also a source of security to many small, isolated, exotic peoples and ethnic groups who would otherwise have been at the mercy of hostile neighbors...
...Germany, where Marx expected his workers' revolt to start, is instead a brief outpouring of rage and envy from a still conservative people. This Lenin says his duty is to feed, clothe, house and employ the Russian people; until this goal is achieved, there is no point in expansionist ambitions. Afghanistan comes to mind...
...Persians, Azerbaijan was divided by treaties in 1813 and 1828. Today about 6.7 million ethnic Azerbaijanis, who share a Turkic language and the Shi'ite Muslim religion, live on the Soviet side of the line and about 4 million in the adjoining Iranian province of Azerbaijan. Stalin, ever expansionist, coveted that part of Iran and moved troops into it during World War II. Before Western pressure forced him to withdraw, he encouraged Azerbaijani nationalism and rigged an "autonomous" local government in hopes the province would break away from Iran...