Word: russianizing
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Moscow's intentions were never secret. I can attest to that firsthand. During Tajikistan's civil war in the early 1990s, I was assigned to the embassy in Dushanbe and was evacuated out of the country by Russia's 201st Motorized Rifle Division. The Russian officers who commanded the unit were proud that the Red Army had held together through the breakup of the Soviet Union and was called to come to the aid of a superpower like the United States. They had no inkling that Washington would ignore the facts on the ground and deny Russia's true influence...
...picking apart of Yugoslavia, particularly the splitting off of Kosovo from Serbia, further fueled Russian resentment and humiliation. It reminded Russia how the U.S. had undermined it in the Middle East, peeling off Egypt, South Yemen, Iraq and Syria from its sphere of influence over the decades. But more than anything else, Russia would never forget that it was Washington that created the Sunni jihadist Frankenstein in Afghanistan. That was an arrow pointed straight at the heart of Russia. With Muslims making up 10% to 15% of Russia's population, the Afghan-born jihad became an existential threat to Russia...
...what else Russia is prepared to do to make up for those 17 years of humiliation. One thing we should pretty much count on is that Moscow right now is casting an eye toward Iran, the most direct route to restoring its influence in the Middle East. An Iranian-Russian alliance, Moscow knows, would be an Israeli-American nightmare, not to mention a major headache for the global economy. Russia sitting on Eurasian oil exports and Iran on the Strait of Hormuz would put 22 million bbl. a day under the control of a very unfriendly alliance. Will Moscow...
...bench smoking cigarettes. Some carry plastic red-white-and-blue-striped rice bags. The few recruiters who agree to be interviewed tell similar stories. They accuse the American and Western press of lying about the events in Georgia. No one believes that the Russians have invaded Georgia and that Tbilisi and other cities have been bombed. Because the Russian press has not reported it, they say, it cannot be true. A rumor widely circulated is that black soldiers have been spotted fighting on the Georgian side. This is seen as incontrovertible evidence that America is helping Georgia with military...
...arrived from Mazdok, a city in North Ossetia. "Probably we will go to Tskhinvali. There is a group of 50 of us that are prepared to serve right now." Kuchiev has amber eyes and a calm but intense demeanor. He served his two years in the Russian army at a base near Moscow. Now he is unemployed; he is wearing a bright red shirt and pointy black shoes. "I want to go to Tskhinvali. The Georgians shot small children there. I want to go kill Georgians...