Word: russian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...When Russian tanks trundled into Georgia in August 2008, it dawned on the European Union that it should have been paying more attention to the volatile Caucasus and Black Sea regions right at its doorstep. Turkey - strategically placed between the Balkans, Black Sea and Middle East - is fast becoming a big regional player. It's no surprise that President Obama is fulfilling his pledge to visit a Muslim-majority country within 100 days of taking office by dropping in on Turkey. The new Administration sees Ankara as a key ally in dealing with many of its biggest noneconomic issues...
...established tactic. In the early 1500s, Pope Leo X underwrote his lavish lifestyle in part by taxing licensed prostitutes, and Peter the Great preyed on Russian vanity two centuries later by charging men who grew beards. In the Federalist papers, American patriot Alexander Hamilton proposed an excise tax on alcohol to boost revenues and curb consumption. The measure, enacted in 1791, sparked the Whiskey Rebellion, in which federal authorities were forced to quash an uprising by livid Pennsylvania settlers...
Although his rise to the Russian presidency was marred by allegations that he was simply a puppet of former President Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev has shown a few signs of branching out on his own. In a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Europe this week, he agreed to arms-control talks in order to cut weapons stockpiles and prevent the spread of nukes to Iran and North Korea. The talks are to be followed by another meeting between the two leaders in July. "We have considerably more positions that bring us together than those that force us apart...
...First Russian leader in decades with no known links to either the former Soviet Communist Party or its secret services. He is also the country's youngest head of state since Nicholas II became czar...
...resurgent Russia represents a very real and even existential threat to some members of the alliance. The recent history of Eastern and Central Europe helps to explain why the newer members of NATO—especially Poland and the Baltic states—are extremely concerned with a Russian military resurgence. The invasion of Georgia last year should serve as a chilling reminder of just how far Moscow is willing to go to preserve its national interest in the former Soviet sphere...